Driving my Barcelona Red Prius 2010 (Basic Package) for two weeks. The seating and displays are great BUT seems that the designer did not drive the model on busy highways in Japan! While the roadview from the front windshield is great, view of the road from the rear windshield SUCKS!! The road appears narrow and obstructed. Thought it would improve by replacing the front shield mirror. Got a 15 inch no blind spot mirror from Hammacher. The bad view of the road remains bad! Suggest that Prius designers be FORCED to drive the model on REAL highways and not just the Toyota parking lot. My second beef is the current unavailability of mudguards for Prius 2010. Hope they come on the market, before my Barcelona red is chipped away by flying road debris.
No it was a wake up call for Prius designers who may not drive their design on REAL HIGHWAYS (simulation?)
Hi Harshy7, Most Prius drivers adjust their outside rear-view mirrors per the Click and Clack (Cartalk.com) recommendations. This results in a usable rear view for merging on the highways. The only issue with this method is that there is a blind spot in the next lane over from the one your merging into. But that is OK, as most people are not high speed weaving maniacs darting into merging lanes when cars are merging. Its always best to do a head check when merging into a lane, with other lane(s) beside the one your merging into for such reckless drivers. The horizontal bar actually helps with the pickup and SUV high mounted head-lights - and you will probably come to like that in time. Most people do. Its a shame though that Toyota decided to upmarket the Rear View Camera into the stratosphere with there elimination of the standard MFD on all but $30K plus Prius, however. With the construction of the car, and its quietness backing up, the rear-view camera should have been standard, even at base levels.
I have more problem with the front side than the rear. I guess that's why they got the dorky windows in the front.
This thread is harsh! As in airplane flight, where it doesn't matter how much air is above you, or how much runway is behind you...don't look back!
I added small glue-on mirrors to each of my outside mirrors (less than $2 for the pair, and available everywhere). This totally eliminates the blind spots, and does not diminish safe viewability. Jim
Hello, Thanks for reminding about using side mirrors. Yes I do use them to avoid blind spots. And they are better in new 2010 Prius with no warning about "objects are closer than they appear!" I remember this in certain old cars. However, a large rear view mirror (as used by truck drivers!) is very useful to negotiate passing in multilane highways and of course supplemented by a look at side mirrors before switching the lane. I hope that eventually I will get used to the ugly bar seen in the 2010 Prius resr view mirror. I will keep on wondering if the 2010 pRIUS designer used aerodynamic wind tunnel tests to change the slope of the rear windshield (this would be charitable design) or the designer just decided to make the Prius sexy by a redesign (I am assuming here that previous Prius models had no problem with the rear view mirror. And may be I should have listened to my niece the Berkeley Professor who had rented a Prius and detested the rear view! You are right about the rear view camera. Over here private dealers discontinued $400 models.
The bar across the back has been with us since at least 2004, although it got bigger once Toyota added the rear wiper. It is true that the 2010 Prius is even more aerodynamic than the 2004 to 2009 Prius. I actually have more issues with cars too bright in the rear view mirror at night, than visibility during the day.
More on Improving the Rear View Prius 2010 Hello Everyone, Since complaining the poor rear view on Prius 2010, I have: 1. Installed a back camera that shows the rear view (much improved) when the car is in reverse. Toyota folks told me that it is "illegal" to use this gizmo when the car is in drive mode. Wonder why the GPS navigation unit is always ON!! 2. I lowered the rear seats and REMOVED two head rests (replaced when there are passengers on rear seats). This simple step improves the rear view significantly. 3. Finally the Prius accessory shop supplied four mudflaps. These do not improve the rear view but will reduce chip damage from road construction. 4. Average gas consumption is about 5.5L/100km. But I have not used the cruise control and each push on the gas pedal is followed by s pause to make sure the Prius does not enter the rocket launch mode! :mod:
The Cartalk recommendtion he's mentioning is at Car Talk | How to Avoid the Blind Spot. I've been doing this on all my cars ever since I got my 350Z which has huge rear blind spots. There's no reason for your mirrors to show the sides of your car. They'll be there.
I'm not sure if it's legal for you to do it (no objects in the rear view warning), but the UK side view drivers side mirror have a curved (convex?) bit at the far edge to cover the blind spot. Fitting them would give you the same view you get with your glue on mirrors but with much cleaner lines. Obviously the rhd mirrors are no good, but you could source a lhd european spec one.
