The wife and I have a deposit on a new Prius, so we decided to rent an '05 for 2 days to further evaluate the car. We really loved the Prius and feel we will be very pleased with our '06 purchase. Just a couple of things that really aggravated us. 1. No automatic headlights. This is unbelievable for a car this hi-tech. It's not enough to stop the purchase, but it really does stink! Does the Prius have any battery run down protection? 2. When you lock the windows on the drivers door. It should keep passengers from operating the windows, but the driver should still be able to raise/lower them in the locked position. Any fix for this? Other than those two grips, we love the car. PS after the 2 day test, we now feel the navigation system is a must. If your going to buy a high tech car like the Prius, you need to get all the bells and whistles you can. Thanks
If by automatic headlights, you mean daytime running-type, then you are correct, the Prius lacks this. The Prius does have battery run down protection wrt the headlights... If you power down the car but keep the headlights on, the headlights will turn off when you open a door.
I was refering to the "auto" setting on the GM Vehicles. Comes on at dark,etc. My wife hasen't thought about turning headlights on in 5 years. She kept taking off in the dark. in the Prius.
Sure there is an "auto" setting - it's labeled "ON". Seriously, we just leave the lights set to ON all the time. During the day, they're running lights, at night the lights are on. We've had our '05 for 4 months and I haven't touched the light switch since I turned the lights on, on day 1. Fwiw, like you, we were surprised that the lights weren't automatic.
Yes, I find that rather annoying as well. Nope, I haven't heard of any fix for it. I imagine it's possible but would also imagine that the fix would be no simple thing. FWIW, my understanding is that this, well, anomaly, is pretty much a Toyota exclusive. At least, I haven't owned any other make that had this "feature".
Maybe it's some sort of anti-authoritarian streak in the Japanese, or someone of import in Toyota. Any rules that apply to the passengers must apply equally to the driver...
That surprised me too. I had that on my 1990 Ford Probe and the driver could operate all windows whether they were locked or not.
