is there anything in particular about an itech that you cannot (if you so choose) without great difficulty do with aftermarket or Toyota sourced parts ? TIA
If you're talking about the 2nd generation, the only thing I can think of is the Intelligent Parking Assist.
Hang on a minute.... I was checking my list again... http://priuschat.com/forums/knowled...andard-optional-equipment-some-countries.html I didn't realise that the i-Tech had quite a few more tech items than expected. So, hopefully you'll read this thread again. Scrolling down to Australia (It goes US, Canada, UK then Australia), there are a few things you can't add without great difficulty or aftermarket. - Vehicle Stability Control - Side and side curtain airbags - Smart Key System Leather, nav, rearview monitor, bluetooth and other audio additions are easy additions aftermarket.
good things to consider in the mix of things. Might be some advantage in spending cash on aftermarket bits as opposed to having an itech
It depends on what you want, I suppose. You will get traction control as standard equipment, just no stability control. The Prius does fair better in side collisions with the airbags (there was a 1 star difference). I don't know the prices between the two in Australia. I would think there's a greater difference for the 3rd generation between the base and i-Tech models compared to the 2nd generation.
no denying the airbags are a loss but I took the opportunity to purchase an ex lease 2008 Prius from a batch of 3 very cheaply. While its fair to assume its a base model they do have a high equipment level for a small car. thanks for your help
I also got a base 2008 Prius very cheaply! They depreciate heaps in the first few years making them a great slightly used car buy on the Aus market The Aus base model is still alright equipment wise, with the exception of the lack of airbags What colour did you get?
its silver, and Im not unhappy about that Took all of them out of the warehouse for a spin, quite the strangest driving experience Ive had in a long while, but I confess to being a bit smitten. PS I think fuel is going to go through the roof very shortly with the changes in exchange rate
Yea fuel has become much more expensive! Today i filled up at like 1.50 a litre, $65 got my 42 litres or something - that should last me about a month/950kms. A few tanks back i broke 1000km, although my long term average is 4.5l/100km (calculated, MFD says 4.3l/100km) I started my L's and drove for a whole year on nothing but a Prius, after getting my P's i started driving other cars and learnt how to drive a manual, all of it felt VERY weird when i was used to driving a Prius - but in comparison to other cars the Prius is a very different car to drive.
Mine's an i-tech and i'm pretty much satisfied and feel 'safe' with all the bells and whistles. the only one i don't get use is the bluetooth. somehow it doesn't work with my phone.
Ive never gotten bluetooth to work between my cell phone and PC either. I think the reversing camera and nav are replaceable by 3rd party products but might require another 7" screen. In which case things can be reconfigured a bit so I need to decide what I need and when. There might be some advantage in having user selectable full time reverse camera on the Prius screen and GPS on a new screen
I personally don't need nav, if i don't know how to go somewhere i just look it up on Google Maps first, as for a reverse camera, i got parking sensors installed so it's not essential, although they beep when there's nothing behind me - just rely on instinct when reverse parking.
Ive never had nav. but as i shoot real estate it could be handy on a daily basis, but only if its up to date. And for rear facing camera, I think this is the one area of the Prius were visibility is beyond poor. I visit properties Ive never been to before regularly that have the inevitable lively border collie dogs, and I would be horrified if I drove over one, let alone children while manoeuvring to turn around. Since I cant hack the nav that has to be third party, but I can acquire a genuine Prius reversing camera on ebay, and that doesnt look to difficult to sort out onto the Prius MFD
