I recently sat in the Lexus 430L, and found that the Lexus has Parking assistant which displays how far you are away from the front. I found one major drawback for Prius is that I cannot see how far I am from the front end. I believe it would be helpful to have something like the front end sensor (like lexus or BMW) or even camera view (just like the rear end in 06. Any idea?
As with any car, after driving it for a while you will learn where the corners are. I bet in the last car you had, if you wanted to run over something with the front right tire or miss something with the front right tire, you could do it with ease and be right on every time. Was that because you could see your front right tire? After a couple of weeks of driving the Prius, you will be able to guage exactly how far the front of your car is from something, even though you can't see the front of your car. If you had a front camera on your car, I doubt you would even use it after a month or so of driving the car.
The Prius, like many cars, comes equipped with a parking assist device called a KPA (Kinetic Parking Assistant), aka, the bumper. Or you could order a manual or power telescoping pole from sigma: http://www.sigmaautomotive.com/jdm/prius/prius0405.php
Doesn't the Lexus use that sensor for cruise control as well, keeping you a set distance from the car in front of you while going down the highway? That sounds pretty sweet.
Or if you're really cheap, go to an auto store like Pep Boys and get a cell phone antenna for about $12. You attach it to your front license plate bracket. The tip should be just visible, especially if you put an antenna ball on it. There is a Reverse Backup System that uses 8 sensors, 4 in the front and 4 in the rear.
That's what I've had to do with my Saturn for the last 9 years. It's a coupe and has a pretty long front end that tapers down in such a way that I cannot see any portion of the hood from the driver's seat. You just have to gauge the distance and I got a very good feel for the distance after a couple months of parking it. I intend on doing the same with the Prius, plus I don't think the Prius's front end is as long as my Saturn so it may be even easier. I didn't have any problems parking the Prius 3 different times during my 30-minute test drive either.
One trick I've used with other cars is to turn on the headlights. The spots from the headlight beam change as you approach the garage wall or whatever. Not sure how well that would work with a Prius though, since the headlights are set back a bit from the front of the car. One thing to watch out for though are those curbs in a parking lot. Some of them are high enough and the Prius is low enough that if you're used to pulling forward until your tire bumps the curb you'll likely do a little damage to your car.
I see lots of people use that system. They pull forward untill they hit the car in front of them. Then reverse untill the hit the car behind them. Then pull forward just a bit to be right in the middle. I will never park where someone will hit my bumpers on purpose. I will walk a mile before I end up with a $30,000 trashed car. I even witnessed a guy pushing a car out of his way. It was a BMW and he was caught a few block away by the Poh-lice.
Hi Like you I have looking around for something. I have found many after market solutions with sensors (you know the annoying beeper that you get for the reverse park) and also this: Universal Parking Sensor | No Holes | Front & Rear Reverse Parking Sensors Am seriously considering something like this, but just need to figure out the best way of mounting it. (Total novice when it comes to cars - can't even change the oil!)
I had a chance to recently drive a new Lexus LX570. As part of an option package, it had a wideview camera built into the front grille, and another camera in the passenger side mirror. At low speeds, the LCD display inside will show a fisheye view of the left/right area in front of the vehicle, and along the passenger door. Lexus LX - Features & Pricing - Exterior It actually does make parking much easier, and makes pulling out of a parking ramp onto a sidewalk much safer
The wideview front camera won't have much resolution of objects out as far as 200 meters away, and can't really compute range and closing speed, anyway. That function is better served by radar or laser radar (which is cheaper). But no, I don't think any Prius' are offerred with those systems yet.
That is a good point. However, pulling out of the Lexus dealership, there were SUV's parked along the street, and the "wideview" system allowed me to notice a HOnda Civic on a test drive pulling out of the Honda dealership across the street. I probably would not have hit the Civic, but it allowed me to wait until the car passed. Just like sonar backup sensors, they don't replace your eyeballs, but work nicely to help you judge how far to backup or proceed The camera built into the passenger side rearview mirror seemed gimmicky at first. However, parallel parking it allowed me to safely judge how far away the 570 was from the car beside it We've come to accept backup cameras as useful aids, I would like to see front and side cameras as well
I purchased one called "Curb Alert" which should be a piece of cake once we figure out how to get through the firewall by finding a utility grommet that we can put a hole in to run the wire for the speaker and control unit. Picked it up for $169 at getyourtech.com (included shipping in the price here) you can see how they work at brandmotion.com How do I get through the firewall, anybody done this to run wiring? Thanks in advance! OLynney
If the cable is not too thick maybe you can run it through the door gap similar to this: http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-...ng-temperature-mgs-inverter-3.html#post922635 http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-...ng-temperature-mgs-inverter-3.html#post963179 otherwise go to gen 3 forum to ask. Good luck!
