My first '06 Prius PDI

Today I did a PDI on our first '06 Prius. Just thought I would let you all know what I seen and liked/disliked about it. No major changes but a lot of little,what I would say,refinements.

First off, I noticed that the "Ready" light is now in the area of the other indicator lights to the right of the speedo.The gear indicator is beside the speedo reading,to the left of it and had a different look to it. The texture of the dash and plastic on the door panels,now is a slightly rougher texture then before. I believe that it also carried over to the steering wheel too. Kind of a sporty feel.Ours was a Silver,which looked like a darker shade then the previous Silver. Looked ok,but I still like the lighter shade better for now. The head/tail lights have a different look to the inside reflector areas,but I only noticed them because an '05 was setting next to the '06. Mounted at the upper rear of the front fenders is a Hybrid emblem,about where you would see the turn/marker(?) lights on some cars. I didn't like that,looked like an afterthought to me. The Tire Pressure Warning System(TPWS) is a welcome addition this year. I have seen lots of Prius' come thru with the tire PSI to low. Some of our customers maintain theirs like any other car, . Oh well. Back inside,I loved what they did to the MFD graphics. More rounded like,maybe 3D graphics you could call it. The Sound screen had an overhead view of the seating where you would adjust the Balance/Fade. All the screens were great looking. And when I went to the Info screen,I was suprised. Someone must have been watching us. At the top of the screen is a button marked"Beep Off". You can turn off the MFD beeps! I know a lot of the members here would love that feature, .I also notice if you were in the Energy/Consumption screen and used the steering wheel buttons to adjust Radio/AC, the bar showing that function,appearing at the top of the MFD, would drop down from the top. Then after about 5-10 secs,it would slide up off the screen. Pretty cool,I thought. This Prius was a package 2 and had the Backup camera but no NAV. The screen shot when backing is similiar to the other Toyota's and is nice if you like that function.

As for performance/driveability/braking/technical,it seemed to me that no changes were done there.If there is,it is slight and I didn't notice anything.And as of yet I have not looked into the NCF to see if any were made.

Overall,I liked the new improvements in the dash/MFD area. I have always like the 2gen and my only dislike was the Hybrid emblem on the front fenders. But to each his/her own and maybe you may like the look.

Hope you find this info useful. Just thought I would give my impressions of the new model, B) .

 

I am not sure what the NAV will look like or act like. The one we have so far(option 2) doesn't have NAV option,so I will have to wait and see on that. Checked on Cutomizing features and nothing. I would say not for legal reasons, B) .

 

I know about the NAV system and how to get to the different menus. I was just mentioning that I didn't know if Toyota changed the look or feel from previous years. I also looked up in the '06 NAV manual and it states that some functions may not be operable while driving. So I guess that answers that question, .

 

Hidden Service Menu? You mean the System Check Mode menu? For the AV,Lan,etc? I know about that diagnositic area. Something else I am missing?Got any more clues? Always looking to learn more, :lol: .