I do love my high-tech Prius! But the car I am selling to buy it is a '98 BMW M3 which had something "high tech" that the Prius lacks, which is a puzzlement! Especially since so many American-manufactured cars have the same: And that is a "trip computer." The computer in my M3 would tell me (once the destination distance was entered), miles from destination and time to destination, as well as miles of fuel remaining in the tank (based on average consumption calculated from the last time the consumption computer was reset). I found those items fairly accurate and fairly useful. Given all the computing power obviously present in the Prius, I wonder why these basic functions are not provided? Or have I just not found them??? Perhaps if we pray to Priapus, he will someday provide...
You just haven't found 2/3 of what you're asking for. On the nav system, once you've got a destination, the distance and estimated time to destination are on the left side. As for distance to empty, I wish it had it. My 02 Maxima which had no nav system but had a trip computer that'd would display outside temp, distance to empty, average mpg, count up timer [very useful], and average speed.
I wish it had a couple of things my bike computers have: Average speed Maximum speed Driving time Stop watch I even have these functions built into my Magellen Color GPS unit. The estimated times are only based on the values you put in for the types of roads you are driving on. A real GPS calculated ETA based on current location and velocity. The prius does not. I guess I will need to install a Sigma BC1200 bike computer in the car to get these added functions.
Actually, I want a button to press that turns the red light to green as I approach the intersection. Springtime
If all you're interested in is miles till empty when your warning light goes on go look at your average consumption and that's how many miles you have until absolute empty. Of couse with all these estimates of miles till empty any estimate that is based upon the average mileage sense the compuer was reset could be overestimating if during the last gallon of gas of driving you're getting lower gas mileage. For a full tank of gas I know that whenever my gas light blinks, I can get almost 9 gallons of gas to fill up my tank. Then I look at my average mileage. If I see myself getting around 50 mpg, then 9*50 = 450 miles. So I know to expect 450 miles of driving until I get to the same point I was when I last refueled. So if my consumption screen shows me driving 430 miles since last reset, then I know that I have about 20 miles till the warning light shows up. So it's not too hard to get a good estimate of miles till empty. What you really want is miles left till warning light and miles left till empty based upon the average mileage over the last 5 minutes of driving. So then you'll see this number bounce around a bit and then level out depending upon how your driving changes over time.
Many of the functions that people are asking for are available with the ScanGauge. It costs $130, shipping included, directly from the maker. Here's the web site: http://www.scangauge.com/
I'd really like a feature that read live traffic info and suggested the most time efficient route to get to my destination. I think this is on the drawing boards. It may be available in Japan but I don't think anywhere else yet. Japan is such a physically small country that they can implement country wide features much easier than the rest of us. Also a feature that could turn lead into gold could be very useful at times.
Hmmm... maybe one of the Homelink buttons on my mirror will work for that... I would like: Elevation and "trip elevation" (change in elevation since the beginning of the trip). An indicator that shows when the friction brakes are engaged. Options to display mpg vs. miles or vs. gallons (in 5-mile or 1/10 gallon intervals) on the Consumption scren. Some indication of scale on the Energy screen -- it doesn't have to be completely to scale, but I'd like the width of the arrows to provide some information about the amount of energy flowing.
