New Prius Likes and Dislikes

I was very positivly suprised when i first testdrove the prius....

I had read som much about that it had bad handling and so on
but when i drove it for a day , i tought i handeled much better than expected..
comfy ride,, and steering was totally ok
im used to a bmw 5 series for some years now, and yes the prius is a different ride but not worse,,... and i love the gadget factor too lol...
in norway the prius is delivered with 16" wheels , so that might affect the handling in a good way compared to 15"......

i like the interiour aswell, much better than i tought,,, the whole car is more like a fun toyota than just durable and boring..

the big JBL stereo is ok , but not more than ok, I expect better sound when the JBL logo is there....

and the reduce mode on phonesystem and nav is irritaing, and starup screen,,, but hey that what we get when people would have sued Toyota if they managed to crash the car . get injured cause of using it while driving,,, common sense is not a factor.... (i sometimes wonder if it would be better to remove some warnings on different things.,, abit more "survial of the fittest "lol :blink:

the most disappointing thing for me is the seats...an cool advanced car and so simple seats... i dont need electrical memory seat , but the seats lack support in many aeras...

Cheers

Ola Andreas

 

LOL, Im 6'4" 275lbs, I ride and drive my 04 with no complaints.. One suggestion on interior colors get rid of the Ivory cloth... (its a B*tch to keep kleen)

Other than that I keep hearing complaints about the split rear window, notice the aztec also has the split window...

I really like the car My wife loves it she wants another at 75k lol, im looking at the camry or the prius next.... Toyota been the most reliable for many years..

WOW brasche has some complaints under his belt, gee just sell the car and buy a lincolon navigator...

 

There is no reason to compare the Prius to cars that were built for a different purpose and customer. It is apples and oranges.

I have only had the car for a month, but I have no complaints at all.
I wouldn't change a thing.

I think Toyota finally got it right.

Its a very fun car to drive and it gets better mileage than any other car
that I know of.

"Oh, What a Feeling! Who Could Ask for Anything More?"

 

Darrell, please tell if you are working on an aftermarket battery kit. The current aftermarket options are priced beyond what I'm willing to pay (although the Canadian kit is looking good!) My limit is 5k, is that doable? I think a simple battery kit (one that only recharges from the grid) would be a great improvement. Slow overnight charging would be acceptable if it helped keep the cost down. BTW, are the LED interior lights ready for sale?

 

Me! Me! They already made what I'm asking for... but stopped, and replaced it with a gas car.

 

Nope, I'm not working on an after-market solution. I'm working on the MARKET solution. If Toyota were to create a Prius-like plug-in vehicle, it would work better, and be far cheaper than any aftermarket solution. Everybody seems to agree that it would cost the consumer an extra $3k to have a true, full-feature plug-in versino of the Prius if it came from the factory. So... less than the price of Nav and leather. My whole push (beyond the simple mods that I personally do) is to get PRODUCTION vehicles built correctly from the factory. This is the only way to get the right product into the mass market. It is coming... slowly but surely we are gaining steam.

That's been on the back burner for a bit (that tends to happen once I have them done for MY vehicle). But I'll get back to them. It isn't a quick or inexpensive process.

 

Fred, you're right, I'm a demanding customer. However, I have a hard time understanding why Toyota deliberately made Prius with a flexible body and marsh mellow suspension. It simply isn’t safe! I rented a Chevy Cobalt the other week that was much better behaved than the Prius. Yes, the Prius has a smooth and compliant ride in calm conditions, but it’s a real handful in high winds, when cornering quickly, in high speed turns, and going through road crowned intersections. There is a great performance mods thread by DocVijay about improving the handling characteristics of the car for those that are interested: http://priuschat.com/index.php?showtopic=13764&hl=

 

I know the Prius does well in crash testing...is there a handling test that cars go thru (like an SUV rollover/tipping test) that u can quantify the "Prius is not safe" remark. I feel the car does more than better. I'm not doing Autocross out there on the roads. Are u saying in an emergancy manuever, you won't survive in a Prius?

 

Darrell, maybe it would be simpler to sell the interior LEDs not as assemblies but as kits (with a page of soldering instructions). It would reduce your time commitment to packaging and shipping. Think Heathkit

 

I thought I would take a moment to respond to each of these listed above:

1) Uncomfortable/unsupportive seats

I find the the seats extremely comfortable, maybe not by Lexus standards, but far more than an average car. Remember this is not a luxry car.

2) No forward/back headrest adjustment

I have never seen this in any vehicle.

3) No seat hight adjustment

Such is life, if the seats really bug you, there's nothing stopping you from changing them.

4) No memory seats

This would require the seats to be power seats.

5) No memory mirrors

Again, I have never had a car have this.

4) Irritating NAV voice
5) Over chatty NAV
6) No Nav voice choices

Don't have the Navigation system

7) Horrible handling

I have not had any issues with the handling to date, including in the rain, but then again I live in So. Cal.

8) Unstable in cross winds

Again, I have had no problems here, we will see when I drive up to Lancaster sometime I suppose.

9) Only 12 station presets (so why 14 ways to set your Nav destination?)

12 is 2 more than most cars, again if this bothers you, you can get a different stereo, but it may not be integrated into the MFD.

10) Disabled Nav features when driving

Safety features

11) Disabled phone features when driving (disabled anything!)

Don't have or need this, this is what speaker phone was invented for.

12) Radio doesn't update what's playing on the non-selected stations

Why would it? Unles you had a $500+ stereo system, I wouldn't expect it to.

13) Very poor voice recognition (no training)
14) Context limited voice recognition (why?)

Don't have, can't comment.

15) Hard plastic interior

I personally like it, easier to maintain than Leather and costs less too.

16) Mediocre leather

What leather? I wouldn't want leather seats anyway, gets too hot in the summer.

17) Oversensitive accelerator

I find it to work just the way I normally would drive anyway.

18) Totally numb steering

Not quite sure what you mean by this, the steering is great on it from everything that I have seen.

19) Somewhat over sensitive and numb braking

Again, the brakes work exactly as I would expect them to, I would rather have strong brakes than weak ones.

20) Jerky braking during gentle stops

You must be pumping the breaks or something is wrong with your brakes, this isn't an issue for me.

21) Rear spoiler interferes with auto-dimming mirror sensor

Well, since I don't use an auto-dimming mirror this isn't an issue.

22) Won't accepting reverse command immediately after starting

Again, something must be wrong, as I use reverse immediately all of the time.

23) No Plug

Why do you need a plug? The car recharges it's self very well.

24) Low capacity battery

Higher capcity would mean more wieght, which would mean lower performance of the whole system, which would also mean that the higher capacity battery is doing no good.

There are things I would have liked to see them add, such as perhaps the ability to connect a Laptop directly into the MFD (i.e. a VGA port and USB out and drivers and such) without going through extreme meassures.

But all in all, so far I woudl say it's the best car I have ever had the pleasure to drive and I have drove many vehicles (including Lexu, Mercedes, BMW, etc.). Of course there are luxry features that aren't there, as it isn't a Luxury car.

 

Be careful, if you critise the prius too much, you'll get threatned a bit.

But you are right with your comments. I came from a Jetta (GLS with the 1.8T) and the ride and handling was leagues better for roughly the same price. I just don't understand why Toyota made the car handle so... vaugely.

 

Ah...I have the beige. So our cars are almost twins.

 

All these likes and dislikes make for interesting reading. Coming from a luxury car seems to prejudice one against, from a ...um.. 'lesser' car has the opposite effect. I wonder about the cost of a car that would have some of the more arcane amenities. Coming from a Chevy Metro, however, makes the Prius a wonderful peice of machinery indeed. I resented for a while (before seriously considering a purchase) that I would have to spend twice or more the money for the car that would roughly match my Geo mileage (in highway driving, which is most of ours). But is is SO superior, not to mention larger.

There are a few things I either miss or would like:

1. I miss a temp guage
2. The beeping backup was annoying...until a helpful priuschat bulletin showed me how to turn it off
3. I agree that all those safety features in the radio messaging are a pain - any disconnect ideas for those?


boyo, are these ever small compaints!

We have been happily driving our Prius for a month...
Jim

 

Seriously, you think this? I guess 23 is your opinion, but you're simply wrong about 24. This has been proved... many times. The major detraction is cost, not function.

And back to 23... the point is to use an energy source other than gasoline to power the car. Yes, the Prius "recharges itself"... but it uses gasoline to do so, and there's little reason for that!

If you haven't sbumbled across me before, please note that I drive a battery electric vehicle as my primary (freeway) transportation... and it is charged via our solar array on the roof. The Prius is our gas guzzler.

 

"Why didn't you spare yourself the agony and buy another BMW?"


Or the brand spanking new GS 450h.

 

I installed one last weekend. It improved the handling in some ways and changed the overall character of the car, but interestingly didn't help much with the crosswinds. Here's what I noticed. The car corners more evenly now (much less nose down/tail up action). It also has less tendency to plow through turns and it takes less time to regain it's composure. However, it is no less resistant to buffeting, tramlining and crosswinds than it was before (it just regains its composure more quickly). DocVijay reports that a lower front suspension cross-brace does a good job of eliminating the tramlining... I've got one on order and should know soon.

 

Jim, Interestingly, the Chevy Colbalt I rented let you cycle a status display through a series of system readings by pressing the turn signal stalk... one of them was engine temp. Wouldn't it be great if the prius had screen of system gauges! Imagine engine temp, oil presure, vacuum, oil temp water temp, charging amps. It too bad Toyota worked so hard to disable and hide things.

 

Hi Darrell, Yes, I was reading your web site before you got the Prius. Never knew GM made such a great EV. Your site prompted me to look into the cost of rooftop system and connecting to the grid (FL is almost as bright as CA). Laughed over your single blind BT plate tests and your daughters comments about straightening the tree. Thanks for all your contributions.