2016 Prius - let's hear from buyers

Krmcg that is one nice car in your profile pic. If you find yourself bored feel free to post one or two ih higher res.

 

Never used cruise control in any car before. How is it? What are some things I should know about cruise control?

 

is it vanilla, or radar cruise?

 

I don't know whatever's on the Four Touring

 

me neither. but if it's regular cruise, it's nice for long trips, but don't use it in heavy traffic. if it's radar cruise, or whatever toy calls it, it will keep you a certain distance from the car in front of you, and you can have a nap while driving.

 

Has anybody purchased a Prius with the new 10 speaker JBL system ?
How does it sound ?

 

Looks like mine has Full-Speed Dynamic Radar Cruise Control

 

sweet! enjoy the zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz's.

 

It'll help with improving mpg? Is it dangerous to use cruise control?

 

I had posted about the DRCC, and have since discovered that there's a button that controls the distance from the car in front. It's worked great so far and can't see how it can be dangerous since it always maintains a safe distance from the car in front.

• The distance maintained by the dynamic cruise seems to depend on the currently set maximum limit. For example, setting the max speed to say 55mph will allow within a certain distance of the car in front, but it bumping any higher can increase the gap (ostensibly because braking distances increase with speed; the car will accelerate to the maximum set limit given sufficient distance)
• This can be a little odd for Gen2 owners like me who are accustomed to pushing the lever down to get an instant cruise speed increase, but it looks like a great feature. BTW, note that pressing the lever down can increase the max pretty quickly, so be wary of accidentally setting it several miles above the speed limit

 

help in improving mpg's is subjective. some say yes, some say no. it's not dangerous, or they wouldn't be allowed to put it on the car. with the old type, you really have to pay attention to traffic in front of you. but on a long highway trip, it's a gift to the right leg.

 

I've always found that cruise control hurts my mpg. It can't anticipate, only react. and it never glides unless you're going downhill.

 

Congrats to all new owners!!!! Looks like an awesome car and for people that know Prii it seems you should be able to get 50+ MPG out of them pretty easily. Ema is still running great <knock on wood> so I'm pushing her towards 500K but do have 2 questions for those with Bluetooth and NAV.

1. Does the navigation talk over phone calls when you are on the phone using Bluetooth? This is a registered complaint with the NHTSA but hasn't been corrected yet that I am aware of.
2. Are there any useable voice commands for the NAV? "Suspend Guidance", "Resume Guidance" being the most important. This was taken away in the new NAV's for both Toyota and Lexus and hasn't returned yet. At least as of 2013 with our Lexus RX450h. Pretty sad when a 2006 Prius with 430 miles has a better NAV than a Lexus luxury SUV, LOL.

Happy driving,
Chris

 

You win the internet today!

 

It depends upon the driver. A lot of accelerator fretting with speed changes means the car is often gaining and losing kinetic energy, a waste of fuel. In contrast, cruise control leads to conservative driving with fewer speed changes.

I drive 90% of the time on the old-style, manual cruise control, even in the city. I tend to make small changes by the control stalk. So I often observe other cars that seems to be oscillating their velocity on the road. In the worst case, traffic can form what is called a 'standing wave'. Not so common in Huntsville, it was very common in DC traffic (aka., I-66 in the afternoon.)

What I am suggesting is if you haven't driven on 'cruise control', it provides another variable, another way to see if it provides better mileage. It is not a universal approach but something to experiment.

The one problem with cruise control is dealing with hills. The problem is not so much ascending, just trim the speed down a couple of mph. Rather, the problem are descending where the car tries to maintain a constant speed. Rather than let the car regen charge the traction battery, I prefer when the situation allows, shift into "N" but this is a risky technique considered illegal in some jurisdictions. BTW, speeding is a risky technique considered illegal in some jurisdictions. But I consider it quite safe when going down an over pass because the speed increase is modest and soon enough returns to ordinary speeds.

Bob Wilson

 

I love the fact that you can insert USB stick and songs play on navigator screen ...Sweeeet !!!!! I Low ride all day Long

 

Thanks for the encourgement

 

My gen 3 has that feature.

 

First Post. I am picking up my 2016 Three Touring this evening in Atlanta, GA. It arrived at the dealership yesterday afternoon. Homemade pic by the salesman posted below with more to follow tomorrow night.