What don't you like about your new Prius

Oh, I hope it isn't just my car. Other people have mentioned it, too.

 

Look in the vehicle settings options on the MID (top). You may be able to suppress it. I've done that for some of the pop-up displays that I found useless.

 

The USB slot is in an awkward position - it faces backwards at an angle, and is quite difficult to put a USB stick in without looking.

 

Exactly my feeling too.

 

Overall I have no problem with my brakes either coming up on 3k miles. I have seen reviewers mention grabby brakes but I haven't experienced that except on two occasions when I put them on really hard. Seems like perhaps the car is anticipating a panic stop just a little too soon. I guess better that way than too late. I have always been pretty easy on my brakes so that may be the reason. J

How about a louder horn and make it a bit easier to activate. I have to press really hard on the center of the wheel and usually don't get it to sound when done in a panic situation. I drive in an area with lots of distracted drivers occasionally leaving their lane and coming right at me. J

 

jb, my "meep meep" horn seems to work easier when I press on the lower center portion of the wheel.

Regarding the brakes again, I had read all the articles about the re-gen brakes before buying my Prius. Mixed reviews. (Most articles said the Camry Hybrid brakes were much worse.) I'm usually very light on the brakes, with a gentle gradual push on the pedal... and then out of nowhere, it will GRAB. This usually occurs at slower speeds, when coming up to the car stopped in front of me.

But now that I'm aware of it, I can expect it and deal with it. It's just a another Prius oddity item that I keep on my mental checklist. (Have a good day everybody, drive carefully and safe motoring.)

 

Thanks for the advice cc, and you have a good one too. Going to be a hot one in Baltimore area today, they say 100 +. J

 

Yes, please!

 

The horn is easily upgraded for less than 20 bucks...

 

Yes, I know. I changed mine. Why couldn't Toyota have saved me the hassle?

 

Planning installing my horns today. Had a false start the other day when I removed the pedestrian alert speaker instead of the horn and wasted time trying to understand how to connect the cable to the new horn. Had I been successful in i would have wondered why my horn was sounding at slow speeds.

 

If at first...

 

I had the same issue, then I figured out with the help of another PC member that you really need to break well in advance so that you apply the brakes just a tad more than what is already done when you release the accelerator - in other words, long really soft braking is prized compared to braking with full CHG area. And if the hydraulic brakes are used, your braking score goes down the drain
In any case, safety first - who cares about the score. It is there to teach people to improve braking and avoid braking at the last minute. When you brake slowly and in advance the battery charges more and you can use that energy later.

I have absolutely not issues with the Gen4 brakes, which are actually better than what my Gen3 were. They brake more when necessary. I think also that the car starts braking before one hits them, in case the radar notices you are not doing it and you are approaching a car too fast. Nothing will be shown, but probably it is either braking already or pressure has been already raised and the brake pads are already closer to the discs.
My personal experience so far, is that they brake well (better).
The only gripe I have, and it is possibly due to the too few km I have driven so far (less than 2000km // 1000mi) is that they make quite a grabbing noise from a stand still, if you release them lightly and the car starts to move, especially when cold. Once warm, I don't notice it anymore.

Things I don't like in Gen4 (and I understand that if it works, and you use it very rarely in the overall lifetime of the car and does it job, why change it - but...):

• the 1970's luggage compartment lamp (on one side only) and switch (same as Gen3)
• the pop up about ACC not available below 50km/h
• the pedal hand brake which is so not high tech (and from Gen3) - I buy the greatest in driving technology there is out there, and I have something from the 1950s...how about a more modern push button? (electric hand brake)
• the tray in the middle console under the armrest - it falls down just by looking it
• the USB port that delivers like 1mA
• the seat heater switches in the most odd position, like an after thought
• the lack of rain sensor standard (that is a safety feature) in rainy Germany! not even available as an option - and if the windshield is full of rain all of a sudden, how does the camera work??
• plastic inserts in the 17" alloy wheels - I understand there are surely cost, weight and aerodynamic reasons, and they don't look bad, still....
• the weird sound the door makes when it hits, easily, the end of the opening range and you hear a weird "clunk" (will post a video soon) - you think you are about to destroy the metal stop - nothing like it in the Gen3
• non extendable sun shades - this is totally nonsense
• no place for tickets, coins, small remotes, etc
• the luggage compartment cover not fixed to rails, but floating - it is a pain to put it back in position and looks cheap (actually not the material, which is good, the implementation to leave it floating)
• the useless rear windshield wiper - it costs money and really doesn't help when it rains; the amount of visible area it cleans is comparable to a stamp
• MAP/SAT on console and handsfree button on steering wheel that don't work - why are there?
• lack of basic handsfree voice recognition (was available on Gen3)
• wind noise above 120-130km/h and outside noise at any speed - the car has become really quiet, but still too much noise from the outside allowed to reach the cabin - like the doors had holes in them - I understand saving weight, but it doesn't help having everything super quiet, if you are deafened from a not perfect tarmac or the rumbling diesel sitting next to you; you add music to the lot, you are getting insane...I think this is worse than Gen3
• need to apply the brakes to keep the car still (no, NEUTRAL is not an option as the car cannot charge the battery in N and it is not advised from Toyota to use N in normal driving conditions, and I agree with them) - what is it with this nonsense crawl..!? let me at least disable it!
• even if you can disable it, the obnoxious reverse beep (another neat feature carried over from Gen3)
• speedometer with absurd 10% error (more or less like in Gen3 - why not 5%?)
• MFD still 6% optimistic - why please not 3%? or even 0%? people buying the Prius will check fuel consumption by hand....!

As you see the list is of small "bugs"/annoyances rather than anything major. Still it is not clear why Toyota insists on keeping some of them (in all markets) and just a few minor changes could remove a good chunk of them and raise the overall appeal of the car. Some above are true show stoppers for some EU market buyers, who don't really understand what the car is designed for (save gas in style ).

 

I agree with almost all you mentioned.

But that's interesting, my speedometer is only 3% optimistic (with my TomTom GPS). But I've got 15" tyres. I'm not sure about the MFD - I haven't filled up enough yet.

You mentioned the rain sensor - doesn't your model have Automatic Wipers - which are on all models here? Mine work well, even with dew on the windscreen when I went to the car late the other night. TOYOTA has been odd with their packaging. I discovered today that some Audio Systems have volume and tuning KNOBS - mine work on touch screen which is difficult to do while moving. And we didn't have an option of Auto Parking on any of our models, but they're on most other markets.

With your 4th last comment "... need to apply the brakes to keep the car still (no, NEUTRAL is not an option ..." - is PARK an option? I got caught up in traffic which stopped altogether for 10 minutes or so (crash ahead), and that's what I did, selected PARK. Would that have charged the battery?

 

Maybe they set the speedometer for 15" wheels - or maybe they have to increase that for the EU - who knows - it is OFF!
And no automatic wipers - they are all school ones. I had rain sensor on my Gen3 mid-trim. I could not get it on Gen4 not even as an option. And I didn't want to spend 2k€ more for a rain sensor packed with other stuff I couldn't care about (navi and 10 speaker JBL).
Park is not an option really, because if you are rear-ended while standing still, and it happened to me once on Gen3 at a red traffic light - the driver behind me forgot he had a clutch to press...., you destroy not just the rear bumper, but also the transmission...If you brake, the car can more or less roll without any effect on the transmission internals. And it is certainly cheaper to fix a bumper than a park clam and what else in a transmission box...

 

My one, and only one gripe, is that the steering column does not have enough extension adjustment. It is better than the Gen3 and the Plus(v) but just not quite enough to sit further back and not have my legs too bent. Other than that the car is perfect.

 

My dislike is this: My 2008 Prius had very nice storage in the front seat area... two large glove compartments including an area for the manuals which still left two large compartments, very usable. And a larger console compartment, a nice CD pocket under the radio, and a Kleenex box size compartment under the console. Seemed like whatever it was, there was room.

This 2016, not so good, all gone, hardy any space for anything. The manuals alone fill the little glove compartment, and there's little else. Whatever is in the glove, you have to take everything out to find it. I guess I need a cardboard box in the back seat.