My Gen2 had 175k miles and was starting to have issues. With the closeout deals they were having - my full financed payments will be under sticker! - I couldn't resist upgrading. It's a package 3 with the ATP. I only got to drive it a little bit so far and I have to say that I love the sun roof and the bluetooth audio. I don't trust the Adaptive Cruise yet - although it did seem to panic break when I-5 went from 63 to 0, I wasn't going to let it do all the work - but I expect I will just accept it soon. The navigation wasn't loud enough to be heard over the music so I might stick to my phone for that. The speed limit on the heads up seems to be at the very edge of the display so that's a little weird. Other than that and that the dealership didn't know how to turn off the rear beep (or they didn't want to do it), I'm enjoying the heck out of it. I've just been doing highway driving really at 63 or so, and I'm getting mid 60s MPG. That's pretty sweet!
Congratulation! DRCC will become a necessity. I absolutely love it. Yeah, I brake before totally relying on it to stop me. The nav volume is adjustable on the nav set up screen. Also, you can hit the speaker icon on the display to have the directions repeated for you.
Geez, I spelled it "break." Oops I had it cranked up as loud as it goes and it was almost good, but it's nicer on my phone where it lowers the volume of the music to tell me the turn. OTOH, it's less demanding and doesn't tell me about each turn 15 times.
Read the owner's manual. It's very riveting and exciting. Only 800 pages. (And another 250 pages for the Nav manual.) When my navigation lady speaks to me, the radio temporarily cuts off. She overrides the radio. She likes to be in charge.
I think I'm breaking up with the nav system. She keeps telling me really stupid ways to go when I test it and I keep overruling her. In better news, I tested out the cruise control in rush hour traffic yesterday and it was magic. I chilled and steered and talked with my wife as the car stopped and then sped back up as traffic moved. It was so much less stressful.
I find the same with the NAV system. When I set it to go somewhere I know the tried and true best route, it tries to convince me to go another way. I just go the way I want and let her "catch up". Sometimes I wonder about the route when I am going somewhere I don't know the way - but I don't have enough info to override. The cruise control IS awesome!
Which begs the question... if we know the way to go, why are we using the NAV? :lol: That being said, I use it sometimes just to get an ETA . I also have found that the NAV factors in traffic to the route and may be telling me a faster way to get there. I find that the NAV voice is plenty loud unless I'm really cranking the music. I do wish it would work with the music and turn down when instructions are given but it's not a deal breaker. The DRCC is probably my favorite thing on my car. My wife doesn't trust it even though we've used it a lot. She swears she wouldn't use it if she was driving. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I don't know what to say. I've used it over hundreds of miles and many hours. It's great. I admit it makes me nervous when traffic speeds are dropping suddenly. Sometimes I override it and sometimes I let it do its thing. It has not let me down. But, one must remain vigilant. The driver has ultimate responsibility. iPhone ?
Traffic. The NAV helps with traffic and re-routing due to delays - but only if you put a destination in.
In my case it was testing it to see how it would do to see if I'd trust it on longer trips. Well and also to see if it would say, "You have reached your final destination" like the creepy one in Doctor Who. I was reading the manual but I haven't figured out how to turn off the stupid "Only use cruise control on the highway" and "To start the car put your foot on the brake" messages yet.
If you figure that out... please post. I've performed a similar search and wasted a great deal of time. I'd also like to turn off that inane message that is displayed every single solitary time you start the car. I've never read a pillow tag either.
Don't you just love this car? I've used the adaptive cruise control and it works great! The manual suggests you do not use it in heavy traffic which is probably a good idea and keep in mind that anytime you give control of your vehicle to an automatic feature, you need to pay attention and not assume it will always work perfectly. So far, it has worked quite well for me. The blind-spot sensors work well when a vehicle is next to you but do not always light up when a motorcycle passes so be careful out there!
When is traffic "heavy" enough not to use DRCC? It's a subjective word. I can understand why Toyota want to cover themselves in the manual with provisos like this, but it's very much a matter of personal judgement isn't it. Also, is it really safer in heavy traffic to rely solely on the driver and relatively slow human reaction times or is DRCC plus careful driver attention safer? What do others think? Only risk I can foresee of using it is a false positive where it brakes unexpectedly and unnecessarily. Is there a way to defeat this in this event - does this cancel if you put your foot on the throttle/accelerator/gas pedal? Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
You can override it trying to brake by using the throttle. I've noticed that some undisciplined, thoughtless, drivers will slow before an exit, and DRCC will slow, and sometimes brake, but if I think I've got space and can let the gap close as I go past the back of their exiting car, I'll keep the speed up with my throttle, or stop it slowing as much as it's inclined to do. If someone pulls in in front of me, I just watch that it "sees" that vehicle in time - so far, it's done well. And I use it in tight/heavy traffic - I find it's great in bumper to bumper traffic around an accident or roadworks - BUT, you have to be alert like you normally would. It generally gets it spot on, keeps a nice gap in front and takes the stress out of that sort of driving. The only frustration is that it's a little slow to take off from a traffic light - you supposedly touch the accelerator and it'll start and follow the car in front - which it does, but seems a little slow with the uptake sometimes, and then catches up. I'm using NORMAL Mode - I might try it with POWER Mode and see if that's any better.
Thanks. Interesting. Is the slowness at traffic lights to do with the distance setting? Have you experimented with that? Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
I think you are right in that Toyota will provide some means of protecting themselves from potential lawsuits but personally I do think that human reaction is better in heavy traffic because the sensors on the car do not "see" everything going on around the vehicle while the driver does. As traffic gets heavy, people seem to push harder to get around others and make quick lane changes so you often have to make quick adjustments. When the traffic isn't intense and you have a more space, the DRCC is pleasant to use and slows down very gradually when you approach a vehicle in front of you going at a slower speed. The driver should however be diligent, attentive, and ready to respond as always.
So yesterday I was doing a lot of city driving and saw this result. What cracks me up was my score. I got nearly 80 mpg. I don't think I really am concerned about studying the eco screen on top of that