Another Prime road trip in progress

Last June I drove a 3,000 mile road trip, to 12 destinations. 100% DCC, 100% nav, all worked beautifully. In fact, for the second time, in-dash nav was better than Google Maps. Harder to set, for sure, but better once set. Easier to find rest stops along the way, worked no matter how far we were from a cell signal, big easy-to-see screen.

 

While driving.

Google doesn't find rest stops well, if at all.

 

Voice button on steering wheel - say "rest areas", select "along route", done. Worked every time.

 

I deleted Waze as borderline useless. The interface is terrible.

The in-car nav has never once made a mistake, on four major road trips. I like the big vertical screen, direction of travel up, tilted, and I can always see what's coming.

Selecting a destination is terrible, especially while you're driving, but the nav itself is excellent.

 

Toyota's heat pump for HVAC is awesome. Helps minimize effect on fuel economy vs. non heat pump HVAC methods.

 

I love the DCC, use it all the time except housing speeds, even in heavy traffic. I used it in my Gen 3 Prius too, so that's about 10 years of using it all the time.

As for 3., yeah, I've noticed that too (sensitive to wind.) Maybe even worse than my Gen 3 Prius, even though the suspension is obviously better.

 

Once I became familiar with DCC behaviors, I have been able to take actions anticipatively to make it work for me quite well. For example, driving on far right hwy lane, when a car in front of you is signaling to get off the hwy, I anticipate DCC to slow my car down. I place my foot on the accelerator pedal and start applying pressure as the car in front of me slows down to maintain my speed.

In the heavy traffic, where everyone is stop and go rather quickly, I know DCC reacts late. So, I change the length of DCC distance to 3 from 1 when I anticipate a car in front of me is slowing down. This allows DCC to respond sooner, resulting in smoother deceleration of my car under DCC.

When someone makes a brisk lane change on to mine right in front of me, I do not wait for DCC to slow my car down because I know I can brake my car safer in this situation.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

Nice trip report. Have a safe and good rest of your trip.

I don't use in car nav that often, but yes finding rest areas, gas station, restaurants seem to be easier on in car nav compared to Garmin. Of course, I have original map data in my car which must be at least 4-5 years old so it can be useless info.

How are you finding seat comfort on a long trip? I don't like Softec material on my Premium, but it comes with lumbar support which I must have. Still, I find my Prime's seat is too stiff on a long trip compared to my recent long drive on Pathfinder seat which is large and supportive, overall much more comfortable.

 

The in-car nav is zoomable, and the graphics are as good as, or better than Google Maps.

The arrival time estimate assumes going the speed as-set in the nav system for major road types.

 

I never use my DCC at one bar, most if the time I leave it on 3, but if there's more traffic, I change it to 2. I also don't expect it to brake at a stoplight, I do that manually, as well as various other situations.

 

I prefer the old fashioned cruise control on freeways. I like the adaptive cruise control on other roads as well as on congested freeways.