Prius annoyances

The shifter is easy to use, but it would still be more intuitive if it stayed in the position where you put it. A few times I've gotten confused about if I was in B mode or D or N. With an old style automatic shifter there's muscle memory that makes it easier to remember, and if it's in the center console I can tell just by putting my hand on it. With the Prime the indicator lights for D, B, (and N? I can't remember) are all green and the same shape for some reason, so it takes conscious thought to tell which gear I'm in, instead of making it a reflex. I think the less intuitive shifter is one of the reasons why they need the reverse beep.

One thing that this shifter does allow is for it to automatically go to Park when you turn the car off. But even that can cause problems since I think they need to add another beep if you try to open the driver's door while it is still in Drive, since the muscle memory of putting it in park is gone.

I have almost forgotten to turn the car off a few times, since the action of putting it in park is so similar to the action of turning it off. Both are a button press in roughly the same place. On an old car, moving the shifter to park and turning the key are two completely distinct actions.

You guys must get more slippery rain than we do here, because the back window is not always clear. I've tried Rainx and that didn't help much, and makes it worse in some conditions. It always clears itself on the highway, but sometimes it's a problem at lower speed.

 

The car certainly did those things, those apps are built into the head unit on my car. It's true they need help from a phone to function, but that means basically nothing in this case. If I didn't have a phone, I wouldn't complain about it because I'd never have even seen them. And we're not talking about perpetuity, we're talking months...

And yes, I would feel quite different, to your last question, then it's not toyota's fault, so there's no reason to blame them. I didn't spend some $40K with those other companies, I did with Toyota.

 

That's a lot for a Prime.

I think your only recourse may be to drive this car to the local dealer, park it out front and set it on fire. That will show those app-stealing bastards...

 

Yeah, it is, but because of SE Toyota, I had to order it and pay full MSRP + a few extras. As for the rest, FO.

 

The rear window actually improves the Prime's aerodynamics, but what Toyota did to the front cancelled out that improvement though.

Did not know that. Beeps would have saved our fence from the Sable. I found it odd to complain about the reverse beeps, and the shifter not showing gear you are in.

 

This was a choice, not a requirement. Plenty of Toyota dealers have these cars in other regions. You could buy out of state for significant savings. If you don't want to travel to fetch the car and drive it home, you could have it delivered to you for about $1,000 and still come out well ahead of your local dealer pricing.

 

What did they do to the front that canceled this?

 

Yes it was, but seeing as how I'd driven a Gen 3 for more than 7 years, loving it, and expecting the Prime to do everything better than it did, I thought it was an okay choice.

Again, time, I don't have a lot extra, and buying a car out of state costs more time. I could have done cheaper, but definitely not easier, I don't dispute that at all.

 

Exactly, I can't say, but the Prime's front trim pieces are different than the Prius', which results in more drag.
Prius front and Prime rear would result in a better coefficient of drag than either parent model.

 

How do you know this?

 

Prime front (and LEDs) was one of the primary (ha!) attractions to me. Whatever fractions of Cx % it added (if at all) don't bother me.

 

Details buried in the unveiling and release threads. Likely from articles covering the car.

With the rear, it ended up being no change. Just irritating to purists as proof the Prime's nose was for aesthetics, and not function.

 

I'll believe it if there are some actual wind tunnel tests published that show that this produces more drag. Just because a shape doesn't look aerodynamic doesn't mean that in that use and with surrounding details it isn't aerodynamic.

 

*sigh* the articles were citing Toyota sources

 

is it like "anonymous sources" that are so popular with /fake/ media nowadays?

 

i'll back troll bait on this one. you guys apparently weren't around for the unveiling, but the curved rear window less wiper is to help make up for increased drag in the front

this was direct from toyota. finding those quotes would be time consuming, but not impossible. they are on the net.

 

Even if this is the case (and there is data to support it), it is complete supposition that putting a Prius front end on a Prime would improve aerodynamics of the Prime. First - what would be changed? The lower fascia, everything including the quad LED headlights, etc? Second - the new front end has to integrate with everything else on the Prime (longer length, differerent hatch, lower ground clearance, etc.) to produce the same or lower aero drag as the Prime has now.

 

I sure wish I had saved the link, it was a translated interview with the engineers. They detailed several 'compliance' features required by US law and the US regulators. I read it in the 2009- 2010 times frame, but it was not new then.

 

I'd be interested to read this if anybody has it. I would think that any compliance features would apply equally to both the Prius and the Prime, but perhaps not.

 

It was more in the 'introducing the Gen 2' time frame, it would not have had Gen 4 features.

US law requires an N and a B, You always have to know when you are in R.

49 CFR § 571.102 - Standard No. 102; Transmission shift position sequence, starter interlock, and transmission braking effect. | CFR | US Law | LII / Legal Information Institute

Later they decided blind people were at risk and made Toyota add a noisemaker. You cannot have Foglights on without lowbeams in the US. Stuff like that.