Gen 5 Prius and Prius Prime owners thread

Anything else you can say about small rear view? Do you or your daughter feel like its a significant issue? I ask because I sat in an XLE in a showroom a few days ago and was a bit taken aback by how small the view was out the back (looked as if I was looking out the back of John Milner's {American Graffiti) 1932 Ford Deuce Coupe, LOL).

I have an XLE coming in for me on April 23. I hope I can get used to that small rear view after a driving the car for a period of time. In fact, I called my dealer and we discussed me waiting instead for a Limited to come in with the digital rear view mirror installed (it's optional on the Limited, but not available on the XLE). However, not many Limited trim are coming in right now, (why I don't know - almost all are either LE and XLE), plus its hit and miss as to whether the digital mirror would even be included (not factory installed on all of them and Toyota doesn't install aftermarket). Of course, I could have one professionally installed if I can't get comfortable with the rear view as it is. Curious as to your thoughts and the thoughts of others on this thread. Thanks.

 

(Continuing from the Wheel Bolt thread to a more on topic location)

I had a 2015 Prius C (one, I think, the lowest model at the time). It has a ton more acceleration. The steering feels... "smoother?" Maybe that means less "road feel," I don't know the terminology well. Obviously a lot more tech, which I'm still getting used to, I used the Adaptive Cruise Control this morning and it was equal parts relaxing and terrifying - I think it needs a setting the be a little less aggressive. I love not needing to take my keys out of my pocket, now I need to convince my landlord to install keyless entry!

I think the most surprising thing was the PDA/PCS features, they were off by default and I was concerned I might find them annoying, like the car was fighting me. But they don't seem to bother me at all.

Milage is ok - I get around 51-54 local driving. I got around the same driving home from the dealer Friday (30m highway), this morning using mostly the CC I got 48. All reported by the car, I haven't used a fraction of the huge gas tank.

I have the digital mirror. It helps, but I also find it a little distracting. It has a much wider view, and cars passing sometimes catch the corner of my eye. Also, it's hard to use in low light conditions, especially if you have an SUV or lifted truck with twin suns shining on your back. Which is everyone on the road these days it seems. If you were really good with those magic 3D picture books back in the day you can force yourself to focus on the camera rather than the reflection, but it gives me a headache.

I've started getting used to the view out the rear, I found lifting my seat helped a bit. I'm not used to having a backup camera either, so I still instinctively want to look out when backing up and it's no good for that. It doesn't help that the passenger side mirror feels much farther away - not sure if it's because the car is wider of if the stalk it's on is rather long.

 

To me it's very limited and I'm old can't read without glasses but can't drive with glasses so it's troublesome. I told her to remove the headrests for a little better viewing. Not sure she did remove them or not, she's the only driver.

 

Thanks. Useful to know. Keep us updated on the thread with your impressions of the car as you continue to get acquainted with it. I get my XLE in about five weeks.

 

Thank you.

 

First post! I've had my 23 for about a week now. It's a Cutting edge, Limited, AWD. This is my first experience with a Prius, never even rode in one once before the test drive. I love the car I can see it sticking around for a while. I needed a sane daily driver, my other car is a not so sane FJ Cruiser.

Here's a few things I saw in the thread to note and some other thoughts off the top of my head:

-Yes, it does remote start from the fob. Short press the lock button twice, then hold the 3rd press.

-The Toyota app sucks and can be super annoying until you disable all the nags. There's no way I will renew the subscription unless this is greatly improved.

-I got the JBL system. As a car audio person I'm not even remotely impressed. It's tinny sounding and lacks bass. I will definitely be doing some sound deadening and speaker upgrades, maybe adding a small powered sub. This will be very easy with the battery in the back. I had the android auto connection fail over bluetooth a couple times already. Not a big fan of it anyway, normal bluetooth streaming is good enough for me.

-It has plenty of pick up off the line and cruises nicely on the freeway. The handling is sharp and the ride is sporty but not too harsh. You can definitely tell it's got those low profile tires on there.

-I like the interior design a lot. The seats are very comfortable and everything has nice materials and a solid feel. The heated/ventilated seats are a nice touch, and I've used the heated wheel multiple times already.. I wish the glass roof wasn't interrupted in the middle I wonder what's under the crossover piece that contains the shades?

-The road noise level is not bad at all, not luxury level but quieter than some. I will still probably add sound deadening to the floors but for stock it's a lot better than I expected.

-The trunk seems kinda small, I don't really need to carry a ton of stuff but I can see costco trips being an issue, especially with the low covers in the way. I could see ditching the silly giant blocks of foam for something would allow the floor to go down a few inches. I'll take a closer look at this later. The automatic lid responds a bit slowly but it's not terrible.

-While were back there I will definitely will be getting a spare tire. It's so ridiculous to me that these aren't standard anymore.

-Rear visibility is laughable, so bad it makes the FJ visibility seem good. I've got the regular mirror since I don't like digital rear views. It's ok for driving but you will feel blind backing out of parking spots. I wish the backup cam was higher resolution since you're basically forced to use it but it does function well. The sensors work well for detecting any cars or people sneaking up from the sides.

-I can't find the cat shield anywhere, I am going to call miller cat to see if they just haven't listed it on their site yet. I have friends in parts and they couldn't find them either.

That's it for now, let me know if you have any specific questions and I will try to help.

 

Every DCC I have used had the ability to adjust following distance, and by controls right next to the rest of the cruise control ones.

 

The follow distance It has variable options. Anything less than the closest is too far around here though, during rush hour traffic people will squeeze into any gap you leave larger than their car.

The main issue I had was that when your lane is stopped ahead and someone dives out of it because an adjacent lane is moving, the car will accelerate towards stopped traffic, which is no good. But that's why there's still a driver, right? I need to be more useful than cargo!

I'm actually near-sighted, I wear glasses. It works except in the dark where headlights from behind overpower the lighting of the display. Same concept as "one-way" mirrors or camouflage blinds.

Yes, there's a button to select a couple options. This doesn't control how quickly it will accelerate to close that gap though, which I feel may be a little too fast given that people will pop into gaps very quickly. I think that's more a "human drivers suck" issue though.

 

The Outback has selectable acceleration rates for the cruise control in the settings menu. IIRC, it has four levels. The 2013 Fusion hybrid was the first to introduce the idea, with an Eco choice for the cruise control to the standard acceleration.

 

I'll root through the menus this afternoon and see if there's anything there.

 

Which can't be allowed to happen?

 

I think Subaru has five settings. Haven't tried they all. The middle ones I use on the freeway are around 6 to 7 car lengths.

 

A popular measure is seconds of following distance, which inherently increases distance with speed. A dynamic cruise control that could manage that would be nice.

 

^ Sounds like it is adjusting for speed, ie following a "something" seconds rule.

I've got "dumb" cruise, and for some strange reason never found it lacking.