I've been driving this car for ten months now and when I back up to park, I find that I've left enough room for the trunk of my old Camry. Trying to find the front and back limits of the Prius body seems somewhat challenging. I'd appreciate hearing from experts what cues you use to avoid dinging other cars when jockeying into a tight space as well as backing up all the way without coming too close to the edge in parking decks, etc.
Why not tape a stick to the rear bumper? Get a 2-foot stick, tape it vertically to the back bumper, and drive around with it for a couple of weeks. Soon you'll know where the back of the car is without the stick. That's when you remove it.
For reverse parking with a wall behind: reverse until you see the reverse light reflections on the wall cross each other. You then can procede "a bit more". That bit more is what you have to figure out. I just guessimate. For forward parking: Your left foot on the dead pedal is roughly where your left front wheel is. Your leading edge isn't that much farther than the front wheels so use your left foot as a guide. Reverse parking without a wall: I use the right mirror. I park the car the way I want, then tilt the mirror down such that when I reverse and glance at the mirror, when the painted line disappears from the mirror, I'm in. The downside is that you can't use the right mirror and thus have to shoulder check more carefully when changing lanes to the right.
Follow the steep slant of the edge of the hatch downward with your eyes, and gauge about where that intersects bumper height. That's about where its butt is. Yup, it's a lot shorter than it looks. . _H*
Start by backing up to something, maybe a mark on the ground, by the trial-and-error method (getting out to check, backing up a bit more, etc.) Once you've gotten right up to your guide mark, get back in and look to see how your guide mark lines up with your view from the driver's seat. Sit there a while and study it until you remember it. Then do the same with the foreward end. It took me a while, but eventually I learned. It's not just the Prius. My mom traded in her old car for an Accord, and a year later still cannot figure out where the front end is for parking. She has to use the tennis-ball method for parking in her garage.
there is several people who have attached small antennas to the front of the car to better judge the front. however, i dont seem to have as much issue backing up since i can see much lower than a regular car by using the lower split window. there is also Bob (i think) from Seattle who has this special wide angle-view plastic stick on mirror thingy that gives a downward view of the area about a foot or so from back bumper.
http://www.millionbuy.com/crica5004.html I've installed 3 of these crimestopper units. One in each of our own Prii. Another one in a club member's Prius (local hybrid club). They work great. Period. Digital numerical display in feet, plus a bar graph and sound. Let me know if u have any more questions. I'd love to help out if I can! Curt.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(finman @ Apr 15 2006, 07:40 AM) [snapback]240155[/snapback]</div> I'm hoping to install one, or one like that. Some even have sensors for the front.
I am teaching my 15 year old son how to drive (not in the Prius) the first thing i had him do when practicing parking was hit every cone a couple of times. This does not hurt anything and gave him a feel as to where the edges of the car are (a Taurus Wagon, much more dificult to park than a Prius). I picked up the cones at Lowes for like $5 each.
When I learned to park, I would park in front of a couple of stores that had big windows. Yup, used the reflection to see where I was. Then, I looked in the mirrors, over my shoulder, etc., to see what it looked like. You can also use trash cans to practice parallel parking. empty, of course! They are big enough that you can be sure of hearing them hit, unlike a cone.
If you the the backup camera, do this. Back up until the bottom of the wall or parking thingy/marker(?) is just at the very bottom of the display. You will the be 10-12 inches from it.
Hmm... I can see my bumper in my backup camera's view. Makes it really easy to back up right to something.
