A few answers to your questions...

Ahhh... ok, but still I would love to know how they calculate that, for all the reasons I outlined earlier on.

Absolutely! Knowing where the car will go to if you keep the steering wheel on that one position, or knowing if you can circumvent one particular obstacle even before you start moving is a big help.

I very rarely use IPA, since I always park in reserved spaces (home and work parking) in a parallel parking. IPA is too slow and is not worth it for that. I only use IPA when doing longitudinal parking at tight places in the street. But I ALWAYS use IPA computer trajectory lines, they are a big "bless" so to speak.

 

I currently own a 2004 and as with many people, I am unhappy about the package options. The LED option should have been standard on all packages. After being a little unhappy about not being able to get the tech package with the solar package, I got over it. However, I'm really not getting over not getting the LED's with the Solar package. Is it possible to buy the Solar package, and then as an aftermarket upgrade have the LED's installed? or is it much more complicated than switching out the lamp or fixture?
update:
I apologize for having already posted this question before... (I couldnt find it till yesterday)
Thanks to those who responded. I wish it was a simple process to replace but apparently not. Thanks again.

 

everyone is aware that software 3.0 for the iphone will support streaming bluetooth... right?... any chance we can get a correction on the first post.. or an addition?

 

I've been looking at the pictures of the dash for a while and I'm also wondering about this. Will this unit be user replaceable with less hassle than the current radio? It seems a dash kit will be necessary at the very least, but if there is a DIN space behind that I'm more than happy! Prius Team, can you help us out on this? Thanks!!

 

Sure, the hybrid system affects cruising range in the sense that it improves mileage, but from a cruising range perspective it is irrelevant how you get the mileage. All that matters is miles per unit of energy, and how many units of energy are available. For the Prius, you have energy in the fuel tank and energy in the HV battery. My point is that the amount of energy stored in the HV battery is very small as compared to the amount of energy in gasoline. The HV battery makes such a small contribution to the amount of *stored* energy that the SOC can be safely ignored as noise in the miles to empty calculation.

Tom

 

Doesn't look that "standard" to me. Bleh...

 

OK something new that has just been 'discovered'. You note that the Prius doesn't require synthetic oil. However it does require 0 W 20 oil does it not?

It seems that all the new Toyota engines like the 2.5L 2AR in the '10 Camry and 09 RAV as well as the 1.8L 2ZR in the Prius will require 0 W 20 oil. Before it was an option with 5 W 20. Now the 5 W 20 option is eliminated.

 

The number before the W indicates the pour time of a standard volume of the oil, in seconds, at 0°F. 5W means it takes five seconds to pour, so is less viscous than a 10W oil. The 20 after the W indicates the time taken for a standard volume to pour at 100°C (212°F). (Nothing like consistency.)

So how can something take 0 seconds? Well, it can't. 0W is a special indication meaning that the oil pours at the low temperature in 5 seconds (same spec as 5W-x), but that it starts to pour at a lower temperature: lower than -40°C/°F (the two scales are the same at this point).

If you're going to need your car to run below about -20°F, 0W is probably a must. If you're in a milder climate, 5W is probably fine. The -20 means both oils should have the same viscosity at working temperature. A -30 would likely be too thick to get into the presumably tighter tolerances on the new engine.

 

Having a look around and there don't seem to me many manufacturer's of motor oil with the extreme 20 rating. There are some at 0W30 but I could only find 1 at 0W20 and that was ENEOS Premium Ultra 0W20 which (according to the website) is designed for extremely good fuel economy. Whilst this oil may be great for economy I just wonder how expensive it is....

ENEOSÂ|NIPPON OIL EUROPE LIMITEDÂ|

 

I wonder where the reporter got this piece of info:

Long list of premium features may push Prius into luxury class | G. Chambers Williams III | Star-Telegram.com

 

This guy is a complete jerk, and does not have a clue of what he's talking about.

Look at this statement of him:

Intelligent parking assist, which will parallel-park the vehicle for the driver automatically, is a system Toyota introduced on its flagship Lexus LS 460 luxury sedan two years ago, but has never offered on a Toyota model.

Yeah, sure, he'd be right if it was not for the whole rest of the world (except for the USA) to have the IPA on the Prius since 2006! He's the tipical a*s hole who thinks the world is composed of USA alone, the rest is desert land and sand. He's a sad fellow.

About half of Pirus sold since 2006 had the IPA as an option, so this is not by far something exclusive to Lexus. And definetely it is not equipment like this that makes the car a luxury model.

I have IPA on my Prius, so does my coleague at work, so do many Prius-PT members, and so do thousands more around the world.

He's the type of guy who would gain a lot if he only looked outside his bedroom window... there's a world outside... the USA is only a fraction of it...

 

Hi João,

Please calm down, this is a reporter for a Texas newspaper. Texas had been an independent republic for a ten year period, in the 1800's.
[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Texas"]Republic of Texas - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]

So if the reporter focuses on what's happening in the USA, that represents a broadening of scope compared to being concerned solely about what's going on in the state of Texas...

The reporter's comments are mostly correct when viewed with a US perspective, which is the perspective that most US newspapers take (other than maybe the Wall Street Journal, NY Times, Washington Post, and LA Times.) The fundamental question is how successful the more expensive versions of Prius will be when it is likely that the fully-equipped US$ price will be mid-30K. I think that is an excellent question considering that the fully-equipped 2G version cost in the high $20K range or less depending upon incentives.

Although IPA is old news to you, that is an exciting feature in the 2010, and we were pleased to be exposed to it at Prius Connection Los Angeles last month.

 

The design of the 2010 Prius was started 5 years ago, Toyota didn't foresee the economy down turn three years later. They chose to upscale the Prius and tried to milk more profit by offering more high margin options. Instead Honda seems to have a better feel of the world economy and didn't suffer as much as Toyota by designing a low cost Insight hybrid.

Toyota is feeling the pain trying to match the Insight's sale price by matching the base model price as close as possible. I believe you will never find a base model in the dealer's lot except by special order.

Toyota has 50% of its offerings in trucks and SUVs, Honda is only 30%. Honda did not build a truck plant in the US. Toyota tried to ride the tide of truck craze and made a lot of profit for a while but now they may have second thought of the Texas plant.

 

The IPA has been equipped on Japanese Prius since September 2003.

Anyway, Toyota's 2010 Prius production plan is 42,000 units in June which translates approx 20% of all Toyota's production.

Ken@Japan

 

Ah, I was not aware of that. You are always ahead of the pack

Yes, the whole argumentation is completely stupid, because it goes to the point of making people believe that every single Prius sold will be packed with all the high tech gizmos.

The Prius is more and more covering all bases, you can buy it from a very basic HSD only car to an HSD + rocket space equipment car. It's there for you to choose. You don't want "luxury" (I hate this terminology) gadgets then fine, don't buy them... <G>

 

Japarts.co.uk has it for £39.98 for four litres, although there's a £4.99 post and packing charge.

Castrol Magnatec 5W-30, for my current Prius, is £29.99 for four litres at Halfords.co.uk.

Mobil, Castrol and others seem to sell 0W-20 oil in the US but it's less common here.

I suspect japarts will get a lot of business if we can't even trust the dealers to put 5W-30 in our cars now, rather than just using the bulk tank of 10W-40.