Most Obscure Gen III Facts (way out there)

Thanks for posting that. I've been rolling up the windows before powering off this whole time.

 

Totally useless (to us) and rather obscure fact:

The frequency of the ACC/PCS radar is 76.5 GHz, and that's why it can have such good resolution.

 

Oh ya - I tested that thingie out almost immediately! It's really nice - 'specially on the lower back!! :thumb:

 

Hopefully my Gen III will show up this week and I can go find some hills!!!

:rockon:

 

Not sure if it's been posted yet but....

You can dim to the point of actually turning off the: Speedometer, Fuel Gauge and Drive Indicator.

Rest assured that even when your driving not knowing how fast your going or how much fuel you have left you can still tell that the car is "ready" and in "eco/pow" mode since those lights will not turn off

 

Jabber,

Yes, the two outboard rear seat headrests will fold down, and when seat is still in the upright position, this will make it easier to see out the back window as well. When the seats are folded down, the fact that the two out board headrests (the center one is lower, thus not needing to be folded), will end up pointing down towards the floor on the backseat.

If a passenger were to sit in the seat with the headrests down, they would end up with their head being pushed towards their feet.

 

Additional information on the Hill Start Assist, is that once activated, you can deactivate it also. In order to activate, once stopped, simply press the brake pedal harder. Then the 'Hill Start' light flashes on the dash. To de-activate it, until you activate it again, simply press the pedal all the way down again, and the light will turn off.

I tend to use this in traffic sometimes, even on a flat road, if stopped at a light. It makes it so that you do not need to press hard on the brake the entire time that you are stopped. I will come to a stop, activate 'Hill Assist", and then simply maintain a very light pressure on the brake pedal. This greatly reduces my fatigue when stuck in 'Rush Hour' Chicago traffic.

 

Thank you for information. Relaxing the pressure on the brake pedal while stopping is a real good idea.

 

The Hill Start Assist will assist in holding the vehicle, but even with the Hill Start Assist engaged, the vehicle might roll backwards.

 

Our gen one did this.
I read the sunroof would also shuts after powering off but our does not.

 

- When you press the gas pedal while in park, it starts the engine. When you release it, the engine stops. (Assuming the engine is already warmed and not required to run at that time). I guess this can be useful for mechanics.

- While parked, when the engine starts to charge the battery, you can hear the engine pushing progressively more and more power (torque) through MG1; the sound varries progressively, as the engine gets more efficient as it gets warmer (my assumption).

 

If the battery SOC is low enough the engine will run while you are in reverse.

 

My nav couldn't find my dealer! I put in the dealer name under POI search. My dealer is Burien Toyota. When I typed in "B-U-R-I-E N" I couldn't get "Toyota" in...but you will be happy to know it did show Burien Nissan. I did finally find the dealer under a POI category search under Other/Auto and centered the search in Burien. Now wouldn't you expect Toyota nav to easily find Toyota dealers?

 

Yeah, but we don't get HOV rights!

 

Speaking as an ex-longtime-carpooler, that is as it should be. There are so many hybrids here that if we did have HOV rights, that lane would be very seriously congested.

 

Not to mention that most hybrids with one person are actually getting worse fuel economy (on a per person basis) than most (or at least a sizable portion of) non-hybrids with 2 people... and even the Prius with a solo driver just barely compares to the stinkiest SUV with 3 people. So if you bought a hybrid because it was good for the world or because you just liked the car, then great. But isn't the point of the HOV lane to encourage less fuel use per person and to reduce congestion? Why should we get HOV privileges when the fact that we drive a hybrid doesn't seem to accomplish either of those goals particularly well?

 

- The ambient light level where the radio, heater controls (and others lights) dims isn't the same as the MFD. As the former dims, the MFD stays fully lit until it gets even darker. During this period, you can control the dim level of everything but the MFD. Once the MFD goes in dim mode, you can control everything...

 

There are 6 driving modes:

1. normal
2. ECO
3. PWR
4. normal + EV
5. ECO + EV
6. PWR + EV

To get into ECO or PWR you just press the button (assuming you are in normal to start with), press again to go back to normal. Or you can go from ECO to/from PWR by pressing that button. ECO mode survives through a power off, all others are reset to off.

To get into EV you press the EV button, but must satisfy several criteria. Not sure if this is a full list:
1) car must be warmed up
2) must be less than 25 mph (less than 10 mph if partially warm)
3) battery SOC 4 bars or more

You exit EV mode if:
1) speed is more than 25 mph, or 10 mph if partially warm
2) accelerate too fast
3) battery SOC drops to 2 or 3 bars (I've seen both)


3PriusMike

 

I don't know if anyone has mentioned this yet, and it's maybe more of a neat detail than an obscure fact, but I just had mine delivered this morning, and when I was driving into work, I noticed the texturing on the dashboard. Instead of the typical smooth, pebbled, or veiny faux-leather testure, it is composed of wavy lines in what I think it a very pleasing pattern. Thumbs up to Toyota's designers.