Advice regarding Solar sun roof

Go with the sunroof for the cool factor. When anyone hears you ave a new Prius they will as do you have the "solar power sun thing" on it? Who want to say no.
Fan only runs with power off. Solar has no function when the car is on other than to look cool.

As far as wheels remove the hub caps and put on centers, it's a real nice look then for the cost of centers.

 

FYI, the solar panels never power the AC. They power fans that circulate air but not the AC. It's not cooled air. It's designed to attempt to keep the interior as close to ambient surrounding tempature. So if it's 90 degrees outside don't expect the interior to be less than 90 degrees. Of course it also comes with remote AC, which allows you to use the AC before entering the automobile.

Personally, I'd want the Solar Package, for the sunroof itself. Everything else, the solar panels and the ventilation system might be nice, but I think I could live without those features.

 

The SR looks cool and keeps the car "cooler" not w/AC. If you have the SR and then can flip the "remote AC" before getting to your car then it will really hep a lot. I just wish the car/AC stayed on once you opened the door but it shuts off when the door is opened. Even if just using the SR and window tint/heatshield you will have a significant improvement...no more blast furnace when you get in.

 

I would get the SR if I didn't have to get the NAV as thatis getting yanked out. Maybe down the road they will offer that as a seperate option. Who knows.

 

You can get NAV with SR; in fact, I think you can ONLY get the SR with NAV. The previous poster is suggesting he doesn't want to pay for the NAV that he intends to rip out to replace with another head unit.

 

I got a model 3 with solar roof 2 months ago and live in the California central valley near Sacramento. So I have the same weather you have: hot and sunny. I took temperature readings inside the car with the solar roof running and with it not running. When the temp goes over 100 (as it does pretty often out here as you know) the internal temp in the car with the solar powered vent running still gets quite hot, but not nearly as hot as it does without the vent running. With vent running on a hot 100 degree sunny day the internal temp maxes out at about 125. Without the vent it can be 30 degrees hotter or more. I put my temperature measurements in another post (I think that post was called solar roof temperature report). I have a solar shield on the front wind shield, I keep my windows closed because I park in a dusty gravel parking lot, and I park facing north because the solar panel sloops down toward the back of the car and you'll get slightly more sun light falling on the solar panels that way. Many folks were surprised by the 125 F temp, but I think most of us just don't realize how hot it gets inside a car on a sunny day with the windows closed. The hottest reading I got was actually 165 F (car facing south without solar shield). Final note about taking temp: I took those readings after the car had been parked in the full sun for at least 4 hours.

Now that the temps have been a bit lower on some days (especially the last 2 days) I can tell you that the vent works much better. Of course that only makes sense because blowing 80 degree air into the car will work much better than blowing 100 degree air.

Couple more points: the sunroof in and of itself is really cool. Now that the temps are lower it's really nice to ride around town with the roof open. Some here on the forum have wondered if the sunroof cuts down on mpg because of added weight, reduced aerodynamics... etc. But over the first 2000 miles I'm averaging 53.8 mpg (my calculation, the car thinks that it's getting 55.8 mpg), so I'm pleased.

Good luck!

 

Yes and that's only way actually. If you want SR, you have to get NAV, packaged for $3600 (old price)

Jayhawker was just saying he would have gotten SR if he didn't have to get the NAV.

The factory NAV in Prius is a disapointment by many. Screen resolution is low, color is only 256 and doen't have whole lot of features considering the price. Some of us are even considering ditching the factory NAV and install aftermarket unit that has 800x600 pixel high resolution full color display with full featured DVD player, SD card slot, ability to use nav while in motion plus all kinds of fun features and can be bought off eBay for as little as $500 shipped.

Back to topic, to me, having a sunroof is a must. I use it everyday if there isn't too much direct sunshine or not raining or if it's too cold. And what makes it even more desirable is the remote A/C plus the contrasting black roof making my blizzard white stand out from other '10 Prius on the road. Also it makes the car look quite intereting with the roof open.

Regarding wheel, you can easily upgrade the basic 15" to factory 17". I recently saw a like brand new set sold for about $1300 including tires but no pressure sensor. Or you can order brand new set of wheels for about $1300 from parts.com and tires from places like tirerack for about $400 or so. and sell your 15" set on ebay.

It's not cheap but to me, only thing I wanted from package V was LED headlight and 17" wheel but I figured it will be easier to add these two stuff to package IV comare to missing the sunroof on package V.

 

I like the sunroof, but find the solar powered cooling to be of marginal use. The remote a/c can make a big difference, though.
Also, fyi, in Canada, the SR is available without NAV:

TOYOTA CANADA : Vehicles > 2010 Prius > Models

 

I got my car a couple of days ago and I've been loving the SR. Thank you Snoctor taking the time to measure the differences in/out side without fan on.

I get off work at 2pm having my car parked out in the sun for half a day. I noticed the difference is when I turn on the car, the fan goes off, and immediately I can feel the temperature rising while I sit in the car and check my iphone for emails/miss calls.

if you're in CA, you should get the solar package, I'm very happy with mine

 

Re-posted with correction