1 - Allow engagement of transmission to occur more quickly upon startup. I am a driver (and doubt I am the only one) who gets in the car, gets ready, and then hits the power button. In the same fluid motion, my hand then immediately flips the "shifter" because, well, I want to GO! But every time, I have to wait, and flip the shifter 2 or even 3 times to get "in gear". If this is a safety measure, it is unnecessary because we already have our feet on the brake to turn full power on. If possible, PLEASE fix this! 2 - Center console - There is a lot of wasted space between the armrest console and the center dashboard column. Real folks need storage, and this is the perfect spot. 3 - I would dearly love it if ALL cars would allow easy access to efficient PASSIVE ventilation. The irony of driving an electric fan to move air in a vehicle already propelling itself through air at 60 mph is not subtle. For a car defined by energy efficiency, this is almost ridiculous. My friend had an old Mazda that had great passive venting. While driving, that thing was like an air cannon blasting ambient air right at my chest, and I found I never needed to use the AC. Prii already have the internal rear battery vent, which could double as a passive rear outlet vent making this an easy mod. 3b - Furthermore, many of us do NOT like the climate screen, particularly the slow sequential TEMP control. It should be a bar so we can instantly touch the desired temp, rather than scrolling through 15+ individual settings every time. 4 - iPod access should be standard. Wake up, CDs are already obsolete. 5 - While seat adjustibility is desirable, I would like to argue AGAINST standard heated or power seats, as many of us would find these unnecessary, costly, and heavy. I have the same concerns with excessive mechanical gadgetry of any sort. 6 - The rear cargo area should have flip down hooks for folks to secure grocery bags. Other Toyotas already have these, right? Why not Prii? 7 - Harder stuff now. Forward visibility, particularly at the corners, is compromised by the minivan front shape. I understand the aerodynamic benefit, but is there another way? 8 - Weight savings. Consider aluminum or plastic body panels, like corvettes and saturns. But in general, this is a well designed car. Thank you for the courage and foresight to bring it to market in such a polished form. You've helped us all change the world. Ed SF, CA '06 model Sorry, this was intended for the "Hey Toyota" thread. Is there a way to move it there?
You don't expect to power up your computer and instantly be in a text editor so you can start typing, right? Think of it that way -- boot time. Let the car do its job, and tell you when it's truly ready. It has a *lot* to do right after power-up. . _H*
Sounds very much like the OP should have purchased some other vehicle... like some kind of muscle-oriented-SUV. I suppose the Prius is simply NOT the car for everyone. Perhaps he's only trolling.
Charles, I don't know why you get defensive so fast. I can't spot anything in the OP that suggest echocanyon wants to drive "muscle-oriented-SUV". I think the OP made some validate points. And many here share the same complains regarding the climate control screen. I totally agree with OP's point # 7. The pillar is so big, sometimes I have to lean toward the middle to see the road clearly when making left turns. I remember once driving in the mall parking lot, the left pillar totally block a pedestrian trying to cross in front of me. Fortunately I was moving very slowly and able to spot him before anything happened. Every car has its limitations, you just need to work around them. For #3, if you turn the fan speed to OFF and travel at highway speed, you do feel some wind coming in. But definitely not "cannon blasting". For #8, it comes down to cost. You can make the Prius out of carbon fiber composite, which is 1/5 the weight of steel. How much will it cost? As far as letting Toyota know, see my post in the "Hey Toyota" thread, I have some suggestions on that, http://priuschat.com/index.php?s=&show...st&p=421644. Apparently, they won't care much if they can't confirm that you own the car.
Hi Echocanyon, The Prius is about the same weight as a Saturn SL2. Considering the passenger and cargo size difference, the better accelleartion, and the 150 pound battery, this is considerable improvement. The hood and hatch of the Prius are made from aluminum. The rest is made from a newer high strength steel. The space frame / plastic panels of the SL Saturns (not sure if the newer cars are built like this anymore) probably made the cars heavier, but very stiff. The plastic panels were very durable. I too like passive ventilation. And have sorely missed it since my Opel Manta. It had vents in the C pillar, which were ducted from the cieling area. The pillar was scalloped to create a suction. The C pillar windows in the Prius could be operable. I am not sure what that would do to the ventilation for the battery however. I do not find the front visibility an issue. After a while it was just instinctive to lean forward and glance around the left from A pillar. Volvo has a design concept where the A pillar is a truss, might be a workable solution. Could develop leaks though.
donee, According to the specs, the second generation Prius battery weights 86lb. See page 12 of http://techinfo.toyota.com/public/main/2ndprius.pdf
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(echocanyon @ Apr 18 2007, 09:10 AM) [snapback]425389[/snapback]</div> Interesting. On my 2005, the wait is about a second and I'm in Drive the first time I hit the shifter.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(echocanyon @ Apr 18 2007, 12:10 PM) [snapback]425389[/snapback]</div> Sometimes I get in a hurry and hit the shifter too early as well. But the latest firmware allows you to go into Ready within about 1 second of hitting the power button. Try to establish a new routine such as get in, close door, hit brake/power, buckle seat-belt, hit shifter. Also, there's a beep/tone that tells you when you're in READY, train your ear to listen for that. This is something that'll become second nature after a couple starts. You know about the hidden drawer that slides out right...there's convenient storage there for tissue or whatever you want. There are also some OEM and aftermarket products you can add to use as you desire and that will best suit your personal needs...Sigma Automotive is a good place to start looking. I once saw a cargo net type sling that mounted in that space designed for a woman's purse. That would be nice, but this isn't a Prius specific problem. You realize that to take advantage of that passive flow you need and intake and an outflow, both of which would need to be pretty big to get a noticable flow. The fans use very little energy to run. It's a PITA, I agree, to get the Prius into the Vent mode, but I use it about 90% of the time, even in winter and it's energy saving to do so. You can adjust the temperture more quickly with the steering wheel control...if you have it (sounds like you don't) the voice activation works quite well for selecting the temperture you desire. But, as I suggest above, I tend to leave mine on Max Cold with AC and Auto disabled. While CDs are hardly obsolete the MP3 access and MP3 enabled CD player complaint is one that's been ringing out since the '04 was first released...I do think Toyota sort of missed the boat on this point since the Prius, esp. initially, was esp. attractive to tech oriented individuals who tend to have modern electronics like Ipods. I don't, yet, have an Ipod so it's not a big personal issue for me, but I can certainly understand what you're saying and am already wondering what solution I'll use once I get my Ipod. And certainly that's the reason they didn't include it. But what baffles most of us is that Toyota uses adjustable seats that are mechanical and simple and do not weigh significantly more than the current ones. Driver comfort is important and all of us have different physical dimensions and the ability to make the driver's seat, at least, more accomodating to more drivers makes practical sense. Ah whatever, my wife's car had them, we almost never used them...usually had too many and filled the hooks when we did. I use both the OEM cargo sling and a horizontal cargo net, leave the floor off of the hidden storage and just stick stuff on the floor...if it's crushable (like bread) it goes in the sling. The list of "I wish it hads" of minor little things could go on and on. I wish it had a 12v outlet in the back seat and in the hatch. I wish it had a built in Inverter with a 3 prong outlet in the hatch. I wish there were cup holders in the doors in the back, I wish there was a built in battery warmer for the winter.... I'm not saying your bag hook idea is a bad one, and it seems like a simple enough and inexpensive enough thing to add, but when one looks at the big picture and how amazingly near perfect the Prius was upon release it's hard to complain. Huh? Do you mean seeing the hood of the car? Forward visibility of the road and such is fantastic except for the large A-pillars which can be tricky to look around at certain angles. It does take time to get used to parking and learning where the front end is, but this is like any other vehicle IMO...it takes a while to learn how long the back end of a large SUV is as well, but with time the comfort level increases. If that's a big issue there are corner markers available, again from Sigma. Oh my goodness...you really need to explore this car better. They used some very revolutionary means of keeping weight down. There are bio-plastic parts all over the car. Lift out one of the head restraints...you'll be amazed how light it is. The seats themselves are also quite light. It's amazing how aerodynamic they made the car and how they managed to keep the weight down despite the battery. I think the next generation will be even more polished, but I also believe that as you begin to explore this car more closely the more impressed you'll be...there are little innovations here and there that are (or were since other cars are now using their ideas) completely unique. The always on LED for the glove box. The golf ball dimples on the undercarriage, the ability to take advantage of almost every spare inch of space for storage, and many more things that I can't think of at this point but appreciate each time I come across them.
