How long did it take for you to get used to the split rear window?

I own a Gen 2, and it may be different, but I have never seen a car on the highway through the lower glass, it is my "Are young children playing behind my car?" safety feature.

 

I bought my 2010 Prius expecting the split view, and it doesn't bother me a bit. In fact, you get a much lower view through the bottom pane than you would in most other cars, so I find it a bit of a feature add to have the lower pane at all.

 

No, you never get used to it, but you learn to live with it. When people stop behind you at a traffic light, it does make them feel closer to your bumper, but it also lets you see lower while backing up.

If the roofline in the back were higher like the Prius v, the extra weight and drag would hurt the mileage. Unless there are modern techniques I don't know about, it's almost impossible to form the glass out of a single piece. Has it been a major issue for me as far as rearward visibility on the road? Not really. There are bigger blindspots at the A and C pillars. For the A pillar, I move my head forwards and backwards to check. For the C pillar, I use properly adjusted side mirrors.

 

I like my split rear window. More I like it during summer. I hate it in winter.
Split line for me occurs just in line with headlights (or above them) of the cars behind me. It's good at night. Sometimes it makes direction indicators invisible and this way it may be considered as safety concern but on the other hand no one should indicate overtaking and driving as close to you that he/she disappears in side mirrors.
Darker bottom part also is ok for headlights. I had hard time to get used to different color of this part of glass (I think it should be neutral gray with light green tint as other windows).

In winter, when roads are full of salt (or other chemistry used to deice them) I hate it because it becomes non-transparent within few minutes.

On the other hand I've been driving sedan car that offered much worse rear window view and get used to use left and right side mirror more often than rear. I'm not even using rear screen wiper, except winter.

 

+1

 

It took me a few weeks to get used to it, but then I realized that the lower section is really more of a "bonus" than a split window. IMO the view out of the upper section of window is more than adequate, and is only confusing if you try to look out both. The lower section is SO much lower than any other back window (do you really need to see the grill of the car behind you while driving?) so I adjust my rear view mirror to only show a tiny bit of the lower window.

If you realize it's just an added bonus and stop trying to actually utilize the full bottom window I'm sure you'll get used to it in no time.

 

It doesn't bother me and I don't notice it 90+% of the time. Then again, I used to own an old Suburban and Ford E150 van with the rear barn doors and split up the middle.

 

i've never had a problem with the rear split while moving forward. i've not become comfortable yet with the poor visibility backing up. the split rear may or may not contribute towards that issue.

 

When backing up, I use the side mirrors much more so than the rear view. I also have the rear view camera that helps with backing up.

 

Remember the 2012+ Prius V does NOT have the split rear window. It also is the car the C-Max most resembles in the Toyota line, so you may want to consider it as the one to compare to the C-Max.

I think the reliability question for the Ford is somewhat valid in that the C-Max is a new production car, but the hybrid system is something Ford has been developing (and producing) for many years.

 

The C-Max is only new in the US, they've been selling in Europe for a while now (2003 - present).

 

Thanks for the info. What name do they use in Europe? Is it truly the same car? (Sorry to be so out-of-touch with the line.)

 

+1
The split rear window and the under-performing auto-dimming rear view mirror are my two least favorite aspects of the Gen III Prius. There's nothing I can do about the window- but if I did any amount of night driving I'd have to replace that terrible auto-dimming rear view mirror w/an old fashioned manual dimming one.

 

After a year and a half, I am still not used to it. Moreover, I don't want to get used to it. Getting used to it means that my brain edits it out of my visual field, and fills the details in with extrapolated data. Which means I may believe there is no one behind me, instead of being unsure whether there is someone behind me.

 

I think you'll be OK. The extrapolated data should tell you there is one car behind you and not one car levitating above a very, very squat car.

 

No, sometimes the divide blocks the entire visible portion of the car behind me (namely the headlights). This gives me the false impression that there are no cars behind me. This actually happens, I wasn't worrying about a hypothetical situation, but rather an observed one.

 

We probably sit differently in the car, but that's never happened to me in either Prii I've owned. In the daytime, you can see a following car both above and below the divide. At night, at least some of the light from the following car's headlights spills above or below the divide. If the distance between us changes even slightly, the lights become visible.

I didn't have any problem getting used to the divide in my 2005. Before I test drove one, I was worried that the rear vision would be compromised. But once I got behind the wheel, I could see very well.

 

That's my opinion as well. I honestly don't have the rear visual issues seeing out of the Prius that many here seem to.

The fat A-pillar, however, is more often a hindrance then the view to the rear imo.