Likes and dislikes about the 2004 Prius

I'm not sure I understand this one.

My wife hates to have her feet bumped and she love the Prius. It has much more leg room than her (older) Taurus.

Comparing the usual Mid Size Suspects Front Leg Room

Altima 43.9
Accord 42.6
Mazda6 42.3
Taurus 42.2
Prius 41.9
Camry 41.6

The Altima is a real outlier there, but it's the only one that would give you even 2 more inches. The rest are all under an inch more. The Prius isn't out of line for the class by any means it seems.

Are you sure you don't mean that what you'd really like is a telescoping steering wheel? Sometimes I feel like I'd like to scoot the front seat back a bit more (and there is a lot of travel left), but I run out of arm length before I run out of leg length.

 

I am grateful for the VSC. I can't know how much of a difference it's made, but I've spotted that little indicator light up a few times, and I definitely felt something kick in. (I live in Florida, where summer brings freakishly sporadic torrential downpours, which leads to easy hydroplaning. Toss in the elderly drivers and the fact that people seem to panic every time a raindrop hits the windshield, and there's some craziness on the roads.)

 

I don't understand the legroom bit, either. Do you folks generally stretch your left leg out under the brake pedal while driving? Do you want your knee to straighten and lock? I'm 6'3", with plenty-long legs, and I don't really feel like I'm cramped.

My own bits:
1. I DO think the lack of MP3 and XM-capable audio is a bit stupid for a vehicle with such an obvious technological attraction.

2. The material at the window above the door armrests seems to be a strange thing to show the marks and whatnot it does (even if they DO wipe off). Gotta wonder what this stuff looks like in 5-6 years.

3. Could Toyota pick a worse tire?


Everything else is superb. It's hard to gripe, and I've had to really THINK to come up with anything at all. Nothing but fiddly bits, really.

 

Re tires: Toyota apparently did have a worse tire... i.e. Potenzas on the Original Classic Prius. See John1701a posts regarding this.

 

don't slam the Potenzas, as dog snot goes they were the best that Toyota could get for $8 for 4 of them. And still be round and hold air of course!

 

as far as the VSC, traction control goes try a 3/4 mile hill of 11 %grade with 4 inches of slush and you'll love the two of them for ever. The Caddy and the Merc C class could have used them that day but I manged to pass them both. I have to agree that sometimes the traction control is maybe a little to agressive in chopping the power but most times I can live with it. We get a lot of rain and some manhole covers don't provide much traction and the car falls flat on it's face when you try and accelerate on them, and not very briskly either. At times I wish it had a defeat switch. Most times it's fine.

 

Air Conditioning! I was a little worried about this -- so glad to see that it really works wonderfully well. I hope my love for the a/c isn't why I'm averaging 42 mpg.

I really would have preferred gray interior, though not enough to ask only for that. I am pleasantly surprised that the "tan" is towards the cream/ivory side, and that the plastic parts aren't a yucky brown color.

Bluetooth rocks! Well, it did until I lost my phone Friday. I dropped it either on the way from or to lunch

 

My last car was an Audi A4, a very nice car indeed. Let's talk about some comparisons here though:

1. Size .. The Prius has about the same front seat leg room but the rear seat leg room on the Prius is MUCH better than the Audi's (My friends who ride in back are very pleased that I made the change).

2. Size again .. I love having the lift back opening allowing me to go to the stores and buy those big box and yard work items with no hassle hauling them home.

3. Size again .. It is really appreciated no longer having to stoop my 6'3" frame on getting in and out of my car (I'm starting to age a bit). The large door openings are a real plus.

4. Power .. I did indeed love the 1.8T turbo with sport handling of the manual transmission Audi A4, particularly on the surrounding mountain roads. On the other hand, I always seem to have plenty of power with this car for virtually any situation that comes up. Today I drove from Placitas to Albuquerque, up and over the mountain to the Tourquoise Trail, took that mountain road to Santa Fe, and then drove 80 mph back to Placitas on the I-40 freeway. Elevations ranged from 5,000 to 7,000 feet but I never had a situation where power became any kind of issue at all (for instance .. able to hold speed on long 80 mph hills while much of the ajoining traffic was not faring quite so well at this elevation).

5. Mileage .. Got 54.1 mpg with air conditioning and lights on for the 126 mile trip mentioned above, but my overall mileage for all weather and driving conditions for the past 5,000 miles has been 49.1 mpg, actually about twice what I was getting in my Audi.

6. Highway handling .. When there are crosswinds, the Prius doesn't hold a candle to the Audi. This is the one and only complaint I have with this car. Then again, New Mexico's windy season won't be back again until spring of 2005.

7. Features ..

. Don't know about the rear windshield wiper (we're suffering draught conditions here in the Southwest), but how about those windshield washers in this car. Aren't they just excellent?

. Smart Entry / Smart Start .. Cool! What more can you say.

. Vehicle Stability Control and Traction Control .. My Audi had them. They are active safety features, available when you need them. I would not have purchased this Prius had they not been available (I won't take a step backward in safety with any car purchase). VSC is being lauded as maybe the most important safety feature to come along since the seat belt. As for Traction Control, in my area where often I have to drive hilly dirt roads, having the other wheel kick in when the main drive wheel starts slipping makes driving much easier and safer. The front and rear side and head airbags are another feature that was on my Audi that was a must for this car (hope I or my passengers never have to fully appreciate this feature).

. Fog lights .. On my Audi I found them to be very helpful in fog and heavy rain. On this car having the HID headlights, I'm not so sure the fog lights will be needed. I'm already finding that it's far less often necessary to switch to high beams having these HIDs.

. Air conditioning .. Doesn't get quite as cold as my Audi's did, but it's quieter and overall more comfortable, and it's kept my car cool enough with outside temperatures in the 80s and 90s. I think the Prius air conditioning with its touch screen display is the easiest to use I've experienced on any car.

. Light colored interior .. Kick marks are the price you pay for it. It's a small price to pay though from my perspective for that open, light, airy, cheerful feeling experienced from having the light colored interior (glad it was there on my salsa red Prius).

. Additionally .. I love the Continuously Variable Transmission, the shifting mechanism, the mileage bar monitor screen, waiting at stoplights without polluting, the good cup holders, the wealth of nooks and crannys for storage, and the knowledge that I'm driving the ultimate in automobile technology.

I owned a Plymouth Fury III back in the '70s. Now that was a BIG car. All that size though was a total waste. From my perspective, the Prius is the perfect size, not so large as to be wasteful, and not so small as to be impractical and uncomfortable.

What seems to show most on this car is the fact that it's so obvious that Toyota marketing and engineering folks listened very carefully to the owners of the previous generation Prius. They seem to have left nothing to chance On the 2004; it appears that they thought about just about everything.

 

I agree with everything that Ken Cooper just said. My previous car was a GTI 1.8T (same engine as Ken's A4) and I too feel that, although that engine is considerably more powerful, the Prius has plenty of performance for normal use.

The only things that I miss, and which were most likely also present in Ken's car, are a number of details that I wish were present in the Prius:

1. auto door lock at 8 mph
2. both front doors with auto up and down windows
3. telescoping steering wheel
4. cruise control mounted on the steering column
5. rear disk brakes
6. 16 inch wheels
7. side and curtain air bags (not in package 4)
8. adjustable seat height
9. hood help open by shocks instead of a rod

 

"auto lock"?

It seems to me that all you need is another autolock switch...the feature is on the switch...shouldn't be hard to wire...anybody else think about this?

 

Coastal Tech has a $60 kit that locks the doors at 15 mph. Has someone out there installed one?

 

04 tideland bc
Port Townsend, Wa

I agree completely with Ken Cooper, I like the way you presented everything! Great job!

Harry

 

The kit is listed for the classic, but not for the 2004 prius yet.

 

Yes indeed, I believe Ken covered all my likes. I would like to see one improvement .

Since I am one of the many?... few? who can't toggle the INFO screens from the wheel button, I would like to see a combo Energy and Consumption screen.

After I got used to the displays it appeared to me that some display areas could be condensed and the reclaimed space could be used for other info.

Imagine a third page that would show all of the Energy/Consumption info PLUS:
Tachometer
Engine Temperature
Oil Pressure
12 V Battery SOC
Title of current audio source
etc.

After you become comfortable with the first two go into set-up, choose this third screen and leave it there!

Maybe some Photoshop artist could paste something together for Toyota to see.

 

I'd like to see a fan speed switch on the steering wheel. I'd probably use it as often or more than I use the thermostat switch.

 

A padded steering wheel would be nice. Even my F150 has one.

 

I thought the steering wheel WAS padded. Compared to the 15 year old Blazer it replaced, is sure seemed soft to me.

 

My 2 cents:

3. Yes, please!
4. Seems fine where it is. Should not use CC while turning a lot.
5 adds weight (I think) and cost.
6 adds weight and slows acceleration slightly.
8. Yes, please! (Adds weight though)
9. Adds weight, not really needed.