I don't know why the fuss. As best I can tell from driving on public roads, most drivers don't use the speedometer anyway. Toyota could save money and replace the speedometer with a sticker that just says "FASTER" in big, bright letters. Tom
Gen 2 has controls going across the center of the dash, but the speedo is directly in front of the driver.
No it's not! The speedometer is closer to the center, than the driver. And while not located in the center of the dash, it's still in an off position to the driver.
Perhaps it depends on the Gen II. The 04-05's speedo is closer to the driver than the center of the dash for sure.
In the Gen 2, it's almost in front of the driver. The Gen 3 splits the differences between the Gen 1 and Gen 2 and is closer to the centre.
It took me a couple of days to adjust to the more "centralized" speedo. Now, driving another car with conventional positioning seems a bit strange. I'd really like the HUD from the Euro version....
It's not almost in front of the driver and is still off center. I've driven my 2007 Prius for over 4 years and it still annoys me. I don't get the reason behind this type of placement, nor have I ever read anything from Toyota explaining it. If it were dead center then I could understand, because this makes manufacturing to other countries easier. But cocked to one side and not being placed directly in front of the driver makes no sense.
I'm Driving A 2010 Toyota Yaris for the winter, Same thing takes a little getting use to but I think I like it!
OMG. Why is the HUD not available Here? I had one in a 99 Pontiac I used to own. you never had to look at the dash!
On the Gen II the speedometer is slightly to the center of the driver. It uses a double mirror system to make the display appear farther away, acting somewhat like a HUD display. The slightly to center location is lined up perfectly with the driver's normal line of sight, assuming the driver is looking at mid distance into the center of his lane. This is the reason that the speedometer location is slightly offset. Tom
I find the Dark "Space" in front of me a bit odd for the first few moments of driving the 08 prius at night, when i'm used to driving our other standard dashed car.
You must be joking?! I don't know how you drive, but when I drive I look directly in front of me down the road, in my lane. Not off to the right in the other lane. The center of my lane does not curve to the right in my vision.
Must be a Prius thing. All the other hybrids, HS 250h, CT 200h, and Camry Hybrid has the analog speedo directly in front of the driver. And the HS 250h is the only one with a HUD option. Which is weird, because I remember a rumor a while back when the Gen II first came out that a HUD option was in the works for the Prius. And that was supposedly the purpose for the center mounted digital speedo.
That is what I said: the center of the driver's lane. Looking ahead at the center of the driver's lane puts the speedometer directly in the line of the driver's sight. If you look straight ahead, you are not looking into the center of your lane, assuming your car is centered within the lane. Tom
I hate this trend but then I hated also the one away frmo manual transmissions. But I understood it as I do with this and maybe it's inevitable for lower end vehicles like the Prius (as opposed to luxury ones, I mean).
There was a HUD available for the Gen II Prius, just never on US models. I think JDM 2nd gen Priuses could get it.
I'm happy that the display is where it is. I have always had a problem seeing a speedometer through the steering wheel.
