My memory could be wrong/bad but I could've sworn there was discussion of an optional HUD on JDM (?) 2nd gens.
oops I think I turned out to be wrong on the Gen 2 HUD. :redface::embarassed: ken1784 at http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-prius-main-forum/69414-prius-japanese-version.html#post965248 said "The Gen2 Prius doesn't have HUD in any countries."
I think the center stack makes it easier for Toyota to change to left or right drive, depending on where the order is headed. All Prii are still made in Japan (as far as I know) so there is less re-tooling for the factory with center speedo.
So that's where this is going? There are left and right hand drives of many cars - Civics, Accords, Corollas, Camrys whose gages are in front of the driver, where they belong. I do not see one Honda model with speedometer near the middle. It seems Toyota picked this idea up from their Scion brand. Why do passengers need to see the speedo? I have no problem seeing my speedo / tach through the steering wheel as 'we've' been doing for who knows how many years. Heads up speedo is fine too, in front.
As Tideland said as well, in 04 -09 Prius, the digital speedo is nearly centered in front of driver. In 3rd gen, it is perhaps 6" further to the right.
Actually, Toyota had been doing this before the Scion brand even existed. Scion (automobile) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia says the Scion brand was founded in 02. When I first went to Japan in late 2001, I saw some JDM Toyotas at the Toyota Amlux w/speedos in the center. Some of them later were rebadged as Scions for the US market. Also, the NHW11 Prius had the speedo in the center along w/the Toyota Echo, both of which predated Scion.
The use of mirror(s) has always been my objection to the Prius dash. The horizontal positioning makes no difference to me. From the pics I've seen, the Prius V seems to be the first Prius to eliminate the mirror(s) entirely, which, if I'm correct about that, makes it the first Prius I'll seriously consider buying.
The double image is only offset by the thickness of the glass panel. The distance you sit from the cluster is so much greater than the thickness that it is barely noticeable. Seems really silly to not buy an entire car because of a millimeter of refraction. I can see that being one point of many, but that being the deciding factor is just mind boggling.
I'm 6'5" and am constantly rubber-necking to see the gauges thru the steering wheels of my other vehicles. The centre mounted instrumentation in my new prius v has been an unexpected blessing.
Much the same thing for me as well - although I am not quite as tall (only 6'). I find that the central location of the instrument cluster does not seem to be a problem at all.
A centre-mounted set of gauges mean a smaller steering wheel too. Our Camry's regular-sized steering wheel feels gigantic compared to the Prius' wheel.
My wife and I both like the center display. Pretty simple stuff here, if you don't like it, buy a different car.
I drove my wife's Honda CRV the other day, and it seemed to be a conscious effort to take my eyes off the road to see the speedo. I believe the Prius version to be safer and not noticeable after a few trips.
I can't speak for the v exactly but my '11 has nearly center gages. They don't bother me at all. In fact one benefit is I can show passengers what is going on with the car more easily. I especially like to show the gage with the car, gas and electric engine and how it all works together. These are exceptional cars, especially since my avg. economy is over 55 mpg at 250 miles into this tank. It's actually a more practical car than the Accord Couple I traded in and it gets over twice the average fuel economy. I like that!
