NEW Prius Prime Plus member -- start issue and general complaining

Let me see if I got this right. You don't want to look a couple degrees to the right to see your speed, but you DO want to look almost down to the floor so see if you're in drive or reverse?

 

A traditional shifter, you can often get where you want by feel alone. Coming from Park, through Reverse, to Neutral, you typically cannot go back to Reverse, without depressing a button. When you keep going, you're free to go between Neutral and Drive, then maybe to Second, and possible require push of the button to get to First. Also, with the travel of the shift lever, you get accustomed to what gear you're in, somewhat by feel. Reinforced by a glance, and knowing where you are currently.

 

Here is a car with the speedometer in the middle and is not a Model T, I like it. Chrysler did this in 1997 on the Plymouth Prowler.

 

This is not applicable to a CVT. I fail to see why it is difficult just to put the selector in D and leave it there. Or over to R if you have to back up.

 

I agree. I've never seen a shift mechanism this easy to operate. The only thing easier would be if it responded to our thoughts.

 

That's what I do, and no, I don't find it difficult.

Just saying, from an engineering perspective: the Prius shifter is a radical departure from tried-and-true, and there were some advantages to a linear, mechanical shifter, that it is more fool-proof, and like the old song goes, everybody plays the fool sometimes.

 

That's a bigger fail than the Prius. Look how far away those gauges are on the right. Bad design

 

Just because you are used to it doesn't make it intuitive. A month ago I was at the Santa Barbara airport and this middle aged woman comes into the car rental area in a panic because she can't figure out how to make a Prius go. So yeah, major fail. I showed her and she calmed down but really, did it need to be changed? No.

It's not "easy" it's different. Easy would be PRNDB as a sliding lever or a knob. Not easy is a button for park and a joystick for the rest that returns to center after you move it.

 

No, I don't want to do either one. My Sienna shifter is right next to the steering wheel. Most auto transmissions before the 80s were above the steering wheel. Some still are.

 

Another area of disagreement. In my personal opinion, this car is not very attractive. Efficient, yes. Nicely styled, no. But, I only see it from the inside so I don't care what it looks like on the outside.

 

That is because you got to listen to the starter motor run and listen for when the ICE was running. Twist a key and wait for the noises. You will get used to the simplicity of the Prius start up procedure and realize how much better it is. Especially if you live somewhere it gets below 0 F. A Prius ALWAYS starts the same. Foot on the brake pedal, push the power button, shift and drive off.

Curious, I put air in all 4 tires on Monday, had no problems. Maybe it depends on what type of air hose connector you have?

Only the indicators that they have been turned on are way over there, when they have something to tell you, that info is just to the right of the speedo. I trust that when I press the button to turn them on that it worked, hasn't failed yet.

And you think that is better? Takes little time to learn the way you need to move the Prius shifter, much less complicated than a gated shifter like you described. I've seen plenty of PRND21 shifters that are variations of that. Some require a button to get past a gear. Sometimes that button is under your left thumb, sometimes under your fingers. Sometimes you get to do a"down, right, downd left, down" to get to D.
It is much more complicated than "left and up" for reverse, "left and down for drive". And I repeat myself, there is no reason to push the Park button when you end your trip, the car does it automatically. Why have a separate slot/motion on the shifter?

Again, the current position of the shifter is prominently displayed on the dash. Why do you want to look down near your knee to see what position the shifter is in? Drive the car for awhile, I NEVER look at the shifter.

Not at all, there is no mechanical linkage, making it the same as that demanded by a mechanical linkage has no value.

Why should you have to go through reverse to get to drive? The big failure of the shifter is having up be reverse and down be forward. That is especially bad in cars that have the shifter on a horizontal surface as the Gen III did.

Maybe you would like to go back to 3 on the tree?

 

Well said on all points, @bruceha_2000.

As for the person who could not figure out how to put it in drive, first of all it's printed right on the shift knob. Second, unless they stole it, the person they got it from should have showed them if necessary. No one needed to show me. It was perfectly obvious. "Oh! Move the knob in the direction of the line or arrow to put it in the gear the line or arrow points to." When I get to where I can't figure that out, somebody please take away my fob. It reminds of that video of the woman trying to put gas in her electric car.

 

It's interesting that you find the need to be flippant on this issue. It's not a manual transmission, so "3 on the tree" doesn't make any sense. A standard PRNDL on the tree would make some sense, too. I'm not saying that it has to be the same as another car, I'm just saying they redesigned it for the sake of redesign and not to solve a problem. It's great that it auto parks when you turn off the car but the Park button is used sometimes when you still want the car running and in that instance the button is a dumb design. It takes up room that COULD have been used for the seat heater.

I don't want to look down, either. I think I stated that before. But all the other cars I drive you can intuitively feel what gear the car is in. This one you can't. That isn't value add.

As for the dash, sometimes when you push a button it doesn't work. Maybe you aren't in the right condition for the feature or something. They put the light so that it gives you feedback. So put it somewhere that makes sense, which ISN'T in front of a passenger.

 

It's perfectly obvious to YOU. Obviously not to everyone. And you COULD make it obvious by not reinventing the stupid shifter to something less intuitive. You could even use the same mechanism but make a few minor changes.

 

I don't think there is widespread dissatisfaction with the shifter layout. It took me a few days to get used to it, now it's second nature. I think having all the drive controls in that area of the dash makes sense. And, the shifter is easy to reach when I want to go to B mode, for example. I think it's well-designed.

I've driven manual transmissions with 3, 4, 5 or 6 speeds. One had first down to the left, then 2-5 in an H. Some have push for R, some have pull for R, R is in a different place on most, some have grips on the stick to get to R. Like anything else, just a bit of use and it becomes second nature.

 

I agree, It takes very little to get used to the shifter. After the first day, it became second nature. The shifter is in a perfect spot to use without looking at it. Maybe you have to look for the park button but not while you are driving. I think it is well designed also.

 

Maybe you need to go back to riding a horse.
I'm sure you could find a LOT of things to complain about with that design too.

Aren't you tired of wasting our time here just blowing off steam yet ??
You should be.

 

wow, 12 days of firestorm after o.p's only post

 

OP is probably gone and will never come back.

 

maybe a clarity owner