Premium vs Advanced

I did actually get 4.7 on my drive in to work this morning, despite the 23°F temperature outside and nasty blustery headwind.

I pre-conditioned just before leaving and had the heater set at 65 ECO with driver priority.

 

Totally agree!! My experience exactly; when faced with a questionable environment though, and if there's time, these alerts are priceless!
The alert Toyota needs to treat much more seriously is the low-tire-pressure alert; that demands an audio and much more prominent visual cue, particularly given the most unfortunate absence of a spare tire!!

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Those were, however, real-world driving conditions including AC on, for predominantly daily-commute-type driving.

I looked up the numbers they reported again, and actually it was closer to 3.5 miles/KWh for the Model S, although he said that his commute conditions had recently become less favorable (didn’t say specifically in what way), before which he got somewhat better than that. Also, the Gen-1 Volt driver actually said 4.0miles/KWh “on a good day.”

Anyway, just FWIW...

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A typical commute home from work for me is around 6 miles/kWh, and to work on a chilly morning is around 5 miles/kWh.

 

Very repressive! Er, “impressive”...

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I'm a new member of PriusChat, although I have been referring to the wisdom and experience of all you since I bought my 2005 Prius in late 2004. But the discussion in this thread about voice commands compelled me to join PriusChat just to share a humorous experience (and to add my $0.02 to the main topic of this thread). I hope nobody minds an anecdotal story that has no technical merit...

Shortly after buying our 2005 Prius with all the fixin's (package 5 back then), we made a trip across several states to visit some relatives. We had set the navigation to our end destination, but at one point got off the route to stop and visit a relative who lived just a few miles off of the highway. We knew the way, and would be getting back onto the interstate later that day, so we didn't change the destination in the navigation system. It was about 25 degrees Fahrenheit outside, but we were snug and comfortable inside the car. The navigation system, however, was getting very annoying as it kept trying to reroute us from our detour back to the highway. After ignoring the turn-by-turn directions for several minutes, I finally tried to give the voice command to stop navigation. Immediately, a soft voice came back from our Prius, saying, "Setting Air Conditioning to Maximum Cold." (I don't remember the exact words anymore.) Whereupon, the fans came on full force and the temperature setting moved from warm and comfy to its lowest possible value. Of course, to fix that sudden change in the old Prius requires taking eyes off the icy in-town roads and punching a bunch of menu buttons on a screen to change the fan speed. I learned a couple of valuable lessons that day: Don't make the navigation system mad by ignoring it, and it is just plain stupid for any car manufacturer to not use simple knobs for climate control.

That brings us back to the main topic of this thread, regarding differences in the Prime's Plus, Premium and Advanced trim levels. We are ready to purchase a new Prius Prime as soon as we find the right car at the right price (we expect a dealer to make a reasonable profit and stay in business, but we also expect a dealer to make us an offer we can't refuse -- any Toyota dealers in the Portland area listening?). The different trim levels are also a dilemma for us. We are still debating between the Plus and the Advanced models. It's not the price difference (although that is significant), it's the three features the Plus has that the Advanced does not have. We very much want all the great safety and convenience features of the Advanced model mentioned in this thread, but we don't want to give up those three features found only in the Plus trim:

1) The Prime Plus, with its smaller display, has REAL SWITCHES for the climat control! The Premium and Advanced trim levels got back to the stupidity of putting essential controls into menu-driven computer displays. We want the extra features in the Advanced trim, but we don't want stupid menu-driven controls. Steering wheel controls help some, but they don't replicate all of the controls -- and the simplicity -- of REAL SWITCHES. Nor can the passenger use the steering wheel controls (safely) like they could use simple controls in the center console.

2) The Plus has cloth seats; the Premium and Advanced have "SofTex" seats. My wife absolutely hates leather seats, and is not convinced Toyota's SofTex will be much better. It would be a very expensive experiment to purchase an Advanced model, only to find we cannot stand the seats after using them for a few weeks (and in different seasons).

3) We want a CD player (I'm surprised that nowhere else in this thread is a mention that the Premium and Advanced toss that away the CD player to make room for those stupid menu-driven controls). I know CDs are old fashioned, but I'm no spring chicken either. I have a few hundred book-on-CD discs, and use them a lot on long drives. Ripping all those CDs to flash drives is not cost- or time-effective. I hate to admit it, but I also have a number of book-on-tape cassettes. Our 2005 Prius has a cassette player, as well as a multi-disc CD player, but I'm willing to accept that no cars today have cassette players. And before you think it -- no, I don't have anything on 8-track (anymore).

What I really want is for Toyota to offer option packages for the Plus trim level that add the great safety and convenience features of the Advanced trim, but retain the smaller screen, the real climate/audio switches, CD player, and cloth seats of the Plus level.

Not only do we still need to decide what to give up in features between the Plus and the Advanced trims, we also have to figure out which car our new Prius Prime will replace. I want to keep our 2005 Prius and replace our 2005 LEAF. The LEAF has been a wonderful all-EV car, but it plummeted in value so fast that it has broken the sound barrier multiple times. I'd like to sell it while we can still get a few dollars, rather than having to pay someone to take it off our hands. My wife, on the other hand, sees no need for two Prii, and wants to keep the LEAF. It really is a fun car to drive, and, now that it not worth much, costs almost nothing to keep (we've had solar panels on our home for many years, so even the electricity to charge it is free). And, it has REAL SWITCHES to control the climate.

Decisions, decisions...

Thanks again for all the great insights and advice in all the different PriusChat forums! All of you who contribute have been an invaluable resource for me for 12+ years!

 

It sounds as if you are convinced that the + will work. Get it while you can, with the incentives (I'm not sure what they're doing in Oregon... I know that some places in NJ are still doing $3000 off along with the tax incentive). Coming from a Prius c with the knobs, I do miss being able to make quick changes to the volume and climate. I think that Toyota could have improved on this. In any event, have you test driven the + yet?

 

Amen.

 

Purchased the plus for the same reasons as above: physical knobs on controls + cloth seats. One feature I would have liked was the cross traffic sensor on reverse (which is present only on the advanced) & blind spot detectors (also advanced only I think) - not sure why this isn't a standard for Toyota.

 

You've never met anyone who likes buttons and knobs more than me. And yet, I can honestly say after owning an Advanced for 8 months, this is just not a real problem.

First of all, I'm almost always on auto mode. That means most of my interactions with the HVAC are just the two temperature buttons on the side of the display. Nothing to it.

Second, the on-screen HVAC display is trivial to use, with large buttons.

Finally, you can choose to leave the HVAC controls on the screen all the time, or not, with a single touch (touch them if you want them, touch anywhere on the map if you don't). When I'm actively using them (primarily when it's snowing or there's window frost), I just leave them open. They're so easy to use I actually find them easier than the real buttons and knobs on my 1988 Mazda MX6 or my 2012 Mazda5 simply because they are closer to you and the buttons are bigger.

 

Are you sure you can actually locate a Plus model? Seems all the dealers had just Advanced models when I bought last month. We weren’t going to buy a replacement for our leased Fiat 500e until February, but were concerned the federal tax credit would be cancelled. I believe there is an Oregon incentive that starts 1-1-18 that you might look into.

 

I hate those display screens, BUT, I settled for the big screen BECAUSE the blind spot and rear traffic/Presbyterian monitors seemed to be a good idea. They are WONDERFUL, INVALUABLE, MUST HAVES, on any modern car!!
I set my A/C controls as a standing overlay on my screen, with the radio controls. I almost never touch the A/C controls anyway; it's a great system that almost never requires fiddling. I still would prefer buttons and knobs for temperature control, and radio, although I control the radio just fine with the steering wheel buttons. The voice commands work, they're just a tad slower than using a knob or button.
The auto-dimming rear-view mirror with the programmable garage door opener buttons, auto-headlights, self-parking, auto-wipers, etc. are all great. I wanted cloth seats; sorry but the Softex is classier, and wonderful in 100+ temperatures (Car sitting in direct sunlight for 7hrs! in Lancaster, Calif; I was wearing shorts, and no problem sitting on seats or touching steering wheel; I do have a medium high quality tint on all windows, except the front windshield). I would not hesitate to get the Softex again. Of course, as I've said many times before in other posts here, the built-in GPS, like that in all of the 5 or 6 cars I've tested, sucks the big linguini!! Tried it again today; so complicated and unable to take direct voice commands for address, with countless prompting, and then, a miserable display for streets, etc. I would seriously consider having the blasted thing removed if it weren't detrimental to the resale value. I'll stay with My TRUSTY, EXCELLENT Garmin Nuvi 3490LMT, with lifetime maps and traffic!! I've got about 13,500 miles, and 10 months of ownership, and the car is incredible!!
Conclusion, ADVANCED is totally worth the extra cost for the extra toys!!

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Interesting. My number 1 disappointment with this car is the Softex. It doesn't breathe. My back gets uncomfortably hot in any temperatures above about 60°F.

I got really mad about then when I saw that my Mom's Avalon's leather seat are ventilated. Why not the Softex?

Lee Jay

 

Yeah, that's weird 'cause I REALLY hate heat, and in particular that annoying heat in your back that I would get with other cars. I have ABSOLUTELY no use for heated seats! I remember driving with vinyl seats in my Honda and getting that "hot back" effect!! These Softex seats haven't caused me any sort of heat discomfort; I wonder if different clothing yields variable results? Strange!

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I just remembered, I would have to get cloth or sheepskin seat covers for most of my vinyl-seated cars. I recovered the interior of my 69 Alfa Romeo GTV, with some very soft, beautiful black Italian leather; that never gave me any problems, and smelled great!

 

I basically wear nothing but T-shirts and jeans. I've had my shirt stick to me in weather under 70 degrees because of these seats.

 

Hey you must have a Super Metabolism or else mine has slowed down, har, har! And remember, I'm living in this screaming hot area; dude, it's 87° degrees here right now!!

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I appreciate all the great feedback from my post! I'm now convinced that I can live without the knobs, and I want the important safety features of the Advanced more than the CD player. The cloth vs softex seats is still a big concern for my wife. I had leather in a 1995 Outback and loved it, but my wife hated them, and never got over that bias.

I have not been able to test drive -- or see at a distance -- any level of a Prime yet. We are currently on a multi-month assignment in Bremerton Washington, where it seems like they have barely even heard that EVs exist. There's just one or two charging stations in the entire area, and absolutely no apartment complexes that allow charging an EV. No dealer on this side of Puget Sound stocks Primes. We'll be making a weekend trip home to Portland soon, and plan to test drive -- and probably buy -- a Prime while there. I'm fairly certain it will be an Advanced trim at this point. Silver is our first choice, but I am intrigued by the Titanium Glow. Got to see it first, though. The Magnesium Blue looks real nice on my laptop screen, but our Leaf is a metallic blue, and almost always looks dirty. Our silver '05 Prius can be filthy, and not show it all.

BTW, as far as I have been able to glean from Google searches, Oregon will be starting an EV tax incentive sometime in 2018, but the exact month it starts is uncertain because the funding is not in place yet. It won't be near as much as the federal tax credit, and I'm not optimistic that the fed credit will survive into 2018. The Toyota incentive in Oregon is currently $1000 cash back (or discounted interest on financing), which is due to expire the end of the year. I'm sure a new incentive will come out then, but what?

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the dumb typo in my original post -- Leafs didn't exist in 2005! Mine is a 2012 (purchased in 2011). I can't find a way to edit my post to fix that, though.

 

Oh?! Can I twist your arm a little further...

 

You're better off without the CD player. Just rip them all to a USB drive and leave it plugged into the car.

As for the seats, if they get uncomfortable, you can always get a seat cover.

 

In the recent cold snap, I guess I’ll have to admit I’ve also become surprisingly addicted to the heated steering wheel!

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