Prius Team invites LA & SF to meet the 2010 Prius

Just got home from the event - it was great!

I'll start a discussion thread with pics soon.

 

thanks for the awesome event. i didn't take as many photos as i would have liked to. when you have the car and camera in sight.. you freeze up and lose sight of what needs to be photographed.

 

I too want to thank Toyota for the event. I have no pictures, as I think that most of features already have been documented here.

For those outside the Bay Area, the recent storms cleared out over the weekend, with outside temperatures in the low 60's, little wind, and clear air. It was a terrific day for the event.

It was a pleasure to meet Danny and have him listen to my critique of the site and also some general observations about the implications of some of features of the newest Safari browser (beta released last week) with respect to web forums. Priuschat handles it much better than other forums.

 

Another congratulations to the Prius Team for an excellent event. Everyone was well informed, the food was excellent, and the test drives were really fun. Too bad we couldn't take a drive down Lombard Street for a true SF experience...

One thing that amazed me was the caliber of the attendees. The trivia quiz had items on it that nobody I know would have the answers. When I complained about the question about how many cells in the battery, the guy next to me said "well isn't it about 160 something?". The correct answer is 168, but that's not something I just carry around as common knowledge. As I was fiddling around with the Nav unit looking for how to get into maintenance mode, another guy showed me how to get to it. It was like he was someone who trained Prius mechanics, but there he was just an ordinary attendee at an unveiling.

The Nav unit is clearly a new generation. The performance is noticeably faster, and the display seems changed. I didn't get a chance to see it in motion. The Nav DVD now goes into a slot behind the display, below the CD slot for the CD changer. The display rotates out of the way to reveal the slots. I wonder if there are really two drives there, or if there is only one DVD/CD drive shared by the audio system and Nav. If it's shared, then an audio DVD would probably work.

The solar panel is a 36 cell unit made by "Kyocera Automotive". Kyocera has been in the solar panel business for a long time, and is a leader in green technology.

Looking into the engine compartment shows an interesting shift in technology. The engine is bigger, and the inverter is smaller. Overall, the engine compartment is less crowded than in earlier versions. Any more shrinkage and they could actually put the 12V battery up there instead of the trunk.

The range of the remote for turning on the air conditioning is 30 meters. That's good enough to make the alarm function useful for finding your car in the parking lot!

There was mention that there are 5 trim levels available. I don't know if one of those would be a "kitchen sink" version with both parking/radar/etc. and the solar panel. The only trim level distinctions I observed on the demonstrators was driving lights (obviously higher trim), navigation, and the solar panel. There will probably be a base model with less than the demonstrators.

There will be a test fleet of 500 plug-in Prius, 125 in the US. They are looking for real world feedback on three different lithium-ion batteries. So it sounds like it's still too early to expect a volume commitment to a single design.

The Ni-MH battery is changed for the 2010. If it were only a delay for the lithium-ion, then I'd expect them to just carry over the earlier version.

Silver Pine Mica is no more. Really Toyota. The 2010 Prius is not available in green? What were you folks thinking? The Prius is not your everyday Corolla where green and blue alternate availability. Bring back the green Prius!

 

No matter what colour Prius you get, it's green.
Well it's greener than most cars.

Thanks for the feedback guys, now what were your impressions of the drive?

 

Well, it was just a short drive. I stopped at an intersection, the road was clear ahead, so I <>. It <>. Compared to a Honda hybrid, it <op2:>. Then we stopped to change drivers. It was a parallel park situation, a chance to check out the <:eyebrows:>. <:wave:>. My wife took the wheel, but first she adjusted the <:juggle:> and the <:dance:>. On our 2006, she only adjusts the <:dance:> after I've driven the car. The Toyota person switched the car to <layball:>, and it <:tape2:>. It was really weird, I never saw the <:whip:>. So there were a number of things that I really liked, <:rockon:>, a few things I'd change <:director:>, but overall <eace:>.

 

Hmm. I'm pretty sure that breached something. I don't know that it was your agreement not to write about the , but it the :mod:, and that's got to be a breach of :flypig: at least!

 

thanks to toyota for putting on this event. from reading the posts regarding the earlier prius connection events, i thought this was going to be more structured, so i showed up pretty much at 11am. good thing, because after a while the test drive line was pretty long. the 'driving impressions' embargo is pretty silly - what kind of person that would be invited to this event (in other words, prius enthusiasts) would then go on to bash the car? what part of toyota's A is being CYA'd here?

 

The only thing being covered here is Toyota's reputation with the general media. They have offered and are offering test drives to all major media outlets, but have imposed a March 25 release date. This is quite common and expected. If us non-media types spill the beans early, what's to hold the others from doing so? It would really spoil things for Toyota's future dealings with the press.

I'd much rather have these opportunities opened to us, so I think the embargo is quite reasonable.

 

wait.. Danny was at the event? i was super curious who else attended. I've spoke with a few people while there. i didn't leave till around 2:20 or 2:30... i figured i would have seen everyone.

oh.. btw.. the questions were easy.

the only one i didn't like is the smart key distance.. mine seems to work around 1.9 ft.. it supposed to be 3 ft... (mine doesn't work that far away though....)

 

I attended and this was a great experience. I really like the new Prius. It is much improved over previous generations. Although the driver's seat is now height adjustable, I am still very disappointed that there is no way to further adjust the seat. It seems too low and it would be nice to have more knee support and the option to tilt the seat cushion up/down. I would think that than 8 way adjustable seat would be standard in today's cars. Other than that, I love the car. Does anyone know about aftermarket seat adjustments for the Prius? I'm curious to hear what other people thought of the event and the seats.

 

so its more about letting magazines get a 'scoop' then? yeah, that's pretty reasonable.

i'm not really complaining about it, just wondering.

 

Hi everyone, I went to the San Francisco event yesterday and had a great time. I hadn't been to Fort Mason before and it was a beautiful location. From a distance I could see Golden Gate and Legion of Honor (or is it Palace something? the Grecian looking rotunda) and it is on the bay with the sail boats. The location alone was worth it. Oh, that's right this is Pruis Chat.
Like others I was impressed that most of the attendees knew alot about the car already so maybe Toyota would be better off with a guerilla marketing to expose the new Pruis to the uneducated masses instead of the already converted.
My main impression is the new design is lower to the ground (could be an illusion) and the driving position is lower. What I like about the previous generation is the height of the car. I think they were going for a more sedan look without going full on sedan. Things I like: the design of the middle console in the front, sleeker and wider body design, the solar roof, and slightly more horsepower and mileage.
Sore thumb issues (won't say I don't like since it could just be getting used to vs not liking): 1) where in the hell are the cup holders in the back seats. Turns out you need to pull down an arm rest within the back seat. This would mean if you want to use cup holders in the back you need to have the console down on the seat. We travel alot with dogs so we need that space. Rather have the cup holders installed in the back of the front middle console. Come to think of it I don't remember seeing cup holders in the front seat middle console area. Maybe they are in the side doors. 2) I like the more suv like height of the older model but I acknowledge that height might have been an illusion. 3) I also like the higher driving stance of the older model (again may have been an illusion but one I liked). 4) the eco plastic of the doors seems flimsy (nice looking though).
These criticisms are cosmetic mostly since I think I am not able to comment on the driving experience.
Thanks Toyota for putting on a great event and inviting me!

 

Yeah, one of the quiz questions was how many inches they moved it back. I forgot, but I think I guessed 3.8 .

Yeah, Danny was there. I recall meeting him after the beginning of the demo of <...>. I left around 2:05 PM.

 

Interesting units of measure. A decimal value based on inches. Easy to understand, but all my measuring sticks are either inches or cm. Maybe my surveying instructor 40 years ago in college has finally gotten some traction on his idea.

 

Well I'm finally home and settled from this road trip. First I want to thank Doug, Erica, Petra and the rest of the Prius team members for allowing me to stalk the LA and SF events. Both were great to attend and I learned somethings at each. The test drives were a................................................................. so thank you for the opportunity. I'm looking forward to the 26th for everyones thoughts.

Wayne

PS. Thanks Erica for fulfilling my request.

 

Whoa there... what? Hello?

Now the rumors are going to fly!!