visibility over your left shoulder???

Re: Left side checking - regardless of mirror settings and add-on rectangular or circular mirrors, ALWAYS turn your head and check. I doubt I am the only one here who has ever started a lane change to the left and only because I looked left first did not have an accident with the person 2 lanes over who was changing lanes to their right. Mirror checks will never save you from this. Two vehicles should NOT try to occupy the same piece of pavement at the same time!
I also use the 'tilt the passenger mirror down' technique to parallel park.

Re: the A pillar. No problem for me, my '95 Odyssey has very similar A pillars with the little triangular windows, due to the ...

Re: hood slope. The reason it doesn't look as steep from the outside is because you see it starting from the A pillar. Inside you first have to get past the deep dash (same on my Odyssey) owing to the long sloping windshield. The 'back of dash to bumper' distance is almost identical between the 2 cars. You can't be tall enough to see the front of the car from the seats. Which is OK because ...

Re: Not being able to see the front of the car. Yes it makes it hard to tell just how close you are. Don't most of you have binocular vision and therefore depth perception?? I don't, but I'm not normal (AND NO snappy retorts! ;-) ). Depth perception is good for about 15' so you should be able to have a decent idea how close YOU are to the object. If you have a feel for how far your eyes are from the front of the car, you should be fine. However think of it this way - since you can't see the front of the car: As long as you can see an object, you can't hit it!

Re: rental fleets having '04s. The one my neighbor rented from Enterprise is a base model (And he LOVES it). Most people who are buying probably want a package anyway so maybe they aren't really keeping people on the waiting list from getting their cars.

 

Re: reply to Starbug's height related questions

Starbug, I am also 5 feet tall. When I first sat in the Prius I was overjoyed at finding a car in which I din't feel tiny. You sit very high up and the front window is so huge that it feels very open and easy to see out and down from. My last car was a low sports car so you can imagine what a wonderful change this was. At my height, I can't get the left side view mirror into a very good position though so I am extra careful on the highway. The back window is fine. It took a while to get used to but now I realize there is actually more visibility out the back than a regular car because of the lower window with no trunk in the way. Unforunately tailgaters can get closer with no trunk back there to keep them farther back from your window!

One big concern I still have is the big beams on either side of the front windshield. They are very bad for visibility, even with the little windows in them. I pulled out from a T intersection after looking both ways recently and suddenly a cop car passed in front of me and I almost hit it! THe only explanation I could think of at first was this beam blocking my vision. The cop accepted that and left me alone. Though later I realized he must've been speeding incredibly fast for me to not have seen him so it was also larely his fault.

 

Starla:

5 feet tall???

come now... i can see your pic on your avatar... arent you stretching the truth a bit??

 

Sorry 5'1". Does that help? Seriously 5 feet is not as short as you think.

See...
http://priuschat.com/forums/album_pic.php?pic_id=189

 

actually i was thinking more towards 4' something...

my mom is 4'9"

 

Perhaps Dave needs to post a picture of his mom standing at the same relative position to his car as the starla30 picture.

 

LOL, that's a really good point! So much for BMW M3's, Porches, cops, etc being able to beat a Prius in a race (or chase, in the case of a cop)! They have to stop for gas before continueing while we just keep going. LOL, what a hilarious image that brings to my mind.

Fear me and my (rented) Prius of DOOM!! :mrgreen: LMAO!

 

Re: reply to Starbug's height related questions

OMG 5'1"! You are only one inch taller than me! Weee! So looking at your avatar, I now know how tall I would stand beside one. And you can still see over the dash! Sooo glad that the seats sit up high. Happy happy happy, joy joy joy...!! *dances* Eh, excuse the lapse into Ren & Stimpy cartoon memories...

Hmmm, that front blind spot may not be as big a problem for me to get used to, as my current '86 Blazer's huge side mirrors completely block my vision. I can't see over or around them at all. They can swallow even the biggest of SUVs and trucks. I'm glad you didn't hit or get ticketed by that cop; that would have been sad for everybody.

 

Heh, yeah, I'd like to see that too! My mom is 4'11". At 5'0" I am the tallest woman in my family. Fear my great height! :mrgreen:

 

well as car mirrors go, the Prius mirrors give a great field of view almost like much larger truck mirrors. granted the passenger side mirror is magnified to increase the field of view. (you know the "objects may be closer than they appear" kind)

 

Well that's good to know. I always have a hard time getting used to the smaller field of vision that car mirrors have, as compared to my truck's.


Any last driving/MPG tips or things I should know before I leave at 11:30am tomorrow (Fri) to pick up the Prius that Enterprise has for me? *is unbelievably thrilled to be taking it to OR* I don't think I'm gonna be able to sleep tonight.... :mrgreen:


...do I really have to give it back on Monday? *puppy-dog eyes*

 

I'm afraid your plan has 1 little flaw Starbug. It is true the BMW's, Porsches and police cruisers have to stop for gas well before you do. However, as seen in the newspaper several times in the past month, some brainless people think that 140+ mph can evade the police. They forgot one thing - the police have radios!. They NEVER need to stop for gas and they travel faster than you.

 

Of course not! You can rent it for the next how ever many months it takes you to get your own

 

D'oh! Forgot about the radios! Hmmmm, must come up with a new plan... *plots* ...I wonder if I can jam their radios... perhaps a nice jar of raspberry jam -ala Space Balls- would do the trick... (hey, worked for Lone Star, right? :mrgreen: ) *continues plotting*

 

Oooooh, I like the way you think. :mrgreen:

 

so bruce? you willing to donate to the Starbug rental fund??

 

Hey, If we can raise enough for the Starbug rental fund, she could get her own Prius sooner. Just a couple of months worth of rental fees should easily cover one of those "Market Adjustments" we keep hearing about (and mostly refuse to pay) :mrgreen:

 

more blind spots

I found the blind spot you mentioned, noticeable, but not as serious as the one to my right out the front window, i.e. where a pedestrian would be walking into the crosswalk while I was getting ready to turn left.
There is a solution to your blind spot and it works for all cars. To set your mirrors, park your car several car lengths in front of the car behind you, as if you were in the same lane travelling on the freeway. Here's what you do:
1. set your center rerview mirror where you want it.
2. note what you see in the left side of your review mirror, i,e, where is that car behind you?
3. place your head against the driver's side window, and, while looking forward, position your left sideview mirror so that you can just see the side of the car.
4. now, note what you see in the right side of your rearview mirror.
5. lean to the center and position your head about the middle of the car and adjust your right side view mirror so that you can just see the side of your car.
6. Check that whatever moves outside the field of view in your rearview mirror, either to the right or to the left, will immediately show up in the respective side view mirror.
This takes getting used to because most drivers position their side view mirrors so that they see the sides of their car while sitting normally. This creates serious blind spots on either side of the car because the side view mirrors are turned in too close and are overlapping the view from the rear view mirror. The blind spots are on the outside of either side view mirror.
Once you get used to not seeing the side of your car, you will appreciate that cars coming up from behind you will always be visible.
Another simple trick is to buy a pair of stick on wide view mirrors about an inch and a half (40mm) in diameter; position them in the upper outside corners. It takes a little practice to look at both the normal mirror and the little wide angle view at the corner, but it will help. The little wide view mirrors are great for parallel parking, either side, as they allow you to see the side of the car relative to the curb, so you won't scrape your wheels.
After you drive this car for a while, though, you will learn the blind spots. I find the view out the back not nearly as restrictive as I did when I first drove the car. Do watch the blind spots created by the windshield posts as you can easily get T-boned by someone you don't see while entering an intersection.
Drive lovingly,
Bob

 

Bob: your method of adjustment is basically what i have been using as a secondary check. nothing should replace the actual physical check. but this method is good for any "planned" lane changes. however as you well know (judging by your location) unplanned lane changes happen frequently and are done in a mostly vain attempt to maintain speed or follow the fastest line of traffic. (note that fastest in most cases is usually 50% or less of posted speed limits)

i will be honest with you in that it took me a full 2 months (or basically the entire time ive had my car) to get used to the split window view since at first the over the shoulder glance frequently made me more confused since you really cant see much. (the standard blind spot in the Prius is much larger than any other car ive had) but i think the much better mirrors do play a hugh part. as for the passenger mirror on my Prius, in the past, only very high quality truck mirrors have provided such an excellent view and they do provide me with a great sense of safety.

driving western WA freeways is a dicy proposition at best ( i lived in So. CA and Silicon Valley for nearly 10 years and the drivers are better there in my opinion) and the weather frequently aggravates the problem even more. rain and the severe angle of the sun (especially on I-5 near Olympia where the freeway runs dead east-west between Tumwater and Tacoma) creates numerous accidents. but i seem to have noticed that drivers seem to treat me with less respect when driving the Prius than when im driving my full size ford pickup. i see many cutting around me without allowing for safe clearances although im ALWAYS over the speed limit if traffic permits.

but i have also noticed that on surface streets, its been just the opposite. because of regeneration and the fact that my mileage is much lower in city driving than freeway ( my only real beef with the EPA) i am always trying to "feather" my driving and coast when i know im going to stop for lights and i have noticed now that many others are following my lead. it is almost as if they think because im driving a Prius, that i am some sort of expert on how to achieve maximum economy in heavy city traffic.

three times in the past week or so, ive made it from the west side of Olympia to Lacey on surface streets while only having to come to a full stop 2 times or less. this trip requires 17 traffic lights over slightly more than 6 miles. mind you that several of these lights require more than one cycle of the light to get past them when traffic is heavy and 2 (the ones im stuck at usually) require more than one cycle of the light in slightly heavy traffic. another thing that was surprising was that there are 5 traffic circles that were all installed recently (year or so) and that is another place i usually have to stop at. just goes to show you how "slow" drivers are around here.

 

visibility over the hood

Over the hood view: See the album section. I mounted a fake cell phone antenna to the top of the license plate holder (you need to actually screw it in; the adhesive backing won't survive freeway speeds). The top of the antenna sticks up about three inches into your field of view from the driver's seat. Works great and looks cool.
Bob Allen