What are your thoughts on the Gen. 4 Prius?

The dooshes around me red neck of the woods do indeed cut you up when they pass me as I'm merely minding the road in the right lane most of the time.
What gets me is that the said dooshes were rooted in the right lane ( overtake lane ) with no one in front of beside them for sometimes miles. So eventually when they do finally get past they pull right in front of me .

9/10 times I get them back when driving me truck. I really should remove my rear mudflap ;-)

LG-H901 ?

 

Ah, one more thing about the 2016 Pri rental ...

I took off this morning, like 6:15am, not driven all night, backed down driveway and went the few hundred feet down the street to stop, the gas engine did not come on for warm up. That's a nice benefit because I find the gen3, 2 engine kicking on after 8 or so seconds Ready mode to be a little annoying ya know. When I accelerated onto the street the gas engine came on, but it sure is quiet these with the 2016.

 

^ That's a BIG difference, and likely responsible for the comparable jump in mpg. I wonder why they didn't design thus sooner, and has that much changed that it's acceptable now. Strange.

 

In California we are crawling with Priuses of all generations except Gen 4. They are conspicuously absent. I am just not seeing them out on the road. We looked and test drove the four and decided to keep our three.

Toyota has some issues to do with removing features, then selling them back to you in the Gen 4T.

The items in my G3 I like are Homelink, the well in the trunk for groceries and thing that might leak, the retractable toneau cover, the double glove compartment, the center console allowed driver or passenger access, Softex seats, and heated seats.

The car is attractive, but the interior is not to my tastes, not to mention some weird trim piece on the front console.

When we test drove the dealer cautioned me that using the adaptive cruise control in town that it will stop for the car in front of you, but if there is no car, it will drive you thorough a red light if you aren't paying attention! Do'h!

 

That's an interesting misunderstanding of how the system actually works. I wonder if that assumption will turn into a misconception...

The safety part (radar detection to prevent collisions) is always active, even when you aren't using the cruise-control. You do not have to turn anything on, ever. When you are driving around with the normal accelerator & brake pedal use through town, that protection feature is running.

It's disturbing to hear about stories where salespeople don't have correct information. Spreading false beliefs, especially with a feature that's been available for years, is not a good sign.

I've had mine, in my 2012 Prius PHV, triggered several times from ordinary driving without using cruise. I remember the first in-town experience, when someone abruptly decided to hit the brakes to make a left turn. Another time was when a turkey jumped out in front of the car. In both instances, the system sounded an audible alarm, flashed a message on the screen, retracted the shoulder restraints, and applied the brakes. It was impressive to experience.

 

I believe the info screen warns upon start to only use adaptive cruise control 'on expressways'.
I believe if you use (adaptive) cruise control and a car moves away from in front, it will go back to the set speed (through red light, low speed turn, etc...).

I am seeing more gen4 around, at Lowes other day, we have one in our home tract, one along side me at light yesterday.

As for me, I've appraised my 2011, gathered paperwork, writing ad and getting ready to go non-hybrid / alt. If the shoe doesn't fit, must take it off.

Edit- my 2011 is gone, sold. Don't miss it one bit, only bummed about depreciation.

 

Toyota could have put in sun visors that slide on a rod, easily.
Lack of attention to detail.

 

the sun visors are the worst. especially when it's sunny.

 

how can you stand listening to the engine all the time? especially at lights and stop and go traffic?

 

Don't agree! My lady fell in love with our car at an auto show (I had been considering a non-touring 4). We bought the Touring!

 

Nope! You have to either touch the accelerator or push the cruise control stalk up. I prefer the accelerator. I must say that in stop and go it isn't the smoothest system and when it stops it leaves a healthy gap to the car in front of you but is good for relieving the gas/brake/gas/brake drill!

 

Many years of 'practice'.

 

Bisco was wondering how I can stand listening to my Accord's engine running at stop lights, etc ... and you are speaking of the full speed cruise control. It would leave bit too much gap in front IMO. I tried moving forward with gas pedal a bit and let it stop again to close gap but was a wee jerky doing that.

 

You can't disagree with a fact. You certainly can be part of a different group though.

There are some difficult to accept facts too... like how long it actually takes for a new generation to catch on. Sightings of gen-4 here, and a very Prius friendly state, are only now ramping up. I saw three last night on the drive home.

 

Still don't agree. Get compliments on the car all the time and it turns heads in the neighborhood. Some Gen 3 friends have started throwing rocks at their car after seeing and riding in ours. I think you're part of a different group!

 

You clearly didn't follow what I posted. Oh well. The point didn't apply here anyway.

 

I love the radar/whatever smart cruise. It is really neat. The feature is only active over 50km/h (30MPH). So the scenario your 'Sales Expert' was talking about will never rally happen. Note that a substantial number of the 800 page owner manual warns you that these automated features are designed to avoid accidents. You are not driving a Tesla - get it. So you the driver are responsible!

It took me awhile to see the radar accident prevention feature to work. I tried a couple of times but to be honest, I chickened out. The manual says that this feature is programmed not to work if you are breaking or turning the steering wheel. The computer thinks that you are in control, and will not interfare. So this week I was chatting with my wife and I was a bit slow to react as we approached a car coming to a stop in front of us. The warning system came on with a red message warning me of a potencial crash. In truth the darn thing beat me to to it - BUT it did not apply the breaks! This is half baked solution. Unless my foot was faster on the breake. I find this feature a bit scary to keep on testing.

 

The red BREAK warning message appears slightly before it applies the breaks. It warns first, to give you a chance to intervene. I've sometimes been scared it wasn't going to do it... but I haven't crashed yet. Every time, it does apply the breaks (albeit a bit aggressive at times).

The car likes to play a game "chicken" with you!

 

I think if Toyota was really serious about reducing environmental impact with the Prius, they would have found a way to make it nice for not only small driver's but also tall, big and heavy driver's too. But, IMO, it was designed for mostly smaller individuals.
I have no problem driving a 20 to 25 mpg car and cranking out twice the C20 to avoid being squeezed into a minnie mouse driver's seat.