Why don't you like the large format screen in the Prime?

Can a mirror my Android phone to that big touch screen?

 

The 25 miles is a nominal estimate. My experience is that the number will be more like 21 miles in 20° F winter weather and more like 33 miles at 80° F in the summer.

The heat pump is reasonably efficient but its use will somewhat reduce your electric driving range. It is less of a drain on the battery in summer when you're just trying to lower the cabin temperature 15° F from 90° F outside to a comfortable 75° F inside. It has to work a lot harder in winter when the desired temperature differential is much larger -- like maintaining a cabin temperature of 65° F when it's only 20° F outside. (Of course, if you do run the gasoline engine during winter driving, it provides plenty of heat even in the coldest weather.)

And, yes, with a Level 2 EVSE (charger) drawing 15 amps at 240 volts, it takes just a little over two hours to fully recharge the traction battery. More likely, Mrs Bear or I make a five mile trip each way to our nearest Costco (ten miles total), plug the car in when we get home, and it's often close to fully re-charged before we've finished unloading everything and putting away the groceries.[/QUOTE]

 

No. No mirroring for iPhone nor Android in pre2019 models. For the 2020 model Apple car play can be used but not Android Auto. I am not sure how Apple Car Play displays on the large screen. I don't have a large screen on my 2020 LE, and I don't have iPhone.

 

Unfortunately I think Toyota has confirmed that the Denso unit (11.6-inch unit) is not compatible with Android Auto. I read it somewhere recently.

The 7.0-inch unit is made by Denso Ten (formerly Fujitsu Ten).

I don't know why Denso and Denso Ten make audio units separately, even though the former is the parent company of the latter.

 

I confess I’m not familiar with the current Prius 4 Touring (although we also own the 2009 equivalent of that), but I do know that the big screen was introduced on the P.Prime originally. It may or may not have been incorporated into other, more-recent Toyotas.

So, just to make sure there’s no confusion, you can re-charge in a little over 2 hours on 240V (AKA “level 2”)
or around 5 hours on 120V. Whether that qualifies as “quick” depends upon the particular circumstances, not surprisingly.

Yes, I at least am ~95% EV in town. In my particular case though, that’s partly because we invested in a Level-2 charger in the garage, and because we have chargers at my place of work (19 miles from home). Most Americans though live closer to work than I do.

I believe the Prius Prime is intended to be one other thing more fundamentally than a plug-in hybrid: it’s above all else simply a super-efficient, easy-going, daily-driving, commuter car. So, even if you use the engine from time to time, it’s still, above all else, a really really efficient car!

It’s worth mentioning that with a 25-mile battery, driving it as much as I do on electric, I charge-cycle it a lot. So, I accept that its battery is not likely to last as long as a pure-EV with a large, liquid-cooled battery.

 

Can it mirror only in landscape orientation?

 

I only get it when the sun is low, behind me, and off to the right side coming in through the right rear door window.

It is. From discussions here, it seems like it has good enough resolution but it's trying to up-convert lower resolution images. 4K TVs do that with HD content, but do a much better job of it.

On the opposite side from the gas tank door.

In my opinion, it's the best car I've ever had, but it does have some quirks that are probably extra irritating since they are such a contrast to the excellence in other areas.

 

Totally absurd, but I like to picture the car developing, firming up as it rolls along the assembly line, and near the end there's this guy, he says "Hey, where do you think you're going; you can't roll off the assembly line without quirks and irritants. Lessee...".

 

They corrected that on the 2020 Prime.

I love the bigger screen and have only had a couple restarts since buying last Fall. Other than a little glare it’s great.

 

What do you mean? AFAIK, no changes in 2020.

 

Sorry, I meant it had physical controls (not knobs).

 

You mean touch screen controls? Yeah, it was that way from 2017 on. No change.

I switched from 11.6" screen in my 2017 PRIME Premium to a smaller screen with physical knobs in 2020 PRIME LE exactly for that reason. In my climate, I need to wear very heavy work gloves during winter, being able to turn on and off heat and temp with gloved hand (sometimes mittens) is essential. I can't do that with touch screen switches.

 

The big screen was one of the reasons I decided to order a Prime without actually seeing one first and I must say I was slightly disappointed when it came with a small screen.
Large screens are not fitted to the Prime in Europe and the EnTune system is not available here either.
But I did get the keyfob recoded at Toyota so I can trigger the AC/heating & can close the windows remotely.
I was surprised that I couldn't control the cabin temp by voice command like I used to do with my previous Prius and the Infotainment software is s-l-o-w to load up the phone contacts and map data.
The user manual clearly states that I can mirror my Samsung phone to the screen but that feature was never implemented
The only addition I installed was an Alexa Auto which makes everything so much easier . . . .

 

A hilarious article I read that explains the features, including the large screen. Couldn’t stop laughing

The 2021 Prius Prime Is The Driving Equivalent Of Some Kid Kicking Your Seat At The Movies

Btw, I love my prime despite these annoyances.

 

Entertaining, right-on article. And congrats also, for dodging a potential exploding Jalopnik link.

 

It always surprises me when I hear about the things some people find annoying. It seems to be quite idiosyncratic and varies widely from individual to individual.

Most of the complaints written about by Jason Torchinsky in his Japlopnik review are quite personal, such as his dislike of the font used in the design of the speedometer display.

The shifter design has been commented upon in PriusChat on many occasions. Personally, I don't find it a problem because one can easily see the large indicator shown in the display. And figuring out how to make the car go forward or to back-up does not seem particularly mentally challenging even if the markers on the shifter knob include arrows.

Torchinsky's complaint about the number of small symbols used in the display has some merit -- especially when these symbols are not immediately intuitive. It does take some learning (as in RTFM). But it's like my great uncle who once commented on learning French: "I've been to France and there were small children speaking the language perfectly. How hard can it be?)

Other things like the beeping in reverse, and when the lane-assist is active, are options which easily can be turned off. (And, contrary to Torchinsky's belief, the reverse beeping is not an exterior warning.)

I take Torchinsky's column with good humor. It has inspired me to start compiling lists of other products with attributes I find annoying. I am going to start with our new Bosch dishwasher which has five primary cycle settings (Heavy, Auto, Normal, Speed60™, and Rinse), each with a choice of six variations (Extra Scrub, SpeedPerfect™, Half Load, Delicate, Sanitize, and AutoAir™) for a total of 30 possibilities.

At least it doesn't beep in reverse.