2008 Prius- What I'd like from Toyota

[tomdeimos]

1 I like the 113 mpg! I want that for USA gallons!
City driving. I'd settle for something over 75 mpg in highway driving at 70 mph!
These are of course not using the plugin feature!

2 Plug in seems to require an actual button and range read out a driver could use to get home on electric and recharge. I'd like a 20 mile electric range instead of 9, but whatever: a 9 mile range with 9 miles to work would let me drive to work on battery, drive home on gas and arrive home with a full charge and nothing to replenish overnight from the grid.

So we need some battery range info, and a button we can push when we are that many miles from home, so we have something to recharge.

3 I'd like the option of using no gasoline at all. Make it multi-fueled so we can use natural gas, hydrogen, or ethanol fuel too.

4 I want more individually selectable options: that home power thing sounds good. Fancy powered seats should be an option. A second battery pack for more range would be good for electric commuters or people in mountains. etc. And a roof rack track built in would be nice.

5 Find better tires with lower rolling resistance and better performance so we don't have to just junk the ones that come on the car and guess as to what to use. Make room for a full size spare tire too in that spare
tire bin.

6 Provide all info and controls for the computers that a driver could use: ie: everything the can view can do plus controls for all user servicable items like anti-freeze, brake fluid, etc and switches for all selectable options like alarm on-off, ac on off defaults, etc.

7 Just ship the car without a radio system. Or else at least provide the rds info while driving and a better radio system. Nav controls while driving for those with that would be needed too.

8 Give us better heater controls with their own indicator display and buttons full time with one button for air vent.

9 With electric city driving the AC better be a heat pump this time, and the electric supplemental heat better provide around 1500 watts of heat or more for winter!

10 Engine needs to be insulated like a stove to keep warm in winter too. Engine off should not cause engine temp to plummet as now from 160 deg to 100 in a matter of 3 minutes in cold weather!

11 My vote would be for a lower top speed (I'd pick 80-90 max) and a higher engine non-rotating electric speed limit (say to 55 mph)

12 Must have a second button for driver to handle! This is virtually required to get decent mpg for item 1 in highway driving. ie car must be made more aerodynamic! Get wheel skirts and the works. Lower the car. Then give us a button to jack up 6 inches for city driving or winter snows where ground clearance is a problem.

13 Not sure of the legal hurdles but window glass should not need tinting! It should darken from the sun light itself or electrically to cut ac loading, then get light at night or on cloudy days.

14 Put in a bigger 12 volts battery so we can run accessories parked, or leave the car for a month without worrying about it becoming discharged.

15 Also nice to be able to start with either battery: ie grid charger could work on 12 volt battery and then that could run charge to the HV one. Then HV battery could have a mechanical override to allow a trickle charge to 12 volts if it ever went dead.

16 Give us an aircraft accurate gallons to empty fuel gauge. And give us something better than that variable bladder capacity fuel tank we can't fill easily. With that bladder gone, should be easy to just meter the fuel from the injectors like the mpg calc, if tank could sense when it was filled full! It could be made to beep or something at some constant fill point before gas goes up the filler pipe and spills or a whistle like on your house oil tank that stops at full!
.
Other than that the car is OK and don't mess with it trying to make it too like a Camry. A stretched version more like a station wagon might be a nice option though. I could see a Prius that holds 7 passengers or more luggage for families that still want good mpg.

[Tideland Prius]

a Low Windshield Washer Fluid light would be nice....

so would multi-adjustable seats

[gilahiker]

larger rear window wiper...dual sun visors for driver and passenger (that's about the only thing I miss about my Jimmy)...more sensitive steering wheel adjustment would all be nice

[hyo silver]

I'd like a stiffer chassis for better handling.

The ride height adjustment and photosensitive windows sound like great ideas. Maybe the glass could be made electrostatic, too, so the rain jumps off without the need for wipers.

[finally_got_one]

Stiffer Chassis, definitely.

Put the tenths of a mile back in the Odometer.

Make it easier to just turn on the fan w/o turning on the A/C.

A hatch latch inside the car so that the driver can unlock the latch.

Some sort of display to show how long one can go on battery before the ICE is going to kick in...simple predictive modelling.

Ability to lower seats

Inside as well as outside temp display

Bigger 12 volt battery (but not much)

[TonyPSchaefer]

As for "More information on the MFD", I want a series of menu option pages in which I get to choose what information is viewed and what isn't. let me decide where "information overload" exists.

Here are a few examples:
There are currently four little squares on the engine icon on the Consumption Screen. If I choose, I want them to tick up to indicate engine temp. Anything above two ticks should allow stealth.

I should be able to see what he temperature inside my car is. Somehow someone installed a sensor so the Auto A/C could regulate itself. Why do you refuse to show me what that sensor says? Too much information? Let me decide.

If I want, I should be able to choose 1- or 5- or 15-minute intervals for the graph. When I'm moving through traffic, I think I would like 1-minute, when commuting, 5-minute might be nice and when I'm on the interstate just give me 15-minute. Let me choose.

Let me accept the responsibility of my own death and screw with the NAV / dial the phone / read the radio / and do other things while the car is in motion. If you want, make me accept my fate once a month (there's a calendar built-in).

Lastly, but not least of all, invent a common sense syrum that I can sneak into the food and water supply to make all those gas guzzler drivers realize that they are choking the Earth and depleting our resources. If you would rather start on the low-hanging fruit I'd understand.

[grasshopper]

Put in a telescopic steering wheel instead of that knob that substitutes for one.

Get rid of the funky tilt wheel contraption and use a leaver like everyone else.

Allow the tilt more range.

Take out the build up area that the seats bolt to so that the seat will sit lower and then throw the seats away and get some comfortable 8 way electric ones.

Remove the radio/CD from the LCD screen and put it where they have always been, the space is already there but not being used. Why do I need to screw with the computer just to see what station I listening to or what track on the CD? …… KISS.

I don’t just want to know what track I’m on when using my CD, I want to know where on that track I am. <_<

That’s all I can think of for now but trust me there’s more. But then I want a perfect world.

[hycamguy07]

1.Do away with the plug in idea, and instead have a form fitted solar panel roof to replensih EV battery power..

2.Have a real stereo w/sub woofer, for those who like sound.

3. have full ground effect model like an fx or something..

4. better choice of rims & tires.

5. collapsable cow catcher on the front for slow moving pedestrians. ok not really...

[Begreen]

0) LIon, plugin, with aux battery option for increased range/speed on EV
1) a much better driver's seat
2) get common controls - heat and radio out of the MFD
3) Improve visibility, especially rear
4) better tires - at least dealer upgrade options
5) stiffer chassis

[RonH]

You guys forgot to mention: lower the price by half.