My first six days

[InfideNino]

I've been reading this great forum for about half a year and only posted a few times, mainly because I didn't own a Prius and couldn't provide many answers. I've noticed that this site is very North America oriented and I think it would be nice to share with you some European experiences.

I took delivery of a silver grey 2006 Tech Edition Prius last Thursday. This is the first time I've owned a brand new car and I must say it's very exciting. It had 9 km on the odometer upon delivery. The color was not my first choice but I would have had to wait until January for another color. I think the color is kind of boring but the car more than makes up for it.

I drove to France with my girlfriend this weekend to pick up about 60 bottles of champagne (some for friends), which fit perfectly in the trunk. It was a great drive and a fun micro-vacation. I averaged 39.7 mpg on the first tank and 43.5 on the second (calculated), but I didn't try to maximize mileage, just tried to have fun with it (and it was a hilly drive).

I now have about 810 miles on the odometer and I think the car is an amazing drive. It's so smooth and quiet in the city and also doesn't compromise on the highway (I didn't drive faster than 81 miles per hour which is the French speed limit). Especially with the cruise control on you can just drive for hours and hours without getting tired.

After reading this board I had very high expectations and the car certainly lived up to it. I'll list some positive and negative things I noticed that differed from my expectations.

Positive

• When you walk up to the car it welcomes you by turning on the interior lights. I just love stuff like that.
• I found no problems (yet) with interior integrity
• After fiddling with the settings a bit, I found the sound quality for FM and CD pretty good (I don't have the JBL speakers).
• The car is so quiet, even with the ICE on.
• The car won't lock when you leave your fob inside -- how smart is that!
• Seats are comfortable (I'm 1.83m, I think that's about 6 feet). I think people who want to place their seats further back must have very long arms.
• Bluetooth sound quality is excellent.
• GPS is so much faster and more accurate than with my TomTom plus cheap external bluetooth GPS receiver. Also, I love the big split screen with the exits and crossings on the right.

Negative

• The rear spoiler feels plasticy when you're closing the trunk. I realize this is because of weight reduction but it still feels cheap.
• The EV range is shorter than I expected; still much fun on parking lots and at gas stations.
• MP3 sound is a bit disappointing, especially vocals. I haven't tried WMA yet.
• Inputting phone numbers and names is next to impossible, either with bluetooth (one by one) or by hand (with the non-qwerty keyboard). I think I'll just store a few names and dial the rest on my phone, which I'm used to anyway.
• The exterior is larger (especially wider) than I thought. I looked it up before but I must have made a mistake. It's kind of hard to get it into our garage but I manage; just takes some time.
• The navigation DVD version is "2005/2006 version 1", which I guess means early 2005. This means some new or changed areas are not on the map.

Differences between US and European model

• EV button and Intelligent Parking Assist factory-installed.
• Indicates your driving path on the MFD when in reverse, i.e. there are curved yellow lines that change when you turn the steering wheel. This seems to be part of IPA but it also works when you're steering manually.
• No panic button on the fob.
• No fuel bladder (I think).
• I didn't find a switch to dim the dashboard lights under the steering wheel. There is a button next to the odo button which dims only the "HUD" (with the speed and gear), not the MFD. I think the US model has a km/miles switch in this position. Since I always have my headlights turned on I have to switch manually between day and night mode using the display button.
• Headlights don't turn off when I turn off the car. I think I read somewhere that the US model does this. Now I have to manually turn on and off the lights -- so much work!
• I don't think the disable backup or seat-belt beeper mods work, but I'll try again. Sometimes there are so many beeps it's hard to figure out what she means.

Please don't interpret the negative points as complaints. As I said, my expectations were very high and I'm not disappointed at all. The car is amazing. I just thought I'd share with you my findings.

I haven't had much chance to play around with the IPA yet, so more about that later.

[eagle33199]

Yeah, the navagation thing can be a pain... I was on a trip a few months ago, and the nav system didn't even have one of the highways on it! according to the map, i was driving through the middle of some corn fields or something. But, Toyota gets this stuff from another company, and even the "2006" version is only accurate to maybe 2004.

A lot of people here (including me) are a bit jealous about the IPA... i want one! I would probably only use it to show off, but i still want it!

You're correct, next to the ODO button, we have a mile/Km button. Our HUD display brightness is actually to the left of the steering wheel, not beneath it. it only does something when the headlights are one - and once you scroll it all the way up, it'll click up into place, which gives us "daytime" mode. infact, it looks kinda like the scroll knob in the left of your profile picture there.

The headlights here don't turn off with the car, either (it's a common misconception). instead, they turn off if, after they had been turned on, the car is turned off and then the drivers door is opened. Other situations and they stay on (like if turned on after the car was turned off, or if the drivers door was opened before the car was turned off).

for the seatbelt and backup beeper mods, you'll know it works if you see that "B-ON" and "B-OFF" thingy on the HUD - set it to off and it's set... if you never get that, then either it doesn't work, or you did something wrong.

All in all, i'm glad you're enjoying the car so much! There are some aspects that i think we all wish were a little better, but like you are more than willing to put these asside in favor of the great job Toyota did on the rest of the car.

[qbee42]

I'm not sure for Bluetooth, but for other keyboard screens on the MFD, you can choose whether to have the keyboard in QWERTY or ABC order. Try changing it under the setup menu.

Tom

[tochatihu]

Dank voor het rapport van Utrecht!

(that was Altavista babelfish talking BTW)

InfideNino, please tell us how the fuel economy compares with your previous vehicle, and what the fuel prices are now for you. Most in the US save only a few cents per mile, but it may be more there.

[InfideNino]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(tochatihu @ Oct 18 2006, 04:48 PM) [snapback]334424[/snapback]</div>

InfideNino, please tell us how the fuel economy compares with your previous vehicle, and what the fuel prices are now for you. Most in the US save only a few cents per mile, but it may be more there.[/b]

Unfortunately, I never kept track of fuel economy before, so I couldn't tell your. Fuel is around €1.35 / liter ($6.40 / gallon) here at the moment.

[Sho-Bud]

Welcome from another Dutch driver.
To switch from night to day mode, you don't have to use the display. Just hold down the switch to dim the dashboard lights for 1 or 2 seconds.

[InfideNino]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Sho-Bud @ Oct 18 2006, 07:33 PM) [snapback]334564[/snapback]</div>

To switch from night to day mode, you don't have to use the display. Just hold down the switch to dim the dashboard lights for 1 or 2 seconds.
[/b]

Thanks! I'll try that tomorrow.
Haven't had time to read the entire manual yet; it's probably in there somewhere.

[Oxo]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(InfideNino @ Oct 18 2006, 02:34 AM) [snapback]334311[/snapback]</div>

I averaged 39.7 mpg on the first tank and 43.5 on the second (calculated), but I didn't try to maximize mileage, just tried to have fun with it (and it was a hilly drive).



Negative

• [
• Inputting phone numbers and names is next to impossible, either with bluetooth (one by one) or by hand (with the non-qwerty keyboard). I think I'll just store a few names and dial the rest on my phone, which I'm used to anyway.
  
• The navigation DVD version is "2005/2006 version 1", which I guess means early 2005. This means some new or changed areas are not on the map.

[/b]

Interesting post and I agree with most of it.
But I had no trouble feeding an address list from my Sony Ericcson phone into the car's system. Took less than 30 seconds. (But I took about 30 minutes to work out how to do it!)

Are you mindful of the difference in quantity between the US gallon and the British gallon in your calculations? A British gallon should be giving you between 50-60 mpg at least.

In your Nav system: are there big blank patches for France and Spain and very little of Ireland on it? Are some European countries not mapped at all?

[InfideNino]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Oxo @ Oct 18 2006, 09:54 PM) [snapback]334673[/snapback]</div>

Interesting post and I agree with most of it.
But I had no trouble feeding an address list from my Sony Ericcson phone into the car's system. Took less than 30 seconds. (But I took about 30 minutes to work out how to do it!)
[/b]

Ok, I'll admit I haven't spent 30 minutes to figure it out so there might be an easier way. I use a Nokia 6230i. From what I understand, it won't do automatic phonebook synchronization like my last in-car bluetooth system (which was of much less quality).
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Oxo @ Oct 18 2006, 09:54 PM) [snapback]334673[/snapback]</div>

Are you mindful of the difference in quantity between the US gallon and the British gallon in your calculations? A British gallon should be giving you between 50-60 mpg at least.
[/b]

I used US gallons and US dollars for all conversions.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Oxo @ Oct 18 2006, 09:54 PM) [snapback]334673[/snapback]</div>

In your Nav system: are there big blank patches for France and Spain and very little of Ireland on it? Are some European countries not mapped at all?
[/b]

I didn't notice any blank spots in France; haven't checked out Spain or Ireland yet. I'll try to do that tomorrow. Which version DVD do you have?

[Tideland Prius]

Congrats!

don't press on the spoiler to close the hatch!