Heads Up Display (HUD)

Does anyone know particularly why they didn't offer Heads Up Display in the U.S. market? It just seems to me, that they always have to hold back on one feature in the U.S. market (seemingly) for the fun of it! I mean, the auto parking was available overseas on the Gen2. Toyota shouldn't really have an excuse for not having that feature in the U.S. because they had it on their Lexus brand. So, it can't be a legal thing. People driving Lexi (sp?) have more money for high powered attorneys than people driving a Prius. So I wonder why it is they can't have the HUD. I think that would be a great feature for so many reasons.

Just wanting your thoughts, thanks for your eyes. :unsure:

I also wanted to draw attention to the fact that in Europe the Prius can come with a TON more features than available in the U.S. market. They seem to be equipped with turn signal mirrors, HUD, I saw solar in this video, but I couldn't tell if it also had the lane keep assist and what not. I think that we won't see it all combined here possibly due to weight class restrictions. ugh.. Well the good news is, that the mirrors will be easily available since they already have a design out. I think I found them on sigma automotive. Anyways here's a video showing what I mean:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHzaPDNVxT4]YouTube - New Toyota Prius roadtest[/ame]

I believe the Japanese version also has these features also.

Well good point.. but I am the idiot that would rather pay to put that awesome stuff in a smaller corolla or prius rather than a larger more efficient car. BUT they can't make leaps and bounds all in one shot or people will go into shock. It seems with gen3 they are at least "moving forward" to offering people the ability to put pretty decent options in a smaller efficient car.

In case you want to know, the top of the line Prius model in the Netherlands will cost you US $40,800 excl. VAT etc.

well, i'm paying 32k. I suppose another 8 wouldn't kill me.

Well in the Netherlands we can't get the Lane Keep Assist, I have no idea why... We do get the adaptive cruisecontrol with pre crash safety (only in the most expensive model), but there's no LKA (not even an option)....

We are getting the HUD in the UK, but we are not getting LED Lights, Adaptive Cruise, LKA, or Auto Dimming Rear View Mirror

The only options we have are Leather, Metallic Paint, Protection Pack and I think a Storage Pack.

I believe our Sat Nav is HDD based and will include music library too.

Our top spec T Spirit costs approx £21,220 or $34,670.10

Dry your tears, in Australia we wont be getting lane keep assist.

Don't worry, you are not missing much. It's actually kind of annoying, since (1) it beeps at you every time it stops working (due to bad lane markers or other reasons), and (2) the "invisible hand" on the wheel doesn't really keep the car centered in the lane and makes the steering feel stiff and awkward. The only useful part of the AT package is the adaptive cruise control. I would have much rather had HUD than LKA.

In Spain we'll have HUD as standard in all 3 models (Eco, Advance and Executive). We'll also have LED headlights, Adaptive Cruise Control, Dimming mirror with Auto-on lights, rain sensor, solar panel, etc, but to get all of this we'll have to pay US$43.000!
The cheapest version will be US$31.000.
What we can't get, like many of our neighbours, is LKA. I guess Toyota is not offering it because we don't have higways as long as yours. The longest travel I've ever made by car was 300Km (170 miles)

Marc

That's because it doesn't know how to drive on the left side of the road.

Tom

HAHA thanks for all the replies. I feel MUCH better now.

Except now, I'm wondering if I'm mad that the LKA doesn't work better. I saw a video on youtube where it was working great on a multilane road.

It seems that this is due to European Law. It is allowed to have Lane Departure Warning, but law forbids the car changing it course by its own. Think of the many cars equipped with LDW but not LKA.

My first answer (and post)

Yeah but honestly whatever happened to actually learning to drive and respecting the fact that you're controlling a 1.5Ton+ piece of lethal force down the road? I've seen people applying makeup (nothing new), shaving (ditto), and most recently solving a crossword puzzle with the newspaper draped over the steering wheel and dash! At highway speeds on the interstate!

Between LKA, DRCC and IPA I see a very dark Terminator future...

I drove the Prius 3 yesterday and i liked the HUD a lot. I noticed i didn't even look at the dash anymore. And when i engaged the nav, it was even better. Smart directions by a simple arrow.