Stupid things about a great car

Love our new Prius, but...

- No auto-on headlights
- Foggy, hard to read temperature display
- Overly complex navigation user interface
- Navigation screen isn't that sharp
- Hard to reach or use area under the center console
- Middle arm rest has to slide back (into rear passenger knees) in order to open
- Navigation lock-out while moving BUT there's a ton of things that require you to touch the navigation screen to accomplish that aren't locked out while driving -- very inconsistent
- Interior door handles that don't let your fingers wrap around to grip them -- they're basically just shallow cups that fingers fit in only part way

Sounds like I don't love this car, but I do.

It's just that all these things are sort of silly deficiencies that are essentially obvious once you've owned the car for more than 24 hours. So, they should have all been easy to catch before finalizing the design.

I'd say no regular (non-pearl) white paint option, $75 oil changes and no backup camera without nav.

No engine (ICE) temperature gauge.

Maybe there is one but I didnt figure out yet, I got my Prius last night

Enjoy your new car. Engineer's can't always get it right on a new generation vehicle. We have built 4 homes and everytime I always have said, "I'll do this on the next one", end up doing it, build the house, and then always find something else that I should have done.

Wow, I forgot that there isn't an engine temperature gauge.....I would miss that, and will, now that I've been reminded. Now that I think about it, the door handles are silly!

Is there really no option for auto-lights?

scan guage II cures all. i use it for engine temp (which when warmed up is about 190f). i also use it for rpm . great investment i got several years ago and have used on about 5 different cars

I just leave my headlights on..they turn off after 30 seconds after shutting off the car.

Rear cup holders only in the center armrest.

Tom

I plan to get one too but wouldn't if Prius included a tach and engine temp gauge. I wonder why they leave out a tach which almost all cars have these days. Any other guages or settings that you recommend for the scangauge with the 2010?

the scan guage does so many things but i mostley just pay attention to rpm, engine coolant temp and also 12volt battery current which is about 14.4 volts.

You have a "Hybrid System Indicator" which is much more advanced then a tachometer, which is not as necessary in this car, unless you are hypermiling. This is likely why they left it out.

On top of that, most cars need a reminder to let you know how much fuel is wasted as you sit still, which the Prius does not do. The tachometer does that very well.

tach - no need.

engine temp - no need - the car is either overheating or it isn't, and the prius will tell you if it is, so when it isn't saying it is it isn't.

Depends on how badly you want it http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...modifications/64812-automatic-headlights.html

There's also an option for NAV hack if you're desperate enough http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...ation-input-override-speed-sensor-bypass.html But this is common complaint to all new Toyota and Lexus vehicles, not just the Prius.

I don't understand the importance of a tachometer on a CVT driven car anyways. Its not like you can change to different forward gears.

A guage that would be nice is the energy being used for appliances (AC, radio, etc) like the Ford Fusion Hybrid has.

This feature depends on the market. Some countries require it, and some don't.

I agree that for most users a tach is useless because of the HSD.

Consider that for a given speed, the ICE may be either off, turning slowly, or turning rapidly, depending on the state of charge (SOC) of the traction battery.

Additionally, the car can use the ICE, spinning without it producing power, as a way to prevent overcharging of the TB when braking. So in this case the ICE would be turning over without combustion occuring.

So if you had a tach, you'd see it bouncing all over the place with no consistent correlation to vehicle speed or acceleration. Hence, it would just generate confusion (and many unnecessary threads here on the PC forums!).

Ditto - except I don't care about the paint.

In addition it is highly annoying that you can't buy a car in our area without carpet floor mats. They could at least give you a choice between carpet and all weather.

Re: Stupid things about a great car - Intermittent wipers

I had and sold a 2006 with Nav before I purchased my 2010 IV with NAV; I have a similarly equipped car in the new model. As I remember with my intermittent wipers on the 2006, the slowest speed was at the top with the indicator bars going from small at the bottom to wider at the top. In the 2010 it is the reverse. Am I not remembering my 06 correctly? After a while you don't look at the control, you just know what to do.

You've got me stumped on this one. The owners manual specifically says that the "Auto" headlight feature is an add-on. If your headlight switch has the word "Auto" on it, then you've got that feature.

Mine doesn't. Just for kicks I left my headlights on after shutting my car off and waited two minutes. They were still on.

So I am curious. When you said yours shut off...are you sure you do not have the "Auto" feature. Look on your headlight switch and see if you see the word "Auto".

Thanks.