Where are the corners of my car!

Is anyone else having trouble figuring out where the corners of their car are when parking? I'm constantly thinking that the front of the car is at least a foot longer than it really is, and can't park close enough to the curb to save my life. (I dread my first attempt at parallel parking...something I'm usually good at.)

Is it just me?

Yes, many have this same problem. Something you sacrifice for the low coefficient of drag.

This is also where park assist comes into handy if you have a V with AT, although I haven't used actually used it for real.

Sounds to me like you bought the wrong version. You should have bought the model that parks the car for you.

On the other hand, if you practice parallel parking, you will soon find out where the edges of your car are. Like most human beings, you were born without "The Parking Gene" that instinctively tells you the limits of your vehicle.

Keith

In the front, I agree--I'm always parking a few feet further from the object in front of me than I thought I was.

For parallel parking, it's not too bad. You can still see the curb pretty well (although I do miss the dipping right side view mirror from previous cars), and the rear view camera helps--plus judging distance through the rear windows isn't as bad as I first thought.

I've parallel parked a few times now and I find it surprisingly easy. It's about the only time I find the rear camera really useful. But I do think the car is about a foot or two longer in front than it is - it bugs me a bit that I can't see any of the front of the car, even if I stretch - and I'm tall to start with - so I over compensate and swing very wide. It's just something I need to get used to.

The front of the car is very low. Be careful with head-in parking. With my '01 Audi A4 I have loosened the painted "chin" piece several times. It used to clip on, since it needs to be removed to access parts of the engine. Now it's bolted on. I am always about a foot short of the parking bumper now, on purpose.

I know exactly what everyone here is talking about. I'll park at a parking space with a curb in front of it and still have a good foot to pull up. I'm not sticking out of the back of my space though, so I guess it's alright. I just think the front is longer than it actually is. I guess it's one of those things we are all going to have to get used to.

Finding the perimiter of the Prius is definitely a challenge. On my first highway drive, I kept creeping over to the right to feel for the 'rumble strips' so I could learn where the right side tires are... much closer to me than it felt like, that's for sure. And yeah, I too find that I've parked too far from the thing in front of me. But whatever you do, don't rely on the backup camera to judge distance behind you... objects in the camera are seriously MUCH closer than they appear.

You get used to the size of your new car in time. Going the other direction, I bought a car that was 8 inches wider than my previous car. For the first few weeks I was hitting curbs like crazy because the new car was wider than I was used to.

If I get a Prius, I'll likely be parking in the middle of the street for a while.

Yeah, the front end is scary hard to see, and the low skirt means it scrapes on most curbs. The back has poor visibility, and the local body shop told me that they suspect that the Prius was designed to give a shot in the arm to the rear quarterpanel replacement industry. But at least you know that the back bumper of the car is just inches from the back glass, so wall-wise I prefer backing in to nose in.

Yes, things are much closer than they appear. However, what's pretty neat is that the rear bumper and the camera are just about at the same spot. So, once you get used to it, you know EXACTLY where your bumper is. For example, if I back my car into the driveway, I can line up the rear bumper to a specific line in the pavement.

I agree, because you can actually see your bumper with the camera, there's no need to judge distances. You can see how far your bumper is from something to within centimeters.
Ha, I have the same problem as everyone else with respect to front first parking, so I always back in where possible. The camera makes backup parking a snap.

Two solutions:
There are some Prius chatters who have put little flag poles (like bicycle flags) on the front license plate holder, so they can see where the front is.
I think TheForce installed a camera on the FRONT bumper, so he could see exactly where the front of his Prius is...

Nice! That's what I was wondering. Whether that was possible, how hard it would be to do, and how it could be done! It would be cool to use one of the blanks as a button to override the nav display with a front camera.

Do they offer the extending fender lamps there? In Japan, you can order them as an accessory to the car when you buy it as an option.
Unfortunately I can`t find a picture on Toyota`s page, but here is one from a different seller offering the official part.
It`s weird Toyota doesn`t have it up on the page though - it`s in my accessory catalog.

http://thumbnail.image.rakuten.co.jp/s/?@0_mall/suzukimotors/cabinet/img56123/gkfb036.jpg

They`re installed on the front corners and extend by remote control to show you exactly where the front corners of the car are. The tips also glow.

The camera is very distorted - but in a parallel park, you won't be 'kissing' the bumper behind you to find out where you are. Now I need a front end camera to figure out where the front bumper is!

That's the short coming of cab-forward design. The Japanese had intentionally design most vehicles this way due crowded urban roads.
So they came up another less sophisticated accessory:

The extend-able parking guide whisker

And yes, the tip end does glow in the dark.

Sigma Automotive lists these:

Toyota Prius 2010+ ZVW30 Exterior Accessories :: Sigma Automotive

But from their description, it sounds like just one for the front left corner. Is it a pair for both corners?

I still usually have a gaping hole in front of me, since I was used to parking a land yacht Deville.

Thanks Rachaelseven for that link to the park guide whiskers. If I knew they would fit on the US Prius I would buy in a minute despite the high cost. I am genetically deficient and do not have the aforementioned "parking gene" or "coordination gene". I avoid any difficult parking scenarios, which in Southern California means I walk a lot.

My 2005 Prius seemed much easier to park. I felt like I sat up higher and had a better sense of the front bumper location but maybe I was just used to it. My 2010 seems longer in the front, and it seems like I sit lower in the "cockpit" but maybe thats just my imagination.