A few questions.. new owner.

What the heck did your salesman do when you took delivery of the car? Didn't he/she explained/show you how the car works and what the buttons are for? I wouldn't go buy a car from that salesperson. I would give this salesperson a bad review when Toyota calls for the survey.

Anyway, in your manual there should be a DVD that you can watch in the car or on any DVD player. It shows you what you need to know about your car especially if you don't want to read your manual.

Good luck and have fun driving your car.

 

I talking about after you signed all the paperwork and the saleperson gave you ownership of the car he should show you how the car works and the features it have. That is part of a car salespersons job to make Sure that you as the new owner of the car knows how the car works.

 

On the bottom left of the steering wheel you will see/feel a wheel. Scroll the wheel all the way up, then keep scrolling until there's a click. Everything on the display should now be nice and bright.

Keep looking at the left hand side for the scroll wheel. This is not on the steering wheel, but to the bottom left of it.

I just got my Prius as well and there's so much to learn.

 

--what is the mpg thing near your gas left meter? what is that --showing you? when it goes from 0 to 100. not sure what that is.

It is showing you the instantaneous miles per gallon.


-- what is the most efficent way to drive your car?

You'll have to search and read around for this.


-- what is the b for, on your shifter?

Battery Mode. No, not really. It is for engine Braking. Use it like a low gear in a car when going down a long steep hill. You normally won't use it much as all. You should read the manual for a full description.


-- is there a way to unlock all doors when i touch the handle?

If you touch the passenger side of rear hatch it unlocks everything. If you touch the driver door, just the driver door unlocks -- a safety feature.

3PriusMike

 

Hey Guys, not much of a welcome to a new owner!

Hi Vickimcroy, I'll try and answer some of your questions as best I can.

Firstly, I'm not sure about the ipod thingy as I don't have one.

I'm not sure that you can increase the brightness of the lights on the steering wheel, but once you get used to where the buttons are and what they do you shouldn't have any problems. The 'touch tracer' function does help a little.

The mpg guage rated 0 mpg -100 mpg is the actual real time mpg that you are getting. It does help you get the best mpg and will often sit happily at 50 mpg or above. Also, you will find using this guage that if you lift off the accelerator ever so slightly you can maintain the same speed but your mpg will increase. Handy for getting the best out of your car - but keep your eyes on the road! lol

The Eco button puts the car in 'Eco' mode which reduces the 'feel' of the accelerator to enable you to get the best economy out of your car. It also reduces the a/c a little for the same reason. It is different to the eco light that comes on if you don't over rev the engine. I'd personally stick to 'normal' mode, which is when the Eco Mode light isn't lit, to start with and get a feel for this new car of yours. Once you've got a few miles behind you then maybe try out the 'eco mode' and see how it changes things. I use eco mode in town and normal when on the open road. Others on here use it all the time and some not at all.

The 'B' on the shifter is for use when going down long steep hills. Without boring you with the technicalities of how it works, it uses the engine more to slow you down. Its not needed in normal driving or braking.

Not sure about how to unlock all doors with one touch as the UK version I drive does that automatically.

Hope the above helps answer a few of the queries you have. I'm sure some of the other members will fill in what I've missed off. If you have any other questions, however dumb you may think they, don't hesitate to ask. That's what the forums for.

One last thing - Enjoy your car, the fuel savings are amazing.

 

I have the Canadian Premium Edition which should be almost like yours except without the NAV. It is not surprise that you do not know all the features and functions of the Prius because it is quite a sophsticated car. I don't have the NAV so I can not answer much of your question regarding the use of iPod. However, I will try to help you understand the rest of your other queries.

Can you be more specific when you say " the interior lights on the steering wheel and evey thing to the left of the drivers seat is sooooo dim.. " ? WHAT interior lights ON the steering wheel are you talking about? Steerling wheel is steerling wheel and has no lights on it or whatsoever. The only thing to the left of the driver's seat is the door panel (i.e. window controls, door lock/unlock controls, etc.). So what is soooo dim?? (Do you have the right hand drive vehicle?)

"what is the mpg thing near your gas left meter? what is that showing you? when it goes from 0 to 100. not sure what that is."
I am not too sure which display you are talking about. I think you are referring to the real time gas consumption reading. Please check your user manual accordingly for the correct diagram.

"what is the most efficent way to drive your car? is eco mode really nessecary to put on."
The Prius actually has four modes: 3 user select modes and 1 factory default driving mode. There are 3 user select modes: EV, ECO, PWR. The "factory mode" is the mode the computer selects for you when you first start the vehicle. The most efficient way to drive your car is to "Glide it" which means do not push hard on the gas pedal. When using the ECO mode, the computer will apply a program that determine the fuel input and electric motor input, or a combination of both to achieve the lowest fuel consumption. However, when you push hard on the gas pedal, your input will interrupt the computer ECO program and now your manual driving input will override the ECO program. Hence, you will see the bar moving from left to right indicating your fuel consumption. If you ease the gas pedal, you will light up the ECO indicator to inform you that you are driving in an earth loving manner and vice versa. It may not be necessary to drive in the ECO mode as long as you stay in the left side of the bar and with ECO indicator light up - ie. if you want to drive in an environmental style.

"what is the b for, on your shifter? "
B is for engine braking. No need to use it too often. Make sure not to drive in B mode because it will waste more fuel. Check out other postings about this in the forum.


"is there a way to unlock all doors when i touch the handle? "
Yes. Ask your dealer to do it for you. Since you just took delivery not long ago, ask your dealer to do it for free as a courtesy. It may be a chargeable service so be sure before you sign the work order. There may be postings by others in the Technical section. You can check it out but judging by your questions here, I don't think you are the DIY kind.

Hope it helps.

Keep checking back in this forum. I have mine for 5 months and I have and still learning a lot here.

Enjoy your Prius.

 

Just drive it like a normal car but, avoid sharp braking, hard acceleration and you should get great fuel economy. Select 'Eco Mode' as this does help a little.

There are some serious hyper-milers on here who use all sorts of tricks to get the absolutely maximum mpg they can get, but unless that's for you I'd just stick to taking it easy and enjoying the smooth ride.

 

There is no light to left of the streering wheel, I wish there was some light on the mirror controls

 

First of all welcome and congrats on your new car. I am sure it will bring a lot of pain and joy to come in the future.

There are no lights on the steering wheel.

The 0-100 indicator is for MPG.

And I have a dedicated Iphone connector and no it doesn't paly the song highlighted when I scrool down.

There are some groves on the handle and if you touch that and hold it there then it will close or open the door. You can also open the door with your FOB but you don't have to do any programing since it should have been done for you.

B is engine braking. You use that when you going down hill and you don't want to over cook your brakes.

If all the HU lights are too dim at night you can change that with a dial.

The most effcient way to drive if to drive sensibly. Everyone has different driving style so can't really say which way is best to be efficient.

There a few issues with the Prius 3 but it is a great car.