Options for a Four or Five?

My wife says I get a Prius in the spring of 2012. I want a Five, she wants a solar roof. Is there any way to get a solar roof, LED headlamps, and the 17" wheels? I could care less about the roof. The LED headlamps and 17" wheels are a must have for me. This will be my summer only car. She already has her own. We have been renting Prius's for a couple years now and she is getting to like them. I'll either have to hide my FOB or convince her to buy one for herself so she stays out of my car This is replacing my existing summer only car so I want it the way I want it. If it could have all those options together, the wife will be happy

Thanks much,
Mike

 

Bummer for her My plans are to autocross my car so the roof would only weaken the chassis. She is gonna have to get used to a solid roof if she wants to ride in my car :rockon:

Thank you,
Mike

 

The gas mileage hit of the larger wheels is fine with me. I was originally thinking a PHV but now read that those will only have the 15" wheels and cute graphics which I don't care to drive around displaying I'll give the wife the bad news about the solar roof option in the morning. I'll get my Five, she can buy a Four with her fancy roof

Mike

 

I don't remember the site I was reading about the PHV having only the mica paint with graphics and 15" wheels. I know I read that but then again there is another year and a lot of hush hush about the car, so who knows? I like 17's and upgraded suspension that the Five has as I will be autocrossing the car. I don't know if it will be in stock class or a street prepared class. My last autocrossing was in prepared class but I surely wouldn't be doing anything that wild with a hybrid Honestly I would be buying lighter weight wheels for the autocross tires and running the stockers on the street. I told the wife about the Five not able to have the solar roof and she was not thrilled no surprise there. A roof opening would be a bad thing for chassis flex anyhow.

Down at the bottom of this page Prius PHV FAQ it speaks of the graphics but this may only be the prototypes they are speaking about. There was some other site that mentioned the paint color. Oh well...

Mike

 

I need to kick back and wait it out I do like the PHV battery's. I surely hope they change it so the two EV battery's will stay inline all the time to allow regeration without having to plug in the car to switch them back in. That would be cool. By the time May 2012 rolls around, there should be info online about what options the PHV will have and I can make a decision there to head to the coast to buy one or buy a Five at home I already spoke with a salesman at Courtesy Toyota Winter Park FL about flying down to buy a PHV if that is our choice and they welcomed us to do so. Imagine that?

Quicker steering would definately function better for autocrossing. If I go street prepared, I will be changing the front bar to the RAV4 bar and running the Tanabe DF210 springs, and either buying or making my own tower and under chassis braces. That along with stickies would make the car handle like it was on rails :rockon: Now that the solar roof option is out of the way

I'm so glad I stumbled upon this forum as everyone is awesome around here. Just wait until I get my own Prius, you guys are gonna get tired of me talking all the time

Thanks again,
Mike

 

Hi Jim,
Yes those LED's do look damn nice. The ATP package would be very cool for road trips. We do a significant amount of that. My car would never see salt so it is going to be stored for 6 months of every year. We drive rental Prius's in the salt If the weather is real nasty we rent RAV4's. The wife & I talked about that lane keep assist many times as we were driving down the Interstates late night to get to our next hotel. Surely that would make driving safer. I end up driving mostly while the wife and our son are snoozing away

The HS250H is a Camry chassis? I drove a Camry Hybrid for a few thousand miles last summer and liked it but could see the differences in the hybrid setup verses the Prius. I prefer the Prius way of implementing the hybrid technology, but that car and the HS250H are very nice looking.

Mike

 

I can't figure out what Toyota chassis the Lexus HS is based upon. The only Toyota that shares the same wheelbase is the Prius. The Camry & Corolla are very different. Hmmm...

Mike

 

Makes sense with the same wheelbase. I'll have to go look at one at a local store. Too much $$$ for me though. I did a online build and seen from 40k to 46k depending upon the base starting point Pretty car though.

Mike

 

ha ha, no doubt :rockon: I want white and she wants red. This car is replacing my summer car so that alone should deter her from asking if she can drive it. Right now she has never driven my summer car and I have only driven her's to the dealership for warranty work, never anywhere else. We have always had separate vehicles. Since we live in the Arctic zone, called Minnesota, we have separate winter & summer vehicles. Someday we will move south out of winter and be able to eliminate two vehicles. Over the past two years of renting Prius's, she has told me several times how much she enjoys driving them, that is when she can pry the FOB out of my hands We even play the Prius game while traveling. It started from that goofy VW commercial where the guy asks the Prius neighbor what his car sounds like.

That evolved into a kkkk sort of sound for us since a open mouth hoou sound like the commercial is kind of quiet when one of us spots a Prius on the road. Call us nuts, but it is a blast while traveling

So two Prius's would be a better thing for us, his & her's

Mike

 

More choices? eek!!! I'll have a look-see after lunch

Mike