Prius For a Driving School Car?

Congratulations on your decision. I would have counted myself among the group who is not sure that the Prius is the best car to learn on, for students who will not be driving that vehicle subsequent to lessons. Nevertheless I am sure your students will have positive experiences with it.

My daughter learned how to drive using our 2004 Prius and is now the primary driver of that car.

Speaking of unwieldy vehicles to learn driving on - in 1969, I learned how to drive on a Plymouth Satellite with absolutely no power accessories and three-speed manual transmission, column mounted. For those who can recall the size and bulkiness of that vehicle, it was not easy to learn on but made every other car that I have driven easy-to-drive. My driving instructor even fell asleep at one point while I was driving, so I suppose my student driving techinique was sufficiently relaxing for passengers.

 

This guy spits gold everybody. Sometimes I don't even have to read what Patrick writes and I know it's gold.

 

Hey hep--how many hours is your driving course and how many hours do drivers need to have under their belt before getting their license?

 

Didn't I say this a few days ago? Best wishes to
you.

 

That would be wonderful. Please continue to post them in this thread, as it would then capture all of the issues (pros, cons, installation, etc) in a nutshell.

 

I'm very interested in seeing how the auxiliary brake pedal will work.

I don't expect that a driving school must offer a vehicle that is highly similar to that which the student eventually will drive. I believe that relatively inexpensive and small vehicles are frequently selected for this purpose. Such vehicles have simple controls, a simple body design, offer reasonable visibility and are usually fairly easy to drive.

I had a few reasons in mind when suggesting that the Prius might not be the ideal driving school car:

1. A-pillar and rear spoiler visibility impairment, as previously discussed

2. An electronic shift control that is fairly unusual, with a separate P button and a game-control style shifter on the dashboard for other gear ranges

3. The MFD and rear camera display can potentially be distracting

4. The gasoline engine usually turns off when the car is stopped. That can seem very weird to some people.

5. If the car should have an accident, repair costs typically will be higher than with other vehicles of similar size that might be used for driving school due to the hybrid-specific components

In any event you'll quickly build up your personal experience with the car and will decide if there are any Prius-specific issues associated with driver education or not. Good luck!

 

One thing that might keep things interesting for the kids: when you are letting the student do a long drive, reset the fuel consumption on the MFD, then turn it off. At the end of the drive, turn it back on so the student can see their MPG.

I agree with others that the MFD can be distracting -- have you thought about whether you will leave it on or turn it off in general?

I also did not see anyone mention the overly restrictive traction control. When starting out on snow/ice, you may find a situation where the car does not move due to wheel slippage. It is not possible to make the front wheels spin in order to "rock" your way out. I suppose the kids can jump out and suffer the humiliation of pushing a Prius, but it is highly recommended to run good snow tires in winter if you get that sort of weather.

 

59 hours that have to be in another car... not sure why other posters were freaking out about them "learning" in a car other than what they'll test in.

Search the forums first; there's some good info you'll find in a thread that links to another site.

 

I would not think the Prius would be a good drivers car since nearly 100% might freak out when the motor cut off, having never experienced it in their lives. They'd get used to it, but also, since most cars have a shifter marked as D, R, P...another difference between cars they would be using at home compared to the drivers ed car. For real world experience they should be forced to learn on HUGE sized cars so they could be taught to judge clearances better....making smaller cars easier to drive after schools out.

 

Looks good!

Many arguments could be made for how to teach driving, i.e. stick shift, big car, etc., but in 10 years every new car will be some kind of hybrid or EV. Might as well learn 'em young, just sayin...

 

'Freak out'? Don't be ridiculous. People get used to it about the second time it happens. After that, anytime they're sitting in an old fashioned car, they say 'What? The engine just keeps running, even when the car's not moving? That's crazy.'

 

So does the Prius:



The only difference is that P is a button above. Otherwise it's the same order: P, R, N, D top to bottom.