Seeking informed opinions: I can't decide between a III (sunroof) or IV (sunroof)

Neither of the sunroof options will have the "driving assistance technology" of staying within the lines and braking pre-collision system, which are available on the five.

The solar packages are *only* available on the three and four, while the "driving assistance" packages are only available on the five. So they are mutually-exclusive.

I just went through the decision process between the solar three and the solar deluxe four. I decided on and purchased a four. Reasons:

1) the power adjustable seat, in particular the lumbar support is *significant*, particularly on extended drives. Having completed two 2,000 mile drives in the last month, one in a Toyota with cloth manual seats without lumbar support, and one finishing with a Prius four WITH lumbar support, I will attest that one's lower back health is worth quite a bit of currency.

2) the heads-up display (HUD). I didn't find this particularly notable during the day. But after dark, when visibility was reduced, I very much appreciated being able to note speed and other data using just peripheral vision rather than having to shift my gaze from the road. Construction sites abound this time of year, and when running that gauntlet on an interstate that has become essentially a poorly-lit, winding, two-lane divided road I am loathe to take my eyes off the path.

3) the premium navigation and XM Sirius data. With the regular nav that comes with the three, your data all come off of Entune and thus eat up your phone's data allocation. With the premium nav, the weather, fuel prices, and most other data come off the satellite. Faster, slicker interface, and no extra data charges to your phone.

I am also pretty favorably impressed with the premium nav system, though I still run it in parallel with the Garmin until I can finish running comparisons.

4) heated seats. They don't really matter much now, but in winter, perhaps I will appreciate them more.

If I remember correctly, the difference between the three solar and four deluxe solar amounted to about $5K. Since I intend to have this vehicle for a fairly long stretch (~10 years) and because I am in my 40s with a little more income than I used to have and an older body, the comfort and safety concerns won out. After racking up the first 1,000 miles on the new Pri4 Deluxe Solar I am very happy with the way I went.

 

Does the solar "cooling" have much effect? I really want a five with LKA, but the solar is a second choice.

 

We had the chance to try the solar "cooling" when we stopped for lunch on a warm sunny afternoon. I just leave the button for that fan depressed during this season so that it will function any time the exterior is cooler. It was 75 degrees and sunny when we stopped.

The car sat for an hour in the sun with all the windows rolled up. When we got back to the car, we could feel the solar-powered fan running to ventilate, and the cabin was noticeably cooler than we would have expected it to be from years of experience with cars in summer.

Besides the comfort factor and reducing the load on the A/C, the other thing I like about the solar roof is that since the ventilation for the traction battery comes from the cabin, it also helps keep that cooler during the summer.

I might try to run side-by-side comparisons between the RAV4 and the solar-equipped Prius today. It won't be a perfect comparison, because they are not the same model or color, but it'll give some idea. Forecast here is 80 and sun.

 

My opinion:
More Comfortable Softex Seats: Worth It
Solar Sunroof: Not worth the high expense.

 

Bought the Four w/Solar Pkg about six weeks ago...

Big Pluses: drivers seat (very comfy), solar cooling, HUD (absolutely love it with the HID(?))
Despite knocks on here really like the 7.1 Nav and the JBL sound system.

The sun roof is nice, we also have it on our 03 Outback. Honestly I don't use it a lot due to sun in eyes in either car. I should wear a cap. If the sunroof is important to you the other parts of the pkg make it a definite on the Four.

Softex in the Four is also great.

 

I went with the Four. I really love the solar cooling, the HUD, the softext seats, the seat adjustment. I picked my car up at the end of March, so the heated seats were also appreciated on a few mornings.

I do like having the traffic and weather coming from XM instead of my phone's data plan because that allows me to ignore Entune. I find Entune rather useless for me. I know others like it.

Contrary to popular opinion, I don't hate the 7.1 HDD Nav. What I hate is the lack of voice commands. But I don't think that's any better in the 6.1 unit.

 

I like the 7.1 HDD Nav quite a bit.

And based on how much I like the voice commands in the Prius for the hands-free phone dialing, I'm quite happy without voice commands for the Nav.

But arguing and cussing at the phone command interface *is* at least a diversion.

South Dakota is a looooong state to drive across. Fighting and cursing at the phone interface was good for at least 30 minutes before I got tired of it all.

I rather love the 7.1 HDD Nav though, especially coupled with the XM fuel price application. The interface and display are crisp and sleek-looking. As you travel down the highway the next three exits are displayed so you can easily decide in advance of the exit if there are any services that you might wish to stop for. A map of the next exit may also be accessed for you to get a better look before you actually get there.

There are oodles of other features of course--a whole book worth, but I haven't been able to delve too deeply yet in the two days that I've had the car. But I have no experience with the standard Nav in order to compare.

 

I should add that I have the Remote AC feature in my Prius Plug-in, and I want to like it, but I can't so far.

1) It runs ten minutes max
2) Only runs if my climate control is set to a temp lower than the ambient temp. But the sensor isn't always right.
3) only activates via the remote control key fob.

The Plug-in Advanced will activate via Internet Smartphone app, which is way better. Bottom line is that I'm never in a place where I'm going to get into my hot car in ten minutes AND I'm within a very short distance of my car.

 

YES! The power seats make it worthwhile as the Prius seats are uncomfortable for many and the power fixes it.

You also get Auto/On/Off lights which is a great feature, should be standard on all cars certainly on a high tech Prius.

The 7" high definition Nav is also a plus.

But the key is the seats, they are lifesaver.

 

This was an imperfect experiment since I didn't have two Prius to compare, but it's the best I can do unless I find another Prius to use.

Two cars sitting in the sun, ambient temperature is 84 degrees.



The RAV4 without the solar fan is 104 degrees on the inside; the Prius with fan running is 94 degrees. The difference in the sun seems to be about 10 degrees between the two cars (30 minutes earlier the RAV4 was 98 degrees and the Prius was 88 degrees.)

However, if one doesn't have the shade on the sunroof pulled shut, this negates the advantage of the fan and then some. With the sun shining in through the top of the car, the Prius was about 2 degrees hotter than the RAV, even with the solar fan running.

Just a few informal observations. Moving both cars to the shade now!

 

Wow. That's a pretty eye opening experiment. What this is probably suggesting is that unless you live in a very warm climate and park in the sun on a very regular basis that the solar roof is kind of an expensive toy.

 

Personally, I'd rather get in a car that's 94F than one that's 104F. That's 10 degrees less for the AC to cool, which means better fuel economy at the start of the trip.

And, really, if you think of it that way... all of the add-ons above the base package are expensive toys. Does anyone really need XM, bluetooth, nav, solar cooling, LKA, smart keys, seat heaters, HUD, etc., etc., etc.? I drove many cars for years without any of those things and managed to survive. I remember being thrilled with my '97 Outback because it had cup holders - a luxury not present in my prior car.

It's all a matter of deciding what conveniences are important to you, and picking the car that has them. That's why there are different models available.

 

I would agree which is why I drive a new Prius that cost about 60% of what some other new ones do.

 

And it's great that you found a car that matched the criteria that was important to you.

As I mentioned, with my '97 Outback I was thrilled to have cup holders, after having driven for nearly 30 years before that without them. I survived before, but it was sometimes tricky trying to balance a coffee cup while driving. (Anybody remember the short, wide-bottomed mugs with non-slip bottoms made to sit on a dashboard? Don't see them much nowadays.) That was an option that was important to me.

Now I'm older and I'm in a decent cash-flow situation, and having my car 10 degrees cooler than otherwise is nice. I also like having a sunroof that I can open, having not had one since my very first car (a '73 Pint0 - but it was red with black racing stripes and mag wheels).

Options and choice are a good thing. One size fits all is a myth.

 

Yes, those add-ons are rather expensive non-essentials.

In my location, the sun is quite intense in the summer, which I get plenty of first-hand experience with between my greenhouse and anything else with glazing, to include cars. Also, where I have to go during the day, space is not at a huge premium. All the parking that is uncovered and in that blazing sun.

Hence my willingness to plop down a chunk of change on this expensive add-on. In a different climate with more overcast skies and/or more covered parking, a fan powered by solar panels on the roof would not make sense.

Not everything in life is about pinching pennies, though. I've gone the penny-pinching route through several phases of my life, too. This time I opted for something a little more than the minimum requirement for transportation.

There's nothing wrong with people making their own choices. And like I said, this experiment is imperfect since I did not have two similar models available. It's probably not too far off however.

 

LKA = Lane keep assist...If you lose concentration and start leaving your lane, it alerts you (and even turns the wheel away from the side of the road if it gets that bad.).

 

I went kind of a different route on my Prius. It was my first Prius to own. I was thinking less options to save money but my wife told me several times that she did NOT want to hear me bitch & complain later after I got my car that I should have gotten this or that option. So I ordered a Four Solar Plus Performance. I previously was happy with the fabric in rental Prii which I was driving since some time in 2009 as we do a lot of business traveling around the country. The Softex seats in my Four are super comfy as well. I am a person who hops in my car and sets the seat position and it never changes, so power seats are not something that gets used more than a few times in the beginning to get it setup for my behinder I like the 7.1 audio system. It is very good sounding for a factory system. No it is not like aftermarket car audio quality, but it is way better than other vehicles that I have driven. It will wiggle the mirrors with low frequency sounds and has enough mid & highs to hear the vocals plenty clear. The sound stage is up high in the center of the dash like the band is sitting in front of the speedo cluster area which is center mounted in this car. It's very nice. I only used the Nav once but then again I just clicked over 300 miles in my car yesterday The 15" wheel Prius will have decent acceleration but I found my 17" wheel Prius is a bit slower to accelerate. Not dangerous by any means but not as quick as the Mr Donut versions The Plus Perf package comes with the TRD suspension so it sits lower and rides significantly stiffer than a regular Prii, but it makes a big difference in handling. My car corners very flat and is a hoot to drive. I doubt it could go over any speed bumps and surely would eat a bumper or skirt if it was just pulled into a curbed parking spot. I don't take it to the mall so that is not a issue for me. The TRD springs drop the car an inch and the body kit makes the skirts and bumpers even closer to the pavement. The solar roof looks freakin amazing. Yea it costs some bucks but if that doesn't bother you then go for it. The solar ventilation is wonderful to have. I have gotten to experience it a few times so far and feel it was well worth having. The HUD display is super cool to have. I have never had this on a car before let alone driven a rental with it. Totally worth whatever that option costs. I highly recommend this.

In a nutshell, you only live once. If you got the bucks to get what you want, go for it. Option the hell out'a the car and enjoy your baby. Whatever Prius version you buy, it will be a very comfortable car to drive and will give you from holy shit it's getting mid 40's mpg to look at that it's getting 50 something mpg. It's a fun car to drive and hardly costs much to own.

Mike

 

Ditto the above, except my first new car was a '74 Pinto Wagon for $3200. Latest car cost 10x and I got the options I want.