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Jerry's Evolving Thoughts on "new-to-me" Prime Premium

Discussion in 'Prime Main Forum (2017-2022)' started by jerrymildred, Mar 12, 2019.

  1. jerrymildred

    jerrymildred Senior Member

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    I was going to wait at least a week to start this, but I'm just not that patient. :D After having this thing now for five days and driving somewhere around 150 miles, I'm finally starting to feel like I'm getting to know it a little bit.

    First impression was that it's way quieter than even my PiP, and crushes the G2 in that department. Handles better and rides smoother. Just a nicer, more refined driving experience all around. With 23k miles on the clock, still no rattles, which I've read isn't true for all Primes.

    Next impression is that the EV mode is much more useful. I don't have to worry about punching the throttle to get into traffic when in EV mode and putting the ICE through a warmup cycle. I also find that I'm comfortable driving closer to the average flow of traffic since I know I can make it to work and home and back to work again on one charge. With air conditioning on.

    Today will be interesting. I have a one-hour meeting about 15-17 miles away where I can charge on L1. Then I go another five miles or so farther away from the office for another meeting where I can't charge. Then I go back to Tampa Hybrids to get the second fob that Todd ordered for me. That's kind of along the way back to the office. Probably get back to the office in time to charge a little bit at L1 level before starting the 9.8 mile trip back home. I'll try to keep track of how the EV holds up and how much HV I will need over however many miles it turns out to be.

    I really like the power driver's seat. Never had one before. I can set it right where I want it.

    The 11.6" display is a little bright driving in the dark, even at its dimmest setting but tolerable at that dim setting. And it needs to remember what information it was displaying when the car shuts off and go back to that automatically. There's no reason it should not do that since the PiP's little screen did it and the main display and the MID remember their settings. That's just lazy programming. But I still like it and it only takes a couple taps to set it up.

    Shiny black plastic dash: The interior is moonstone and I love the look. However, when the sun is at the right angle, the glare from the black plastic and the chrome trim above the glovebox is really hard on my wife. Bright glare sets off her headaches, so I'll have to find a fix for that. I'm thinking I want to find an adhesive that won't make a mess and use that to apply felt or some other cloth that will stretch enough to conform to the contours and look like it belongs there.

    Speaking of glare, they make anti-glare screen protectors if phones and tablets. I think I'll need to try to find one for the dig display. So far, no problems with glare from it, but I'm sure there are angles where it will be a problem.

    Headlights: Who knew the headlights would impress me so much?! I think the fun of night driving has returned for these 65-year-old eyeballs. :D

    This car has so many features that I'll have to think about them some more. Now I need to get some work done.
     
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  2. Salamander_King

    Salamander_King Senior Member

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    I agree with you 100% on this one. Although I don't do much night time driving, with the time change my commuting trip in the morning is in dark again. I love the brightness of LED headlight. Now, if I am in my son's car with regular halogen headlights, it looks like he forgot to turn on the headlight.

    Just make sure not to crush the headlights. It will cost you $$$$.
     
  3. ricomtl

    ricomtl Member

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    Have you tried "night mode"? The whole screen background in the dark mode, making it less distracting for night time driving.
     
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  4. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    So likely not going to find a solution? :(

    There's one thing on 3rd gen that similar, is the heat/vent settings: I wish there was a way to turn it right off, then on again, and have it as it was. Apparently nope: the only button that'll wake it up is "Auto", and like it's name...

    Our previous Honda had a "trick", if the system was off and you pushed the fan speed up button, it restored everything to previous settings.

    Really appreciate your rolling reviews btw. (y)
     
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  5. Salamander_King

    Salamander_King Senior Member

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    I think this comment better belongs to different thread, where Jerry was asking a way to change the default display on 11.6 LED?;)
    Modify default view for 11.6" display? | PriusChat
     
    #5 Salamander_King, Mar 12, 2019
    Last edited: Mar 12, 2019
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  6. huskers

    huskers Senior Member

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    I got a screen for the 11.6 screen but never used it. Just got use to the screen as is.
     
  7. farmecologist

    farmecologist Senior Member

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    @jerrymildred Nice! So were you able to find a 'deal' on it? I've been curious as to what the used pricing would be on Primes given the fact the original owner got the tax credit. Historically, other plugins I have priced seem to have had 'rapid depreciation'....which I'm assuming is somewhat due to the tax credit and such.
     
  8. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    It was listed at $24,999 for the Premium according to his other thread.
     
  9. Prius from Dad

    Prius from Dad Senior Member

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    Jerry, if you dim the dashboard brightness 1 notch, you can use night mode and your brightness issue will go away.
    night mode.JPG
     
  10. jerrymildred

    jerrymildred Senior Member

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    Thanks. I saw the "Screen Off" and "Day Mode." I assumed that the latter would put it into day mode, which I didn't want in the dark. So is it saying that it's in day mode and hitting it toggles the mode or is it saying that tapping "Day Mode" puts it in day mode? I'll experiment again tomorrow morning.
     
  11. Prius from Dad

    Prius from Dad Senior Member

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    @jerrymildred If I remember correctly, tap day mode and it should go to night mode. Your screen will have a black background when it is dark out. Remember to dim the dashboard brightness 1 step or night mode will not work.
    dimmer.JPG
     
    #11 Prius from Dad, Mar 12, 2019
    Last edited: Mar 12, 2019
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  12. jerrymildred

    jerrymildred Senior Member

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    I checked it out before driving home. There's a little indicator at the end of the bar that tells whether day mode is on or not. I have already played with the instrument brightness switch. Don't know how I left it set, but I'm happy with it.

    My errand/meeting trip went off with no gas used. I was able to almost completely refill the battery while at the first meeting. That got me to the second meeting and to Tampa Hybrids where I got my fob, and then back to the office. Plugged it into L1 for 1/2 hour and then got home with 8 miles remaining. (y)

    Edit to add that the total trip was 45.1 miles.
     
    #12 jerrymildred, Mar 12, 2019
    Last edited: Mar 12, 2019
  13. huskers

    huskers Senior Member

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    Isn't it fun driving this car?
     
  14. jerrymildred

    jerrymildred Senior Member

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    Big time fun!!
     
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  15. jerrymildred

    jerrymildred Senior Member

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    I'm amazed at all the compliments this car gets!! If they like the looks, they should try driving it! :ROFLMAO:
     
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  16. Prius from Dad

    Prius from Dad Senior Member

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    @jerrymildred Did you get night mode to work? It looks like this:

    night.JPG
     
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  17. jerrymildred

    jerrymildred Senior Member

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    Not yet, but now that you've showed me what it looks like, I'm determined to do so. Time to revisit the manual! Thanks.

    Edit to add:
    I searched the manual for every word I could think of related to this. Not there. But google found it. Now I get what you meant earlier about dimming. Even with your picture, it didn't click. I was dimming the display, but it's dimming the instruments. Here's the video in case it might help someone else.
     
    #17 jerrymildred, Mar 13, 2019
    Last edited: Mar 13, 2019
  18. jerrymildred

    jerrymildred Senior Member

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    Night mode achieved. What a difference!! It's like night and day. :ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:(y)

    I had another beyond-battery-range drive yesterday. A little over 40 miles round trip with two passengers. Ran out of juice at 32.5 miles using air conditioning both ways iirc. This morning, the GOM predicted 34.6 miles w/o air conditioning. When I got to work, the GOM and the trip meter added up to 35.8 miles. You could say that I beat the system.

    Also, with the sun low and behind us yesterday, we got to experience first had the reflections off the 11 inch display. Holy cow!! It was like someone was welding. I just ordered an anti-glare screen protector, but I don't expect that to be a total cure. I'm still cogitating on how best to address that ridiculous shiny black surface in the glove box area. I'm thinking about matte plasti dip. Window tinting is another option.

    I'm still impressed by the quietness and the ride quality compared to the PiP. There's a badly torn up chunk of road near our office. In the PiP, it produced a fairly jarring rattle. This thing makes a little rumble and I hardly feel it.

    I'm starting to wonder if I'll need to buy gas before our trip to Arizona in May. :whistle:
     
  19. Marine Ray

    Marine Ray Senior Member

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    Yes, for those that have owned a privious generation of Prius all you have to do is close the driver door on the new Prime and hear/feel the quality difference. Window tinting helped/solved my 11.6" glare issue.
     
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  20. jerrymildred

    jerrymildred Senior Member

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    I had one motorcycle that I named. I've never named a car. But I might name this one. The Prime follows directly on the heels of the PiP that was an impressive car but had a bunch of shortcomings in performance and comfort that left me wishing for just a little bit more. This one doesn't lack for much in any category. Perhaps it should be christened "Shouldabeen." I have a friend who gave a similar name to his bike after he made extensive mods that made it more like it should have been built. It seems to fit here, too. But I'm not much for naming cars, so I guess I won't anthropomorphize it with a name. Cars hate that anyway. :D

    I gotta say, that red looks good in the sun. It's sitting in a spot that'll have shade all afternoon, plugged in and waiting for its daily dose of electrons.
    IMG_0131 copy.jpg IMG_0133 copy.jpg
     
    #20 jerrymildred, Mar 14, 2019
    Last edited: Mar 14, 2019