Few Questions before Pick Up My Prius (Especially for Canadian Owner)

Hey congrats!

I just got mine at the beginning of July. What option did you get?

With respect to the parking brake, what do you mean by "how often do you use it"? I think it's called the parking brake because you have to use it anytime you park. At least I do. If you want to slow your car down while driving, such as when going down a hill, you can shift gears to B. That emulates engine brakes. I guess I'm not sure under what circumstances you normally use the handbrake for.

I don't think there's a difference between the Canadian and US versions of the bluetooth though I could be wrong. For my version, which is option D, the tech package, I can connect my iPhone 3G to the car in two modes, phone and audio. For the audio, I can stream fine, but I can't change songs, forward, rewind, etc. using the car controls. This is because the 3G doesn't have the AVRCP bluetooth profile for controlling the device via bluetooth. Only the A2DP profile for streaming music. I might try with my old Samsung phone later, because that one does have AVRCP.

As for the touch tracer, you can switch between all the audio modes. That's what the Mode button on the left Touch Tracer is for. The up and down arrows allow you to change tracks or skip through the memorized stations. I don't think you can play/pause though... I guess I should try a CD, but I hardly use CD's anymore.

 

Berserk-
I noticed you ordered a III w/sunroof. Today, our local dealer told me Toyota does not offer the sunroof option on a III. Have you seen one? I know the brochure says we can order it...but???
Jim

 

Jim,

Notice that berserk_sun lives in Canada. The packaging in Canada is different than the packaging in the United States.

Toyota does offer the Prius III with the solar roof. However, the different sales regions can choose which combinations to offer to their customers. Your sales region may not offer the Prius III with the solar roof. (It appears that Gulf States Toyota, which covers my region, doesn't offer that combination either.)

 

My first car too! Good choice on a first car! :rockon:

I think the contrast between the black solar roof and blizzard pearl is very cool looking. You'll be very happy when you see it in person

I don't think it's too big of a deal that you can't stream music. You can still use the Aux connection. If you're using an iPhone like me, you still can't control the music anyway, so there's almost no difference except for the slight convenience of not plugging in a cable.

 

IraS-
Thanks for the quick response...sorry I kind of changed topic, I was desperate! I never gave a thought that option packages would be excluded by regions. Thanks again...
Jim

 

It's a good habit to get into, apply the parking brake whenever you are going to turn off the car. That way you will automatically remember to release the parking brake when you want to go. It's also better for the HSD as it doesn't apply torque to the car when sitting.

 

Just add my 2 cents, since I have Blizzard Pearl with solar.

Yes, it does look very sharp (that's the reason I got this combination). My dealer delivered 4 2010 Prius before mine and mine was the first with solar roof. I'm guessing they are not very popular and not produced in quantity, therefore the people who want one have a hard time getting theirs. My dealer has 4 2010's on display and the only one that has solar roof has the technology package (which includes SR). I've never seen a premium package with solar (other than mine).

My car does not have NAV and it can't do bluetooth streaming.

The steering wheel controls can control the volume, audio source (aux, satellite, AM, FM, etc), and audio channel. When I say "audio channel" I mean the numbered buttons on the dash that lets you program your favourite channels. Once you have the buttons programmed, you can cycle through them using the steering wheel controls. I still have to use the buttons on the radio to search through channels I didn't program.

As for parking brake. I tried not setting it while putting the car in park. The car does not move, this is the same as in a "regular" car where the transmission is locked. Like the others mentioned, it puts less stress on the car when you set the parking brake. And it's a good habit to set it in case you are parked on a hill.

And for the door locking, I just listen to the beep when I lock the doors. If I hear the beep, the doors are locked. I used to worry about the doors being unlocked in my old car, and I always press the lock button on the key fob a few times to make sure. Now I try to train myself to listen to the beep. Also, for premium package cars with 3 door SKS, locking one door will lock all doors.

 

You know what, there seems to be conflicting info about whether non-nav Bluetooth can stream music or not. Some people say it's not possible, some people say they've done it. So maybe when you get your car, you can tell us whether it's possible!
And yeah, just listen to your car beep after locking it. You can be confident that it's locked if it beeps once and flashes the brake lights.

 

If you want to make sure the car is locked, couldn't you just pull the handle on the backdoors (thus not unlocking the door) to test it?

 

non Nav can not bluetooth stream. You can do bluetooth phonecalls though which is where you might have seen some confusion. Just buy a usb charger adapter and a aux plug cord.

As for locking just touch the top of the driver or passenger door handle you'll hear a single beep and walk away.

 

Hey Berserk_Sun,

Congrats. I hope you enjoy your new car as much I have enjoyed mine. I have a Gen III Prius IV. I'm not a car-geek and I'm not in the auto industry so I don't have a good grasp of the difference between Canadian (International models to me) and US models. I have the Solar Roof, Moon Roof, Navigation package. And, I have a iPhone 3GS.

I've had my Prius for about 10 days. I'm still learning the Nav System so I haven't attempted to stream audio (iPod). I did sync my phone function and it was fairly easy.

Moving my SmartKey outside of its effective range is the only way I have been able to confirm if I really locked all the doors or not. --TK