Help me with my Prius rental car

You cannot turn on the Prius and get to READY unless you are pressing the brake pedal. Once you get to READY, release the mechanical parking brake, put it in R or D as necessary, and drive.

More specifically:
1. Press brake pedal
2. Press Power button
3. Release mechanical parking brake
4. put it in gear and go.

That's it.

 

to start your Prius follow the advice above.
To switch it off just stop then press the power button, no need to put it in park by pressing the P button, it does it automatically.

I do advise pressing the park brake pedal with your left foot.
Release the park brake by pressing the pedal firmly again.

If you want to listen to the radio without "starting" the car just press the power button without pressing the brake pedal. A second press with you feet off the brake pedal will allow you to use the fan but you still cant select a gear, a third press and it all goes off again.

 

Did you get it from the Hertz at National? Is it black? If so, I had the same one with the same problem last month. Traded it back in for a new one.

 

clarification:

the parking brake is the thing on the floor on the left you push in with your foot to hold the car in position while parked.

the park button is the button on the dash that you push with your finger to take the car out of gear

the brake pedal is the wide pedal towards the middle on the floor that you depress with your foot to slow the car when in motion or to keep the car immobile upon start up and initially placing the car into gear

the car won't turn on or off or allow you to change from one gear to another (while stopped) unless you are depressing the brake pedal

so - parking brake (aka emergency brake), park button, and brake pedal.

 

Enjoy your time with a Prius! You're now past the only real "quirk" of the Prius vs a "normal" car. The rest is pretty much the same. The gasoline engine (what we call the ICE, or Internal Combustion Engine) will turn itself on and off seemingly at random if you're using the air conditioning, but ignore it - that's normal. Also, the engine will rev with no apparent connection to travel speed when accelerating at highway speed - again, that's normal for any constantly variable transmission, or CVT (it feels like driving a boat where the revs aren't directly coupled to speed). Ignore that too. Don't ignore the good mileage, though, and what is essentially a great car even without the hybrid drive train!

 

Important safety tip: always lock the car after you park it. If something is wrong (not turned completely OFF, interior light on, door or hatch not completely shut) it will give a long warning beep. Of course all cars should always be locked anyway to avoid insurance problems.