2010 Prius Driving Impressions Thread

Yep, I've already got my 2010 in mind for my daughter (now 9) and her sister when they are driving age... I wonder if insurance companies recognize how these cars alter driving patterns on average?

 

Great forum ~

Just drove one today ... very cool car ... like someone else mentioned - like a little spaceship ... I am going to get a White (II) one next week .. just sold my vehicle ... and I am ready for something different - my last vehicle was a Jeep SRT8 , so this should be interesting ..

 

Just turned 5,000 miles on my 3G. Here are some impressions:
- Love the driveability, handling, power (in PWR mode), comfort, styling, features and, of course, efficiency.
- Had the dealer disable the reverse warning beep and the seat belt warning beep. My sanity has been restored.
- The shift lever protocol is different than either a typical manual or automatic shift so there is no precedent. I can't figure out why Toyota designed it so you shift forward to go in reverse and backward to go in drive. This is counter-intuitive and I have occasionally shifted the wrong way. Maybe that's why they added the reverse warning beep. Maybe they should just have the shift go back for reverse and forward for drive.

 

Back in the early 60's, I drove a chevy impala ss with a 4 speed transmission. The pull full left from neutral then up for Rev. was standard.

 

Our Polaris Ranger 6x6 is set up like the Toyota. Full down (towards you) is forward gears while up (away from you) is reverse and park.

 

Yes, it appears that they took a bad design, then Toyota people got so used to it that it continued.

It's not bad enough to stop anyone from buying the car, but the excuse that oh they retained this is not a valid excuse for poor design. Note, manual transmissions have no park, and have been standardized (differently than the prius). Yes in some other cars in the past reverse was up, but they don't do that anymore. This is an automatic, and there is no reason for park that needs to be activated outside the of the transmission control. Once this decision was made, toyota complicated it by following the PRNDL pattern without thinking of state. This changed it to RPDB with N on the side.

There is so much great engineering in the prius that it is sad when you look at the bad direction toyota took when it came to electronics. The joy stick stands out and says different, for the sake of being different, even though it makes it worse.

 

Don't care, it was still wrong. This is a joystick and should work like one, even if it is on a car. Any kind of remote control interface with a joystick would work as us naysaying "intuitive" interface types are describing.

edit: - may be worth reminding everyone this debate comes up repeatedly and even predates priuschat.com (in the yahoo groups). Noone is going to win this one!

 

Just about everyone that gets in my car asks the same question about the direction of the joystick. When I ask them the direction of their automatic shifter, they go OHH!!

I am amazed at the people on this site that believe any time that something is not done the "way they think it should be done" then it is just bad design, period.

 

See, what'd I tell you? Hey, I'm one of those in favor of buttons located on the dash, so I'm even more radical than the wrong way joystick people...

 

When asked about the direction of the joystick, I say that it would make sense to have D ahead and R behind, but then, I say, we need to thank old style automatic gearshifts and how conservative the automotive industry is.
In the same way that the Prius creeps in D or R for no reason, just simulated. Creeping in automatic transmission is due to the lack of decoupling of the hydraulic transmission/clutch and the engine, only available in N. On the Prius there is no such thing, but still in D and R you have to press the brakes otherwise the car goes on its own...
But in the end, even on a manual gearshift, either you press the clutch or the car will move...

 

III vs. V. My son has a gen. 3-III. I drove it for a day on his delivery route, and found the electric steering required constant correction, especially with freeway driving. The ride was good, a nice balance between smooth and firm, especially for a small car, but the cornering was sort of like steering a sailboat. I test drove a red V with 17“ wheels and that was the car for me. The electric steering is quicker, and although it doesn’t self-center like rack-&-pinion, it maintains a straight line, and requires only a little ‘nudging’ to keep a true course. My gen. 2 Honda Fit’s electric steering is better than the III’s, but not up to the V’s. I ended up buying the demo V unit at a discount, and I am adjusting (using my ‘09 5-speed manual Fit Sport w/nag.,. now discontinued, as a contrasting driving experience.) The Prius’s CVT, the rolling forward without gas, and the aggressive brakes of the ‘09 V kind of un-nerved me both on the twisties, and in aggressive city expressway driving. I have learned to compensate by putting the V in the power mode, and in driving in the ‘B’ shift position when required. It is like having a turbo available without the turbo delay, and using engine breaking like a manual tranny. Yes, the 17’ wheels ride is harsher than a II w/15†wheels (the suspension also seems to be different too), but the wheels go where you point them, and pointing them is quick and predictable. Other pluses are the instrumentation, interior lighting, back-up camera, back seat room. But on the other hand, minuses include limited luggage space for a hatch, crowded cockpits feeling for long trips, narrow windshields view, tinny sounding doors, limited steering wheel adjustment, poor FM reception, lack of side mirror turn indicators, dash rattles, front seats need a little more cushion and depth. Like any new car review, you ask a 100 people, and you will get 100 different opinions, and this is only one view- mine. The gas mileage is a very big plus, along with the gen. III improvements, make the gen. 3-V an attractive ride.