New Proud Prius Owner... Something I regret about :(

Well, welcome aboard. Don't worry, there are many options to upgrade the stereo.

 

Don't worry about it man. Seriously. You can invest a few hundred dollars and get a MUCH better sound system you'll find stock in ANY Prius out there. Not to mention, you can also add bluetooth. I'd head on over to the Audio and Electronics section if you wanna learn some more. It's not hard

 

If you're that into music, you should go aftermarket.

 

I bought the 2010 when ti first came out. I thought the bluetooth on the pkg III was like the add-on in the accessories manual. It turns out to be on the steering wheel. I really wish I had gotten that.

 

I feel your pain about the package II over the III. I bought the II, and realized that the sound wasn't at all what I had hoped for. Turns out, 3 days later my brother in law went out and bought the III with navi, sun roof, all the bells and whistles. That made me feel horrible! I plan to upgrade the sound system soon, but my wife isn't going for it. We installed an aftermarket head unit in her civic and it didn't look right, part of the dash was bent trying to accomadate the stereo. I'm trying to convince her everything will look good!

 

Not likely, esp. if you have someone else install it. Actually, realistically, you will not even come close to the JBL in performance for a "few hundred dollars" if you have to pay someone to install it. The problem with the Prius is that the speaker locations are odd and this puts quite a bit of limitations on aftermarket stuff. You will likely end up spending a lot of money to make up for these weird speaker locations and sizes. And good luck getting aftermarket BT to work as well as the factory's!

 

I'm sure there are a couple good car audio shops in LA

A lot of modern cars have audio systems that are very aftermarket unfriendly. Does away with just being able to upgrade speakers and such, its a total replacement or nothing. Thats how it is in the Lexus...

Anyways...don't know if its better in the Gen III but the JBL in our Prius is nothing spectacular at all...

 

The prius nav is beyond terrible. I hate mine. You're not missing out on anything. All I want is google maps on the screen using my phones data connection... Why can't anyone make this!

 

I have a II and my Garmin Nuvi GPS takes care of the navigation for me plus I can move it to any vehicle. Spent less than $200 for it and it came with lifetime traffic and map updates. No installed NAV unit can come close to that.

Plenty of very highly rated aftermarket Bluetooth solutions out there for very little money.

A new head unit alone will make those standard speakers sound a lot better.

 

Gen 3 JBL is much better...very similar system to the Camry's JBL.

 

All I know is a hate the BT in the Prius when my wife calls me on it it sounds my to tinny

I rather use my BT headset

 

Audio quality on mine is great. Perhaps some sort of phone<->BT<->audio system incompatibility?

 

Same here...it is better than my wife's Acura system. I have no trouble with it at highway speeds...clear!

 

Three w/o nav is only $1k more as you know and get bluetooth as well. It's a good deal. How many cars get better audio in only 2nd level trim up? Many do not.

Well, I try to warn people when I can .... be very sure you are getting exactly what you want before signing the contract, and 'specially before driving off the lot.

Too late now, but one of the first things to do when looking at a car is ..... don't even drive it. Bring a good CD or your iPod, sit in the car, have a listen with sales guy. Don't let them start it up and hurry you on a test drive, that is what some of them want - a quick sale, it's not what you want.

FWIW, Toyota Sunnyvale 'claims' a 10 point policy which includes a 3 day/250 mile money back guarantee on new car sales. That is pretty cool and unheard of. Don't know details, but they say it's to make sure you get the car you really want.

As for the sound system, base sound systems usually do pretty much stink.

the Three has more speakers and an amplifier.

it will take some work and money to get some sound in the car and bluetooth. it can be done, but will be kind of a hassle and I don't think a shop can match three for $1k. sorry.

 

3rd gen JBL notably better than 2nd gen JBL.

After renting, would get back into my 2009 and yeah, it was a downgrade.

Accord system beats the 3rd gen system. but 24 MPG less