v two vs. v three--Entunes/navigation worth it?

I believe that Satellite radio is in the 3 and not in the 2. As far as the features above, it depends whether you prefer navigation, Pandora, Bing, etc. on a large screen in the dash as opposed to the individual devices. I bought the 3 for the convenience of having them in the dash, but you could certainly make arguments for the advantages of the individual devices.

 

In my case, the navigation feature was the main reason I picked the v3 over the v2. I hardly ever use Entune so that did not really figure in my decision.

Overall, I am quite happy with it. It has worked very well for my needs but I see from another thread that some people are complaining about the maps being out of date.

The big advantage of an integrated navigation system is that you don't have wires dangling around. Some people don't mind the clutter of extra wires while I do. On the other hand, my old Garmin was very reliable, had accurate maps and had a slightly better display. After six months of ownership, I remain happy with my choice.

 

Being able to use voice recognition for navigation is a nice feature and since we are too far north for XM to work consistently, it's not going to get renewed. As far as Entunes, the only feature we use regularly is Bing since the POI database for Alaska is weird. Small home businesses are listed but some shops, which have been around for years in the same location, aren't.

Not having the wires draped over the dashboard for the separate GPS is nice.

 

Not a Prius v owner; but a 2012 Prius 2 owner. The likes of eTune have no interest for me. Nor does a Nav system. I have an iPhone that dis me well on my old Baja.

I use Motion X for my GPS, and very happy with it. The only downside is that my fiancé can not use their account on my stereo system. Trying to convince them to ditch it since we have 60gb of music between us to listen to....

 

Also, to the OP, since you are in an area where traffic information may be useful and available, there may be some value. I don't know how good it is on the Toyota nav system.

 

I was wrestling with the same decision when we were about to purchase our Prius v. You're right about the differences, Entunes/navigation is really the main difference between the Two and Three, that and Sirus/XM. We even had a little portable Garmin GPS system but we ended up still getting the Three. The reason we're glad we did is because of the built in GPS, we no longer have to hassle with connecting and disconnecting the Garmin or have it hanging like a tumor off the windshield. Plus, the price difference between the two model was less than $1k so we just said what the heck. We ended up selling the Garmin on craiglist for $60 too

As for Entunes, we don't use it much, but Pandora is fun to play with every once in a while, that is the only Entunes feature we find remotely useful. The traffic updates have been less than useful for us, and we live in a very populated area.

Satellite radio actually was very cool, we never had one before. In the end though, we weren't willing to pay for it after our 3 month free trial was up.

That's our experience, hope it helps you decide.

 

Question:

What would the chances of ripping out the Display Audio system in the Two model and purchasing an aftermarket head unit with built in GPS be?

I have a Prius C and I love that the TFT display in the dash allows me to remove the stock radio but because I did not opt for the Entune system I can easily pull the radio out.

My wife wants to swap with me and I take the V and she take the C now, which I am ok with, but I do not particularly care for the base system and would like to know if I would be losing significant "hybrid" functions if I took the base display audio system out.

Anybody out there swap out the base system and replace it w/ say, the Kenwood DNX9990HD or the likes?

 

As far as I know, it should be fine. The thing you will be lacking is some of the informational feedback the normal head would give you, mostly the FE feedback, as the thirdparty units don't support it, I think.

 

In addition to the car related feedback you'll lose (fuel, energy, TPMS, maybe more that I can't think of off the top of my head) I'd also be concerned about integrating the existing voice/handsfree control (track up/down and volume shouldn't be a big problem though). Not only the buttons for handsfree, but the microphone as well, including any noise cancellation technology that might come with it. Also, there are the USB and AUX input ports.

Overall, there should be no problems swapping it because luckily, none of the climate control is integrated with the display. You'll just miss out on some of the more tightly integrated components I mentioned above, or have to find creative ways to integrate it.

 

Thanks for the feedback, I guess I got lucky that the C2 has a stock radio without any "hybrid" information built in to the radio.

I don't particularly care for the Entune but the wife pretty much demanded that July be the trade-in month for the Camry for a V so she can use my C.

Now I'm thinking I'll end up with a V3...

 

HD Radio is another difference.

Just got a three. I didn't really need Nav, Entune, or satellite radio so was actually looking to get a two and have leather seats and tinted windows installed as that's really the only extra options I wanted. A local dealer had a three with factory leather and tinted windows in a three in the color I wanted so got it and considered the Nav/entune/sat radio as a bonus. However, I've found I love HD radio (which is not on the two) and use it all the time - especially for my local NPR station. I used to use a streaming radio app on my phone to listen to NPR news streams all day, but I found out to my surprise that I can get it with the HD radio on the Display Audio System. It's been great because when I used to use my phone app the station I listened to would play a long station identification and advertisement blurb everytime the signal timed out and starts back, but with HD radio the signal is crystal clear and on all the time. If I would've known about HD radio before I would never have considered a Prius V Two.

 

Not V owner,but recently purchased Plug-In Prius Basic, which comes with Navigation.
Before I have had at least 4 different types of tomtom/garmin car GPS units, Its very difficult to mount them
correctly, so that address can be put(while not driving) and directions can be read while driving. I am very happy with the navigation and backup camera integrated in a a single display as in Prius, as its no hassle basic one display with nothing to fiddle while on the go.

 

Exact opposite for myself.

Who want an expensive navigation with outdated maps when almost everybody have a modern smartphone with latest maps for free?