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A couple of newbie questions

Discussion in 'Prime Main Forum (2017-2022)' started by bevhoward, Oct 25, 2019.

  1. bevhoward

    bevhoward Member

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    I feel like I have just stepped out of a history book... just replaced my 2007 civic hybrid with a 2020 Prius Prime XLE and I am overwhelmed with all of the "new" stuff ...so a few newbie Prime questions.

    The biggest question is what is the best way to learn how to use the car and it's features? I got a few tips from a sales person after purchase, but most of the other (valuable) finds have been by accident.

    (fwiw, I downloaded what appear to be the four relevant manuals from the toyota site, but, even though I am a professional programmer and a "techie" I'm overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information.)

    A few specific questions;
    • What is "Daylight Mode" and can it be set to toggle screen brightness when light or dark? I see the tiny highlight at the end of the bar, but it doesn't appear to do anything.
    • Is there any way to end navigation without going through multiple screen taps? (dest/delete.../ok)
    • Is there any way to view the remaining EV battery when under way?
    • Is there any way to stop the "continue?" button every time the car starts?
    Thanks in advance,
    Beverly Howard
     
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  2. bevhoward

    bevhoward Member

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    Just spent an hour or so sitting in a dark garage, parking brake on, in park with the parking lights on searching and experimenting.

    Discovered the light level buttons to the left of the steering wheel and educated myself.

    Still don't fully understand the "daylight mode" screen button, but I can now see the dash button logos when it's dark and found that the level buttons toggle the screen night mode.

    Beverly Howard
     
  3. schja01

    schja01 One of very few in Chicagoland

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    Just wait a few seconds and the “Continue” prompt will dismiss itself.
     
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  4. Tha_Ape

    Tha_Ape Active Member

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    Switching the "Trip" indicator will eventually show battery range remaining. There should also be a % in the MID. If you have the HUD, it will display there if you press the HUD button a couple of times.

    All of those settings will persist when you turn the car off.

    It's quite a read, but I recommend reading the entire owner's manual one bathroom trip at a time. There are SOOO many features/ options. If you're gonna get the dealer to make the "yap" louder, there are other settings you may wish them to change as well (how many times the blinker blinks with a soft press, etc..) there's a list of dealer adjustable options in the owner's manual.
     
  5. bevhoward

    bevhoward Member

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    Thanks for the responses.

    Could someone point me in the general direction of the "hud" button?

    Beverly Howard
     
  6. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    Something Toyota should heed.
     
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  7. Tickwood

    Tickwood Active Member

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    It is not on the XLE, only the "Limited"
     
  8. jerrymildred

    jerrymildred Senior Member

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    Delete destination is the quickest way I've found. I really hate the nav system on every car I've ever owned that had one. Costs a fortune to update and even then it's old data. And it's too far from the line of sight to the more important stuff on the other side of the windshield.

    Several ways. The trip button on the steering wheel will toggle through and eventually show the remaining estimated miles in the air conditioning setting you're using. Take this with a huge grain of salt.

    Also, if you use the buttons on the right side of the wheel, it'll cycle through a gazillion different pages. Use the left-right buttons to scroll to the HSI display. Then cycle down about three screens (iirc) and it will show remaining miles with and without air conditioning, plus some other stuff. Take that number with a huge grain of salt, too.

    And, on the HSI screen on the MID it will show either remaining miles or state of charge at the top. You can select miles or percent in the settings screen on the mid. More salt!!

    OR ... I think it's one of the options that can be beside the speedometer. I keep mine set to instantaneous mpg/kWh/mile, but, iirc, it can also be like the HSI or show battery charge. You guessed it -- another rough estimation. :D

    Almost like Windows, isn't it. LOL!

    No, and there's no way to make it stop telling you how to start the car when you get in, or to stop putting annoying and unnecessary messages on the MID. But at least you can stop that stupid piano riff it plays when you start the car.

    I'm not sure I really ever wrapped my head around that either, but with some good tips here, I got it to work the way I wanted.

    Prime has some goofy quirks, but it's such an amazing car that I can live with them since all cars have quirks anyway. Once you settle in, I think you'll love that car. Mine continues to impress me.
     
  9. PT Guy

    PT Guy Senior Member

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    Daylight mode keeps the screen bright night and day. Daylight mode-off darkens the screen at night.

    There is a choice of display on the multi function screen that shows a sweeping curve. That has a lot of info including battery status. We keep that one up most of the time.

    The word mode is used several ways. Start with this. You have a button near the shifter that switches from ECO to Normal to PWR mode. That is just accelerator pedal sensitivity. Find the one you like, set it, forget it. A different button there switches from battery EV mode to EV-Auto mode (battery plus engine when pulling hard) to HV (mainly engine). Set it at EV and forget it. The car is so smart that it'll take care of itself. Get the feel for your car. Later you can experiment with other settings to see if you can save a bit of fuel or a kilowatt or two, but for now just leave those settings and enjoy your car.
     
  10. Salamander_King

    Salamander_King Senior Member

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    Welcome to PriusChat. Glad to see former HCH owner switching to PRIME. I had interim Gen3 PRIUS before stared driving PRIME, but HCH was my first hybrid and even though it received bad reviews I really like the car. That being said, PRIME is far better in almost every way except maybe the cost of repair.

    Now onto your questions.
    The best way is to keep coming back to this site and read every thread that invokes your interest. Really, this site is the best learning place for PRIUS related (and some unrelated) information. But to be honest with you, it is often not even necessary "to learn how to use and it's features". All you have to do is just drive it. you will learn as you go what you need to know. In many cases, it might be good to know how to use a particular feature, but not really necessary to drive the car from point A to point B.

    To illustrate the point on some of those non-essential information/features TOYOTA deployed on this car, I have been driving PRIME full two years now, and one of your questions just puzzled me.

    I had no idea there is a "coninue" button I was suppose to push at the beginning when you start the car. AFAIK, I have never hit the "continue" button when I started my car, but the car started into READY mode every time and I had no problem driving it. LOL
     
    #10 Salamander_King, Oct 26, 2019
    Last edited: Oct 26, 2019
  11. Washingtonian

    Washingtonian Senior Member

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    Welcome to the group! I have had mine for more than two years and still don't understand or use most of the functions. But I still love the car. This user's group will be helpful as you get more used to the Prime. One thing I am surprised about. You mentioned downloading the manuals for the car. Didn't you get about three or four pounds of owner's manuals? My 2017 owner's manual is 784 pages. Did you really have to download that from the internet?
     
  12. schja01

    schja01 One of very few in Chicagoland

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    Using the download versions makes searching infinitely easier.
     
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  13. huskers

    huskers Senior Member

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    YouTube is also good for finding things out about the car.
     
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  14. Marine Ray

    Marine Ray Senior Member

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    Welcome Prime mate. Although massive, the owner's manual is the best way to know all. Plus a series of Toyota videos. Here's one which will lead you to others. There's about 6-8 of them.
     
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  15. bevhoward

    bevhoward Member

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    (5,000 miles later ;-)

    Thanks for the responses... very helpful. I obviously haven't been able to respond since my last post.

    2,500 of those miles were on the Prius... learned a lot, and have some more questions but will start new threads.

    Thanks again,
    Beverly
     
  16. ice9

    ice9 Active Member

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    Sit in the Prius with your owner manual and a full tank of gas, try out all the features and watch your MPG get lower and lower.

    By the time you have learned everything (approximately 3 days later - 1 week if you sleep) you should be on empty and your head should explode. :cool:
     
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  17. bevhoward

    bevhoward Member

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    >> Sit in the Prius with your owner manual <<

    Been doing that for the past two months. Tip... download the PDF manuals from Toyota to your phone... that way, you can search.


    >> ...and a full tank of gas, try out all the features and watch your MPG get lower and lower. <<

    The disastrous irony of that suggestion is that if you sit in the Prius to do this with the charger attached, first, you can't access many functions that are available when the charger is not attached, and, worse, with the charger plugged in, the car powers down after a short timeout... a timeout apparently designed to happen when you are trying to use the onscreen keyboard to enter information.

    Beverly Howard
     
  18. ice9

    ice9 Active Member

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    Oh that's right. You have a plug-in. Well in that case, belay my last regarding MPG. :)

    I download TIS docs to my laptop, not my smartphone. You might find using a laptop more expedient. The docs are more readable and easier to peruse, but you need one a laptop that has high battery endurance to do this... ...Either that, or use a long extension cord.
     
  19. bevhoward

    bevhoward Member

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    fwiw, the Foxit app's "reflow" mode makes accessing pdf files much easier when a computer is not handy.

    And, while there is a wealth of USB sockets in vehicles nowadays, most laptops require 20v or more so that also favors a phone or tablet.

    It's very interesting to watch carmakers' evolution of owners' needs over the decades. My favorite example is the need for cup holders. The carmakers unilaterally concluded that only tiny cups would ever be used, hence tiny cup holders.

    Owners wouldn't wait for the decades it would take the carmakers to provide bigger holders, so, large capacity cups with tiny bottoms sidestepped the auto industry ;-)

    Thanks for the responses

    Beverly
     
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  20. Loriann

    Loriann Junior Member

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    [QUOTE="PT Guy, post: 2958994, member: 149781"
    There is a choice of display on the multi function screen that shows a sweeping curve. That has a lot of info including battery status. We keep that one up most of the [/QUOTE]

    What is the light blue vas the dark blue that moves up and down on that curve? I’m pretty sure the darker blue is my acceleration. I’m guessing the lighter blue is there suggestion of where the darker blue should be? Thanks for the help!!