2010 Prius Driving Impressions Thread

I've had my G3, model 2 for ~700 miles now and the bigest gripe I have is the view out the back window. Between the roof and the bar above the small panel window in the rear leaves only a few inches. Other wise I am happy with the car. Oh, I almost forgot - the front valence (?) is 1 inch too low - I scrape it on every curb/hunk of concrete in every parking stall I pull into....I guess one more thing - I can't see the hood so I can't seem to judge my distance.....but I like 50mpg.....YMMV.......

 

Welcome to the forum!...

I agree, its tricky parking as almost all curbs are too high for the front... so far I haven't hit anything, but I'm used to the prius...... I would suggest not trying to get as close as you can and give a nice margin for error..... when you get out, look at it every time and in time you'll learn how close you can get.


The bar in the back I actually have learned to like at night as it usually blocks the tailgaiters lights perfectly!

 

After a week owning the car, here is a quick review:

PROS
- what a modern car! the amount of technology is quite impressive
- 3 modes: Power, Eco, EV. Power is particularly useful to get the car a boost during times when fast acceleration is required. Often, the normal mode can be too sluggish. But Power really transforms the Prius into a well performing Sedan.
- Roomy car: I'm 6'2 and can fit very comfortably. Cargo space is good as well for a car this size.
- Sound system is actually quite decent, once setup properly. USB port and AUX connector make it quite convenient.
- Great to have satellite radio too and a free trial subscription
- 40+MPG having used 1/4 of first tank (including dealer test drives mostly in power mode)
- Integrated Nav is great; no wire as is the case for Garmin/TomTom and sound coming from car speakers
- Backup camera is a nice to have; I do not rely on it too much, but it does give extra visibility on what's behind the car
- Looks; I like it so far

CONS
- no daytime running lights but only auto off lights for a car this caliber and cost? all of our previous cars had this, even old models from 15 years back.
- no way to get sunroof and LED/fog lights in the US; it's either or. I asked the dealer what can be done, they are not sure. Why does Toyota sell both together in Europe and not here? I hear MPG impact, but it's hard to believe LED lights could impact MPG meaningfully.
- EV mode so far looks useless. It turns off when the car exceed 10mph. Perhaps a battery upgrade in 2-3 years and a software update could be a smart move by Toyota for existing Prius owners.
- slight blind spots with mirrors that require special attention and backward looks when changing lanes
- lack of accessories as of today (Toyota dealer indicates cargo net will only be available mid to late October 2009)

Overall pleased with purchase. Was debating Prius vs. Audi A3 TDI and after test driving both, I figured the Prius was as fast as one should go on a car, had way better MPG in city than a diesel (though I might have gone for the Audi for doing lots of highway miles), more space at all levels, and the technology was so far ahead on the Prius.

Hope that helps you all decide on your next car. Cheers.

 

Not sure if this addresses what you are saying, but you can turn your lights on to whatever position and they will always turn off after you park, so you could just leave them on if you want. Or maybe that is what you were saying but you want some additional feature.

The limit is 10 mph when the engine is cool but it can go up to 25 mph after you've let the car warm up a bit.

 

The GenII could go up to about 42mph if you took it gently, but I think the engineers realized that going that fast is never actually needed in EV mode and only sucks energy that will have to be replaced by the ICE thereby is not efficient.

I do wish they would give us the option to use the battery up realizing it will be charged on the way back down a large hill for instance.

The way it is now, the battery is practically charged "from the ICE" by the time you hit the top of a long hill or mountain and so there is no storage capacity to capture the kinetic energy on the way back down....

Thats the same problem with cruise control, current software cannot look ahead and use intelligence to regulate the system for best efficiency...... giving us more control can obviously open things up for abuse, but also can increase efficiency.

 

Well, finally bit the bullet yesterday and took delivery of my new Blue Ribbon V w/AT. Haven't had much of a chance to drive it yet, but I'm driving to L.A. on Monday and we'll see how it is.
The seats are definitely more comfortable that my '07 touring, and I didn't think they were that bad. Love the height adjustment, kind of like jacking up a car, except it's my butt.
The audio system is much improved and the stereo image is more pronounced.
I'm having the USB/iPod adapter installed on Tuesday. I'm hoping that the reported flaws just won't affect me that much, I tend to just put a playlist on and let it play.
I was pleasantly surprised to see that the wheels are actually alloy and not covers. I guess I just read the earlier posts and totally missed that. One thing I noticed is that the tires have a raised lip just outside of the wheel so that the rubber would hit the curb before the wheel would. Good idea.
The Nav seems fine. I talked my salesman into finding a 9.1 disk before we drove off, so that's the latest system. Probably just a data update.
The one thing I miss about my Gen II is storage. The center console no longer fits an upright Kleenex box. And if you do manage to squeeze it in, there's not much room for anything else. I don't understand why they moved the aux and power connector to the rear, but the USB port should solve that. I do like the little tray that perfectly fits my iPod Classic 80.
And I miss the little compartment under the radio, that used to be the perfect place to store my parking smart card. Now it's going to have to go in the cup holder.
The car can certainly get up and go. It seems the eco mode just makes it easier to feather the pedal, but even in eco mode, if you floor it, it seems to accelerate just as quickly as power mode.
The battery seems to 'gain bars' quicker than my old touring.
Haven't tried EV mode yet.
It certainly got the neighbors talking, what with 3 prii in the driveway. I'm going to sell my 07 privately, since the trade in value was a joke.
I paid MSRP, and my salesman had to dealer trade to get my car. I'm paying 250 for the USB/iPod interface installed. Normal, I know, but what I really wanted was the 9.1 disk and I got that.
I am surprised that so many customizations now HAVE to be performed by the dealer, since I was able to do all the ones I wanted myself on my 07. That reverse beep has to go.
Enough for now, more when I drive to LA and Back on Monday.

Tony

 

So far I'm pretty impressed with the driving. Acceleration is somewhat anemic compared to my BMW 330Cic and our Lexus RX400h (2 hybrid family) but it's the wife's commuter and she's a light-footed driver so it's adequate for her. Power mode seems to improve it some. You can't expect too much power from a car that gets 50 mpg.

Handling seems good but I haven't pushed it yet. The steering is quite tight but does lack some feel. It only takes a nudge on the wheel to change lanes on the highway.

The ride seems fine, just firm enough for reasonable handling but also comfortable enough for a long distance cruise. I've heard previous generations were too "mushy".

Driving position is fine. There's enough adjustment in the seat and steering wheel that I would think nearly anyone could find a comfortable position. I REALLY wish it had power/memory seats, mirrors, and steering wheel like our RX.

There's plenty of room in the car. I think 4 large adults would fit just fine and there's plenty of cargo space. It really is a mid-size car.

The rear spoiler in the middle of the window is an annoyance and the blind spots are kinda bad but not horrible.

It's very quiet except when you really punch it, then the gas engine makes a fair amount of noise, our RX is the same way.

In conclusion, we're impressed so far. It's a nice car. I believe we'll have it for a long time. The Jeep Grand Cherokee we traded in the cash for clunkers program was a 1994, we made out very nicely on that deal.

 

OK, I drove to LA on Monday. 267 miles round trip. Dynamic Cruise set to 75mph. 52 MPG! Had it set mostly in ECO mode. I never even came close to that in my 07 touring.
The ride was very stable, none of that side to side motion of the 07 even when passing trucks. ECO mode cycles the AC, but it was never noticeable even though the outside temp was in the high 80s/low 90s.

LKA: wow! I finally figured out how to describe it. It's like when you're driving on a high crowned road, and the car tends to pull to the outside, off the crown. Except with LKA, it tends to pull to the center of the lane instead. It makes freeway driving a pleasure, and combined with the DRCC it's just the best. I just set the speed to 75, and let the car flow with the traffic. Perfect, although it tends to drop out a lot when the lane markings change.

I did let the DRCC apply the brakes (even though it made me a little nervous and I had my foot over the brake pedal) and the car did brake from 70 or so down to 25 during a traffic congestion before I took over and brought to car to a stop. The tensioners did not engage.

If you are even considering the AT option and you do a lot of freeway driving, two words: 'worth it'!

Love the satellite radio and I will definitely extend my subscription when the trial ends. I have mixed feelings about the traffic service though. It's nice to know about traffic congestions ahead, but the traffic info is only updated every 12 minutes or so and can be inaccurate by the time you get there. Several times in LA, the freeway showed a green line while I was stopped in traffic. And although I agreed to let the GPS route me around traffic, it never did so.

My phone can update the view every 2 minutes and be locked to my position with GPS. Also, there are traffic channels on XM that cover the areas that I drive that give constant updates. Probably won't subscribe to the traffic service even though it looks cool on the screen.
The seats are very comfortable. But then, I always found the 07's comfortable as well, so maybe I'm not the one to judge the seats.
Sorry for the 'dense wall of text'. I kind of write 'stream of consciousness and it just comes out that way.

 

I just picked up my 2010 Blue Ribbon (prius II) model. I bought it from a dealer 100 miles from home. The car had 120 miles on it when I picked it up. Drove home on the interstate with speeds ranging from 70 to 75 mph and it showed 48 mpg. Not bad at all. I really like the look and feel of the new interior. Very comfortable ride. There is only one con I have found so far....on my Gen II Pruis, the headlights shut off when the door was opened. This one apparently has a 30 second delay. I have absolutely zero need for the headlights to remain on. It was rather nice in the "old" prius to be able to leave the lights in the on position. I'll get used to that though...unless someone knows some tricks to reduce or eliminate the timer. I also miss the dash storage bin - I used it to keep my ID badge for work.

Otherwise, I'm loving the first couple of days of ownership. One thing though...there was a "tips and tricks" kind of page on here on how to disable the reverse warning beeper on the Gen II prius....is there a similar trick for the G3?

 

Both the headlight delay and the reverse beep can be changed by the dealer service dept. The light delay can be set ot zero. The reverse beep can't be totally disabled but can be set to one short beep. I had both set that way. In the previous gen, the owner could change the beep, but now only the dealer can do it.

 

So far, here's what I've noticed:

• The brakes are really, really tight. It's taken some adjustment on my part, after a year of driving a clunker with mushy brakes.
• The steering feels fine to me, but then my old truck had Ye Olde Saginaw Steering Box, so I'm used to not having that much road feel.
• Pickup with the electric motor is good but not great. Once the ICE kicks in, though, it's easy to find yourself going 60 without much trouble. And yeah, you can definitely hear the inverter, but I find it comforting after driving something that made no transmission noises at all.
• I actually fit in the front seat pretty well. This was a concern because I'm a big guy, and even the Blazer was becoming a tight fit. The Prius has no trouble, though.
• I do kind of wish that bar in the middle of the rear window wasn't there, but hey, it's better than having the spare tire blocking half your view.
• FM reception on the stock radio is...bad. The Delco ETR in my old truck was a lot better, but then I get the feeling the antenna in the Prius isn't the greatest.

I get to drive it to the office for the first time tomorrow (I usually take the bus in and drive only as far as the commuter lot, but today is rent day); we'll see how it does on I-95.

 

okay, here's my review.

I am an auto enthusiast since childhood. I'm the kid who hung posters of Ferrari's and Lamborghini's in his room.

I am 32 now. Over the past 10 years, I have driven the following cars (in order):

2000 Honda Prelude SH
2002 Lexus IS300 (sport-manual)
2005 Subaru Legacy GT
2007 BMW 328 (sport pkg)

I have also raced on Road Atlanta and attended a couple high-speed driving schools.

And now, as of tonight, I've had my 2010 Toyota Prius V (w/ AT) for a week. You might be asking why someone like me chose a Prius. And that would be a good question. First, a couple thoughts...

1 - the BMW 328 that I have most recently been driving is, bar none, the best car I have ever driven. BMW owns a calculus of design that is so extraordinary, nobody else comes close. Everything about the 3-series is perfection. It is the ultimate driving machine, that is not a marketing cliche.

2 - right behind that, the Honda Prelude SH was a visceral sports car that provided my 22-year old self with years of enjoyment.

3 - the Lexus was an immaculately constructed vehicle that offered a premium ride with some fun, sporty edges. I couldn't find a fault with it if I was paid to.


So how did I end up in a Prius? here are the reasons:

1 - what is the point of owning a BMW? Or any capable sports car? I live in Northern Virginia (Earth), and there are two situations that I find myself in... The first being (obviously) traffic. Traffic is a constant and it will only get worse. Driving a BMW in this congested area is like running Pong on a Playstation 3. It's a waste. In the 5% of time that there is no traffic, I am overcome with paranoia about speedtraps and police, as they are ALL OVER the place here! And in a BMW, if you want to have real fun, you aren't going 10mph over the speed limit, you are going 30 over. Because I am a good driver and the car is capable of that. Unfortunately, I would be in jail if I was caught. So what is the point in having cars like the ones I have owned? There is none.

2 - in the past 3 years that i have leased my beautiful silver BMW 328 with sport package, my car has been dented by:

- shopping carts (including a particularly nasty one of the Costco variety the first week I had it)
- other cars. despite consistent efforts to park away from people, the sides of my car look like a close up of a golf ball.
- a huge tree branch fell on my car while parked at home.
- last month, two months before I have to turn it back to BMW, a deer ran into the side of it while I was traveling 40mph. huge dent in door.

all told, I did a pre-lease inspection to learn that I will have to pay over $2k in damages just to give the car back to BMW. I have come to accept that whatever car I get, it will get F'ed up. Might as well be something not quite as beautiful as a BMW.

3 - I'm tired of the stigma. I am not a superficial, materialistic person. I didn't get a BMW because I am vein or a prick. I got it because I love driving and got a great deal on it. Still, the reaction I get from people when they learn I drive a BMW (or Lexus) has started to really annoy me. The current recession makes it even worse. I don't want to come off like that anymore. Because that's not me. Prius is me.

4 - I want to do something. The economics of Prius works at $4 gas but harder to justify at $2. Still... getting off foreign oil and emitting close to no emissions is something. And I am an activist... I must do something.

5 - I am in the economics and policy realm here in DC. I expect an oil crisis in the next year or two. And I don't want to be caught with my pants down.


DRIVING IMPRESSIONS (sorry, I almost forgot the reason for the thread! /rant):

So knowing my background of driving amazing drivers cars, I have just one word to describe my Prius:

FABULOUS!

It is SO fun to drive!!! I did not expect this. Especially because I only got to test-drive a Prius III (w/ 15" wheels). I thought the acceleration was better than I expected but I was NOT impressed with the handling. I thought it was tippy.

So I bought the V with no test-drive because I read on here and in a Car and Driver review that the V is basically a "Prius Sport" and radically changes the experience. I am here to tell you that that is absolutely the truth. The 17" wheels and quicker turn ratio makes a huge difference.

When I feel sporty, I put on the power mode and have all the acceleration that local traffic and law enforcement allow me to ever need. I am very impressed with the lack of body roll on the V.

But I am totally loving the "Prius experience"... driving more responsibly and getting great gas mileage.

The technology in the car is amazing. It is a very very comfortable car and driving experience.

I'll write more later. I wanna go drive more...

:car:

 

In response to TalkingMuffin, other than the 17" wheels (and other non-driving stuff), is there any difference between a III with 17" wheels/tires, and V? I thought that the car was basically the same, except for add ons, between II, III, IV and V. Wouldn't the turning radius for all models be the same, and accelleration, cornering too? That is, if I put 17" wheels on a III, shouldn't it drive and react the same as a V, except for the AT package stuff, which I don't think any of that does anything other than keep you from hitting other people?

Thanks for the long post, good to hear about other cars too!

 

Leather, LED headlights and better EPS steering assembly, resulting in tighter steering ratio (but larger turning radius).

 

While the turning radius is tighter and possibly better, I've never seen any mention of the suspension itself being any different... .this is what puzzles me about the statement that said it was no longer "tippy" which seemed to imply it hugged the ground better while cornering etc.

Can anyone confirm that the only difference is the steering per se?
That shouldn't affect the ride while going in a straight line down the road, and while even cornering the feel difference would only be in the steering wheel I would think.

In other words... can the "passenger" feel a difference or is it all about the experience of the driver?

 

You will still be seen as a snob by some people, just a different kind. You just can't let it bother you.

Enjoy your Prius.

 

I'm just glad the recirc works well because when I get behind a smoky Diesel or old junker it works great!... Also works good for skunks!

Maybe I'm a little snobby...... after running so clean and efficient, its harder to tolerate rigs with old plugged up injectors that are all loud and boisterous with no place to go.... or rather, they can't go anyplace even though they make the noise like they should be!

It always cracks me up when a good ole boy trucks with big mudders and jacked up floors it and you can hear it from 1/4 mile away and they seem to sit still as they run through the gears!

While the prius zooms past them all barely making a noise, with no shifting and perfect emissions...... Humm... yea I must be getting snobby!

 

I had another sit in a 2010 Prius today, and I seriously think Toyota skimped a bit much on the amount of steering wheel telescope.

This was mentioned months ago in a video review while some woman was giving driving impressions of the car.

I don't understand why Toyota cannot seem to nail these things and get them right the first time.

I can tell by where the steering wheel ends up in relation to my knees if the reach is going to be really good or a bit much. Now, the 2010 seat goes quite far back for us with long legs, but they have left a little much reach to the steering, even when fully telescoped.

It's likely not a knockout factor to me, but it brings the car down a little and it might be somewhat annoying over time.