It's here! First impressions

It took much longer at the dealer. There was a ton of paperwork involved and I didn't leave Portland until 3pm. I left in a bit of a hurry to get home. There is so much to learn about the car that I didn't test all the features and fuel economy at many cruise control speeds. Actually, there were only a few stretches where traffic was light enough to use steady cruise control and for me to watch the computer. And sometimes that was when I would be going up a long incline, so it's pretty subjective.

I left the car to rest last night a bit in awe. The total trip up from Portland was 171 miles, average mpg was 42.1 with outside temp of 46. This included stints as high as 80 mph, so that really isn't bad at all. My mileage started going up dramatically as I slowed down and was on more familiar turf and slower local roads. One really needs to watch one's speed because the car is peppy and quiet. It’s easy to be going faster than you think. The trip back went smoothly. The car does very well on the freeway, very smooth and quiet. There was a little squirreliness with the tires on a portion of grooved pavement around Kelso, but nothing hard to handle. It was a very calm day, so no wind issues. I was blown away by the navigation system. It worked better than expected and even guided me onto the ferry and up to my island driveway. That was awesome. At times it feels like the car has a subtle consciousness watching out so that you don't miss your turn, are nice an comfortable, adjusting systems, mirror dimming etc. and in its spare time it figures out how to manage the ICE and FE. We ended the trip stopping at the mailbox and then pulling into our rural driveway and up the hill to the house on FE. The only sound was pebble crunching under the tires and the lovely lady telling me that we had arrived at our destination and she was now concluding the session. Pretty remarkable.

Observations from this first drive.
These are first impressions from my 3hr. trip back from Portland. I know not everyone will agree with me and that’s ok. I’m trying to be impartial and give honest first impressions. They will very likely change over time. There is a lot to learn with this car. That is its strength and weakness. I’ll comeback in say 3 months with a new assessment for comparison.

Best features:
Smooth and quiet ride. There were no rattles, plastic squeaks at all regardless of road type. Noticeable lack of wind noise as well. I may change the tires for a quieter, smoother variety as long as it doesn’t compromise mileage.
Electric drive. It’s eerie cool to be easing off the ferry in silence. I want more! Give me LIon batteries.
Fuel Economy. I can see how the Prius is going to do well with most local driving. Freeway driving takes a hit when you go over about 60.
Navigation system. Admittedly I have little experience here, but so far it is a really nice feature. The gentle female guiding voice was pleasant and quite natural.
Hatchback. Lots of easy to use space
Heating system: This is for the system itself, not for the on-screen controls which I don’t like. But the system itself, works very well so far.
Space. Back seat legroom is excellent. No one feels crammed in. Great cargo carrier for a sedan.
Dimming mirror. I thought this to be a gimmick, but it works quite well.

Neutral features: (court’s still out here):
Smart Key. Still getting used to it. This takes a leap of faith to expect the doors are locked without human intervention. Starting and turning off the car is not confidence inspiring either. I keep getting a legal statement coming up on the nav screen that I must agree to just to start the damn car, even though I already have my foot on the brake. However, I am learning here and I can see where this feature may migrate up to the “best†category once I am used to it.
Radio/CD/MP3/aux jack. OK sound, though not a clear with human voices on NPR as my Subaru. This may be a matter of finding a better setting. I would like to have seen presets for different EQ curves so that one could easily switch from voice, to classical, to rock for instance. I’d also like to have a quick mute button.
Safety: The car should get a 10 here. Lord knows there are enough airbags and crush zones to ensure remarkable collision protection. But this is somewhat negated by very real blind spots, especially in the rear. I found I had to triple check other car locations when passing on the freeway. And the on screen heater controls means that one must take eyes off of the road to make a change. Amazing that Toyota chose to do this when other cars are using tactilely differentiated buttons on heater controls as a safety feature. As noted below, I don't like the shifter.
HID Lights: They do provide a clean light, but it did seem as bright as expected. However, I’ll have my wife drive it at night to see how they work for her. If she is helped, then this would become a best feature.

Poor Features:
Shifter: So far I can find no advantage for the unconventional shifter and would prefer something more standard PRNDB like in the Camry so that it is easier for the occasional driver. This morning I did a quick move to D and it bounced up into R on its springy return to home position. Freaked me out. If I weren’t aware of this, it could be very dangerous.
Heater controls on Nav. Screen. I really prefer this to be analog, like the new Camry Hybrid.
Blindspots. I’ve owned hatchbacks in the past where this never was an issue.
Fog lights. These seem purely cosmetic and anemic. Would prefer independent switching. Not true foglights, I’ll likely be doing a mod here.
New interior plastics. I can’t say the wrinkly (dash, steering wheel, side moldings) covering is very appealing. It looks like it’s going to be harder to clean and a real dust trap.
Driver’s seat. I have a bad disk in the lower lumbar region and ound myself frequently squirming to get comfortable. Eventually put my jacket behind my back for support. I’ll have to mod the seat or replace if we re going to take long trips in the car.
Technology overwhelmus. The car is daunting for the occasional user, it shouldn’t be. There are several places where the engineers are dragging the customer to the technology instead of packaging the cool technology in a manner that makes it easier to assimilate. There is a high geek factor here, but for a family car, having more universal conventions (like the shifter) would make the car easier for more than one person to drive it safely without losing functionality.

We are all excited about the new car – first in many years. We have a lot to learn in spite of having decades of driving experience. The Prius is definitely a statement and a harbinger of the future. We’re glad to have it finally here. It looks great parked out back. Now we need a name for the silver beauty. We’re thinking of Argo, Argent and Mercury. Any thoughts?

(PS: forgot to add pictures!) Now posted.

 

Thanks! We're very excited with our silver sprite. Yes, the on steering wheel controls do allow basic adjustments for the radio and heater. (Though I still have to look at them for figure out what's what, but that will come in time.) But if one wants to change from floor heat to upper/lower combo, or to switch to interior recirc (for A/C) or manually switch on the A/C while in heating mode, then one must use the screen. In our climate, we use the A/C more in the winter for defogging cabin windows than we do in the summer, so this is a common operation.

 

Thanks Vincent. We went out for a joy ride today. My wife drove it for the first time and did just fine. There was a little problem for her backing up. The impaired view makes her nervous. She normally drives a wagon that has excellent 360 vision so this is going to take getting used to. However, she really liked the stereo and nav system (with me setting it up).

 

My wife drove around today without problems. She was pretty much at ease with the car, but this was with the radio off and heater set to auto. BTW, when we got into the car, the heater was off. When I left it last night it was on auto, set to 74 degrees. Isn't the heater supposed to remember it's last setting? Or does one always have to reset it each time?

The smart key system continues to confuse me. The dealer demoed it on my car showing me that he couldn't open a door when I walked away from the car with the key. So I blindly accepted that the car is locked when I have the key in my pocket and walk away from the car. Today I found that to be wrong. I almost left an expensive camera in the car, unlocked. I had my son go back and get something from the car, knowing I had the SK in my pocket, a few hundred yards from the car and about 2 minutes after we had left it. The passenger door was unlocked! Now that I am sitting down with the manual I realize that one must hit the lock button or use the lock button on the key. I suspect you are right, I just need to learn how this all works. I'll pratice some more tomorrow. (I hate it when the car is smarter than I am. <_< )

It's not the options the shifter allows me to do that bother me. I've already been experimenting with pulse and glide. It's the implementation of the shifter. There's no reason that I can figure why they couldn't have made a more conventional inline console shifter where one flicks back and forth between D and B. Maybe I'm missing something, but sometimes different doesn't necessarily equal better.

 

Yes, you are quite correct. Good tips Patrick. There's a lot to assimilate all at once. Once I can lock and unlock the car predictably and confidently, I'll feel a lot better.