Prius Start button usurped!

The bad news is we're not quite as elite a group anymore.

The good news is that this very cool and useful technology is on its way to becoming much more mainstream. That means more people will have the pleasure of using it and (more importantly) when ours breaks down, the cost of repair will be significantly (or at least slightly) less unbearable.

Go Toyota!

 

uniqueness is a bad thing.

the Prius should be showing the way, not exclusifying it.

 

Lexus already had it before the Prius. It is just being advertised better. Besides, if they don't put it into more cars they might take it away from us.

 

Mercedes had this type of technology a few years ago as well too. It was in their S class vehicles.

 

"To Go Before" Prius That’s us! I believe (hope?) that Toyota chose that name because they intend the Prius to be the Beta test car for new technologies. It will be the vehicle that Toyota uses to test what is new, pushing the edge. Those who are tolerant enough to put up with a few problems, but want the best technology has to offer will drive the Prius and thus far they will be well supported Toyota who need tolerant, adventurous, and dedicated people the work out the last few bugs before the new technologies are placed into the rest of the car lines. Prius the place for emerging personal transportation technologies.

 

While keyless start and entry is perhaps a bit expensive currently to become mainstream, the push-button start simply makes more sense than your typical turnkey ignition. Logically, all cars should eventually be push-button, and it certainly seems as if we're headed in that direction.

Of course, if there's one industry that hates innovation as much as it encourages it, it's the automotive industry, so any major change of people's habits, no matter how dumb, will take a looong time. Radial tires took 30 years, I think.

In any case, most cars are pretty darn uninspiring, blandly styled, old-fashioned, and flat-out boring. Part of the appeal of the Prius for me was that it is, in a very strong sense, a buyable concept car, albeit a bit more developed . I'm glad to see that the Prius has proved that different ideas, like a push-button start, are marketable. I, for one, think they're pretty darn cool.

 

Hey guys, Lexus is owned by Toyota. Toyota is not stealing their own technology!

 

I think most of us know that. Any friction there might be seems to originate from the fact that the Prius isn't as unique anymore. :mrgreen:

Sure, I miss the uniqueness a bit, for even if the Prius wasn't the only push-button car, it was the cheapest and probably most common. It still is for now, but that fact is certainly soon to change. The fact that the push-button was that unique in the first place is silly, so in the end, I'm glad to see it being marketed up a good bit.

 

Just like the Honda S2000. It has a push button start and stop. Its not like toyota invented this thing. Its been around before toyta used it.

 

Oh, yea. It's a push button start and stop, not power; like the prius has. :mrgreen:

 

What the heck is a Vitz? :mrgreen:

 

They should just call it the Toyota Zit. :mrgreen:
You can see it in GranTurismo 3 or 4, if you have it.
It's pretty ugly.