1. Attachments are working again! Check out this thread for more details and to report any other bugs.

Rookie Prius Driver-A GREAT Western Road Trip

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by BrettDanKen, Oct 19, 2004.

  1. BrettDanKen

    BrettDanKen Junior Member

    Joined:
    Jun 4, 2004
    25
    2
    0
    Location:
    San Diego
    [font=Arial:2fccb3e0bc] [/font:2fccb3e0bc] </span><span style=\'color:#\'>

    I just got home from a wonderful Prius road trip through several western states and thought others may be interested. First of all, I LOVE my Prius. It performed beautifully overall and I discovered many of the "glitches" were operator error........ I'll split this into sections so those who can't handle trying to stay awake through the whole spiel can zip through to areas of interest. I'd be interested in comments!

    Summary: San Diego to Las Vegas to Utah Mountains to Salt Lake City to Montana to Spokane to Moscow (Idaho!) to Spokane to Oregon Coast to Sacramento to San Diego. 4647 miles overall, 48.1 mpg average. MPG varied from a low of 40.5 (75 mph cruise control Spokane to Oregon) to a high of 51.1 (70 mph cruise control Montana to Washington). All mpg are actual, screen mpg seemed to be slightly higher generally. I just turned over 5000 miles so it's still in the break-in phase. I don't drive to get great gas mileage, don't have the patience and have some "bad/speedy" driving habits. We had climate control (AC) on most of the trip, some rain in Idaho. Most of the trip I used cruise control at 70 mph wherever it was safe and reasonable. Trip was approximately 1/4 on two lane roads, rest on interstate.

    "B" mode on transmission: Used to good advantage on several long and steep mountain downgrades in Utah. It helped a lot! No brake fade.....

    Battery Charge on Uphill Grades: Several times we got down to two bars, and once went to ICE only, no real problem, went up and over several 10,000 ft. passes as fast as I safely wanted to or could.

    Daylight headlights: Fogs only come on when headlights are on with low beam. Screen will brighten up if you use the roller dash light dimmer to go to brightest setting, otherwise screens seem too dim to see during the day. Headlights go off when you open the door so there's no concern about leaving them on and running down the battery.

    Rear View Mirror Dimmer: I really didn't notice that it made a difference.

    Bluetooth: We have Ericsson T637 phone with Cingular service. Seemed very good and impressive. Easy to set up with internet information for guidance. Couldn't get it to ring on incoming calls, Bummer!! I keep the phone on and plugged in, stored in top shelf in center console at all times. Just normal driving seems to keep it charged quite well.

    Rear Wiper: Works only when front wiper off.

    Road Noise: No real problem overall, Washington interstates seem to be noisy-maybe due to harsh winters affecting road surface.

    Side Wind: No particular problem on this trip.

    CD/Audio System: Worked very well generally. The random setting on the CD system seemed to get stuck on certain CD's, maybe some "triggers" missing from between tunes.

    Bar Graph on MPG: Very dramatic change going up long grades versus going down long grades. Intuitive but still seemed very sensitive.

    Steering Wheel Cover: Anybody able to find one for Prius? Wheel seem smaller than usual, therefore most don't fit. Bony hands would like some more padding on the wheel.

    Smart Entry: Worked great, a very fun and useful feature!!

    Navigation System: In general worked great. As expected, not up to date on recent street additions, road changes.

    Voice Recognition: I'm still on the learning curve on this one, it doesn't always understand me properly but I'm getting better at this.

    Comfort: We thought it was great! My wife is pretty sensitive to seating position and headrest location (had to turn around headrest to keep it from bugging her).

    In general, a great trip in a great car. Being a computer-challenged person a tad longer in the tooth than most Prius owners I found it has been pretty intuitive and a lot of fun to drive. We'll see if, in the long run, I'll find the "gadgetry" useful or just fun features to appeal to the maleness.....
     
  2. IsrAmeriPrius

    IsrAmeriPrius Progressive Member

    Joined:
    May 27, 2004
    4,333
    7
    0
    Location:
    Southern California
    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(BrettDanKen\";p=\"46079)</div>
    This has not been my experience. It has been raining here, in Southern California, since Saturday night. I have been using both front and rear wipers regularly, at the same time, without a problem. However, in my opinion, the rear wiper cleans a very small, and thus inadequate, area of the rear window.
     
  3. aknee87

    aknee87 Junior Member

    Joined:
    Apr 29, 2004
    39
    0
    0
    Location:
    Central Coast California
    Ditto. It was raining pretty hard here this morning, and I had both the front and rear wipers on at the same time too. I agree that the rear wiper could be larger and may look into getting a bigger one, but I find with the rear window being so flat, a lot of moisture accumulates on it and the wiper, though, wimpy, does help.
     
  4. harryg

    harryg New Member

    Joined:
    Mar 14, 2004
    71
    0
    0
    Location:
    Camano Island, Wa.
  5. bruceha_2000

    bruceha_2000 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jan 2, 2004
    3,054
    301
    19
    Location:
    Northwest VT
    Vehicle:
    2018 Prius Prime
    Model:
    Prime Advanced
    Sounds like fun.<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(BrettDanKen\";p=\"46079)</div>
    You could have made it a much longer trip if you went through Moscow, Vermont :)
    There is also a "daytime when lights on" setting for the screens. Instructions in the owner's maual somewhere. I don't recall exactly.
    I humbly DISAGREE! :) I didn't figure it would be anything I would notice but it really does work well. I love it. What I first noticed is that I wasn't bothered by lights behind me. Especially the SUV lights which come in above the rear spoiler. Just to see what sort of difference it makes, I turned it off. BIG difference.
    Not true in my car either. You might want to check again and if they really don't work at the same time, go see your Toyota service people.
    My FAVORITE non hybrid feature :)
     
  6. Craig0812

    Craig0812 New Member

    Joined:
    Oct 28, 2004
    36
    1
    0
    Location:
    Houston TX
    Great to hear about your trip across the western states. I have a 2005 incoming this Tuesday and was wondering about the front wipers. I saw a prius in rain a few weeks back and it seemed they were going slower than most other vehicles either at low or high intervals. Did you notice that?

    Cruise Control.......Also, with other toyotas I have owned in the past, when you activate cruise control and are coming up on inclines, the engine seems to really shift down and make a tremendous amount of noise doing so(corollas, tercels, RAV4's). I am assuming it is because of the smaller engines. Any thoughts? Thanks for your time....
     
  7. Canuck

    Canuck Member

    Joined:
    Aug 16, 2004
    605
    2
    0
    Location:
    Vancouver Island,BC,Canada
    Vehicle:
    2011 Prius
    Model:
    Three
    Appreciate your trip report. While we've only taken some local island trips up to the mountains however my experience re the cruise control is similar. Very pleased with the overall performance.
    Craig0812: We had some doozers of rain storms up here recently.Since I remembered a post somewhere complaining about the speed control of the Prius wipers I was expecting the worst but am now impressed with the range available. Maybe some of those folks driving Prii haven't mastered the controls yet. ;)
     
  8. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
    Staff Member

    Joined:
    Oct 2, 2004
    44,768
    16,017
    41
    Location:
    Canada
    Vehicle:
    Other Non-Hybrid
    Model:
    N/A
    That's because the cruise control is designed to hold the speed and so when going up inclines, the cruise control senses that it needs more power to hold the speed, the engine realises it's spinning a bit low for that gear and so the transmission downshifts and up goes the revs. It's more obvious in those because of the smaller engines and hence higher revs but it does happen to the others like the Camry. With the CVT in the Prius, you will have to get use to the engine revving up because the CVT runs the engine at its optimal efficiency for the amount of power required
     
  9. BrettDanKen

    BrettDanKen Junior Member

    Joined:
    Jun 4, 2004
    25
    2
    0
    Location:
    San Diego
    The wipers are fine, several speeds and great front windshield coverage. Learned my comment on the rear wiper was operator error (=me). They work fine and independently. Cruise control seems a bit agressive (as others have reported) so may adversely affect mpg but I'm fine with that. Though others disagree I still don't see much of a difference with the auto dimming rear view mirror... Other comment is that lurkers who don't yet have one of these great machines to drive yet shouldn't worry too much about comments they see on this venue, the car is great. I'm still on the learning curve after almost 3 months and 6k miles..
     
  10. Craig0812

    Craig0812 New Member

    Joined:
    Oct 28, 2004
    36
    1
    0
    Location:
    Houston TX
    Thanks for all your feedback about the wipers. I feel much better about the wiper systems now. As for the cruise control, I can live with the noise level it makes when forced to go up hills. This is a natural occurrence.

    I have one additional question and I believe it boils down to a personal preference but here it goes: I have the choice of either taking a prius with the voice navigation(loaded with everything else) and a "loaded" package that doesn't include the voice navigation. I first said yes, give me navigation, and now of course after reading some things about it, I may have my doubts. Those comments I read about it aren't bad, per say, but I guess everyone has their own feel about it. Any suggestions? Also, unfortunately, I cannot get the dark charcoal seats with the salsa red pearl color and now I'm wondering if those beige seats will be an issue, since I'm planning to carry my bike inside the prius, with the seats folded down of course. I know.. lots of questions...but hey, I got to get feedback...Thanks for your time!!!!
     
  11. Prius Maximus

    Prius Maximus Senior Member

    Joined:
    May 3, 2004
    929
    774
    1
    Location:
    Northeastern IL
    Vehicle:
    2014 Prius
    Model:
    Three
    Rain-X. It works great. This is not a commercial. It's the first thing I do when I get a new car. And I refresh it a couple times a year.

    Above 40-45 mph, I rarely need to use my wipers in the rain. The rain beads up and slides right off the windshield as fast as it hits. Snow, bugs and dirt come off easier.

    I put it on the back window and I don't need that wiper much either. It sure helps there with that little wiper. I really only use the back wiper once or twice for the morning dew.
     
  12. bruceha_2000

    bruceha_2000 Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jan 2, 2004
    3,054
    301
    19
    Location:
    Northwest VT
    Vehicle:
    2018 Prius Prime
    Model:
    Prime Advanced
    Ditto! I noticed that the water starts to bead and blow up the windshied about 25 MPH. In my Odyssey, which also had a pretty steeply sloped windshield, I had to get up to 35 MPH.

    As far as getting "loaded with NAV" or "loaded without NAV", I'm not sure what that second one is, AM package maybe? The major differences are NAV, the Homelink mirror and stereo upgrade - 6 CD changer, 3 extra speaker and a cassette deck. The mirror and stereo can be had as accessories. So, iif you don't want to pay for NAV, you can get the other stuff.
     
  13. Canuck

    Canuck Member

    Joined:
    Aug 16, 2004
    605
    2
    0
    Location:
    Vancouver Island,BC,Canada
    Vehicle:
    2011 Prius
    Model:
    Three
    Craig 0812,
    Like you are doing, we researched our Prius for months before making a decision. When we found PriusChat we visited the site sitting in the "weeds" until we were convinced that here was the place to have our questions answered in an honest and straightforward manner. Without exception we have been very impressed with the knowledge and experience of all the members. No, you shouldn't take the first opinion expressed but here is my take on the NAV system package:
    Up here it was an expensive piece of optional equipment so we declined that option.
    Research for us indicated that the Garmin 2620 was more reasonable ($1500 CAD) and had up to-date data for Canada ( and US & Puerto Rico).
    Our first test of the system was finding our son's new address, having moved from Seattle to Courtenay, BC to a fairly new subdivision. It did so without any problem. The voice directions are excellent and even displayed the runway's of the island airport, Cassidy, CYCD. It is portable, without any wiring except to plug it into the power outlet. We place it on it's beanbag (supplied, as is a fixed support) on the dash , centered so both driver and passenger can see the info. It comes with a PC USB connection which I used to update the latest software( not map info but the hard drive in the unit has memory for doing that.)
    I have had some little previous experience with the Garmin 530 GNS aircraft GPS system (approx $18,000 CAD) so I guess I was already hooked. It's worth having a look.
    Gary