several questions for anyone willing to answer...

I live and work in the San Fernando Valley. My work parking space is located on an open lot with little or no shade. I have no complaints about the air conditioning performance, even on days on which the temperature was in triple digits.

This is from Toyota's European web site:

VSC = Vehicle Stability Control
VSC automatically controls brake force and engine output to help prevent skidding when cornering on slippery roads or during abrupt steering. It counteracts under steer or over steer by selectively applying the brakes to the individual wheels, as and when appropriate. So with VSC you quickly return to stable driving conditions, avoiding the danger of an accident.

The owner's manuals (there are two of them if you have NAV) have all the information that the average driver needs.

 

owl,

chances are you'd enjoy the car whether you knew everything there is to know or not. The folks here are VERY into their cars and many are really interested in pushing the boundaries a bit. While many of us enjoy knowing the gory details (and some don't I'm quite sure) that's not essential to a good experience. I'm sure that you'll enjoy and get a lot out of the car whether it becomes an obsession or not.

Cheers,

Tripp

 

AC: easily. Los Angeles County has one of the two highest concentrations of Priuses in the U.S.

VSC: see our FAQ.

Your comfort level with a high-tech car is too subjective for anyone to give you a black-and-white answer. First off, realize that the ACTIVE few hundred of PC members are NOT representative of Prius buyers in general. There's a disproportionately high number of engineers and self-professed "geeks" here. We take the smallest Prius detail and examine it as if it were the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Look at the thread posted today re Prius reliability. Look at the high incidence of owners who say they'd buy another Prius (about 90% in our own survey, though , again, that may not be "representative").

That said, the Prius is a formidable piece of machinery. Its technology "cuts both ways": it can break down in ways no other car can, and usually only a Toyota dealer (at this early stage of hybrid development) can deal with the problem. (And, under warranty, you'd want only a dealer with specially-trained Prius mechanics to deal with it.) That's a "restriction" for some people.

Then again, as for day-in, day-out driving of it, no, you shouldn't be intimidated, at least no more than you'd feel in getting used to any new car. True, inherent to the technology, there is more that CAN be learned about driving techniques that will maximize MPG than with most cars. For many of us, that enhances our enjoyment of the Prius. But you don't need to WORRY about the CVT any more than you'd WORRY about the transmission in any other car, just because the CVT is unconventional.

Good luck. Why not rent one for a few days and see if you get conmfortable driving it?

 

Kudos, Jack06! Yours is one of the best responses I've seen on this site. Directly addresses the understandable worries of new owners, in general, and Owl, specifically. Too bad we can't still donate points.

 

Jack does good post. B)

 

::curtsies::

Thanks, Diesel. Ya made my day.

 

The a/c will work great for you; members from AZ and FL have often commented to that effect, so you'll be fine in S CA. (If anything, the heater's a little weak in very extreme climates, but that's probably true for many cars.)

VSC...already answered.

Technical...you'll be fine. The Prius is very easy to operate. I've had mine almost 2 years, and still haven't cracked the manual except to look up specific questions that came up. You'll love it. Enjoy.

 

When people ask me about the car, I base my response on their level of expectation. For people who are likly to balk at all the detail that is available to read/hear, I give the simple: "You put gas in the tank, turn it on, and step on the pedals."

For others I will explain all the bits about when the engine does and doesn't run, SKS, NAV, and all he other fun features that I really enjoy.

For the most part, you can just take it to any interest level you have and enjoy the car. Sometimes you don't need to know how it works, just that it does.

 

I never liked the description that VSC prevents skidding, as it isn't for straight-line skids.

VSC prevents you from fishtailing. You can kiss trying to do doughnuts goodbye.

 

The Prius was designed to be driven just as though it was a normal, automatic-transmission car. If you are a geek, you can have endless fun studying and playing with the technology. if you are a tree-hugger, you can learn to eek out the last tenth of an mpg of fuel economy. But to simply enjoy the coolest car in the universe, and burn a lot less gas than any other car of its size, you don't need to know anything except the unconventional shift lever, the power button, and the park button. Everything else operates just as though it was a conventional automatic, even though, inside, it is anything but.

(One caveat: I don't have the NAV, so I cannot speak to how hard that is to learn.)

 

I rented for 2 days... one commuting day and one weekend day. Cost me $70 or so to realize I loved the Prius... and this coming from someone who's driven an SUV for much of my driving days. Money very well spent.

Anyone frequenting this forum will be very prepared for the Prius. 1st 300 miles and I've avg'd 52-53 mpg w/ mostly highway from the get-go thanks to this forum!