Two weeks with a Prius

[vi edit]

Originally posted by: randomlinh

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt
- No-one expects the guy in the Prius to jump out ahead from a stoplight. It's actually funny to see people's reactions to a person driving a Prius like it's a "normal" car (OK, so maybe I'm driving it more like I wish it were a sportscar) and not babying it for maximum mileage.

heh, yup, I was at a light and had to pass a prius (two left lane turn, one shared forward. thought he was going straight) and was not quite expecting the driver to actually keep up with me, heh. 98% of the prius drivers seem to baby them.

So would that be a hypo-miler?

 

[rh71]

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus
:laugh: Tell that to BMW. I was riding in my friend's 335i the other day and fumbling through iDrive was fucking maddening...I'll never own a car with that miserable bit of technology.

Why the Japanese are copying it is beyond me.

When I first sat in a BMW, I thought to myself... that's it? Where's all the cool gadgets and buttons I expect from a luxury maker? Then you realize the point of idrive - reduction of clutter. Other companies have followed suit on this idea - Audi's MMI and MB's COMMAND concepts came after idrive.

As for ease of use - Idrive has been simplified from this year (3rd or 4th gen now) - most '09 vehicles and beyond. Ironically they've now followed MMI. There are more shortcuts and fewer menus to sift through. Even in the old/current system there are hidden shortcuts (like keeping the knob to the right for an extra second and it will shortcut you to NAV... instead of having to hit the menu button to get back to the main screen first. If you spend 5-10 minutes on idrive during your first night of ownership, you will know where everything is every other time and you can get to everything in mere seconds. This experience is not expected of newcomers or 1-time visitors of course, so the bad-mouthing continues. Of all the complaints I frequently see about BMW quirks, idrive useability is not one of them. It's even become pretty easy to get to things without even looking at the screen. Yes, if you want to get to the electronic dipstick read-out, you'll have to go 3 menus deep, but I thought we were talking about standard button functions here...

I was about to comment on the touch-screen thing in the Prius before I went off on that tangent... I hate touch screens because of finger prints and the lock-out while in motion thing. BMW interiors still have knobs, buttons, and switches for the common functions like radio, climate, DVD/CD, heated seats, backup camera, etc. - all still controlled by in-dash buttons - hey even have the ones for headlamps & fogs! That's how they're able to produce cars without idrive. Jules I thought you owned a BMW before...

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: rh71

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus
:laugh: Tell that to BMW. I was riding in my friend's 335i the other day and fumbling through iDrive was fucking maddening...I'll never own a car with that miserable bit of technology.

Why the Japanese are copying it is beyond me.

When I first sat in a BMW, I thought to myself... that's it? Where's all the cool gadgets and buttons I expect from a luxury maker? Then you realize the point of idrive - reduction of clutter. Other companies have followed suit on this idea - Audi's MMI and MB's COMMAND concepts came after idrive.

As for ease of use - Idrive has been simplified from this year (3rd or 4th gen now) - most '09 vehicles and beyond. Ironically they've now followed MMI. There are more shortcuts and fewer menus to sift through. Even in the old/current system there are hidden shortcuts (like keeping the knob to the right for an extra second and it will shortcut you to NAV... instead of having to hit the menu button to get back to the main screen first. If you spend 5-10 minutes on idrive during your first night of ownership, you will know where everything is every other time and you can get to everything in mere seconds. This experience is not expected of newcomers or 1-time visitors of course, so the bad-mouthing continues. Of all the complaints I frequently see about BMW quirks, idrive useability is not one of them. It's even become pretty easy to get to things without even looking at the screen. Yes, if you want to get to the electronic dipstick read-out, you'll have to go 3 menus deep, but I thought we were talking about standard button functions here...

I was about to comment on the touch-screen thing in the Prius before I went off on that tangent... I hate touch screens because of finger prints and the lock-out while in motion thing. BMW interiors still have knobs, buttons, and switches for the common functions like radio, climate, and DVD/CD - hey even the headlamps & fogs! That's how they're able to produce cars without idrive. Jules I thought you owned a BMW before...

I did, two of them. Neither of them had idrive though.

You're right though, I suspect that after living with it for a few days or a couple weeks you'd get used to it. Then again, my car stereo is kind of complicated and it took me quite a bit of time fiddling with it to get used to it and my wife still complains about it every time she has to drive it. For people like her I bet she'd never get used to idrive.

 

[PricklyPete]

Originally posted by: NaOH
I love Adam Carolla's take on the podcast for today.

I drove the company prius a couple hundred miles and have mostly the same opinions about it. Especially the damn distracting screen, and the speedometer that feels like it's too far out. I also found it to be too floaty for me.

What podcast?

 

[Zenmervolt]

Notes from tonight:

- This car is horrible in crosswinds. Granted, the winds were very heavy today, but the car wanted to be all over the road.

ZV

 

[SparkyJJO]

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt
Notes from tonight:

- This car is horrible in crosswinds. Granted, the winds were very heavy today, but the car wanted to be all over the road.

ZV

"Did you know that if you stick you hand out the window, the vehicle will turn?"

- Achmed

 

[big man]

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt

Overall initial thoughts: Fix the uncomfortable seat and add a telescoping steering wheel it's an admirable appliance.

ZV

i dont see whats "eco friendly" about a car that allows people to justify driving a motor vehicle

 

[Thump553]

Very interesting and informative comments, ZV. My wife has a Prius for a little over a year now, I drive it on occassion. My thoughts:

-I'm an absolute bug on simple, well laid out dashs. Years ago I took flight training and that drilled into me the critical necessity of a well laid out, and usable instrument cluster. In my view 90%+ of cars have poorly laid out - or worse - instrument panels. Since you apparently drive a fair number of rentals you probably notice this even more. I like the Prius' layout a lot. Its very simple and it's futuristic aspects are counterbalanced by things like the wipers, light dimmers, cruise control, etc. being exactly where and how you would expect without looking out of place.

-the radio: Generally an area where designers go especially nuts to put form over function. For the Prius, it has a physical power button and volume knob (recessed, push on it to pop it up). I don't recall if it has a tuning knob or not, I usually end up using the search button on the steering wheel. BTW, in my view the audio quality of the standard radio & speakers are average, at best.

-crosswinds: I never experienced any significant problems but perhaps it blows harder in CA than in the northeast. Never really had any complaint about the seats either, and I've driven the car 12+ hours at a stretch multiple times.

-my pet peeve: I HATE armrests. The first thing I do when getting into a car is to move them out of the way. The Prius has an immovable center console/armrest (which has nice storage space) which earns special negative points from me because it's padding is really thin.

Overall I really like the car and an extremely happy we got it.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: big man

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt

Overall initial thoughts: Fix the uncomfortable seat and add a telescoping steering wheel it's an admirable appliance.

ZV

i dont see whats "eco friendly" about a car that allows people to justify driving a motor vehicle

Most people in this country don't have much of a choice. Public transportation here is a joke so we either have to crowd into the business centers to find a place to live or drive a car to get to and from work.

When gas was up to almost $5/gallon last year I saw a good number of people car pooling daily, mostly those who live more than 20 miles from work.

 

[Vetterin]

Originally posted by: vi edit
I'm really interested to see how the new Insight from Honda turns out. It should hopefully be a little more interesting to drive and have a little better seat comfort than the Prius. It's several thousand less than the Prius too...so it's got that going for it as well.

It's a much smaller car than the Prius and the dealers are quoting MSRP which is comming out to about the same price you can now get a Prius for ($21,000 - $23,000).
What I found interesting was that the internet dealer I was emailing is giving me a price on the Civic Hybrid of: "The Deal is on a 2009 Civic Hybrid --- MSRP $24,320.-- On-Line Discount $19,195.00 which also includes Honda Special Financing good thru March 31st."
Now at that price I wouldn't even consider the Insight. FWIW, my neighbor has a 2007 Civic Hybrid and she has been averaging 42 mpg in 90% city driving. Her only complaint is the lack of room in the trunk and no fold down rear seatbacks.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: Thump553
Very interesting and informative comments, ZV. My wife has a Prius for a little over a year now, I drive it on occassion. My thoughts:

-I'm an absolute bug on simple, well laid out dashs. Years ago I took flight training and that drilled into me the critical necessity of a well laid out, and usable instrument cluster. In my view 90%+ of cars have poorly laid out - or worse - instrument panels. Since you apparently drive a fair number of rentals you probably notice this even more. I like the Prius' layout a lot. Its very simple and it's futuristic aspects are counterbalanced by things like the wipers, light dimmers, cruise control, etc. being exactly where and how you would expect without looking out of place.

-the radio: Generally an area where designers go especially nuts to put form over function. For the Prius, it has a physical power button and volume knob (recessed, push on it to pop it up). I don't recall if it has a tuning knob or not, I usually end up using the search button on the steering wheel. BTW, in my view the audio quality of the standard radio & speakers are average, at best.

-crosswinds: I never experienced any significant problems but perhaps it blows harder in CA than in the northeast. Never really had any complaint about the seats either, and I've driven the car 12+ hours at a stretch multiple times.

-my pet peeve: I HATE armrests. The first thing I do when getting into a car is to move them out of the way. The Prius has an immovable center console/armrest (which has nice storage space) which earns special negative points from me because it's padding is really thin.

Overall I really like the car and an extremely happy we got it.

- The Dash: Main display is indeed great for visibility, but I cannot cannot quite forgive the lack of a tachometer and a temperature gauge. I also cannot stand Toyota's cruise control stalk. I tend to keep my hands positioned at either 10/2 or 9/3 which means that a stalk positioned at the 5 o'clock point of the wheel is always an awkward reach. It also catches my knee during low-speed corners. Terrible placement. If it has to be a stalk, it should be mounted to the column (as on my 944) or, better still, there should be buttons on the steering wheel to control it, like the radio/climate buttons. The cruise control stalk must go.

- The Radio: There's no excuse for not having the preset buttons on the dash. I know you can just skip through the presets using the steering wheel control, but on a rental car, I'm always having to change presets, sometimes while driving. It's just not as convenient to have to use the touch screen to set the presets.

- Crosswinds: To be fair, we were getting 30+ mph winds yesterday here in PA. Not exactly common. Still, it's clearly not a car that I would want to have to drive through a strong storm.

ZV

 

[nakedfrog]

Originally posted by: Thump553
-my pet peeve: I HATE armrests. The first thing I do when getting into a car is to move them out of the way. The Prius has an immovable center console/armrest (which has nice storage space) which earns special negative points from me because it's padding is really thin.

Overall I really like the car and an extremely happy we got it.

Heh, I love armrests.

 

[PricklyPete]

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt
Notes from tonight:

- This car is horrible in crosswinds. Granted, the winds were very heavy today, but the car wanted to be all over the road.

ZV

I've heard this comment from several prius owners before.

On a side note about people driving slow in prius's...when I drove across the country with my good friend in his rebuilt 1983 Volvo 240...we got passed regularly by prius's in the northwest region. Of course we were babying the 240...but I was surprised how fast the prius drivers were driving.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: Vetterin

Originally posted by: vi edit
I'm really interested to see how the new Insight from Honda turns out. It should hopefully be a little more interesting to drive and have a little better seat comfort than the Prius. It's several thousand less than the Prius too...so it's got that going for it as well.

It's a much smaller car than the Prius and the dealers are quoting MSRP which is comming out to about the same price you can now get a Prius for ($21,000 - $23,000).
What I found interesting was that the internet dealer I was emailing is giving me a price on the Civic Hybrid of: "The Deal is on a 2009 Civic Hybrid --- MSRP $24,320.-- On-Line Discount $19,195.00 which also includes Honda Special Financing good thru March 31st."
Now at that price I wouldn't even consider the Insight. FWIW, my neighbor has a 2007 Civic Hybrid and she has been averaging 42 mpg in 90% city driving. Her only complaint is the lack of room in the trunk and no fold down rear seatbacks.

A friend of mine has one. They are horribly slow, they don't accelerate, it's more like acquiring speed...or accruing speed. It does get excellent mileage in city driving and of course they have the clean air decal so his wife can drive it in the carpool lane on the freeways here in SoCal.

 

[ElFenix]

so the 2 weeks should be up by now

 

[exar333]

Originally posted by: rh71

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus
:laugh: Tell that to BMW. I was riding in my friend's 335i the other day and fumbling through iDrive was fucking maddening...I'll never own a car with that miserable bit of technology.

Why the Japanese are copying it is beyond me.

When I first sat in a BMW, I thought to myself... that's it? Where's all the cool gadgets and buttons I expect from a luxury maker? Then you realize the point of idrive - reduction of clutter. Other companies have followed suit on this idea - Audi's MMI and MB's COMMAND concepts came after idrive.

As for ease of use - Idrive has been simplified from this year (3rd or 4th gen now) - most '09 vehicles and beyond. Ironically they've now followed MMI. There are more shortcuts and fewer menus to sift through. Even in the old/current system there are hidden shortcuts (like keeping the knob to the right for an extra second and it will shortcut you to NAV... instead of having to hit the menu button to get back to the main screen first. If you spend 5-10 minutes on idrive during your first night of ownership, you will know where everything is every other time and you can get to everything in mere seconds. This experience is not expected of newcomers or 1-time visitors of course, so the bad-mouthing continues. Of all the complaints I frequently see about BMW quirks, idrive useability is not one of them. It's even become pretty easy to get to things without even looking at the screen. Yes, if you want to get to the electronic dipstick read-out, you'll have to go 3 menus deep, but I thought we were talking about standard button functions here...

I was about to comment on the touch-screen thing in the Prius before I went off on that tangent... I hate touch screens because of finger prints and the lock-out while in motion thing. BMW interiors still have knobs, buttons, and switches for the common functions like radio, climate, DVD/CD, heated seats, backup camera, etc. - all still controlled by in-dash buttons - hey even have the ones for headlamps & fogs! That's how they're able to produce cars without idrive. Jules I thought you owned a BMW before...

LOL. Read many reviews of BMW cars and a good share of them complain about the idrive. Face it, its a piece of crap and is really the only negative in regars to BMW. It is NOT intuitive, and I know more than two people that ditched a BMW they liked and got a different one because of the crappy idrive system. Its a marketing thing, no more.

 

[BlahBlahYouToo]

Originally posted by: SSSnail
It's a badge, nothing more. Instead of luxury badge like Merc or BMW, it's a "green" badge but not really. It sucks as a car. I would NEVER pay for it with my money, or anyone's money if I can help it.

you're not paying for the green badge. :roll:
you're paying for the batteries and the tech.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: ElFenix
so the 2 weeks should be up by now

Yup. Final evaluation: An appliance.

Also, the stock tires are awful in rain, but that's true of most cars.

I realised when I went to put a blurb together that I'd really already posted everything that mattered. 😛

ZV