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Car Forum / Toyota / Prius / October 2004Test drivin' a Prius this week
Is there anything special you'd suggest I pay special attention to or watch out for during the test drive? > Is there anything special you'd suggest I pay special attention to or > watch out for during the test drive? No; just enjoy the test drive. Try to test it under as many traffic conditions as you can. city streets open freeway congested freeway rural or suburban highway (not freeway) right turns left turns etc.  SignatureStop Mad Cowboy Disease: Vote for John Kerry. > No; just enjoy the test drive. Try to test it under as many traffic > conditions as you can. Good idea. I'll make sure the dealer knows some brick roads near the store, as that's a good portion of my daily commute. Thank you. > Is there anything special you'd suggest I pay special attention to or watch > out for during the test drive? Just enjoy it! On my first drive I was pretty impressed that when I pulled up to a stop sign the engine shut down. Still am, as a matter of fact. You'll notice it, I'm sure. The only negative that we noticed was that we weren't impressed with the field of view looking out the rear window through the rear view mirror. It's fairly limited but we've gotten used to it now. Good luck... > The only negative that we noticed was that we weren't impressed with > the field of view looking out the rear window through the rear view > mirror. It's fairly limited but we've gotten used to it now. Have you tried the method of adjusting mirrors they described on Car Talk? It works pretty well in my Saturn, which had a nasty blind spot behind me and to the left. http://www.cartalk.com/content/columns/Archive/2003/October/06.html > Have you tried the method of adjusting mirrors they described on Car > Talk? It works pretty well in my Saturn, which had a nasty blind spot > behind me and to the left. I discovered that method years ago; the problem is that it leaves a blind spot (on some cars) from the time it moves out of sight of the side view mirror and into direct view. SignatureStop Mad Cowboy Disease: Vote for John Kerry. It went very well - the Prius handles nicely, accelerates well getting on the highway, the in-dash display is intuitive and not as distracting as I thought it might be, and I could barely tell when the gas engine cut in and out. The only thing that stood out as annoying was the limited rearview-mirror visibility; I prefer to have more of a view as to what's coming up on me. Unfortunately, the three cars they had on the lot contained unwanted option packages putting them in the $24k range, and they confirmed there's no way of installing just the onboard satellite navigation short of the $5k all-inclusive accessory package, so I walked. I just couldn't justify the added expense - the base model price was pushing it, and my treat was to be the sat nav, not the other things I have no interest in. They promised to call me if a base model Prius turns up in their allocation, and I'll consider it if I can find an elegant sat-nav solution. I bought a 2004 with the #4 option package. I use a handheld Magellan Meridian Gold for navigation purposes.Works well for me. Alan >It went very well - the Prius handles nicely, accelerates well getting on >the highway, the in-dash display is intuitive and not as distracting as I [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] >They promised to call me if a base model Prius turns up in their allocation, >and I'll consider it if I can find an elegant sat-nav solution. That's what they want you to believe. I installed a Kenwood KNA-DV3100 with the 8" touch screen in my '04 with the Package 7. It's a full-featured touch screen, voice activated DVD-based GPS navigation system. The screen goes where the plastic hinged door that covers the compartment right below the radio. I have about $1500 in the Nav and display, and it cost $200 to get it installed. It works FAR BETTER than the Toyota OEM version in the Prius. An added bonus is that since it uses a separate screen, I can keep the consumption display up at the same time I am using the Nav. You can see the pictures here: http://tinyurl.com/663pq Hope that helps. Steve >It went very well - the Prius handles nicely, accelerates well getting on >the highway, the in-dash display is intuitive and not as distracting as I [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] >They promised to call me if a base model Prius turns up in their allocation, >and I'll consider it if I can find an elegant sat-nav solution. > That's what they want you to believe. They were quite willing to consider an integrated idea, and were open to aftermarket options - they just didn't know of any offhand that met my requirement that it use the existing display, which hamstrung them. I didn't feel any pressure from them to go with their system. Thanks for the tip on the Kenwood. I'll give that serious thought. > It went very well - the Prius handles nicely, accelerates well getting on > the highway, the in-dash display is intuitive and not as distracting as I > thought it might be, and I could barely tell when the gas engine cut in and > out. The only thing that stood out as annoying was the limited > rearview-mirror visibility; I prefer to have more of a view as to what's > coming up on me. I agree with you regarding the rear view from the center mirror (as I mentioned in an earlier post). It could be better. We have 5k miles on ours now and have gotten used to it but it is still somewhat annoying. > Unfortunately, the three cars they had on the lot contained unwanted option > packages putting them in the $24k range, and they confirmed there's no way > of installing just the onboard satellite navigation short of the $5k > all-inclusive accessory package, so I walked. I just couldn't justify the > added expense - the base model price was pushing it, and my treat was to be > the sat nav, not the other things I have no interest in. We ended up spending more than we wanted to but we still believe we got full value received. Not sure I'd want to give up the options now though. We like the gadgets as much as the next person, I suppose. But, suffice it to say that we really didn't plan to spend as much as we did. When and if you do make your purchase, be prepared for the additional warrenty offer (increases the warrenty from 3 years to whatever you want - we took 7 years) and, of course, they want to sell you a service agreement, which we also bought but not so sure we got a great deal on that now that we've had time to study it further. > They promised to call me if a base model Prius turns up in their allocation, > and I'll consider it if I can find an elegant sat-nav solution. I've seen some dash mounted satellite navigation systems that look pretty good that can be added as an accessory item. These aren't from Toyota but are relatively inexpensive. I'm considering adding one in the near future. Glad you had a good test drive. Hope you can eventually find the one you really want. Larry Morphew > we did. When and if you do make your purchase, be prepared for the > additional warrenty offer (increases the warrenty from 3 years to > whatever you want - we took 7 years) and, of course, they want to sell Does that cover the battery? One of the nagging concerns I have is what would happen when the hamsters in there get tired, and who handles the replacement cost. There's also the chance I'd be out of the car before then, though I bought my current car new in '96 and it's going strong. > I've seen some dash mounted satellite navigation systems that look > pretty good that can be added as an accessory item. These aren't from > Toyota but are relatively inexpensive. I'm considering adding one in > the near future. Steve's Kenwood comment gives me food for thought, and I'm also considering one of the Palm OS handhelds with GPS built in as I'd get more overall use out of it, in the car and out. The latter isn't as elegant but it is more flexible. > Glad you had a good test drive. Hope you can eventually find the one > you really want. It's in their court, augmented with the fine advice I'm receiving here and in other Prius conversations. The good thing about an aftermarket nav is that it is portable. Many of them will cover a given area in more detail thatn the OEM version too, at least in the US. If you get an extended warranty, shop around first and make sure you but the Toyota version not any other. 7yrs/100000 miles available for less than $1,000 - see Priuschat.com regards Jerry > we did. When and if you do make your purchase, be prepared for the > additional warrenty offer (increases the warrenty from 3 years to > whatever you want - we took 7 years) and, of course, they want to sell Does that cover the battery? One of the nagging concerns I have is what would happen when the hamsters in there get tired, and who handles the replacement cost. There's also the chance I'd be out of the car before then, though I bought my current car new in '96 and it's going strong. > I've seen some dash mounted satellite navigation systems that look > pretty good that can be added as an accessory item. These aren't from > Toyota but are relatively inexpensive. I'm considering adding one in > the near future. Steve's Kenwood comment gives me food for thought, and I'm also considering one of the Palm OS handhelds with GPS built in as I'd get more overall use out of it, in the car and out. The latter isn't as elegant but it is more flexible. > Glad you had a good test drive. Hope you can eventually find the one > you really want. It's in their court, augmented with the fine advice I'm receiving here and in other Prius conversations. > > we did. When and if you do make your purchase, be prepared for the > > additional warrenty offer (increases the warrenty from 3 years to [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > replacement cost. There's also the chance I'd be out of the car before then, > though I bought my current car new in '96 and it's going strong. The traction battery (the big, expensive one) is covered by the standard 8 year/100,000 mile drive train warranty. If the salesanimal said you had to buy an extended warranty to cover that battery that long then he was lying. After seven years of Toyota selling about 100,000 Priuses I have found zero reports of battery replacements other than those damaged in accidents. All extended warranties are insurance policies, priced to return a profit to the seller. If you can afford the possible loss or repair cost it's always a better bet to self-insure (in other words, don't buy the extended warranty). > If the salesanimal said you had to buy an extended warranty to cover that battery > that long then he was lying. We hadn't gotten to that point, since they didn't have a model that served my needs. > Does that cover the battery? One of the nagging concerns I have is what > would happen when the hamsters in there get tired, and who handles the > replacement cost. There's also the chance I'd be out of the car before then, > though I bought my current car new in '96 and it's going strong. The hybrid battery, in the US, is standardly covered by the 8 year/100,000 mile Hybrid Vehicle System warranty. If you live in CA, MA, ME, NY, or VT, the hybrid battery on the 2004 and newer Prius is covered by the longer CA Emission Control warranty for 10 years/150,000 miles. See question #17 on: http://www.toyota.com/vehicles/2005/prius/faq.html <quote> 17. What is the warranty for Prius? Toyota has extreme faith in our hybrid technology, so Prius comes standard with the following coverages: Basic: 36 months/36,000 miles (all components other than normal wear and maintenance items). Hybrid-Related Component Coverage: Hybrid-related components, including the HV battery, battery control module, hybrid control module and inverter with converter, are covered for 8 years/100,000 miles. The HV battery may have longer coverage under emissions warranty. Refer to applicable Owner's Warranty Information booklet for details. Powertrain: 60 months/60,000 miles (engine, transmission/transaxle, front-wheel drive, rear-wheel drive, seatbelts and airbags). Rust-Through: 60 months/unlimited miles (corrosion perforation of sheet metal). Emissions: Coverages vary under Federal and California regulations. Refer to applicable Owner's Warranty Information booklet for details. Accessories: For accessories purchased at the time of the new vehicle purchase, the Toyota Accessory Warranty coverage is in effect for 36 months/36,000 miles from the vehicle's in-service date, which is the same coverage as the Toyota New Vehicle Limited Warranty. For accessories purchased after the new vehicle purchase the coverage is 12 months, regardless of mileage, from the date the accessory was installed on the vehicle, or the remainder of any applicable new vehicle warranty, whichever provides greater coverage, with the exception of car covers. Car covers are warranted for 12 months from the date of purchase and do not assume any coverage under the Toyota New Vehicle Limited Warranty. You may be eligible for transportation assistance if it's necessary that your vehicle be kept overnight for repairs covered under warranty. Please see your authorized Toyota dealership for further details. For complete details about Toyota's warranties, please visit www.toyota.com, refer to the applicable Owner's Warranty Information booklet or see your Toyota dealer. Prius customers are covered by roadside assistance and road hazard insurance for 36 months/36,000 miles from the vehicle's in-service date. Examples of this service include flat tire, vehicle lockout and jumpstart. See your Toyota dealer for details. </quote> > Steve's Kenwood comment gives me food for thought, and I'm also considering > one of the Palm OS handhelds with GPS built in as I'd get more overall use > out of it, in the car and out. The latter isn't as elegant but it is more > flexible. I gotta recommend a GPS navigation system that is designed for automotive use. They are much more intuitive in a car, and the controls are set up for some one that has to keep eyes on the road and hands on the wheel. I use a Garmin eTrex Legend when I am on the road, and it leave lots to be desired. The display is smalland monochrome . The memery only holds 8 meg of maps. There is no voice activation, or contingency re-routing. -John On Sun, 17 Oct 2004 13:39:00 -0700, "John DeGrazia" <jjdgraz001.remove@hotmail.com> put together some random words that came up with: >> Steve's Kenwood comment gives me food for thought, and I'm also >considering [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > >-John Another comment about Navs designed for automotive use. This is true for the Kenwood, the Toyota Nav, and the Nav that I have in my Murano. These Navs not only have the GPS receiver, but they use gyros to detect heading, and the speed pulse from the car to help clock milage. The three systems cross-check each other, and if you get in an area that you can't get good gps coverage (such as a tunnel), the gyro and speed pulse keeps the Nav on track. The other thing about hand-held Navs is that I don't know if they are designed for the conditions that you find in the interior of a car. I know that in the summer here (Miami), the interior of a car can get upwards of 140 degrees. My Nav screen gets hot to the touch. When I lived in Minnesota, the interior of the car could vary from -20F in the night and morning to 50F in the early afternoon if the car sat in a sunny spot. The in-car Navs are designed to take these kind of temperature extremes, as well as noisy electrical power and a significant vibration. Are inexpensive hand-held units designed for these conditions? I don't know, but it's important to know this for reliability reasons. I really like the dual displays, and wish my Murano had dual displays (one car, one Nav) rather than the integrated display it currently has. Also, and the Kenwood Nav, if the Nav unit dies outside warranty, I can just put another Kenwood Nav in the car without spending big $ for an OEM replacement unit. Steve in Miami '04 Seaside #7 Can you take your gps out of the car to go geocaching? My handheld unit has withstood a dip in a stream, numerous rigorous rides attached to my motorcycle, it can easily move from my car to my wife's, it can be taken out of the car for walks. I could go on and on. For me it was a very easy decision to make. For less than $300.00 I have all of the capabilities of the in dash nav system plus so many more for considerably less money. This was as easy as deciding who should be our next President. Alan >>snipped<< >> [quoted text clipped - 35 lines] >Steve in Miami > '04 Seaside #7 > For less than $300.00 I have all of the capabilities of the in dash > nav system plus so many more for considerably less money. All the capabilities? It can give you routing to almost any address, freeway entrance or exit, or business in the continental United States, including inputting the phone number of a business and getting the routing? It can give you the phone number of almost every business in the continental US? It lets you specify that you want to keep off toll roads, or that you have a detour on your route? It has a legible 8" monitor? You can zoom the map display? > This was as easy as deciding who should be our next President. Well, yeah, that part was easy. SignatureStop Mad Cowboy Disease: Vote for John Kerry. You have not mentioned anything that I can't do. If I want that I can either connect my gps to my palm or to my laptop. Granted it isn't the most convenient way but the point is I have saved over $2500.00. >> For less than $300.00 I have all of the capabilities of the in dash >> nav system plus so many more for considerably less money. [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > >Well, yeah, that part was easy. Excuse my response. I am not attempting to be confrontational. I just want to clearly identify that the low cost hand held units are durable. (as stated in my earlier response). The large screen, the routing and rerouting, the hard mounted batteries, and the voice recognition are all features that you can't (or wouldn't want) get on a hand held GPS. Yes the automotive ones are expensive. Yes you can't easily interchange them in different cars. Yes they probably aren't capable of working after immersion in your favorite trout stream. But. You will be more able to pay closer attention to the road and it's changing conditions. In addition to benefiting from multiple innovative features if you used a GPS designed for use in an automobile. Again. This is just my opinion, and "Your Mileage May Vary" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Life is too short to post at the bottom! John (remove .remove to reply) DeGrazia > You have not mentioned anything that I can't do. > [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] >> >>Well, yeah, that part was easy. I agree with everything you have said. I certainly would have preferred my Prius to have the nav. I did NOT have to wait for my car, because I took the one they had on their lot. Walked in on a Friday night drove my car home on Saturday morning. If I wanted to pick my options or color I would still be waiting! My only point was that one can live very happily without the oem nav unit.(and save quite a bit of money I might add) Alan BTW, when I connect my Magellan to my Dell laptop I have a 15" full color screen with voice recognition and voice response. I use Microsoft Streets & Trips. We use this setup when we go geocaching! >Excuse my response. I am not attempting to be confrontational. I just want >to clearly identify that the low cost hand held units are durable. (as [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > >Again. This is just my opinion, and "Your Mileage May Vary" Geocaching sounds like fun! I have always wanted to do it. But I never seem to have the time. I connect my Legend to my Dell laptop to "WARDRIVE" around town. I don't have voice recognition, and I rely on another driver or a competent computer operator in the passenger seat. I use the Garman Mapsource software, and Netstumbler 4.0 for detecting 802.11 hotspots. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Life is too short to post at the bottom! John (remove .remove to reply) DeGrazia >I agree with everything you have said. > I certainly would have preferred my Prius to have the nav. I did NOT [quoted text clipped - 27 lines] >> >>Again. This is just my opinion, and "Your Mileage May Vary" > I certainly would have preferred my Prius to have the nav. I did NOT > have to wait for my car, because I took the one they had on their lot. > Walked in on a Friday night drove my car home on Saturday morning. > If I wanted to pick my options or color I would still be waiting! I was in no hurry; I could afford to wait. So, I waited about three months. Got my tied for second choice of color, too. SignatureStop Mad Cowboy Disease: Vote for John Kerry. > You have not mentioned anything that I can't do. > > If I want that I can either connect my gps to my palm or to my > laptop. And for those of us who don't own a Palm or laptop? > Granted it isn't the most convenient way but the point is I have > saved over $2500.00. Depends on how much convenience is worth to you, and not having to have extra equipment in the car. But the Prius's GPS is closer to $1900 than to $2500. SignatureStop Mad Cowboy Disease: Vote for John Kerry. > we did. When and if you do make your purchase, be prepared for the > additional warrenty offer (increases the warrenty from 3 years to > whatever you want - we took 7 years) and, of course, they want to sell > you a service agreement, which we also bought but not so sure we got a > great deal on that now that we've had time to study it further. For the extended service agreement (extended warranty), the Prius only qualifies for the Toyota Extra Care Platinum Plan for the Toyota-backed warranties. You do NOT have to buy it at closing, but you can buy it anytime before your 3 year/36,000 mile basic warranty runs out. you do not have to buy it from the dealer that sold the car to you, or the dealer where you intend to have the car serviced. You can shop around, as pricing varies from dealership to dealership. You can get the maxed out 7 year/100,000 mile/$0 deductible plan for less than $1000 (shorter length plans for even cheaper), if you know where to shop... Lots more info about the Toyota extended warranty, including known dealers with good pricing (and how to get out of your current overpriced warranty and buy it cheaper), can be found at: http://www.vfaq.net/docs/ExtendedWarranty.html I've heard varying stories about the Toyota Prepaid Maintenance program... Some dealers claim that you can only buy it at closing, some others claim that it is only good at their dealership, but I don't know if they're really selling the Toyota plan. I do know that you can also shop around (check with some of the dealers in the above document) and get a better than MSRP price for the plan, though. Whether it is a good idea depends on the price that the plan is being offered to you at, and what the going rate is at the dealership's service department that you're planning on using (different shops have differernt hourly rates). MSRP for the program is at: http://www.toyotafinancial.com/pyv/prepaid_maintenance/index.html Note that you'll be double-paying for the Toyota Roadside Assistance with the prepaid maintenance plan, as every US Toyota Prius comes with it free for 3 years/36,000 miles. Been on waiting list since April 04 in New York. A prius came in August, but dealer wanted 3000 over MSRP. I walked. Are these cars available without dealer overcharges?? Has anyone paid MSRP? Above?, Below (HA). thanks AK in NY > coming up on me. > [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > of installing just the onboard satellite navigation short of the $5k > all-inclusive accessory package, so I walked. > In article <4mwbd.698102$Gx4.647233@bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net>, > Been on waiting list since April 04 in New York. A prius came in August, > but dealer wanted 3000 over MSRP. I walked. > Are these cars available without dealer overcharges?? Has anyone paid MSRP? > Above?, Below (HA). Many dealers sell at MSRP; I bought mine at MSRP in Fresno, CA, even though I live in AZ. I realize that living in NY, CA is not an option for you. But it looks like the backlog is soon to be resolved. A dealer here who told me in April that they stopped taking orders because they had a one-year backlog told me today that they have sold out their waiting list and have some coming in soon that are not spoken for. SignatureStop Mad Cowboy Disease: Vote for John Kerry. Yes, Aaron, around here (Iowa) they are going at window sticker - same in Colorado where we bought ours last July. As a matter of fact, a salesman told me today (while I was waiting for my 5000 mile lube, oil, filter) that he sold one last month at $900 under window sticker but added that it was to a very good and regular customer. This was a salesman at an Iowa dealership. You should NOT have to pay above MSRP! Larry Morphew '55 Studebaker Commander '04 Toyota Prius > Been on waiting list since April 04 in New York. A prius came in August, > but dealer wanted 3000 over MSRP. I walked. > Are these cars available without dealer overcharges?? Has anyone paid MSRP? > Above?, Below (HA). > thanks > AK in NY |
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