We have a fairly good idea what you could do with this car in good weather. You certainly would not need to apologize !
I believe this is the first 2016 Prius at a dealership for sale. This one came in last night, 01(12-13) 2016. It is the 2016 Base Prius model II, with a MSRP of a little over $25,000 with destination charges included. MPG on sticker avg. 52 mpg. Seafoam green with black interior. Available at Lums Toyota, located in Warrenton, Oregon, which is in the northwestern section of Oregon. So if anyone wants to buy you know where it is. I seen it this morning at the dealership. If we were to buy one my wife and I would probably choose the black exterior and black interior Eco model which has the lithium battery and obtains 56 mpg avg. Seems like a no brainer for another $500.00 over the base Prius II model.
Wayne, the snow on the headlights got me thinking: are there headlight washers; did you notice? Our third gen has LED low beams, and had the washers, I believe due to necessity: the LED's didn't warm up enough to melt off snow. Also, REALLY good to see Toyota finally showing honest mpg display in-dash!
Hi Mendel: No washers and the LEDs are so low power they do not melt a heavy snow off the lenses. I did not have a problem in the two blizzards but every few hundred miles, a quick wipe of the lenses at each rest area or stop would probably be a good idea. I did not notice it so maybe there is enough heat from them to keep the lenses clear? Love this honest aFCD. These are prototypes and that could have changed into the production vehicles hitting dealerships now. Cannot wait to get into a final production II-ECO someday soon. Wayne
Likes - EV mode goes to 20MPH, up from 10 on gen 3. Fuel gauge has at least 20x more granularity. ICE restores SOC much faster. SOC holds up much longer in EV while holding speed. ICE always drops out immediately when letting off the go pedal. Faster warm up, smaller cold start penalty. Much quieter ride, better cornering. Roomier, much better seats, telescoping steering wheel!!! The Two Eco lightweight cargo cover is better than the std one because it lifts with the hatch. Trip displays for A, B, from start and ODO. ODO can be used for LMPG although it can be reset. Dislikes - I can't figure out how to get the current fuel consumption to show on the split sub-screen. I m following the directions in the manual, but a step appears to be missing.
Yes, I'm back. And for what it is worth, I figured out the split sub-screen issue so now there are no dislikes.
Wayne, it looks like there is a single large wiper and it has compound radius sweep? That has got to be a very long wiper blade. Impressive mileage in a snow storm. Wheel slippage is a big challenge, and if there is unplowed snow, you are essentially driving up hill all the time.
I never used the rear wiper anyway so not a big deal for me. Nor have I ever had a flat tire in a Prius (knock on carbon fiber). The bottle of Toyota fix a flat goop that is provided in lieu of a spare tire has an expiration date of 9/2021 so I am good for 5 years. And I don't need to worry about keeping a spare tire inflated.
The rear wiper isn't a deal-breaker for me. I do sometimes use mine , but I STILL have that miserable split rear window to look thru. Good thing I have side mirrors. And the last time I had to replace a flat tire was 1993. It's still a good idea to have a full-service spare tire in the car on a long trip , when you're far from civilization (McDonald's).
I think the seats in my Gen 3 are poorly designed and have been causing lower back pain. I spend two hours a day in this car. My 08 Civic had much better ( more supportive) seats.
I agree. They have essentially the same skimpy construction, and therefore the same ergonomic deficiencies as those of both my much older, cheaper, and lighter Japanese cars. The older ones were easier to fix.
I wish I could spend a week in a new Prius to see if the revised ergos are any good. You can learn something on a test drive but it took me a while to figure out how bad the 2nd gen was for my frame. And I really want the 4th gen to better.
I think I might eventually be forced to do what Tim did. I SWEAR I didn't have back problems before this car. I might look at a Jetta 1.4 5MT. Not a hybrid , not Toyota quality , but a nice car.
I have electric lumbar support in my gen 3 Prius and I must say that it does function really well. All EU models have it, but I think in US it was only available in higher trims.
I wasn't aware of that. But I didn't really need any of the features in the higher trims and didn't want to pay for them. Maybe I should go sit in a Gen 4 Two Eco. I will be able to tell in five seconds if the seats are good. And it would be considerably more efficient and reliable than that Jetta I sometimes daydream about. ( if the Golf was sold here with the 1.4 , I would daydream about that instead)
I find the third gen seats fine. I've got an ongoing, once in a while back issue, but I've never found it to be bothered by the seats.
My issue with the 3rd gen Prius is the flying buttress console - it severely limited the ability for people with long legs to drive comfortably.
