Prius Model And Color Choice ?

[sanghyo]

Hi I'm planning to buy new Prius and seeking some advises on model and color.

I found that the key difference between T4 and T-Sprit is intelligent park assist and Navi. Actully I won't much need the intelligent park assist but certainly will need Navi. Is that true there is no Navi in T4 model?

Also, my wife lies pure white but I heard that it won't last longer and become little bit yellow (or dark perl) color. Is it true? How about white-perl?

Thanks in advance

Alex

[Phoenix999]

My wife has the white pearl T-spirit.... she loves it. The pure white should be ok if you keep it cleaan and use a good quality wax and/or polish.

I am sure the T4 Prius can have the sat-nav fitted as an extra the same way I had it fitted into my T4 Avensis. I went for the T4 as the T-spirit did not have an automatic gearbox option at the time.

The park assist is a pure gimmick, I doubt if many people ever use it as it takes so long to set.

I would say go for the best model you can afford as you would not be disappointed.... good luck

[Jan&tone]

Agree with Phoenix comments but with the park assist comes the rearview camera which is priceless and IMHO should be standard on all cars!!!!!

[Ancient Nerd]

Satnav is only available as standard on T_Spirit. It cannot be fitted as an extra option on the T4 or T3.

IPA is a waste of space as far as the "automatic" parking is concerned. It takes longer to setup than parking yourself. HOWEVER, the guidelines that show on the reversing camera display more than make up for this. They show you where the car will go if:

• you keep the steering wheel in its current position
  
• you straighten the steering wheel from its current position.
  

With the limited rear vision, this, and the view from the camera itself, are really worthwhile. I would hate to be without it. Otherwise, I would have preferred the T3 for the greater comfort of the smaller wheels and deeper tyres.

The satnav is nowhere near as bad as some people are suggesting. The biggest problem is the data, that is around 2 1/2 years out of date when you buy the car. And Toyota still don't know what the updates will cost or how to do the update.

Other than that, you get a proper warranty, unlike the weasel warranty that they foisted on those of us who bought last year.

[johalareewi]

You could get an aftermarket radio/cd/dvd/navi+rear camera unit fitted to a T4 (or T3). This could work out cheaper than buying a T-Spirit just to get the Nav and you would also get SatNav updates a lot more easily. Have a search in the forums (and Prius chat) for people who have done this already. You can get a double din faceplate for the prius from Toyota and have the unit of your choice installed.

There are also OEM straight swap units (like Rosen and Flyaudio) but there is a question mark over them at the moment as to whether they will fit a right hand drive prius.

[Dave R.]

Mine's a Gen III T-Spirit - I agree that the park assist is a bit of a gimmick though I do tend to give it a try more often than not - the trick is to have faith in the front sensors measuring the space, using spaces that are well marked out, getting the car pointing at 45 degrees into the space.... and if it doesn't work out where to put the car on the first attempt, give up on IPA and do the job yourself

As stated elsewhere, the rear camera is invaluable, and the sat nav is fine provided you use it with common sense and don't need it 100% up to date. The other "toy" on the T-Spirit is the hard disk drive - far easier than carrying loads of CD's.

True, you can probably get all of the above added on by 3rd parties, but if you can afford the T-Spirit, then why have the hassle? Also, if it's a company car, then you don't get the option of such add-ons!