Do Toyota Uk Think We Live In The Tropics?

[dwilson]

Hi,

DWilson - you mention 'ethical issues' around leather seats - can you tell us more please?

One of my friends is a vegan and will not have anything made of leather including shoes.

To be honest I can't say I have adopted any of his "vegan ways" but it has caused me to ponder on the way I live.

David

[acetip]

Hi,

DWilson - you mention 'ethical issues' around leather seats - can you tell us more please?

One of my friends is a vegan and will not have anything made of leather including shoes.

To be honest I can't say I have adopted any of his "vegan ways" but it has caused me to ponder on the way I live.

David

vegan,arnt they made by vw.?

[cbcdesign]

Hi,

DWilson - you mention 'ethical issues' around leather seats - can you tell us more please?

One of my friends is a vegan and will not have anything made of leather including shoes.

To be honest I can't say I have adopted any of his "vegan ways" but it has caused me to ponder on the way I live.

David

Well that's his choice and fair play to him for making it and choosing to live according to his principles.

My personal view is that farm animals should be given a happy healthy life and when their time comes, killed painlessly and humanely and I try and shop accordingly. As I have told others on many occasions when discussing this subject, compared to many wild animals who live short brutal lives in a state of perpetual fear, farm animals in the uk at least, lead a life of comparative ease.

[FourFourTwo]

My personal view is that farm animals should be given a happy healthy life and when their time comes, killed painlessly and humanely and I try and shop accordingly. As I have told others on many occasions when discussing this subject, compared to many wild animals who live short brutal lives in a state of perpetual fear, farm animals in the uk at least, lead a life of comparative ease.

And that is relevant to Toyota hybrid vehicles because.....?

[Jan&tone]

My personal view is that farm animals should be given a happy healthy life and when their time comes, killed painlessly and humanely and I try and shop accordingly. As I have told others on many occasions when discussing this subject, compared to many wild animals who live short brutal lives in a state of perpetual fear, farm animals in the uk at least, lead a life of comparative ease.

And that is relevant to Toyota hybrid vehicles because.....?

Because everyone is entitled to their opinion and we should respect their choice. Whether we agree with them or not is irrelevant.

[kithmo]

With Adaptive Cruise Control, if someone cuts in front of you does the car brake ?

[Seamaster73]

Yes.

[cbcdesign]

My personal view is that farm animals should be given a happy healthy life and when their time comes, killed painlessly and humanely and I try and shop accordingly. As I have told others on many occasions when discussing this subject, compared to many wild animals who live short brutal lives in a state of perpetual fear, farm animals in the uk at least, lead a life of comparative ease.

And that is relevant to Toyota hybrid vehicles because.....?

It is relevant in this discussion because somebody raised the issue of ethics regarding the leather used the Prius and mentioned a freind who was a vegan. Its all fairly clear if you read the thread and like ordinary conversations, sometimes other points not necessarily directly related to the main topic creep into a thread. On another thread you will find mention of Sky TV so....

[FourFourTwo]

My personal view is that farm animals should be given a happy healthy life and when their time comes, killed painlessly and humanely and I try and shop accordingly. As I have told others on many occasions when discussing this subject, compared to many wild animals who live short brutal lives in a state of perpetual fear, farm animals in the uk at least, lead a life of comparative ease.

And that is relevant to Toyota hybrid vehicles because.....?

It is relevant in this discussion because somebody raised the issue of ethics regarding the leather used the Prius and mentioned a freind who was a vegan. Its all fairly clear if you read the thread and like ordinary conversations, sometimes other points not necessarily directly related to the main topic creep into a thread. On another thread you will find mention of Sky TV so....

Hi cbc. I HAD read the thread (Toyota options, heated mirrors, leather seats, vegans....).

I apologise if my post caused any offence, that was absolutely not the intention. I just felt that a Toyota hybrid vehicle discussion forum is not really the place to start airing personal views (and maybe starting a discussion) about modern farming methods, and it was purely a nudge to get "back on topic." ;)

If such a "nudge" was out of line and contrary to the spirit of the forum (as it may be, according to the reply from Jan&tone), then my apologies to all. :)

[Doesn'tExist]

I'm totally with you that the UK Dealer network is rather clueless what and how the options work. One of our cars has always been brand new for the last 20 so year and this is our first Toyota and I've never met such a bunch of unknowledge people regarding their own product.

But a little confused regarding the original post as all those elements are available through and option pack. And you can have a vehicle in any colour you like if you are willing to pay. But out of interest what US colour did you want that isn't supplied in the UK?

[Wattsy]

I would guess it could depend on the parking space? For example, my parking space slopes down from the road. If I was to reverse into the parking space, the car would be going backwards down the slope, not my favourite type of reversing situation. Secondly, if I was to go forward up from the parking space, the car would initially be pointing upwards, and I would guess that the view is worse than reversing out with the mirrors and rear view camera, although I've never tried it so I don't know for certain.

Yes - this is the case with my drive; it slopes down and curves 90 degrees between the top and bottom of my drive making it tricky to see where you're going - especially in the dark. I have reversed when necessary - but it's somewhat precarious and I don't have the benefit of a reversing camera, sadly!

Cheers

Pete

[Jan&tone]

I would guess it could depend on the parking space? For example, my parking space slopes down from the road. If I was to reverse into the parking space, the car would be going backwards down the slope, not my favourite type of reversing situation. Secondly, if I was to go forward up from the parking space, the car would initially be pointing upwards, and I would guess that the view is worse than reversing out with the mirrors and rear view camera, although I've never tried it so I don't know for certain.

Yes - this is the case with my drive; it slopes down and curves 90 degrees between the top and bottom of my drive making it tricky to see where you're going - especially in the dark. I have reversed when necessary - but it's somewhat precarious and I don't have the benefit of a reversing camera, sadly!

Cheers

Pete

No reversing camera? You have a t-spirit?? I thought they were standard on the gen2 t-s? My gen 2 had one??

[Ancient Nerd]

I would guess it could depend on the parking space? For example, my parking space slopes down from the road. If I was to reverse into the parking space, the car would be going backwards down the slope, not my favourite type of reversing situation. Secondly, if I was to go forward up from the parking space, the car would initially be pointing upwards, and I would guess that the view is worse than reversing out with the mirrors and rear view camera, although I've never tried it so I don't know for certain.

Yes - this is the case with my drive; it slopes down and curves 90 degrees between the top and bottom of my drive making it tricky to see where you're going - especially in the dark. I have reversed when necessary - but it's somewhat precarious and I don't have the benefit of a reversing camera, sadly!

Cheers

Pete

No reversing camera? You have a t-spirit?? I thought they were standard on the gen2 t-s? My gen 2 had one??

They've been standard on the T-Spirit since at least 2006 (when I test drove one, but didn't buy)

[capnbirdseye]

The 2006 T.Spirit I had on loan did not have the reversing camera but did have Satnav etc. and annoying bleeping sensors instead

[cbcdesign]

I'm totally with you that the UK Dealer network is rather clueless what and how the options work. One of our cars has always been brand new for the last 20 so year and this is our first Toyota and I've never met such a bunch of unknowledge people regarding their own product.

But a little confused regarding the original post as all those elements are available through and option pack. And you can have a vehicle in any colour you like if you are willing to pay. But out of interest what US colour did you want that isn't supplied in the UK?

Not to worry FourFourTwo.

Well it would have been nice if we were given the same choice of colours as other countries and more flexibility with interior colours too. I quite like the light grey/dark grey combination but that is only available with Orion Blue. why? What difference does it make if the exterior is or is not Orion Blue as far as the interior is concerned? It just seems restrictive to me to only offer the light/dark combination with 1 exterior colour. And how about the nice biscuit interior leather colour they have in the states, that is quite a nice interior but not available here which is a shame.

Given the choice I would have liked a white exterior with the biscuit or Orion blue interior but in leather. I was offered dark grey leather with my white prius and that's it! Not much of a choice really.

Don't get me wrong, I think the car I have chosen is the dogs ------- and I am VERY excited about it but regarding colour schemes, I settled for what I could get rather than a combination I would have chosen given a choice.

[Doesn'tExist]

You can have it in exactly the colours you want it if you are willing to pay. No problem at all.

[dawesy]

to be fair i prefer manual cruise control for two good reasons:-

1, while behind the wheel you SHOULD be concentrating on what's going on and pre empting others actions, with active cruise its easy to drift off and 'let the car get on with it', never trust a cars electronics to save you.

2, active cruise will allow quite a large gap between you and the car in front, while this is safe and you shouldn't tail gate, if you leave that sort of gap someone WILL cut in in front of you causing your car to slow and leave the large gap again ready for the next idiot to cut into.

its also worth noting that accelerating to overtake with cruise on doesn't cancel it, when you lift it will return to the set speed.

[cbcdesign]

to be fair i prefer manual cruise control for two good reasons:-

1, while behind the wheel you SHOULD be concentrating on what's going on and pre empting others actions, with active cruise its easy to drift off and 'let the car get on with it', never trust a cars electronics to save you.

2, active cruise will allow quite a large gap between you and the car in front, while this is safe and you shouldn't tail gate, if you leave that sort of gap someone WILL cut in in front of you causing your car to slow and leave the large gap again ready for the next idiot to cut into.

its also worth noting that accelerating to overtake with cruise on doesn't cancel it, when you lift it will return to the set speed.

We all depend upon car Electronics to save us though to a certain degree, airbags being a classic example of a safety device that is very much controlled by electronics. Frankly I would trust electronics with sensible redundancy over human beings anytime too. The over whelming majority of accidents in cars are caused by drivers, not electronic failure. That said, sure, concentration is paramount when using any form of cruise control.

I don't see a problem with the gap being reduced by some idiot pulling into it. The system will adjust which is precisely what I would do manually anyway and I suspect the gap will be around 2 seconds, a sensible and advisable gap.

[Wattsy]

They've been standard on the T-Spirit since at least 2006 (when I test drove one, but didn't buy)

Mine's an 05 unfortunately!!

Pete

[Ancient Nerd]

They've been standard on the T-Spirit since at least 2006 (when I test drove one, but didn't buy)

Mine's an 05 unfortunately!!

Pete

Unfortunately?

There are a few Prii in the office car park, one is 54 and looks good. I don't know what your mileage is like, but my old one (08), is still in the family has had no problems so far at around 85,000 miles. It's only had one tyre change so far, and is still on its original brake pads.

[wooski]

to be fair i prefer manual cruise control for two good reasons:-

1, while behind the wheel you SHOULD be concentrating on what's going on and pre empting others actions, with active cruise its easy to drift off and 'let the car get on with it', never trust a cars electronics to save you.

2, active cruise will allow quite a large gap between you and the car in front, while this is safe and you shouldn't tail gate, if you leave that sort of gap someone WILL cut in in front of you causing your car to slow and leave the large gap again ready for the next idiot to cut into.

its also worth noting that accelerating to overtake with cruise on doesn't cancel it, when you lift it will return to the set speed.

I have adaptive cruise and I love it. You can adjust the gap between you and the car in front down to "Audi" close if you wish.

[Thrawn60]

Having read through quite a few old posts on this forum I wonder about the mentality of the people who decide what should and should not be fitted to uk version of Toyota cars. These so called intelligent people must think the UK is an enormous tropical island with a massive road network where congestion is a rare event and that the population is colour blind. You would be forgiven for thinking so when they have:-

1. Decided we don’t need active cruise control on our overcrowded roads.

2. Think we don't want or need heated seats when we live in a cold country.

3. Are apparently not aware of frost and left heated mirrors off of some cars.

4. Don't think we are worthy of the colour choices available elsewhere in the world, particularly the US.

I would love to meet the people who make these idiotic choices on our behalf and ask them what on earth they think they are doing because the most certainly are not thinking about the wants and needs of UK customers when they make these stupid decisions are they?

Well... I haven't received my Prius yet.. just it can't take many days... I live in Thailand where is hot most of the time, and all year round compared to other places on this earth :) but I went for the fully loaded version with the DVD, Sat nav, 17" rims, TRD styling and so forth since the price was so minimal compared to the other versions, but here comes the not so usable add ons at least for Thailand.... So you are not the only one with the question :)

1. Rear and Front fog lights (I have seen fog once in my 7 years here, mainly it's being used to annoy and blind other people in the traffic, so yup will be used, to rage on other drivers that blind me when driving hehe)

2. Seat heater (That comes in handy at night temperature of around 18 degrees in the winter time...:))

3. Heated front window, rear window, mirrors (well on the rainy cold days the rear heater will come in handy since I use that already on my Vigo, but front and mirrors??)

I tried to see if it was possible to rip that stuff out and replace it with the tire pressure gizmo or something else... but no... standard in the car...

So anyway, if you don't use it, it will not consume power and if I suddenly wanted to take a quick trip on a month or two to see the Siberian snow, then it will come in handy :)

First post so please don't kill me off right away :)

[Seamaster73]

Welcome, Thrawn60. Interesting post; it's great to have someone from Thailand on here.

[Thrawn60]

Welcome, Thrawn60. Interesting post; it's great to have someone from Thailand on here.

Thanks, There are forums in Thailand, but only in Thai... so not much luck there with reading anything :) Apparently Denmark which is my native country is not so hot on the prius, mostly due to Battery tax I guess..

[cbcdesign]

Welcome, Thrawn60. Interesting post; it's great to have someone from Thailand on here.

Thanks, There are forums in Thailand, but only in Thai... so not much luck there with reading anything :) Apparently Denmark which is my native country is not so hot on the prius, mostly due to Battery tax I guess..

Battery tax! That seems a bit counter productive when you consider the work just about every manufacturer is putting into their own electric vehicles to market and conbsider the recylic nature of the modern Battery.