Buying A Prius/t Spirit - Options - Cruise Control? Protection Pack? U

[kimptoc]

Hi,

I am considering getting a new Prius T Spirit and wondering whether its worth getting any of the following options:

- cruise control, seems like a good idea with the eco side of things, keep you at a steady speed - or not needed?

- protection pack/parking sensors, again seems like a good idea to me, or is the camera thing enough. Given the parking assist feature, I presume it must have sensors anyway...

- usb/ipod dock thing - I will probably use bluetooth from my iPhone, so I guess there is no need for this, or am I missing something

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Chris

[Jan&tone]

Welcome to TOC

cruise control - standard on the t-spirit. I use it all the time, quite apart from the economy side, it stops you breaking the speed limit without realising it!

Protection pack, good idea, keeps rhe boot clean and stops idiots marking your doors in car parks.

The t-spirit has rear parking camera which is amazing, it also has "intelligent parking assist" which is a great toy and good for impressing the kids, but frankly you will be able to park the car much quicker without using it. IMO any extra sensors are a waste of your hard earned cash.

Not sure about the usb/ipod docking whether it's an option on the Prius, unless it comes with the radio upgrade which I didn' have, but we have 3 different mobiles connected to the bluetooth on our Prius which work fine.

The hard drive is sufficient for cd's, we have now 22 different cd's copied to the car hard drive and still space on there. You cannot copy from a memory stick, you have to 'burn' each individual cd, but works great once they are on there....

Hope this helps, others will have their own opinions which you will get in due course!

[kithmo]

I'd go for the safety pack with LED headlamps personally, the protection pack seems expensive for what it is IMO.

[kimptoc]

Thanks for the tips - went for DAB radio and front parking sensor options. :)

Hopefully ready before end of April - cant wait...

Now to decide whether to go for PCP - need to find how quickly I can cancel it, while still keeping the 3 years free servicing option :)

Thanks

Chris

[Jan&tone]

Thanks for the tips - went for DAB radio and front parking sensor options. :)

Hopefully ready before end of April - cant wait...

Now to decide whether to go for PCP - need to find how quickly I can cancel it, while still keeping the 3 years free servicing option :)

Thanks

Chris

We did that, paid off 3 months into the agreement

[kimptoc]

Good to know - thanks for letting me know. The sales guys seemed "confused" about it in the showroom, but perhaps they didn't want to highlight that option...

[Aimhigh]

I thought long and hard about the door protection strips but given the shape of the door profile they would do very little to protect anything and they detract from the lines of the vehicle. Any damage that has been caused by 'supermarket door bashers' has occurred high on the door, well above where the strips would fit.

[Doesn'tExist]

You'll love the DAB, it is brilliant :-)

[Charliejmonk]

Probably too late for the original contributor but here it is anyway.......

Cruise control is a big benefit! We originally had a 2004 Prius without cruise control. The engine noise of the Prius does not give the usual indication of your speed that we unconsciously rely on, since engine revs are only proportional to the accelerator demand. Firstly I am sure it was no coincidence I got my first speeding fine for many years just after we bought it because of this. Secondly I found on the motorway that the speed could change up or down without my noticing it and would often find I was going 90mph by mistake after a downhill section or slowing right down on the uphill and all the people I just overtook were coming past again! Eventually I learned to just keep an eye on the speed, but it is quite tedious.

Have just bought a 2009 T-spirit with cruise control and it is so much easier just to set the speed and forget it.

USB dock would be good. We dont have that and have to feed in CDs to copy onto the hard disc which is great but dumping a load of music from a USB stick would be a lot easier.

[markleigh]

Protection Pack: OK. Despite camera I like the belts and braces approach of the rear sensors too.

USB/iPod connectivity: load of crap. You can just use the jack plug input instead and control the ipod from the ipod itself.

M

[kimptoc]

Thanks for all the responses.

Collecting the car on Friday :)

One thing I am wavering on is the GAP insurance, the one that makes up any insurance claim for a loss back up to the purchase price - ie if its stolen in 3 years time, the usual car insurance will give me the money for a 3 yr old car, the GAP insurance tops it back up to the price I pay today.

Its £400 for 3 years covers - which seems reasonable... but then again not lost a car yet, touch wood...

Any thoughts/comments?

Regards,

Chris

[Seamaster73]

Say no. In the past when I've declined gap insurance, the dealer has discounted the car by the price of the policy and chucked it in for "free" - so great is the commission!

[Jan&tone]

Say no. In the past when I've declined gap insurance, the dealer has discounted the car by the price of the policy and chucked it in for "free" - so great is the commission!

Most decent insurances, fully comp, will replace with a new vwhicle if you write it off in the first year anyway, so it really is for years 2 and 3' not for the first 3 years!

I believe you can get it cheaper elsewhere too, google it!

[kithmo]

I believe you can get it cheaper elsewhere too, google it!

It's around £150-£200 online, shows how much commission the salesman gets.

[kimptoc]

Wow - thanks. Should have looked around, had not heard of it before and so thought its not that common.

4 years cover via confused.com £260 :)

Will think about it, but definitely not from Toyota.

Ta.

[johalareewi]

Say no. In the past when I've declined gap insurance, the dealer has discounted the car by the price of the policy and chucked it in for "free" - so great is the commission!

+1

Keep saying no and watch the price drop like a stone. Mention the internet prices you have found as well. My dealer dropped to £99.