Hello. My First Prius

August 27, 2011

Just thought i'd say 'Hi'. Yesterday, I bought our first Prius - a pearl white T-Spirit MY2009, and first impressions are absolutely fantastic. Are there any watch outs? Or is it as great as I think it's gonna turn out to be?

Reagrds

Jim

August 27, 2011

Welcome to TOC :thumbsup:

Enjoy the car, play around with the screen, the settings and generally find your way around.

Then in a few weeks come back with your findings and questions!

:thumbsup:

August 27, 2011

From my experience, watch out for initial driver error with some of the more novel control interface features of the Prius. :rolleyes:

Here is my top 10 list of things to watch out for...

1) Get used to releasing the parking brake by your foot. In the early days of owning the car, I forgot to do this a couple of times and drove off with the car bleeping at me until I realised the sin I had committed.

2) Drive selector forward = reverse. Not forward. Reverse. I have my car programmed to only emit one bleep while reversing instead of a continuous bleeping. So I nearly got caught out a couple of times when I put the selector into the wrong position and didn't register the bleep. Thankfully I realised my mistake before any damage was done. (It helps if you try to move off slowly and steadily.)

Oh yes, allied to the above...

3) Bleeps. The car will bleep at you quite a bit for various reasons (sounds like it is trying to swear at you but the very polite Japanese manufacturer put a CENSOR feature in there to bleep out the words!) It takes a while to realise what is going on in each instance.

HINT: never let a passenger remove a seatbelt while the car is anything more mobile than absolutely stationary. The car will go more berserk than John McInroe on Centre Court.

4) The car engine is silent. (Even the ICE = Internal Combustion Engine is very quiet. But the electric engine is much better at that - even quieter than a teenager trying to sneak upstairs at 2AM without awakening his parents.) So it can be all too easy to park the car and get out with the engine still running. Don't worry, this is another instance of the aforementioned CENSORED swearing to let you know what you have done.

5) Trying to lock the car while the keyfob is still inside it. Yep, another coin in the swear box.

6) Distracted pedestians who try to decorate your bonnet because they don't hear you coming when you are in stealth (aka EV) mode. This is an opportunity for you to show the car how swearing really can be done. Or a swift toot of the horn if you want to be a bit more Japanese and polite about the whole affair.

7) Don't cover over the hybrid Battery cooling vent in the rear seat. Not that I've tried this. But I understand a nuclear explosion follows and The World Will End Horribly. (Actually, I'm just kidding about the world ending bit. At least, I think I am.)

8) Hypermiling. Bet you never even heard of the term before. But now you have a Prius, you are in a prime position to be bitten by The Hypermiling Bug. Symptoms include:

- muttering Star-Trek dialogue like "warp stealth" and "pulse and glide"

- avidly swapping MPG figures with other drivers

- feeling relaxed when other drivers overtake you

- driving with one eye glued on the HSI (Hybrid System Indicator) trying to get that elusive extra 0.1 onto the gauge.

Trust me, this will happen.

I found the best tactic was to accept it and program the HUD to display both speed and miniature HSI. That way, at least I get to keep my eyes on the road while watching the HSI.

9) Wolf in sheep's clothing syndrome. Usually manifested by burning off allegedly "faster" cars at the traffic lights, just so you can see the surprised look on their faces as your milk float (you did say "Pearl White", didn't you?) zooms away in front of them.

10) Jealousy. From other drivers. Owning a Prius means you will be discovering new features every day that will bring a smile to your face and a lightness to your wallet. But there are ways you can cope with discussions with other motorists. Smile disarmingly at them when they mutter about the congestion charge. Click your tongue sympathetically when they moan about their annual car tax. Nod understandingly when they complain about the spiralling price of fuel. Roll your eyes heavenward along with them as they talk about the stress of sitting in stop-start traffic with their diesel clattering and their DPF clogging. Tilt your head to one side with a suitable smile of understanding while they whinge about having to squeeze their six foot sons into a small manual gearbox city car, "Because that's the only way you can get decent fuel consumption figures nowadays."

Oh, and above all else... ENJOY :yahoo: