and i thought the Corolla was bad...

[jcr71]

since my post putting down the Corolla ive had the misfortune to have been issued a Prius as an insurance hire car.

what a truly awful experience driving one of those things was.

i was actually relieved to get the Corolla back.

[Hybrid21]

I've always admired the Prius from afar Jason, in what way was it awful ?

[TonyHSD]

And why was awful? Or just personally preference? 

[Yugguy1970]

I fear the OP does not like Toyotas....  🤣

[jcr71]

handbrake is a footbrake operated by the left foot. gear lever is a joystick on the dashboard. had to constantly think about what i was doing, and look for the controls rather than just driving the car.

for example a hill start meant depressing the brake pedal, putting car in drive using the joystick on the dash, then depressing the accelerator and finally releasing the footbrake all whilst hoping the car isnt going to roll back.

after driving manual vehicles with proper handbrakes for 35 years this procedure seemed overly complex and time consuming.

other people who have driven them agreed with me that theyre not fun to drive. so i know its not just me hating on Toyotas  

my partners 2016 Auris i think is a lovely little car for example.

[Yugguy1970]

Yeah I get you but I don't think you're going to like any modern car, especially an auto.

Does the Prius have the Hold feature?  You can use that as a hill start aid although I find with the electric torque at standstill neither the Yaris nor the Rav roll back in Drive even on fairly steep gradients.

[TonyHSD]

Jason honestly I think it’s just you and your person preferences. 
Toyota Prius gear shift its far more superior than any other Toyota hybrids or non hybrids models, it’s easier to use and more naturally felt for what the car is and how the hybrid system operates.
Parking brake pedal it’s an old school indeed, but honestly it is only strange for those who never tried a Mercedes’s  from older times, they had similar set up for decades., works fine and it’s simple enough to get used to it.  
Starting up hill couldn’t be easier with Prius, just select D while holding the brake pedal, depress parking brake pedal and release the brake the car won’t go downhill, and for the D or R there are dashboard lights to confirm your selection.
 I know Prius it’s not everyone’s cup of tea but think about again, if these cars were horrible to drive or live with they would never be so popular around the world as taxis and ph vehicles. Drivers won’t choose a car to spend 12+ hours a shift in only for efficiency or reliability, but they do for comfort and ease of driving then anything else. 👍

[Roy124]

I think many cars have a designed in 'hate' feature. 

One car the driver side floor plan was not flat.  Sheet of plywood fixed that.  Loved the car thereafter. 

Another, getting out of the back, got the curve of the back door on centre of my forehead.   Never looked at Vauxhall since. 

[Yugguy1970]

38 minutes ago, TonyHSD said:

Jason honestly I think it’s just you and your person preferences. 
Toyota Prius gear shift its far more superior than any other Toyota hybrids or non hybrids models, it’s easier to use and more naturally felt for what the car is and how the hybrid system operates.
Parking brake pedal it’s an old school indeed, but honestly it is only strange for those who never tried a Mercedes’s  from older times, they had similar set up for decades., works fine and it’s simple enough to get used to it.  
Starting up hill couldn’t be easier with Prius, just select D while holding the brake pedal, depress parking brake pedal and release the brake the car won’t go downhill, and for the D or R there are dashboard lights to confirm your selection.
 I know Prius it’s not everyone’s cup of tea but think about again, if these cars were horrible to drive or live with they would never be so popular around the world as taxis and ph vehicles. Drivers won’t choose a car to spend 12+ hours a shift in only for efficiency or reliability, but they do for comfort and ease of driving then anything else. 👍

Indeed.  Toyota have sold over 50million Corollas and it is still the top selling car in the world.https://www.statista.com/statistics/239229/most-sold-car-models-worldwide/

Rav and Corolla and Yaris and Prius may not be exciting and they are certainly not perfect but they do what they do very well.

[tfc]

It's no different  to what was available  to drive 35 years ago, Americans have been using foot parking brakes for ages in their vehicles.

First mistake is releasing parking brake before selecting D.

[Rhymes with Paris]

I appreciate that foot operated parking brakes may be ok for those who are used to them.

But would be a deal breaker for me, aswell as stop start, and touch screen controls.

I suppose I am restricting myself to older cars if I need a replacement.

 

 

 

[Yugguy1970]

34 minutes ago, Rhymes with Paris said:

I appreciate that foot operated parking brakes may be ok for those who are used to them.

But would be a deal breaker for me, aswell as stop start, and touch screen controls.

I suppose I am restricting myself to older cars if I need a replacement.

 

 

 

Don't get an old Merc then.  🤣 

You put it on with your foot and take it off with your hand. 

[AndrueC]

I have never even touched the parking brake button in my Corolla. The car takes care of that for me. If the Prius has the same auto parking brake system then I doubt I'd even notice the foot button.

[Catlover]

7 hours ago, jcr71 said:

handbrake is a footbrake operated by the left foot. gear lever is a joystick on the dashboard. had to constantly think about what i was doing, and look for the controls rather than just driving the car.

for example a hill start meant depressing the brake pedal, putting car in drive using the joystick on the dash, then depressing the accelerator and finally releasing the footbrake all whilst hoping the car isnt going to roll back.

after driving manual vehicles with proper handbrakes for 35 years this procedure seemed overly complex and time consuming.

other people who have driven them agreed with me that theyre not fun to drive. so i know its not just me hating on Toyotas  

my partners 2016 Auris i think is a lovely little car for example.

The procedure you outline for a hill start is the same for a manual “ordinary” car. 
1) handbrake on/footbrake on      
2) put car into 1st gear/select D     
3) decree accelerator/depress accelerator       
4) release hand brake whilst hoping the car isn’t going to roll back/release footbrake.   

I had a gen4 (2016) Prius for over 3.5 years. Very quickly got used to foot brake. It was the best car I ever had, and I don’t see taxi drivers going around with long faces.

[jcr71]

authorities are forcing hybrid/electric cars onto taxi drivers. thats why you see so many using them.

why do you think im driving the things. 

[TonyHSD]

9 minutes ago, jcr71 said:

authorities are forcing hybrid/electric cars onto taxi drivers. thats why you see so many using them.

why do you think im driving the things. 

And you are not happy with the Corolla? 
 

[jcr71]

no i dont like the Corolla very much. i find it far too intrusive in the driving experience, over complicated, uncomfortable over long periods due to the offset seat, and i dont favour automatic gear boxes.

it is very smooth, quiet and economical though. but due to the quiet im getting a lot more pedestrians walking out in front of me

[Cyker]

I must admit I've never liked the foot-hand-brake either ever since I tried it in my dad's old crappy Merc.

I think the Prius had the old 'Hill Start Assist', which is a precursor to the Brake Hold we have in the newer ones - With the new ones, if you hold the brake a bit longer after you stop, the car will hold that brake pressure when you let go.

From what I remember in the Prius, when you stop, you have to press and hold the foot brake firmly for a few seconds and it'll beep, then you can take your foot off and it'll hold.

Or you can do it using the EPB, but I always found using a handbrake for hill starts in an automatic weird and unwieldy compared to a manual for reasons I can't really articulate.

The only thing I do disagree on is the 'joystick', or the Puck as I call it, for the drive mode selector. I really think it is better and makes more sense than the clunky old PRNDB lever in my Yaris. It's very intuitive and you can use it without looking at it, like a manual gear shift, whereas with the PRNDB it's very easy to overshoot the mode you want if you aren't looking at it and are trying to manoeuvre quickly! I accidentally went into P and B while trying to quickly do a 3-point turn on a blocked road and had to wait for the EPB to wind and unwind itself, which feels like an eternity when you're trying to get round before cars come!!

I know why they did it - They thought it would scare people off because it's different, so they figured putting in a normal familiar autobox shifter would improve sales. They're probably right, but it is functionally worse and takes up more space than the good ol' Puck!

 

[AndrueC]

Why do you look at the gear shifter? The current selection is shown on the dashboard 😉

I've ever had a problem selecting gears with it but then I only use P, R and D and they are right next to each other.

I've not driven a car with a 'puck' but it doesn't sound like a bad idea.

[Cyker]

It does, but only after it's too late, esp. if you're shifting quickly!

With the Puck there is a hard stop for R and D, but on the old fashioned linear shifter there isn't, just detents. If they'd added steps, like in my dad's Verso, it wouldn't be so bad, but as it's just the detents it's very easy to overshoot if you aren't paying more attention to it.

The reason I prefer the Puck is you can do it by feel alone, like a manual shift - No need to try and count detents!

[Yugguy1970]

2 hours ago, jcr71 said:

authorities are forcing hybrid/electric cars onto taxi drivers. thats why you see so many using them.

why do you think im driving the things. 

All the taxis in Edinburgh are electric.  I like that.  It's a lot cleaner than London that's for sure.

[Catlover]

10 hours ago, jcr71 said:

no i dont like the Corolla very much. i find it far too intrusive in the driving experience, over complicated, uncomfortable over long periods due to the offset seat, and i dont favour automatic gear boxes.

it is very smooth, quiet and economical though. but due to the quiet im getting a lot more pedestrians walking out in front of me

You probably already know that a Toyota hybrid does not have an automatic gear box like is normally associated with automatic cars. No automatic changes at all. Movement through varying speeds is free of any jerks no matter how slight it may be. That’s why it’s so smooth. It’s the genius of Toyota hybrids.

Most taxi drivers liked the Prius because of its good fuel consumption

its well documented (with photos) on this forum 1) the day I collected my used gen4 Prius I did 100 miles from the dealer in Solihull back to Chester area and averaged 92mpg.   2) returning from a holiday we had a short break in Telford. The 50 mile from Telford back to Chester it averaged 96mpg.               
Different type of journeys, no1 was mostly Mway, no2 was A roads.                  
    
The gen5 Prius is already getting rave reviews and it’s not on the UK roads yet.

[taxidriver50005]

1 hour ago, Catlover said:

You probably already know that a Toyota hybrid does not have an automatic gear box like is normally associated with automatic cars. No automatic changes at all. Movement through varying speeds is free of any jerks no matter how slight it may be. That’s why it’s so smooth. It’s the genius of Toyota hybrids.

Most taxi drivers liked the Prius because of its good fuel consumption

its well documented (with photos) on this forum 1) the day I collected my used gen4 Prius I did 100 miles from the dealer in Solihull back to Chester area and averaged 92mpg.   2) returning from a holiday we had a short break in Telford. The 50 mile from Telford back to Chester it averaged 96mpg.               
Different type of journeys, no1 was mostly Mway, no2 was A roads.                  
    
The gen5 Prius is already getting rave reviews and it’s not on the UK roads yet.

Not coming to uk either as the 4 was never a big seller,  apparently only 500 sold last year... People prefer the corolla looks wise at least. 

[Roy124]

17 hours ago, Rhymes with Paris said:

I appreciate that foot operated parking brakes may be ok for those who are used to them.

But would be a deal breaker for me, aswell as stop start, and touch screen controls.

I suppose I am restricting myself to older cars if I need a replacement.

Not a deal breaker, as I never ever used the foot parking brake on the Merc.  Others, like car parkers or my garage did. As I went to drive off the car would give a big heave and I had to release the brake. 

Stop/Start, this is absolutely the opposite to the footbrake.  No difference from operating a key starter, except you don't have somewhere to put the  key. No noisy starter motor the car is simply good to go. 

As for soft controls, avoid a Tesla 😁, probably buy the base model of other cars. 

Though I can see physical controls becoming more expensive than a plug-in computer.  Assemble the module as you would a laptop, connect a USB style cable*and that's it. 

*Your phone draws power and operates as a computer, Satnav deceiver# and data communications module through just one cable. 

#Don't you love fat fingers or autocorrect?  Sometimes it makes more sense. 

[TonyHSD]

This is how all Toyota hybrids should be, it makes sense, it’s natural and intuitive to use, no need to wonder or look at it to confirm position or gear .