[TUW]

I am curious about a few aspects of the prius I have been unable to get answered.

The short list and answers I ahve recieved are as follows.

Q. Does the DVD navigation system also play dvds movies and where is the DVD disc drive located.

A. Dealer stated no the nav system wont play dvds. Reason. We are not sure, it has not been tested and there is nothing about it in our documents so to be on the safe side we are saying no. As per the dvd driver we are not sure however it only has a temp spare as opposed to a full size (what the spare has to do with the dvd nav I have no idea).


Q. What phones work with the bluetooth connection.

A. We don't know. There is a link of the toyota website that lists all the phones I think... (when asked what others work since that link only lists 3 phones) was told only those 3 phones must work otherwise toyota would have listed the others. (When i commented the site toyota links to is not run by toyota and the list is just of the bluetooth cabable phones sold buy that site and not all blue tooth phones made and most likely not all phones that work i recieved a blank stare).


There was another question but in my confussed typing I forgot it and will post later. If anyone has a 2004 prius and wishes to try a DVD in the nav system please lt me know if it works and where the dvd dirve is located.

Also looking to know what phones have been tried and proved to work with the nav system.

granted none of the responses I got for these questions were a vague as asking whenmy car will arrive, how much a replacement hybrid battrery cell will cost, or what the interval of maintence is.

 

[mrv]

DVD

On the classic Prius the DVD-based
navigation system was located under
the passenger's seat. I think it's
in the same place on the 2004 Prius.

The system does not have the proper
MPEG (-4?) decoder, so it cannot
play movies.

(There's some speculation about a
law where a video screen cannot be
in view of the driver in the US...)

 

[mrv]

Bluetooth

This has been a very long and ongoing
topic over on the 2004-prius yahoogroup,
and to be honest I haven't been following
it.

The manual does list the Bluetooth
protocols that the phone has to have
(I think it's Hands Free and Object
Push, don't remember the version.)

Bluetooth.com lists various phones
that support Bluetooth. However,
finding one that works with your
current cell phone provider is a
whole other challenge...

 

[efusco]

1)NO, not as currently configured. coastaletech.com developed a work around that DID allow addition of a DVD player that could be viewed on the screen. I suspect they'll do the same, in time, for the '04.

2)Don't know them all....Nokia 3650, Ericson T610/616 (same phone diff. name depending on the carrier), the T68i, and others I believe. The first two are better choices. The Ericson seems to be the better of the two. It can be had many places for free after rebates with activation.

Only GSM carries have phones that are bluetooth enabled. Those include Cingular, T-Mobile, and AT&T (I think). NOT Alltel, Verizon, Sprint and most others. I'm currently considering shelling out $200 to get out of my Alltel contract so I can get a bluetooth phone to take full advantage of my Prius.
--evan

 

[TUW]

remembered my other question

next question...

Q. What is the 2004 Prius towing capasity?

A. Toyota doesn't appear to be making a hitch for the prius so it is probably not recommended. However since the tourque is so high it seems possible.


They is the best answer I have gotten thus far.

Any real insite?

 

[mrv]

towing

according to the manual, you cannot
tow with the Prius.

However, that has not stopped some
people from towing with their classic
Prius (provided that the trailer is
very light and driven carefully).
coastaletech.com made a receiver
hitch for the classic Prius, and has
posted that he intends to do the same
for the 2004. (eventually, he's got
quite a backlog right now after an
absence for a family emergency...)

 

[ZaMoose]

A silly question

I'm a friend of Aron's (who also posts here) and I've taken a pretty thorough look at his car. What I'm mystified by is: what in the world is the key for?

I looked high and low and there's nary a keyhole to use. There's no keyholes on the doors or the liftback, there's none on the glovebox or the center console or on the trunk compartment.

So, what good is the key?

 

[mrv]

Re: A silly question

I'm a friend of Aron's (who also posts here) and I've taken a pretty thorough look at his car. What I'm mystified by is: what in the world is the key for?

I looked high and low and there's nary a keyhole to use. There's no keyholes on the doors or the liftback, there's none on the glovebox or the center console or on the trunk compartment.

So, what good is the key?

On the 2004 Prius, there is a mechanical
keyhole on the driver's door, and on
the hatchback.

Should the battery in the fob die,
you can still unlock the driver's
door with the key. The fob is
activated within the dash to start
the car, so you can still use a fob
that has a dead battery to start teh
car.

Should the Prius' 12v accessory
battery go dead (on a car with
smart entry and smart start), you can
still use the key to get into the
car and jump the 12v battery.

 

[ZaMoose]

Perhaps I should have looked closer. Hmmm.

 

[mrv]

keyholes...

looking over my photos, not too sure
about the hatch having a keyhole...
http://www2.kluge.net/2004/hg-Pages/Image62.html
but there's one on the driver's door.
http://www.john1701a.com/prius/photos/P ... ing_05.jpg or http://www2.kluge.net/2004/hg-Pages/Image78.html
that you don't see on the passenger's door:
http://www2.kluge.net/2004/hg-Pages/Image2.html

 

[Joel]

Being a fellow geek - I did the research and found that Cingular and AT&T wireless customers had several Bluetooth phones available - I opted for a phone that isn't sold much in the US (mostly EU), the Ericsson R520m which has Bluetooth and is not too expensive (I got mine for $95.00). Most of the other Bluetooth phones have built-in cameras which make them pricey.

I am curious about a few aspects of the prius I have been unable to get answered.

The short list and answers I ahve recieved are as follows.

Q. Does the DVD navigation system also play dvds movies and where is the DVD disc drive located.

A. Dealer stated no the nav system wont play dvds. Reason. We are not sure, it has not been tested and there is nothing about it in our documents so to be on the safe side we are saying no. As per the dvd driver we are not sure however it only has a temp spare as opposed to a full size (what the spare has to do with the dvd nav I have no idea).


Q. What phones work with the bluetooth connection.

A. We don't know. There is a link of the toyota website that lists all the phones I think... (when asked what others work since that link only lists 3 phones) was told only those 3 phones must work otherwise toyota would have listed the others. (When i commented the site toyota links to is not run by toyota and the list is just of the bluetooth cabable phones sold buy that site and not all blue tooth phones made and most likely not all phones that work i recieved a blank stare).


There was another question but in my confussed typing I forgot it and will post later. If anyone has a 2004 prius and wishes to try a DVD in the nav system please lt me know if it works and where the dvd dirve is located.

Also looking to know what phones have been tried and proved to work with the nav system.

granted none of the responses I got for these questions were a vague as asking whenmy car will arrive, how much a replacement hybrid battrery cell will cost, or what the interval of maintence is.

 

[efusco]

T-mobile is another carrier for Bluetooth compatible phones. The Nokia 3650 is bluetooth, but most reviews seem to prefer the Ericson T-610--which is what I got.

It is a camera phone, but I got it for free, and, after I pay the activation will actually make $15 on this phone with a 1 year $40/mo for 1000 anytime nationwide minutes contract.

Check out http://www.intelentwireless.com which is where I got mine. 2nd day (and it really was) FedEx free delivery, they put the rebates in the box with the phone, included car charger and belt clip as well as a handsfree earpiece. Seem to be pretty legit and I've had zero problems

The phone synced up with the Prius with no problems at all and is a joy to use.
-evan[/url]

 

[California Hotrod]

Hi, I just got my 2004 Prius w/ Pkg 9 last week. I love it! It took about 5 minutes of playing around with the bluetooth connection to make it work with my Sony Ericsson T68i cellphone. The sound quality is good. While the vehicle is moving you can not dial the phone through the LCD touchscreen (only when it is stationary). You CAN dial via the phone and have the handsfree system work. It takes the Prius about 5 seconds to find the phone every time I start the car. It's wonderful...

 

[efusco]

While the vehicle is moving you can not dial the phone through the LCD touchscreen (only when it is stationary).

That's not entirely accurate. If you take the time to to program the 1-touch buttons from your uploaded list of stored numbers and addresses you can use those even when in motion. I honestly don't know if you can dial from the larger address list, I'll have to check. You are correct that you can't dial a number on the touch pad.

I agree that the sound quality on both ends (car and whoever you're talking to) is quite good. I really really enjoy the freedom and safety of the system.
--evan