Re: Prius Questions
jeeva said:
Hi All
Thanks for giving overwhelming support for my Prius Purchase. The Honda dealer still after me. The Brand swiching is very uncommon here like Japanese Loyalty to the Employer forever.
There is a lot of brand loyalty in the U.S. I know, I come from a Ford/Mercury family. I still own Ford products and have been very happy with them for a long time. I know I will buy more in the future. But the Prius was just too innovative for me to pass up. There aren't too many times in your life as a consumer that an innovative product is something you can own and enjoy for not much more than you would pay for a regular product. I'm not much into buying sports cars, but I sure like cars that turn people's heads and make them ask questions.
jeeva said:
regarding the miles per hour, my friend still stand by his word. I had also given a thought. Any vehicle in Japan (irrepsective of the power of enginer) whether (Gasoline or Hybrid) will have a speed meter showing a max of 180 km (a little over 100mph). Obviously, you cannot touch that speed if you want avoid sirens blowing all the way. The safe speed in express-ways is 100 kmph (about 60 mph) and there are restrictions that you should not cross 80 kmph (50 mph). Under these circumstances, I belive Toyota has tuned down their engine and enable a fuel efficiency of 35.5 km/l. I am not sure unless I drive one for some time. I will come back on this after a while.
I'm pretty convinced that your friend is in error regarding the vehicles highway drivability. I could understand if Japanese road regulations required that vehicles have a governor that topped the vehicle out at a certain top speed, however I do not believe the Prius is mechanically or electronically different from the versions they are shipping to North American and Europe. Consider that Prii are being shipped to Germany, and Germany has significant stretches of highway with no speed limit. It sounds to me like your highway speeds and those in many parts of the U.S. are very much the same. So, I'm inclined to believe the Prius we get is the same as the Prius get, except we don't have all of the interesting additional electronics and of course we are left hand drive.
jeeva said:
acutally, now a days, the gasoline cost in Japan is about 130 Yen per liter. It used to be 85 Yen per l a few years back. Hence, this fuel saving is a great boon to decide the vehicle.
I was told that the model I had chosen (yet to decide), the navigation is super clear and audio comes with 9 speakers. It comes with built in MD and CD for audio and DVD for movies and TV. I am not sure whether these are the plus points or (negative points) in selecting a vehicle.
Well, I know that the JBL stereo is top of the line in the U.S. and it has 9 speakers, 6-disc changer and cassette. I believe in 06 they are eliminating the cassette on the top radio and offering an auxiliary plug for iPod or other media. MD has never taken off in the U.S. So, I'm not surprised that it is available in Japan, but not here. I believe our road regulations prevent any type of visual entertainment system (TV, video, DVD) from being ahead of the backs of the front seats, so the driver is not distracted. As such, having a built in DVD player is not in the works, and never will be.
jeeva said:
So far, I have managed to drive a Honda Accord without any navigation, all over Japan. Unless the navigation provides a more intelligent information such as traffic jam or accident-prone route etc, suggesting a new route for the above conditions, I think, navi becomes useless.
You have a good point about NAV. It would have been a nice to get it in my Prius, however I just couldn't afford it at the time. The Toyota NAV system is made by Denso for them and is the same basic system you see in any Toyota or Lexus car with NAV. It does include points of interest, such as restaurants, gas stations, tourist attractions, etc. And if you read any posts from folks running from hurricane Rita earlier this year, they were able to use NAV to help them move north from the Gulf Coast by routing around highways (which clogged up) and using surface roads that were mostly ignored. So, it does have good utility. It is just an issue of using it.
jeeva said:
Are we looking for a day to come to drive the car looking at the navi alone with wide angle cameras attached in the front????? Now the reverse parking assist camera does the similar function.
That is a good questions. I hope not. I would rather see the road through a windshield. However a heads-up display that would overlay navigation information on the windshield would be somewhat useful.
jeeva said:
Toyota's ITS was fabulous in Aichi expo. A series or unmanned buses transport people from one area to other. When I jumped in one such bus, I felt that I should have a vehicle that take me to the destination I wanted to reach. When such a vehicle come, we will get bored definitely as don't know what to do by then..... Any comments on this?
Cheers
jeeeeeeeeeee
Seatac International has a series of unmanned subways which shuttle travelers between the main concourse and the north and south satellites. It’s a fun ride, but pretty simple in concept. Train pulls up, doors open, people get in and out, doors close and it goes to the next stop; in a circle all day long. Anyway, the Seatac subway sounds a bit like the busses at the expo.
But as long as people want to feel like they are doing something while they drive we will be in control of our cars.