[newpriuslover]

I am still considering to buy New Prius (as it is called in Japan) with accessories and the cost comes to 3.7 MYen (about $30K+). I am a lover of Honda all these years as the services and car was more than excellent. I am not sure about Toyota or its model Prius. I read many things about this vehicle. Toyota claims the fuel saving (35.5 km/l). Are these claims and the vehicle is too good to change over? Someone says here (quoting a Toyota mechanic that the car can not accelerate beyond 100 km/h (about 60 miles/hr) and that is the reason Toyota decides the Digital display? Is this true? I was thrilled about the Intelligent Parking Assist at the first time. When I saw that afterwards, it looked a "bit unfinished product". I know this is not yet released in the US and other countries but someone must have used it, I suppose?

I know there are a quite a few TOYOTA lovers on this forum as well some people who do not love this Vehicle.

thanks

thiru :lol: or

If someone can give a frank opinion, I would be happy.

 

[JDavies]

Toyota claims the fuel saving (35.5 km/l). Are these claims and the vehicle is too good to change over?
***********************************************************
In the US the Prius is averaging 45 to 55 MILES PER GALLON.


Someone says here (quoting a Toyota mechanic that the car can not accelerate beyond 100 km/h (about 60 miles/hr)
****************************************************
Not true. The Prius is capable of speeds exceeding 100 miles/hr.

 

[andreafuentes]

questions on new prius speed etc.

I don' tknow about the Intelligent Parking Assist, because it is not offered in the U.S>

However it drives like any typical 4 door sedan, and I have personally driven it at 75 miles per hour without a problem (and I am sure it would go faster!). I can't believe the speed would be limited to 60 miles per hour in Japan, that doesn't sound possible.

Good luck...for what it's worth I love my Prius.

 

[Astrowoman]

Yeah, I've driven mine 85mph plus. There are cars that will do as well with fuel efficiency but the Prius has a good combination of power, roominess and fuel efficiency. It's more about the low emissions than the fuel economy per se,though -- buy the car if you are interested in the environment as well as paying less for gas.

Someone in another country will have to comment on the parking assist. If you do a search, I think I have seen it mentioned on other threads.

 

[jeromep]

I think you would be very happy with the Prius. Certainly there are cultural and utility differences between Americans and Japanese buyers, which may make any ideas we offer from across the Pacific a bit null and void for your purposes. However we tend to compare the interior room of the Prius to a Camry (I'm under the impression that a Camry is a larger vehicle in the Japanese market and it is just a mid-sized vehicle in the North American market). The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, in terms of testing for fuel economy and emissions, classifies the Prius as a mid-sized car, in the ranks of Camry and Taurus. I would agree with that classification because the back seat is very roomy and the front seat is quite comfortable, although a lot of us would like a couple more inches of length in front seat travel, to give us a bit more leg room.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my Prius. I had some opportunity over the summer to travel in the State and found power, acceleration and comfort exceptional. The Prius is not a performance car, but it is very competent at highway speeds. Our posted limit on Interstates in Washington varies from 60 to 70 mph depending on population density and the number of entrances/exits inside a section of highway. There is absolutely no problem keeping these speeds and merging with traffic from short entrance ramps.

If you are passing a group of cars on the highway it is pretty easy to put your foot in the accelerator and hold it there and be doing over 90 mph without thinking about it. On a decent road, the feel of the car tends to understate the speed which you are traveling.

As for fuel economy, I'm getting almost 45 mpg after nearly a year of driving. I'm very happy with that. The length of my commute (very short) and the temperate nature of where I live (hot summers, cooler winters) tend to cause huge swings in fuel economy from season to season. This is expected. All vehicles loose FE when winter sets in. The thing is that without a display on your dash telling you that you are getting lower FE, you don't pay much attention to it. But with the display giving you in-depth statistics about the vehicle you tend to pay a lot of attention to your fuel economy and your driving style.

Glad you decided to join. I hope you post more questions for us as you come closer to your decision.

 

[Tideland Prius]

If you can read Japanese, I suggest hopping over to the Japanese Prius enthusiast site (the name escapes me at the moment.). There, people chat and log their fuel mileage. Now, the fuel estimates in Japan are much higher than anywhere else in the world. i have seen 20+km/L and I know that's kinda far from 35.5km/L. Several Japanese owners have gotten 1,200kms per tank consistently and those that somehow manage to squeeze 60 litres (instead of the tank's 45 litres) got up to 2000+km per tank.

 

[salsawonder]

Prius Help

When buying a car you definitely want to be sure that it will meet your needs.
I have a dog and an elderly, handicapped mother. I cannot take them both in the Prius unless we are not using mom's wheelchair. It is rare that I would need to do this so not a big deciding factor.
I did not decide to purchase one until the Hatchback model came out. It rides higher (good for prematurely aged knees) and it has such versatility in the cargo area.
I was not prepared for the differences in driving a Sport Trac and driving the Prius. I love the tight handling and (although currently improving my driving..) the speed that you can achieve (my daughter had it at 92mph and I have done 87). BIG HILLS are more difficult with the Prius but are definitely not going to create a traffic jam as the big trucks do.
I don't know much about the Honda's but the gadgets are also a huge draw on the Prius, well worth the $$...Homelink, SmartKey (I wish I had this feature in every aspect of my life), Nav System, killer stereo to mention a few.
Go and drive one, take your time in deciding and make a list of what you would miss from your Honda, does it or some form exist on the Prius.

 

[newpriuslover]

Prius Questions

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

 

[jeromep]

Re: Prius Questions

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

 

[paul16451]

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.

For sanity sake, I hope not. NAV systems don't pick up things like slippery patches of ice or the tree branch that suddenly falls in front of your car or sharp stones sticking up from water-filled potholes. And god forbid one of those cameras malfunctions and cuts out while you're driving in heavy traffic at 70mph...

 

[paul16451]

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.

For sanity sake, I hope not. NAV systems don't pick up things like slippery patches of ice or the tree branch that suddenly falls in front of your car or sharp stones sticking up from water-filled potholes. And god forbid one of those cameras malfunctions and cuts out while you're driving in heavy traffic at 70mph...

 

[ken1784]

Re: Prius Questions

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.

Do not trust your friend anymore. He is comletely wrong.
Please try to do test drive by yourself.

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.

Japanese Navi systems comes with FM VICS as standard and it tells us the traffic jam or accident places. The optional VICS Beacon-Unit tells more and it suggests a new route too. The G-Book systems tells us more nad more.
Please learn them at Toyota site.

Regards,
[email protected]