[PriusWannabee]

I've been looking at a silver Prius with option package 6. Curious if others who have gotten that package have been happy with their choice.

After the fact, are you glad you sprung for it? What part of it do you value the most? The sound system, the smart key, bluetooth, nav?

It's a hefty add-on, hence my hesitation.

Would you buy it again?

 

[Jon Miller]

I bought Package 6 because I wanted the stability control feature and it was not available with any of the other bundles. I had little interest in the navigation system, though I have used it a few times and like it. I have no use for the Bluetooth capability and never would have paid for it as a stand-alone feature (I hate mobile phones and rarely turn mine on.) Smart Key is great, but you can get it with less expensive packages.

I'm not sure this is helpful. I think it's just a matter of what features you really want, and how you see the cost spread across the years you will keep the car.

 

[Old n Bold]

Have Driftwood pkg 6. Bought Mar 1. Like it very much. My sentiments are similar to above. Would buy it again. Have used the nav system to find a couple of very hard placed to find. Would buy it again. Do not have a blue tooth cell phone but would investigate it if I ever get a new phone. But use the phone very little, especially when on the road. All the stability stuff is worth it and like the keyless system very much.

This are only personal feelings and not recommendations for others. But felt the hit wasn't too bad considering what else was available of similar equipment.

 

[JAGprius]

I bought Tideland Pearl #6 a couple of wks ago and I must tell you. It is definitely best choice only because of great nav system. I used it a lot since then especially the best part is it tells you which restaurants you are close by to help your decision what and where to eat. It helps you to locate where you want to go and so on.

If that's the thing you want, go for #6 for sure. If you believe you don't need nav system, then I'd say go for #5. But anything less than 5, prolly won't worth it, that's my opinion. Oh and smart key system is way awesome for real.

 

[Astrowoman]

I thought the smart key and voice activation and nav were just "gee whiz" and a waste of money, but I kinda wanted the VSC and my SO REALLY wanted the upgraded stereo... and pkg 6 was what they had on the lot... so.. that's what I got.

Now that I have it, I'm really glad I did. I use the nav system WAY more often than I ever thought I would and I'm very impressed with how accurate it is around here. I use voice activation from time to time and the smart key is just kinda fun. I enjoy all the extras and they are part of what makes the car way fun for me to drive.

 

[Envoy]

Got our package 6 Silver 2 months ago, and we haven't looked back. We could have done without nav, but now that we have it I find that - even if not using it all the time - it comes in really handy.

One use I like is on a couple trips up to LA (from San Diego): hey, we know our way around, but one of the great things is being somewhere and having to ask "how do you get to I-5 South from here?". With nav, just plug in Home and it will guide you right to the freeway; turn it off after that and enjoy the music.

I've never sprung for a luxury car, and this is the most I've ever spent. But we are both enjoying every feature we paid for (except Bluetooth, which we don't really have a need for) and I am impressed on a regular basis by what a smartly designed vehicle the Prius is.

[Addendum: we live in a low-middle class neighborhood, and there are now 3 Prii and 2 Honda hybrids in a one block radius; my neighbor got an identical silver Prius one week after us!]

Cheers,
Envoy

 

[BIGGUY]

We got the package 6 2 months ago and havent used the NAV system yet will next week on a 1000 mile trip so i will check htat out. Got the package 6 because the SO wanted the stereo system and I wanted the HID lights and the stability control, didn't want the bluetooth or the nav but to get what each of us wanted had to go to the package 6 , dont like the phone system as all you can do is recieve calls when you are driving cant dial out on the system at all wouldn't have bought it just for the phone is over priced as a package and i wish you could order indivdual items instead of packages

 

[Ray Moore]

The difference between the pkg 6 and the pkg 5 is about $3000 USD. I have one of each. The Nav system gets used on out of town trips only. The bluetooth gets used constantly and is one of the best features for me. The HID headlights are slightly better than the halogen headlights. On the car with pkg 5, we are grateful for the lower car payment. The difference in payment on a five year note is around fifty dollars a month. I think I would rather have a stand alone nav system for long trips so that I could do my route planning in the house and then take it out to the car with me. The route planning in the factory nav system is irritating. It is difficult to input route preferences that vary from the ones chosen by the system. They only allow for four overrides. This has been a problem five times in the last 15 months. After owning a package 6, we chose a package 5 for our second Prius. The bluetooth is fantastic but definitely not worth the upgrade price and is not offered separately.

 

[hyperion]

Once you purchase that option you have taken the price of the car well above the "niche" Toyota picked for the car. Unless you have played with a nav system and just have to have one I believe because of personal computers and mapquest they just aren't worth the money. But "toys are toys."
Ask yourself if you believe you would ever get a return for your money down the road. The Prius is a great bargain at $23,000, but above that???

 

[Sanny]

I have a package 6. I got it for the NAV, which a "father-like" friend said I must have. I like the NAV and use it frequently. Bluetooth is not useful to me, although I wish it were. I use the phone in the car often, and would prefer to use the car system than the headset (driving without hands free is illegal here - hefty fine). But I have Verizon service, and am not willing to pay all that for the bluetooth phone that may or may not work. Hrumph. I haven't compared the 5 and 6 packages, but one of my main requirements was airbags airbags and more airbags. And the 6 cd changer WITH cassette. I listen to books on the daily commute, and some are not yet available on cd. I like loading several CDs and not having to switch for a day or two.

 

[michaelmcgaw]

NAV Good!

All right it's embarrassing to admit this, but i got lost last night. I've been enjoying driving my Prius (it's new to me, just this week). So last night i decided to go for a midnight drive in the dark. I got into my Prius and went way out "that-a-way."

I got lost.

So i'm really glad i had the NAV system to show me where i was and to plot a course to get me back to where i needed to be (home at that point, the hour was... late).

The other features i really wanted could have been had in package #4, i think. I decided to spring for the NAV system because i want to do some travelling by car for the next few summers.

Surprise that it proved to be so very practically useful so quickly.

Would i buy a Prius without NAV, without any of the packages? Yes, almost certainly so. But Toys are fun (and sometimes useful) and some of the packages have additional safety features.

 

[Christopher]

The difference between the pkg 6 and the pkg 5 is about $3000 USD. I have one of each. The Nav system gets used on out of town trips only. The bluetooth gets used constantly and is one of the best features for me. The HID headlights are slightly better than the halogen headlights. On the car with pkg 5, we are grateful for the lower car payment. The difference in payment on a five year note is around fifty dollars a month. I think I would rather have a stand alone nav system for long trips so that I could do my route planning in the house and then take it out to the car with me. The route planning in the factory nav system is irritating. It is difficult to input route preferences that vary from the ones chosen by the system. They only allow for four overrides. This has been a problem five times in the last 15 months. After owning a package 6, we chose a package 5 for our second Prius. The bluetooth is fantastic but definitely not worth the upgrade price and is not offered separately.

I've been trying to decide if I want to get the Nav system. It sounds like I'd be better off mounting my portable GPS unit in the car. Though if I want the upgraded stereo and stability control, I'd be stuck getting anyways. Decisions.

 

[Victor]

I love the Navi. It has some quirks but it works very well.

The main problems with a PDA navi is that you have to remove it at least from view every time you park the car, for security reasons. A pain in the butt.

I understand you plan the route on a laptop and transfer it to the PDA. What happens if you go off route because of a change in plan. Can the PDA perform automatic re-routing. What happens if you are somwhere without the laptop, say on vacation, and you need to plot a route to somewhere a few hundred miles away?


One of the major advantages of the built in unit is that you can never forget or loose it.

 

[Christopher]

My GPS will do the turn by turn route info and recalculates the route pretty quickly. I've been a bit, uh, daring, in that I just leave it mounted on my dashboard most of the time.

The down side of my unit is the limited memory. It only holds 19Mb of downloadable memory, which is most of one state. What I generally do is load in the area I plan to be and then let it use the built in maps if I'm doing interstate travel. It has limited intersection info, gas/food/lodging, built into it, and that's generally enough.

The only problem I've had is trying to download an entire trip. There's not usually enough for that, so I have to drop some sections out. But it's never really been a problem.

Not bad for $299.

 

[mrv]

"upgraded stereo" - you just pay more for more speakers. woo-hoo. If you want a 6-CD changer, just buy a 6-CD changer, and you'll have 7 CDs available at your disposal.

If you want the Homelink auto-dimming mirror, it can be added later.

If you want the anti-theft alarm system, it can be added later.

However, things like airbags, SE&SS/SKS, Navigation/voice control/Bluetooth, VSC, HIDs, cannot be added later.

Some people love the integrated Navigation. Some people detest it, and prefer a portable unit that they can transfer between cars and has breadcrumb capabilities and such.


On the Classic Prius, options were all a-la-carte. My mother ordered everything except for side air bags (not sure why), and the Navigation system ($1900 option, didn't come with Bluetooth or voice control yet, my mother didn't get it because of the price and she didn't know what its capabilities were, since no regular Prius were delivered to the US with it yet at that time). Now that she's heard others talk about the Navigation, and seen it in our 2004, she sorely regrets not ordering it. At least then she'd never get lost - she'd always know where she was. On the fly routing is great, although the maps are no better than mapquest/mapsonus/yahoomaps/etc. (As opposed to a bumper sticker her sister used to have: "I never get lost - everyone is always telling me where to go." ;-) )

 

[tomandbecky]

We just took delivery of a Salsa Red #5. We ordered this car, and I just couldn't see spending the extra cash on #6. I do wish that options were available individually. I would have liked to have had stability control, for instance, as well as fog lights.
Tom

 

[Logan01]

Option 6

We've had our Silver w/option 6 for 4 months and 9000 miles. I opted for the option 6 because I wanted the Nav system. (I travel a lot on the job) I just enter the address of the plant I'm visiting, or the hotel I'll be staying at and let the Nav system do the rest. The CD changer is nice, especially with "talking books" don't have to keep fumbling with Cd's or tapes at 70 mph.

The rest of the 'goodies' are just something that were included with the Nav system.

No, I don't regret it or feel 'cheated', we really like the car and it's fun and comfortable to drive.

 

[Cairo94507]

I have had my '05 Tideland package 6 for 10,000 miles and 5 months. I have not had a single problem with the car. I love the smart-key, the fact that I do not have to start the car, but most of all I love the bluetooth connectivity and function with the car. I am on the telephone a lot and receive a good number of calls daily and being able to just push the button on the wheel to answer a call is terrific. No headset, no wires, no holding a telephone to my ear, it is great.

I also use my nav quite a bit as I travel a lot - it works quite well and has never failed me. This is my 3rd car with navigation and the Prius is the best one yet - no surprise there of cours as the other car is 2 years old already and the first nav was on a 2001.

Love my Prius.

 

[brad_rules_man]

It is worth every penny. I have needed it before while away from home. Sometimes I need to come up with directions on the fly, and it is really really helpful! The HID lights are priceless in my opinion, really great. I also have had some entertaining use out of the VSC.

 

[ltu1542hvy]

I bought a Super White #6 in January and have a little over 8000 miles on it so far. After having lived with all of the features of the package 6 for half a year now, I could not fathom driving a car without.

- The Nav is far from perfect but I still consider it excellent. After the novelty factor wore out I only use it occasionally, but when I do need it I consider it to be priceless. I no longer have any excuse to get lost. As opposed to using Mapquest et al or using a portable GPS, using the factory NAV requires no planning prior to getting in the car and I do not need to think or worry about it when I'm not using it and it's always there when I do decide I want to use it.

- The upgraded stereo is perfectly fine for me. I did not try out a standard one so I don't have a base for comparison. I also added an XM radio kit from PriusXM and absolutely love it. I'm also waiting for Coastal Dave to release his iPod kit.

- The safety features such as the extra airbags and VCS - hope I never need them but will be glad I have them if I ever do need them. Since I consider these to be essential safety features I am somewhat disappointed that they are not standard equipment.

- THe HID headlights are worth a lot for me. I test drove a Prius with the standard halogen lights and found them to be dim and kind of inadequate. The HIDs give a very nice field of vision. The foglights on the other hand do not do more than fill out the front of the illuminated field a bit and are something I wouldn't miss if they weren't there.

- I like the bluetooth a lot; I spent the money to replace my Sprint Treo 600 with a Sprint Treo 650 just to be able to use the bluetooth, and haven't regretted it a second.

- The self-dimming mirror is cool, however since I don't have a garage or an "estate gate" the Homelink feature is meaningless to me.

- The smart key is the one feature that surprised me the most. When I picked up the car I thougth it was neat but no big deal, but I have gotten very spoiled by it very quickly.

- The voice command feature in my opinion is the weakest component of the package and after the novelty of it wore out I find it useless, since it misinterprets my commands more often than it gets them right.

Overall it appears that different people have different needs and expectations and what may be priceless for me may be worthless to you, but personally I would do the package #6 all over again if given the chance, and I would regret it severely if I hadn't gotten the #6 package.

My $0.02