We recently bought a Prius. After disabling the backup beep, we're very happy with it and all drivers are getting > 50 mpg.
I have two questions that I can't answer by web search:
1) Why is the R N D lever (reverse neutral drive) backwards? Logically, D ought to be on the top and R on the bottom.
2) Any hints on adjusting the climate control system?
Either we haven't figured it out, or it is designed poorly. The AC comes on too frequently, and it seems impossible to regulate airflow and temperature without resorting to the LCD touch-screen (getting fingerprints all over it). Even then, it takes a long time to adjust things properly.
The sequence for selecting gear ranges is regulated and standard throughout the industry so that PRNDL is familiar to everyone. Some transmissions add or omit some ranges so the Prius' CVT gets RND.
If you let the automatic AC do its thing, fan speeds will eventually slow down after the cabin temperature has reached the desired setting. You can adjust the temperature setting until the cabin reaches the target temperature and then re-adjust to the desired setting if you don't want the fan blasting, or you can just override the fan setting and leave everything else on auto and just leave it that way.
If getting fingerprints on the control screen that's meant to be touched is a big source of worry for you, shoot yourself now and forgo a life of extreme anxiety.
Set the temp higher, and don't have it on defrost at all. The AC runs whenever the Climate Control is set anywhere near the Windshield. I used to keep mine set to the Defrost/foot setting, but with the newer cars I use the Vent/Foot setting to keep the AC off.
I've had mine (a UK-spec "T4") since the end of July 2005. Will try to help...
Think of it as the result of moving the standard automatic gear stick up onto the dashboard and consider what hand movements a driver makes when using it. In a Prius, the hand sweeps through much the same arc, only higher up.
P(ark) -- a separate button -- is furthest up (forward).
R(everese), N(eutral) and D(rive) run downwards (backwards).
A Prius has no distinct gears, so 1/2/3/&c aren't needed.
B(attery) -- a hybrid special -- is a subset of D(rive) mode.
Maybe the UK climate isn't as extreme as where you are. I have been fairly happy in hot summer and frosty winter. I tend to set A/C-with-recirculate in hot weather, also in cooler weather if things are muggy. If the windscreen (US:windshield) gets foggy on the inside, there is the steering-wheel-mounted defog toggle button to temporarily switch on A/C blowing up the windscreen.
The AUTO setting seems clever enough, as Ray-O observes. OTOH, I too feel Toyota's boffins could spend a bit more time on refining the aircon permutations for extreme conditions.
The touch screen is meant to be touched. That's how you control many of the car systems, nar? If fingerprints bother you, don't have dirty fingers. IOW no sticky munchies for the driver. :-)
For temperature, I find I have settled on an internal of 20.5 C (that's, uh, 68.9 F for you Victorians reading this ).
I have cleaned the display with a water-moistened paper cloth -- those soft fibrous ones made in kitchen-roll size by Kleenex are good for many delicate wiping jobs (including DVDs and CDs, BTW).
FWIW I am glad the reversing beep is there. It can save a crunch through lurching in the wrong direction when one is in a hurry.
Yes, the screens on a Palm or iPaq PDA are meant to be touched - but the stylus will scratch the hell out of the glass over time. Better to scratch up the plastic screen protector overlay that can be replaced when it gets bad.
(Reminds me, I'm about due...)
Fingerprints aren't the problem on a touchscreen if you are using a tapping motion for the entries. But any dirt or dust on the screen makes a tap-and-drag type entry motion into a tap-and-scratch.
Keep it clean, make sure the kids don't use a pen or pencil as a stylus, make sure the wife is using fingertips (skin) and NOT long nails to make the entries, and you should be fine.
And if you are still paranoid, go find one of the plastic screen overlays that is bigger than you need, and cut it to fit.
Nonetheless it *is* possible to control almost everything without touching the LCD. Folders on MP3 CDs can't be navigated, but radio stations and regular CDs do not require touchscreen.
Unless the driver is trying to "glide", the bar-graph fuel display is more helpful than the transmission-picture display. Gliding doesn't work at most speeds we must drive, anyway.
Thanks to the help so far, I'll try adjust>
What I miss most from my previous vehicle is a side vent with a simple Fresh-Air or Climate-Control lever. That avoids the noise and electrical consumption of the blower fan.
Consumer Reports said the two biggest drawbacks of the Prius are "steering feel" (doesn't seem bad to me, but my previous vehicle was a truck) and "display console". Nonetheless they graded controls as a half-red circle, which means good but not excellent. I'd say the display console is fine, except dust and fingerprints need to be cleaned periodically, but I would have downgraded climate control.
We'll wear latex gloves while driving. ;-)
That's probably the best place to start. From the factory, it was set to Victorian 72, which would be 22 C for Modern folks.
I'll use the same OptiClean spray I use on my computer monitor.
My friends all turned it off. It really bugged me on the test drive. With backup camera, it's easy to tell when the vehicle is in reverse.
Disabling the rear backup beep may seem like a good idea until you run someone over because they did not hear your vehicle with just the electric motor running.
It's NOT backwards, in fact it has to be this way so people can get into almost any car with standardized controls and drive it, without having to learn a radically different control system for each make and model - which could cause chaos and mayhem.
(There are still some minor differences - the 'Universal Stalk Control' for turn signals, wipers and lights is fairly standard - but there are three or four different variations on the high beam switch and daytime headlamp signaling. And also several variations on delay wipers and washers, and cruise control.)
The Feds wrote a standard on this. I just did a quick Google, and the reference I found points to "The Roberts Bill" (Public Law 88-515 signed into law by President Johnson on August 30, 1964
Once a logical standard like that is set, it often propagates across the world and is widely adopted. That makes the controls fairly common on a global basis.
Summary of the relevant section: If you wanted to sell a new car, station wagon, van, bus or light truck under 10,000 pounds GVWR to the Government that was the 1967 Model Year or later, it had to have a list of certain safety equipment and minimum crash safety standards to meet the GSA requirements:
Anchorage for seat belt assemblies.
Padded dash and visors.
Recessed dash instruments and control devices.
Impact-absorbing steering wheel and column displacement.
Safety door latches and hinges.
Anchorage of seats.
Four-way flasher.
Safety glass.
Dual operation of braking system.
Standard bumper heights.
Standard gear quadrant, P-R-N-D-L, automatic transmission.
I did test drive one several times. Apparently I incorrectly concluded that the beep I heard while inside the car was also audible outside the car and was for the protection of pedestrians due to the quiet electric motor. Incorrect assumption apparently. Feel free to disable it.
or non-extreme conditions. Here's something I found on priuschat.com:
Q: An article mentions that "it is not intuitive or easy to use vented air from outside without engaging the A/C or heater." So how do you do it? [Cool vented air from the outside is more energy-efficient than AC.]
A: Select your fan speed and temp (moderate is always best-- I use 70) and make sure the little AC button is off. Most times the Prius automatically turns on the AC, so you must turn on the fan first, then turn off the AC. ... The only way to get REAL vented air, with no extra power used, is to set it on manual (whatever fan speed you like) and lower the temperature until it says "lo" then it won't heat anything... at least I think so. [Does heating the air use electrical power in a Prius?]
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