Putting your Prius in park is similar to starting it once you have arrived at your location.
Step 1: When you approach an open parking space, turn on your blinkers. Pull up about a cars length past the available space you want to occupy, just like you would when parking any other kind of vehicle.
Step 2: As you steer into the area, lightly touch the brake pedal to slow the automobile down. As you cautiously back your Prius into the available parking place, make any required changes to straighten the vehicle so that it is parallel to the curb.
Step 3: To stop, fully compress the brake pedal. By completely applying the brakes, you prevent yourself from straying from your parking area and colliding with any vehicles in front of or behind you.
Step 4: Press the Start/Stop Engine button. By putting the automobile in Park and stopping the engine, you can exit it without risk. When it is parked correctly, your Prius remains there until you are ready to drive it again.
In This Article...
Is a Toyota Prius difficult to operate?
How’s that for an introduction? Let me explain. You see, half a year ago, we decided to ask precisely what you disliked about the Prius. The responses were interesting. Many of you questioned the Prius’ eco credentials, you abhorred its lack of excitement, and you were put off by the “smugness” that surrounds Prius owners.
So when Toyota offered me the chance to live with a Prius for three months, I leaped at the opportunity to discover if all of this hating was just rumor or if I’d also become into Captain Eco-Smug. Now that the Prius has returned home, I can finally look back on our fling with some findings:
My rep as a petrolhead didn’t end in tatters
I was anxious when I first drove my Prius into London. When parallel parked on Tottenham Court Road, I anticipated being laughed at, pointed at, and given a disdainful look. To my astonishment, though, there were no veiled threats of murder. In fact, nobody in London appeared to mind that I was driving a silver Toyota Prius with a (shock!) hybrid engine that produced 134 horsepower and could go from 0 to 62 mph in just 10.4 seconds. The only sarcastic remarks I heard were from my friends who drank gasoline: “Adnan, you’ve got to be kidding…
Prii run the streets of London
I dare you to take a five-minute stroll in the British capital without passing a Prius. Due in part to the Prius’ initial exemption from the congestion charge when it was established, Toyota has done an impressive job of marketing this vehicle (now only plug-ins qualify). Uber is proof that hybrids are excellent for taxis. Overall, Toyota has sold 3.36 million hatchbacks worldwide (including first-generation models). The South East accounts for 30% of all Prius sales in the UK.
That meant that I had to spend three months trying to fit in, at first giving other Prius drivers the thumbs up, until I started to feel RSI in my neck.
The Prius is surprisingly roomy
When you eventually meet face-to-face with a Prius in the wild, you might forget that it’s a large vehiclespecifically, 4.48m long and 1.75m widebecause we’ve seen so many images and memes of it. Although it can make it slightly more difficult to locate a parking spot in London, it means you have plenty of space inside. Without a single grumble from the people in the back, I was able to transport my family 100 miles north to Leicester and back again in one day.
The Prius is an incredibly easy car to drive
It couldn’t be simpler to get from Point A to Point B in the Prius if you truly wanted to be a walking clich. Put your foot on the handbrake, press the Start button, wait for the beep, and then release it. The battery pack (nickel metal-hydride for the scientifically curious) provides more torque than you’d think to get you off the line, should you choose to push the noisy pedal to the floor. The light steering makes low-speed maneuverability a snap. The problem is that operating a Prius is almost too simple. A simple manual gearbox no longer provides the pleasure that us purists like. The Prius is too heavy to attack B-road turns with any effectiveness. Additionally, as is the case with the majority of these transmissions, the CVT whining beyond 50 mph is enough to discourage you from completely burying the throttle.
I didn’t spend all of my savings on fuel. For once
I used to drive a tasty-looking Kia Pro C’eed GT before the Prius. A front-wheel drive warm hatch with 201 horsepower that, I’ll admit, warmed my soul with its amazing turbochargedness drove me crazy in my quest to consistently achieve 30 miles per gallon. However, once I became a Prius owner, my tense relationship with my money seemed to be healed, with the apparent assistance of a regular 58 mpg readout. I calculated on the fly that I would have saved more than $500 if I had traveled the same distance in the Pro C’eed after traveling 5000 (mainly urban) miles in the Prius. Very successful!
But if you’re a country dweller, a hybrid may not be the answer
Despite the town’s high grins per gallon, I was aware that I was not reaching Toyota’s claimed combined economy of 70.6mpg. Sure, the economy tests that manufacturers conduct rarely result in results that can be met in the “real world,” but I found myself fighting to reach 60 mpg on my own land.
I reside in a little area outside of London where the average driving speed is substantially greater and there is less stop-start traffic. With the Prius, you must carefully adjust throttle input to keep the EV mode engaged and avoid the 1.8-liter petrol engine from starting. This seems to be impossible in the outlying areas without accelerating too slowly and angering vehicles who are following behind. I discovered that I frequently had to use both the engine and energy to accelerate the car to a stable pace before letting off the gas pedal and attempting to cruise in EV mode at speeds under 40 mph.
In the end, the batteries didn’t get enough time to recharge because I wasn’t coasting or braking sufficiently. Even when the charge dropped, the engine would start to ensure that there was enough voltage. And as a result, I lost those valuable extra miles per gallon.
I just don’t miss the Prius
I’ve had the good fortune to ‘long-term test’ a few intriguing cars over the past 12 months. The 208 GTi was a charmingly odd French hot hatch with a little steering wheel. The GT86 was exactly thata GT86.
But even though the Prius did alter my driving habits to the point where I only enjoyed driving when the green EV symbol was lighted, now that she’s gone, I’m finding it difficult to miss her. When the Prius was parked in a multi-story building, there were never any customary glances back at her, and I never anticipated a sporty drive in her either.
The Prius seems to have found its audience, whether you like it or not. The fact that Toyota has sold approximately 5 million Prii in their different iterations over the years tells eloquently about the direction that the automotive industry is heading; the general public wants cars that are efficient, affordable to operate, and useful. Although the Prius may be the most despised car on the internet, it seems to excel in these three key areas.
Normal mode
Normal mode is ideal for consistent, daily driving. In essence, it is a Toyota Prius’ factory setup. The heater and air conditioner will run as efficiently as possible in regular mode, and the gas pedal will be responsive (but not overly so!).
The usual mode is ideal for your daily journey around the city because it revolves around striking the ideal balance.
What is it like to drive a Prius?
At constant motorway speeds, it is also silent, and when you ask for a slight acceleration, all that comes out is a faint drone. But if you push the Prius’ CVT automatic gearbox harder and accelerate hard, the engine revs will shoot up and there will be a noticeable engine boom.
How quickly does the Prius transition to gas?
A Prius often shifts from battery to petrol while traveling at speeds of at least 15 mph. Call the hybrid experts at Luscious Garage in San Francisco, California, at 415-213-2336 for all your hybrid vehicle repair needs right away!
Why is there a B on the shifter on the Prius?
It protrudes from the dashboard like the classic Alfa Romeo’s shifter. From it’s anything but conventional.
The gearshift is one of the driver’s main interfaces with the Prius’ intricate electrical, mechanical, and software engineering.
The Prius shifter does have one feature that has always been a mystery.
You have the typical “reverse,” “neutral,” and “drive” options, as shown in the picture below. There is no “park,” but there is a button on the dash for it. (This shifter, by the way, is from a 2016 Prius that we examined, albeit the part has been on the car for a while.)
Many people appear to believe that “B” enhances regeneration and sends more energy back into the system since the Prius has “regenerative braking,” which returns otherwise squandered energy from braking to the hybrid drivetrain.
But that is wholly incorrect. Since I’m supposed to know something about vehicles, I know because I was mistaken about it.
The “B” produces “engine braking,” which simulates the actions of a conventional transmission by simulating a downshift to slow the Prius down when it is descending a slope.
Why? if you’re traveling up a protracted, steep hill, to avoid overloading the brakes. The feature should be used at that time, much like a lower gear in a stick shift or a lower setting on an antiquated automatic transmission.
Tell the driver of a Prius to keep it in “D” the next time you see them driving around in “B” while you are in the vehicle.
Is driving a Prius boring?
It’s never been easy to become genuinely enthused about the Prius unless you’re a specialist in automotive batteries, a shareholder in Toyota, or an environmentalist who still needs to commute to work but can’t justify a Tesla.
The Prius is a perfectly sufficient, albeit somewhat monotonous, means of transportation, like many Toyotas. In order to improve fuel efficiency, everything in the automobile has been sacrificed, and the driving experience is not especially enjoyable. And millions of Prius owners are perfectly happy with it that way. So, okay.
However, the majority of Prius owners do so because of the vehicle’s excellent fuel efficiency and its “I’m greener than you” declaration to other drivers. As long as it is green beneath the hood, they could care less about how it appears on the inside or outside. This method has been effective for Toyota and its aforementioned stockholders for more than ten years.
It was then. Nowadays, hybrid vehicles aren’t some rare breed banished to the showroom’s back corner. Finding a major automaker that doesn’t offer at least one hybrid will be difficult. (Go ahead and try to come up with one. Let me wait.)
It means Toyota can no longer sit back and rely solely on the Prius moniker to sell cars. Because of this, the business completely redesigned the 2016 Prius to appeal to consumers other than those who value the environment.
It has a brand-new, spotless interior. Although some people, including my photographer, may still have their qualms, the exterior’s sharp angles are beautiful, especially from the back. Additionally, the driving experience has been much improved after being long neglected by a Toyota engineering staff that was obsessively devoted to MPG optimization.
Toyota even set up an autocross cones course on the tarmac at an abandoned Marine Corps airfield south of Los Angeles (where, coincidentally, the LA Auto Show is taking place this week) so the gathered journalists could test the new car. This was done to demonstrate how confident they are in the performance of the new chassis. As you might expect, an autocross with a Prius was hilariously ridiculous but it demonstrated the point that it functions well as both a car and a Prius. One warning: the eco-focused tires aren’t excellent, but they aren’t designed for driving aggressively; therefore, we’ll give them a pass.
One has a dominating view of the road in front of them when driving. A sleek, center-mounted dash at the base of the windshield gives information on the hybrid battery system while the large windows offer excellent view. All of the instrumentation is positioned in the center, and the basic layout is the same as that of the previous Prius. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to have a heads-up display that displays speed and fuel economy data directly in front of the driver’s eyes.
When you consider how simple it would be to clean after accidentally spilling your overfilled coffee into your cup holders, a center console constructed of what looks like white refrigerator plastic seems out of place. It also has a little resemblance to a similar interior feature on the previous-generation Volt, which had a pearly white plastic center stack as an option.
Despite the fact that we were just in the car for a few hours, our trial car had excellent two-tone leather seats that were really comfortable. The infotainment system is acceptable but boring, just like in many Toyotas over the past few years. (And no, you won’t find CarPlay or Android Auto here, which is annoying.) But, and this is not often the case, adding and removing Bluetooth syncs with my smartphone was remarkably simple.
The body also has a little Chevy Volt-like high rear deck that slopes forward.
The fact that both cars prioritize aerodynamic efficiency over looks is, of course, their shared characteristic. The drag coefficient for the new Prius is 0.24, the same as the Model S from Tesla. Although it has some Cadillac-like angles all around and a little pointed front, the overall effect is favorable. It’s hardly an Aston Martin, but just like with earlier models of the Prius, I doubt many people will pass it up just on the basis of appearance.
Most 2016 versions now include lithium-ion hybrid battery packs instead of nickel-metal hydride ones like the ones in your iPhone or the Model S. The new 1.8-liter four-cylinder engine uses exhaust heat to reach operating temperature more quickly, and new hybrid drive components enhance electric charging and driving performance. As a result, starting a cold engine uses less fuel. Find a pattern here?
The new Prius deserves serious consideration from anyone looking for a smallish hybrid and, let’s be honest, anyone looking for a small car in general. This is because of the visual upgrades, the enhanced driving experience, and Toyota’s claimed ten percent increase in fuel economy (up to an estimated 54 city/50 highway/52 combined). Why would someone choose a $18,000 Corolla over a $25,000 Prius, if you can get past the slight price difference?