I've been wondering how my 2012 Prius Three would do in the mountains. The trip is 100 miles each way starting from essentially sea level and going over a 7400 ft summit to the 6300 ft elevation of Lake Tahoe. About a third of the 100 miles is city and level freeway driving. The most difficult up hill part is about 50 miles from about 1200 ft to 7400 ft elevation. It was a very cold day and the heater was on most of the time. There was no problem keeping up with traffic which was often above 50 mph up hill. The final mileage for the trip on the display was 52.8 mpg which means about 49 mpg actual. I was pleased with that result considering much of the trip was in the "just drive it" mode of operation.
Yes, the only negative is that the Nav on the Three isn't nearly as good as my Garmin. I do like the XM radio.
I hear that complaint about the nav. There is a whole seperate thread full of complaints. I hardly use the Nav but it does come in handy. I agree plenty of room for improvement. XM is good. My 90 day trial is about to run out Dec 27. I think I will renew it. They have a a-la-carte service on the web site 50 channels for $8 + Tax + Royality. That come out to about $10 per month versus $14 for Select. You can call and also negociate a year for $75 pre-paid. The car grows on you after awhile. My car is almost 3 months old and I have no complaints. The low gasoline bill is the best part. It is comfortable, the info is good, and the drive is smooth. 2 years free maintenance. Toyota reliability so no headaches. It is a good deal.
I agree with all of that and I enjoy the technology involved. I will renew XM too. I'm not sure the a-la-carte works on XM. I thought it required SiriusXM. The Nav works pretty well for getting from point A to point B but the streets on the screen are hard to read as you might want if not going on a route. Of course Garmin has several more features too that's why it is mounted in the little window on the left side of the dashboard.
There are a few things that Toyota can upgrade and it does not cost that much but it would improve the customer experience and that is better NAV and a more comfortable front seats.
I miss Tahoe. My late brother used to live in Incline Village and dad spent summers there. Thought about moving there in '94...
