My spatial judgement isn't the best in the world, but I find I'm consistently having trouble visualizing exactly where the front, sides and corners of the Prius C are when trying to park. I recently was given a rather tight spot in my apartment's underground parking garage, and rationally I can see when not in the car how to back out of the space safely without hitting walls or pillars, but inside I always feel like I'm about to hit something even if it's a safe distance away. Someone pointed out to me today it's in part due to how many models nowadays have these sloped curves where you can't see the extreme edges of the car from the driver's seat. And I guess that's true for the C. Any thoughts on how to adapt to understanding how close I really am to obstacles in this little car? Galaxy Nexus ? 2
for ANY vehicle.. it is mostly time behind the driver's seat that will truly help in figuring out and determining what that distance is and how comfortable you become in maneuvering in tight spaces. there are much, much worse vehicles out there that have really long front or rear ends and you can't see anything from the driver's seat... much less worrying about the smaller Prius C. when i have to back up a vehicle into a space.. and really need that vision to maneuver in a tight spot.. i'll open my driver door and poke my head out.. if you want to start fine tuning how close you are to something while maneuvering.. hell.. remember what your mental estimate is... park, get out of the car.. then look at how much space you really have.. and calibrate that in your mind.
Get a friend to stand at all four corners of your car with you in the drivers seat, it will give you a better idea of your cars dimensions.
I've always had a tendency to park as close to the curb as possible, hopefully without hitting the curb. Better said than done, however, and the right side wheel covers on my '05 Prius suffered the consequences, eventually becoming badly scuffed and cracked. Just traded it in on a new Prius c and am vowing to park further away from the curb. We'll see if I can change and maintain that new habit!
I'm slowly getting 'calibrated' to the new dimensions. I drove the same Corolla sedan for 23 years, so I still expect my rear bumper to be 3 feet past the rear window. I do better in front because I can estimate the bumper at twice the distance of the windshield wipers. On the other hand, I have never driven a car this easy to parallel park. The tight turning radius and wheels near the corners make it almost simple. This is a definite 'city friendly' feature. Tom
jgestar wrote: "I'm slowly getting 'calibrated' to the new dimensions" SquallLHeart wrote: "for ANY vehicle.. it is mostly time behind the driver's seat that will truly help in figuring out and determining what that distance is and how comfortable you become in maneuvering in tight spaces."I agree with these guys, the more time behind the wheel of your c, the more in tune you'll become with it's spacial dimensions. It'll get easier, especially when the "new" wears off after a few hundred more miles. Personally, I still have a tough time stopping myself from pulling into parking spaces too far. (I had a full size van before and needed to "snug in" as close as possible, so the rear wouldn't stick out.) This car sits so low that I am afraid of rippin' off the air dam and scraping the underside of the front bumper on parking blocks. Also, it worries me that, by pulling in too far, the parking space will look empty and I'll get rear ended. You're not alone cmstlist, many of us are still learning about and adjusting to the size of the Prius c. Deb
I'm going on 6000miles and am still adjusting. The car is tiny and can fit anywhere but being so low, one wrong move and things will get nasty. I still havent gotten a grasp on the distance of things behind me. While parallel parking, it will look like I'm about to hit the car behind me but when I get out there's a good 4-5 feet there.
As for how far to pull into parking spaces, the best I can usually do is to compare with the car beside me. If I'm beside a car that I *know* is longer than mine, then I can be pretty safely assured that when my seat is lined up with the driver's seat of that car, I am far enough in (with more room to spare than my neighbour). And really, it's not very hard to guesstimate whether a car beside me is bigger than mine.
if i cant see the front of the car, i sometimes turn on my lights and use the reflection to judge how close i am to the object in front. the closer you are, the more focused the lights. the c has very little rear overhang so i just have to get used to that.
