Anyone played with the Lane Keep Assist? What do you think? Close to 'autopilot', or a gimmick that promises more that delivers? And how about the Dynamic Cruise? I'm intrigued by the possibilities.
I was very interrested in LKA, but more interrested in the sun roof and lower price. All I ask is that no one even think about using it as an auto pilot or we are all doomed. If the feature causes drivers to relax too much, there are bound to be disaters when the system encounters things it doesn't quite know what to make of like temporary lane markings in construction zones, or old lane markings that have not been completely removed. I will be interrested to hear of user's experiences with these anomolies such as any times when you try to steer your car around constrution cones or temporary lane markings and the system resists your efforts. I assume it turns off when you activate turn signals.
Hey TT. I'm about to have a V package with LKA here Monday for a tester... I'll try to get it out to the 405 and try it out. I'm skeptical too. If it weren't for my HOV stickers, I'd have a IV with SR/NV on order too. Di
Do NOT use it as an auto-pilot (else we're gonna have a highway of drones).. that and the police might pull you over for drunk driving cause you're weaving all over the place haha it's just there to nudge you back into the lane if you to accidentally drift out of it because you're sleepy or got distracted (e.g. phone dropped on the floor or the kids are yelling in the back). It will disengage if it senses that you're not taking control of the car.
Hey Dianne, can I come down and test drive the car? I am currently looking for a Prius V w/ATP in Winter Grey and the dark grey leather. I'm about and hour from you and would love to see the features that weren't on the III that I got to drive last week. Send me a PM and let me know and I will give you a call to set up a time to get down there. Thank you.
I guess people took my autopilot thing too seriously. There were quotes after all. I'm just looking for feedback on how it works, feels, and if it's intrusive. Poor choice of words on my part. After all, there have been long threads about color, tires, prices, etc. How about one regarding the highest tech I have heard of in any car. If anyone has driven on the freeway with LKA and DCC, I'd be interested in hearing your feelings, and whether you liked it or are ready to rip it out by it's little wires. Oh, and
Shawn, call me at 310 939 7801 and please let me know your #. It's pointless for you to drive out here till the car's here physically. Di
I'll try to give a concise write-up by week's end. I'll be driving about 300 miles RT Wed/Thur, so I'll give it a shot (I hope) and try to report back.
my impressions I have just spent all day in and out of this white/dark gray Prius III with NAV, and a few other goodies. I'll try to be concise! Love: The power. Peppy and really appreciate the modes you can choose, ie. econ and power. Got up to 25 mph in EV before it cancelled itself because I wanted more power. The foot on the pedal overrules any button pressed, I can see. The quietness. It's far quieter than my 2007 Package 6 car. Not anywhere near the road noise I experience. I have Goodyear Integrity tires on my 07. The room in the back seat! Oh My Gawd, thank heavens my son it out of high school LOL! Anyway, it's so roomy, when tall folks are driving, I have plenty of room sitting in the back seats, and I am not a midget! The driver's seat comfort. It's no Buick Park Avenue, but in comparison to the 2007, it's very driver-friendly and tips back just right, allows lots of thigh support and good comfort. I like the placement for the center console too. Good lumbar support. Passengers and driver can do more things with the NAV screens while the car's in motion. I love that under destinations, you can click and choose while moving any prior destinations in there - -that's handy! The climate screens are easier to use and control. Braking is better and WAY quieter ... I have always, since the 2001's came out, felt like it sounded like a rolling golf cart when coming to a stop. That noise is still there but far more muted. The JBL audio is way better and more crisp. Way better than my 2007. It corners GREAT! Handled wonderfully... tight as can be and the turning radius- wow. Makes UTurns great and takes corners VERY crisp and tightly, and fasssssssssst! Gas mileage -- testing, driving, city conditions with a smattering of freeway runs, and we STILL for 50 mpg. That freakin' rocks for fuel economy. Back cargo mat being foldable with the opening hiding pieces is a delight. Center console is way more ergonomic. The screen tipped back into the sloping dash and console is classy and pretty well eliminated any glare. Right now, those are my first written impressions I have shared. The two things I am not in love with are perhaps two things I need to learn to work better. 1. The mileage screens - the screens to scroll thru are confusing and that touch-tracer - what's da point? 2. The aux audio plug being in a center console that's already pretty far back and then being at the far back OF that console... why? Why wasn;t it placed in the front part of the console, for easier access? Call me curious. I like where it is in my old car. Anyway, any questions, please holler. We put over 300 miles on this factory loaner demo today... lovin' every minute of it!!
I did play with the LKA and the adaptive cruise a little bit on the way home, which wasn't so easy in inner city traffic. Definitely more of an open road feature, as you'd expect! The LKA worked as advertised. It started to beep if I let the car drift out of the lane and would start turning the wheel gently back to center. May have been my imagination, but also seemed like there was just a bit more stiffness in the power steering while it was on. I'll have to play some more where the traffic isn't quite so heavy. The adaptive cruise also seemed to work as advertised, but seemed to be a little slow to come back up to speed after a slow down. This would have been less of an issue in normal open road traffic where people aren't constantly cutting in and out the lane directly in front of you. Since it wants to maintain a certain following distance, the likelihood of people cutting in you obviously goes up when you are using it.
Makes sense. It wants you to steer back into the lane so maybe it's making it harder to see towards the edge of the lane?? Also I think the slowness to get back to speed is deliberate. We have voiced our issue with the cruise control accelerating too aggressively to return to the set speed thus lowering our FE. This should be in its own thread or in a driving impression thread. Anyway, thanks for your mini-review! My take on #2 is that the mp3 player sits on the hinged tray so that's why the AUX Input is at the back so that the wire goes straight up to the tray.
Dianne: I have to agree with you on almost all points -- excepting that I really like the touch tracer. It was practically impossible to see the steering wheel lights on my '07. Please take no offense, but I think your mini-review should go under the driving impressions thread, and this thread out to focus more on the LKA. I just gave it a quick try tonight. It worked as advertised, though it allowed me to get right to the double-yellow line before correcting. There are only two problems I've seen so far: When the LKA is on, the LKA display overlays (replaces, really) the other MID displays, such as the 5-minute or 1-minute comsumption screens. It will go inactive without any warning if the lane markings are not picked up. I suppose it is better NOT to have an audible warning, because it was going on and off frequently when I was on an older country road. So far, so good. This is the primary reason I opted for the ATP, and I'm glad to see it working so well. I was hoping to find this out when using the ACC later this week! This still doesn't make much sense to me. Why force everything to be hidden and inaccessible? This is NOT a very user-friendly placement (much like the buttons for the heated seats ).
That's because you don't remove the wire from the car, you just remove the mp3 player from the wire. It's the same on the Venza. Yes it's placed in the front of the centre console box but that's because the mp3 player holder is on the dash (kinda like a cupholder but for mp3 players) which means you have to remove your mp3 player each time you park the car (unless you want it stolen). With the Prius, it's all under the armrest, out of sight.
I understand that aspect, but I felt quite capable of placing it inside the armrest console when parking. It really is difficult to understand how this is supposed to be a good thing. I use my iPhone for everything and rarely use my iPod anylonger, and it just isn't that convenient to leave my iPhone in the armrest. Much will be solved when the iPhone ver. 3.0 software becomes available -- then I can use the Bluetooth streaming audio and the AUX button just won't matter very much.
