Toyota, practicing good Kaizen, will implement more improvements a week after your car is built, no matter when that is. That's the way they work. You will never get perfect. You will never have the best car they make, because the one they make after it will be better. That's the philosophy. If you are the type of person who will be miserable with your car once you find out that if you had waited a week you would have a better glove box latch, then I'd recommend that you buy from someone who doesn't practice incremental improvement, because you are just setting yourself up for much angst.
Good point Tempus. Hm, if that's the case... go get a Saturn Ion. Those obviously aren't going to be getting any better. (haha)
I'm afraid you're right. I called 1-800-GO TOYOTA today and got the expected non-commital "do not know", augmented by "...we would be the people who would know." I guess I'll cave and pick up the Tidelands #4 on Monday.
Don't worry, genalex, the Prius you get Monday will be the best car you've ever had! Sure, we expect the Prius to get better, but whatever you get now is sure better than anything else on the road.
Thanks for the kind words, Bill. My present '96 Camry has held the laurels for my best car ever up till now. A tough act to follow.
I traded my 2002 Camry XLE for my Silver Cloud with the BC package. When I bought the Camry I looked at the Prius and thought, "Not a bad Corolla, for the same price as the Camry." The new Prius is wonderful. Any little thing is just a nit. Sure, I'd like it to lock the doors when I start moving and unlock them when I turn it off, like the Camry, but there is an after-market fix for that.
Doe anyone know how to tweak the electronic assisted steering? I think less boost at all speeds would be better. FYI on the Euro Prius- I read somewhere that the 2004 model has stiffer bushings the the USA model(? dont' know which ones). Does anyone know what the "I" shaped round bar between the back Left-Right suspension is for ?(It's visible from the back of the car). It kind of looks like a whimpy anti-sway bar.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(MHR\";p=\"88897)</div> Leather is available in the 2005 in the Gulf States Region. Mine looks and feels great. Herb
Did anyone find any more info about this update/upgrade for the states? Is there a way to tell if you are looking at a Prius that has the updates? Just wondering....
I saw a newly delivered Prius yesterday at the dealer. It has a build date of 05/05. How can I tell if this Prius has the new revisions? Did anyone find out if the US is getting these revisions? -Lee
Toyota updates as it builds. You can't tell as it's seamlessly added to production. They don't let us know in advance and don't lets us know as they are delivered. When you go to the parts dept. they want the Model and Serial Number and there is lots of stuff that have Serial Number/build date inclusions in the parts list. If you want the right parts you have to have the serial number which gives them the build date. Toyotas way of continuously updating their product.
Is there anything physical we could look for. Toyota has added extra sound insulation, and has added a noise-absorbing film between the two layers of the windscreen. Is there a way to tell if this was installed?
Speaking of windshield, did Toyota say they were going to add an acoustic windshield (or something along the lines of that name)? Essentially the one on the Avalon Limited.