[EasyEd4449]

I recently purchased a Prius Prime Advanced and am enjoying its fuel economy and EV driving mode. I currently have ~6k miles in a bit under 4 months. The more I have driven it there are several shortcomings that have emerged.

1. The maps in the Navigation system at the time of purchase were 12 months old! Recently I had the car into the dealer for its 5k service and inquired about a map update. I was told there was not yet an update available for this vehicle. WTF, map updates are specific to the vehicle? I live in an area with a lot of new construction, it may be several years before the Navigation system can locate my home or the surrounding streets. :frown:

Having read the navigation manual, I still don't understand how traffic conditions are updated and displayed/communicated to the driver. Occasionally I get a pop up on the screen informing me that traffic conditions have changed/updated. Nothing on my route appears to change as a result of this new data. :frown:

Thank God for WAZE which is updated constantly. It does a better job of navigation due to these updates (2 days after moving into an newly constructed development I had directions from my driveway to a destination). WAZE does a better job of advising of traffic issues on the route ahead by turning the route yellow or red. Too bad I can't get the Prius to use WAZE instead of the Toyota navigation system.

2. Many of the advanced features only work with the Apple iOs protocol (iPhone). Hey Toyota, not everybody has an iPhone! In recent phone activations, Android phones outnumber iPhones approx. 2 to 1. The MP3 player on an Android phone is NOT compatible with many of the Prius' systems. This is very disappointing as I have a large music library that I would like to play in my car. I recently researched this online only to discover that there is not currently a solution to this issue. :wtf:

3. Lack of sun visor extensions. What no extensions? :surprise: The visors are barely adequate in the forward position, but when moved to the side they are totally inadequate. There is about 10" where the sun can shine in over one's shoulder which can be very annoying and distracting at times. Every vehicle I've owned in the past 20+ years has had some type of sun visor extension. This was easily resolved with the purchase of an aftermarket product, but is was $25 I should not have had to spend!

Before you ask, Yes I have communicated these issues to Toyota via their quality survey.

Has anyone else experienced these issues?
Have you resolved any of these issues?
Has anyone experienced other issues with their Prius Prime?
Have you had any success resolving your issues?

I would love to hear from others.

Easy Ed

 

[11camryhyb]

Sorry, EasyEd, I can't be of help. I would love to rip the nav out of mine and just keep the satellite radio. First, the nav can't be manipulated on the move. Second, it is strictly for routing, not traffic. I got off a freeway due to a traffic accident, and tried to set the nav for home. It promptly told me to get right back onto the freeway I just got off of. I then set the map in my phone to my zip code. My phone then played through the car speaker, routing me south instead of north, onto a different freeway, and home 1/2 hour sooner.

 

[Skyloran]

Right now I am looking for a Prius Prime so I read your thread with interest and appreciated your feedback to Toyota. I use WAZE almost every place in the world and would rather use my own nav system. Your other feedback was good also.

 

[ukrkoz]

With Waze, or, even Google maps, on any phone, navigation charge is waste of money. For starters, my cell is about as large as nav screen in a car anyway. Next, say, in my 19 RAM, I do not have nav. Was smart enough not to care about it. But I can mirror phone screen on truck head unit display. So why bother with nav, especially that it comes out as "update" already being at least year old?

Unless you still on flip phones or don't have cell at all. Sure.

 

[EasyEd4449]

ukrkoz,

You are a bit late to the party. I started this thread in January 2018, a year and a half ago!

I think you are missing the point on the NAV system issue.

1. Toyota is iOS centric, (i.e.: Apple OS NOT Android OS) though I hear this is beginning to change with some 2019/2020 Toyota models offering Android Auto. Your '19 RAM may have Android Auto as Fiat/Chrysler and Ford ("Fix It Again Tony" and "Fix Or Repair Daily") seem to have embraced Android. No Android Apps like Music or WAZE are available.

2. WAZE (owned by Google/Alphabet) is a superior navigation app which is constantly updated by users for current conditions. Futhermore, WAZE is able to acquire new streets and addresses faster than even Google Maps. WAZE is not a static app like the Toyota on-board NAV system (i.e.: error riddled. e.g: I-5 and US 50 are NOT the same hi-way.) which would require periodic updates, apparently at owner expense, if one is ever available.

3. You have a cell phone with an 11" screen like my Prius Prime Advanced? Wow, I'd like to see that! (I thought those were called "tablets".) Seriously, my Android phone is a Google Pixel XL (definitely NOT a flip phone) which is plenty large enough...the phone communicates with the car via bluetooth for calls and messages and that is about it.

4. There are times when I have used the Toyota on-board NAV system side-by-side with WAZE and there is a world of difference. Accuracy, routing, traffic conditions and mid-course corrections are the important factors to me.

5. My sense of direction is pretty good, I can read a map so I don't necessarily need a navigation system. I could probably drive across country w/o a map if I had to. I do welcome the updates on current traffic conditions and re-routes as well as detours due to road construction from a navigation system.

 

[ukrkoz]

3. You have a cell phone with an 11" screen like my Prius Prime Advanced? Wow, I'd like to see that! (I thought those were called "tablets".)

Phablets. they are called phablets. Phone the size of a small tablet.
Of course, it is silly to presume that my phone is as large as 11 inch display. Also, should we subtract all the junk that OEM nav puts up onto display, there will be much less of the nav map itself left, than 11 inch diagonal.
But by no means I am referring to that display. I am referring to what average Toyota owner has, and that does not much change from Camry to Highlander. Same size head unit with same size display. I had my phone set against those displays on both cars. On Lexus RX350. On 2 brand new Lexus loaners. In all cases, useful viewable area of my phone running an app is roughly 80% of useful viewable area on standard, not oversized, units with display.

Apples to apples. No pun intended, I am Android guy. I tried IOS once, after 1.5 hr setting up Apple Store account, I returned it and said never again.