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Greenhouse gas and pollution emissions - or the lack thereof
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Fuel efficiency
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Satellite navigation - although in it's first major test it tried to take me down a no-through road, but this was in the middle of nowhere, ant it was an easy matter to get myself onto an alternate route; also using the satellite navigation
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Bluetooth - It now just automatically connects to my HTC Wildfire whenever I get into the car. Nice. The ability to use voice recognition with that is a real bonus as well.
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Smart key. It just makes sense. Why should you stick a piece of metal into a slot to start a modern car?
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The JBL stereo. It's significantly better than the standard Commodore unit.
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The engine stops when you stop in traffic or at a set of lights! It seems to make so much damn sense now that I've got a car that does it, whereas I don't think I'd even thought about it before. Why use fuel to power a vehicle that's not moving??
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A hatchback with split-folding rear seats. But then, people who drive hatches already know this...
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Digital speedo readout. Now that we can get fined for doing 3km over the limit, near enough just isn't good enough. This isn't to say that a digital speedo is more accurate, but rather that it's easier to keep your speed within a defined range.
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Front, side, and curtain airbags
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ABS, Traction Control, EBD, Swerve Control, etc, etc
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The fact that it encourages discussions about the environment and methods of reducing greenhouse gas and pollution. If you don't like this aspect, by a Honda Civic hybrid. Or don't go anywhere where you'll meet people.
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The controls on the steering wheel. There's something like 16 buttons on it, but once you get used to their layout, it's a breeze to use and you barely have to take your hands off the wheel.
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More than 180,000km later, and not a thing going wrong with it.
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Electric steering is a bit light, particularly compared to the firm steering on the SS Commodore. I'm used to it now, but it does require a bit more attention when you're in strong crosswinds. And in context, where I live we regularly get wind gusts of between 70 - 90km/h.
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The look of the car. It's not that it's ugly, but just that it's not on my top 10 list of attractive-looking cars. It is endearing though.
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No reach adjustment on the steering. I really liked that on the Commodore, and it's probably the Number 1 thing I miss. Besides being able to go from 0-100 in 5.8 seconds of course.....
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The reversing camera. Now this has to be taken in context. The Commodore had reverse parking sensors which I really liked. My driving style was to always physically look backwards whenever I was reversing the car, and just used the sensors as a fail-safe. The reversing camera (to be useful) requires you to look forwards, which is just a bit unnatural for me at the moment. It does give a good view out the back of the car, and to within a few inches of the rear bumper. The addition of reversing sensors would make it ideal.
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No electric seat adjustment. Hey, isn't this an electric car? I can understand it would have added weight, but it's a shame it's not included.
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No 'fuel to go' trip computer.
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The horn. Just because it's a small car, doesn't mean it needs to have a small horn. It's not that I use it a lot, but when I do, I want people to actually know it's been used.
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What's with the climate control? It seems to be linked to the outside temperature, such that the temperature you set it at will vary depending on how hot it is outside. As an example, the past few days have been in the mid 30's, which means I need to have the climate control set to about 26 C to be comfortable.
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There don't appear to be any air vents for rear seat passengers. This doesn't particularly bother me since I don't sit in the back whilst driving, but I guess it could be an issue for some people.
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Most of the reports I'd read say that the Prius gets better fuel economy around town than on the highway, mainly because the petrol engine is running for most of the time on the highway. So far though, I'd say I'm getting better figures on the highway. Maybe because it contains a a number of peak-hour stop/start driving when the traffic banks up?
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I had a guy pull up next to me at a set of lights the other day and motioned for me to wind down my window. When I did, he yelled "186,000km and not a thing gone wrong! Best damn car I've ever owned!" It took a moment for me to realise he was driving a first-generation Prius, since I'd never actually seen one on the road. Such open loyalty and pride in a car is certainly the exception rather than the norm.
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When the parkers or headlights are on, the dash instrumentation and MFD automatically dim. Unfortunately though there's no way of over-riding this. This isn't to say you can't read them, just that it's not as bright as I'd prefer it to be. UPDATE: OK, it'd really help if I read the manual (which I still haven't done). I found by complete accident that if you hold down the dash dimmer button when the parkers or headlights are on (if you press it briefly you can select between three stages of illumination) it'll return the dash to full brightness! Now, where the heck's that manual....
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