My personal opinion... When I buy a new car for $20,000+ plus, I don't start counting nickels and dimes on the options... I got the comfort access and use the door handle button 90% of the time. I really like keeping my key in my pocket too. This is a system I will would like to have in any car I buy in the future!

 

Like most people have said it's not a necessity but once you start using it you can't figure out how got along before. I only take my keys out of my pocket now to put on the table when I get home or to confuse people when I'm showing off the car.

I do like that it keeps me from locking the keys in the car, sux that the key doesn't recharge.

 

I love it, but I'm a "gadget guy". I like not having to dig my keys out of a pocket in bad weather, especially when my hands are full. Otherwise I guess it wouldn't be a big deal. But it has been very "convenient" on several occasions. I would definitely order it again, but that's just me. Like some of the other readers have stated, there may be other options that you prefer to spend your money on. Depends on what you want and your budget. You can opt a Mini to well over $40K if you're not careful.

 

Give you two different points of view on this. My wife has had a Prius for 3 years with this feature. She loves it. Just keeps the key in her purse. For the rest of the family it is not so good. If I need to run a quick errand in her car I have to rumage through her purse to find the stupid key (how can so much stuff fit in there?) or else I have to go into the 7-11 carrying a purse

 

I ordered the convenience package but haven't received my car yet. Here are some questions about the comfort access:
Can you start the car, get out, and (say) scrape your windows without the car shutting off?
Will the car continue to run even if you walk away from it?
Can you lock the doors with the car running?

 

Isn't there an extra key?

 

One might argue that from some greater, global, point of view, the Comfort Access is indeed a gimmick.

That said, what's not to love about gimmicks? I have it, and think it's a great gimmick!

 

I've wondered this myself with this type of system:

What happens after you start the car and you get out?

I could see this type of issue, I get in the car with my wife, I have forgotten my key, she has her's in her purse. We start the car, I drop her at work and drive away, I get to work and don't have a key!

I'm assuming that the engineers figured all of these types issues out so something must warn you that you don't have a key with you, or it doesn't let you drive away.


My wife's grandfather has a Hybrid Camry with a similar system and one night when they came over for a visit I walked outside to the driveway to find his car sitting there just humming because they didn't remember to hit the start/stop button. I don't know if I could have driven away in it.

 

Yes, it's in her other purse

 

HA!!

 

Do we have the same wife? 5'4", brown hair, big purse?

 

My wife and I opted for this option when we ordered. I thought it was kinda dumb until the dealer gave a demo on a car they had in stock. Pretty cool I suppose. We'll see when the car arrives. I look at it more like why would we order pretty much every other option and not this.

PS: we got everything except NAV and the electric front window defroster.

Question: Does the key fob battery charge when you insert it into the ignition like BMW?

 

 

Close, but 5' 5", red hair, a tightly packed small purse, and a high level of tolerance for her car nut husband

 

Thanx for the answer

 

Comfort Access is a really cool option. The wife loves to show it off. You do have to be really close to the car for it to work, and I wish that it auto-locked the car when you walked away, but I am very happy with it! I sometimes forget to get the key out of my pocket when driving the wife's car.

 

I really like comfort access now. Came in a package or I'd probably not have paid for it separately. One word on the fob thing: If fob #2 is hanging inside your house near the car it could mess up your radio stations even if you have main fob #1 with you. I've heard of that happening.

 

Wow, I didn't think of that. I'm sure it would probably be worse if your wife/husband had the second fob with them and they were riding with you.

 

Yes, you can get out of the car and it will still run. I've forgotten something in the house, gotten out of the car to retrieve it, all while the keys were still in my pocket. I've never tried to lock the car from outside with it running though.

 

i bought the cr2032 twopack from best buy for $3. it'll take you a minute to change.

 

I'll be a lone dissenter on the comfort access. I think it's cool but my problem is that I don't like having the key in my pocket. I'd rather stick it in the ignition versus having it in my pocket or throwing it in some cubby hole. I know you can stick the comfort access key in the ignition as well but that defeats the look ma, no keys convenience factor.

EDIT: Question: Do you have to use the key fob (dig through a purse to find the key) to lock the car from the outside when you have comfort access?

 

No. With the fob in your pocket, shut off the engine, get out, close the door and press the little black button on the door handle. The doors lock. Hold the button in for a few seconds while locking and all the windows roll up.

When you lock the car it shuts off the audio and other electronics. If you aren't going to lock the door, you need to shut off the engine, take your foot off the clutch, and hit the start/stop button again to shut down the electronics.

The other day I went to the Post Office, got out of the car, and locked it. After mailing a shift ****, I came out, unlocked the door and found the audio still running. I had forgotten to shut off the engine. So, not only can you get out of the car with the engine running, you can lock it and walk away. Not sure I see the benefit in that. I think I'd prefer it if locking the car shut off the engine.

 

I don't have it and wish I did now.

 

awesome.

 

Useful to run out and warm the car up when it's cold before I load up the family. Anyway, I regret not getting Comfort Access, but don't really think about it until threads like this pop-up.

Anyway, as discovered by another user, I can start my car, stop it, remove the key fob, re-start it without the key fob, then leave and lock the car with the key fob. The alarm does not activate, but the doors do lock. Alternatively, I can remove the key inside the Fob to manually lock the doors while the engine is running with the Fob still in place.

Comfort Access makes things easier.