New Gen 2 T3 Owner

[T3Dan]

Afternoon all - I've recently taken delivery of a Gen 3 Prius T3. I've been immediately impressed by the fuel consumption over my old Audi A2 1.6 (and the added benefit of the engine not packing in every month)

I have a couple of questions - sure to be more to come as I get used to the car:

- I have a '55 plate T3 with just 44500 miles. Is there anything that I should be keeping an eye on for a low mileage car of that age? The 12v Battery was replaced with a new Optima Battery last year, and the service history is complete and 100% Toyota.

- How do people use a TomTom-type satnav with this car? any tips, given that the only 12v outlet is in the centre console box?

Cheers

Dan

[FROSTYBALLS]

Hello Daniel - welcome to Toyota Owners Club.

[PeteB]

IHi Dan

Welcome to the Group and to the Hybrid clan.

When I drove a Gen 2 (and Gen 1 for that matter), I bought a self adhesive disc (Tom Tom sell them in packs of 2 for about £5) that I stuck to the dash behind the steering wheel and put the mount on that. I found it was handy to see the TomTom above the steering wheel and it didn't obscure the main instruments. I ran the lead from the Tom Tom down the left of the steering column to the central box and I reached quite easily (if yours is too short it is possible to buy extension leads).

Regards, Pete

[Joseph D]

- I have a '55 plate T3 with just 44500 miles. Is there anything that I should be keeping an eye on for a low mileage car of that age? The 12v battery was replaced with a new Optima battery last year, and the service history is complete and 100% Toyota.

The Prius Gen 2 is an excellent car and, having been well maintained, will give you many more years of trouble free (and economical) motoring.

The 12v Battery was the only thing I was going to suggest, but as that has been replaced with an Optima (Yellow Top, I presume), there isn't much else to think about. The 12v system, like any lead/acid Battery, does enjoy and benefit from, regular driving. If you are not doing a lot of regular miles then search the forum for Battery care to get some tips. It is no more than you would do for a normal car that is not driven regularly - trouble is not many people these days know how to care for their batteries. On the subject of the battery, though, don't run accessories unnecessarily off the accessory socket, but when you do, always have the car in 'Ready' mode when running them, even the radio.

Tyres: Make sure you check them regularly and maintain the correct pressures. I found on the Gen 2 that the tyres wore unevenly (outside edges more than the centre) at the pressures recommended in the manual (F35/R33) and that I got more even wear by running 2-3 PSI higher. YMMV (Your millage may vary - pun intended). Maintaining correct tyre pressure helps with fuel economy.

Join Fuelly (fully.com) and track your millage to get accurate MPG reading for your car. The onboard MPG gauge is ok and fun for trip to trip or tank to tank, but you are interested in what your car is doing long term (and with Fuelly, you can see trends long term) and notice how MPG's are affected by summer/winter petrol formulations and also the summer/winter weather.

Fuel: Don't waste your hard earned £'s on RON 98, just use the recommended RON 95 (i. e. the cheaper stuff). Another benefit of tracking on Fuelly, it will show you that you do not get better fuel economy using RON 98. Make sure you compare like for like - e. g. don't compare summer tanks with winter thanks. At best it will be the same, but I found that it was on average worse - not by a lot, but worse nonetheless. I have posted in detail in another thread to back up my statements, if you are interested to read more on the fascinating and sometimes controversial subject.

Off the top of my head, that's about it really.

Just enjoy driving and continue the scheduled maintenance.

Happy hybrid driving.

HTH

[cootuk]

For a phone/satnav, we run the cable from the glovebox up the side of the mfd.

Either the phone props on the cd holder lid, or we have a sticky holder on the windscreen just above the mfd

[T3Dan]

Thanks for the advice - I'd done a little homework and was aware of the Battery issues before I went car shopping - the service history and Battery change has given a fair bit of confidence!

The return to 95 RON fuel is very welcome indeed. The 1.6 FSI engine in the A2 will only run properly on 98/99 RON fuel, so the last couple of years have been on the expensive side.

With regards to the satnav, I have been a little unclear - is there any way to plug such things in and use them on the dash without having to drive along with the centre console box wide open? Seems the RHD car didn't come with the dash 12v socket, which is a little miserly of Toyota IMHO.

[Joseph D]

With regards to the satnav, I have been a little unclear - is there any way to plug such things in and use them on the dash without having to drive along with the centre console box wide open? Seems the RHD car didn't come with the dash 12v socket, which is a little miserly of Toyota IMHO.

As long as the cable is not too thick, you should be able to drape the cable over the side and close the lid. I do that with my phone charger cable when I stow the phone in the cup holder.

[PeteB]

there is a slight gap under the front of the arm rest cover, I just leave mine coming out through that

[Sagitar]

Afternoon all - I've recently taken delivery of a Gen 3 Prius T3. I've been immediately impressed by the fuel consumption over my old Audi A2 1.6 (and the added benefit of the engine not packing in every month)

I have a couple of questions - sure to be more to come as I get used to the car:

- I have a '55 plate T3 with just 44500 miles. Is there anything that I should be keeping an eye on for a low mileage car of that age? The 12v battery was replaced with a new Optima battery last year, and the service history is complete and 100% Toyota.

- How do people use a TomTom-type satnav with this car? any tips, given that the only 12v outlet is in the centre console box?

Cheers

Dan

Do you not have another 12v outlet under the bridge that carries the gear lever? Both of mine have had outlets there, but I had a T Spirit and now a PiP so they may be different.

[PeteB]

Do you not have another 12v outlet under the bridge that carries the gear lever? Both of mine have had outlets there, but I had a T Spirit and now a PiP so they may be different.

Dan has a Gen 2 (I think he mistyped Gen 3 in one of his posts, but if it's a 55 plate it's a Gen 2, which only had one power socket inside the armrest cubby (in the UK, at least).

[timberwolf]

On the 2008, the arm rest when closed barely pinches the power cable. I bought the Garmin and their bean bag mount and sit it on the dash in the corner next to the window.

The power cable can be feed over the steering wheel cowl but for journeys of an hour I run on Battery as i dont like dangling cables.

I have the Scangauge data cable tucked behind the rubber door seal and the side of dash - it maybe posibble if you can find/make a long enough power cable to do something similar with a sat-nav lead??

[cootuk]

We found the lid of the armrest rattled a bit anyway, so we put a small chair floor protector pad on the underside at the corners...there's then enough room for a cable without being pinched

[PeteB]

another option, on my last Yaris I got my dealer to install another socket on the right hand side of the dash.

It cost £80, but was a neat job.

[T3Dan]

Do you not have another 12v outlet under the bridge that carries the gear lever? Both of mine have had outlets there, but I had a T Spirit and now a PiP so they may be different.

Dan has a Gen 2 (I think he mistyped Gen 3 in one of his posts, but if it's a 55 plate it's a Gen 2, which only had one power socket inside the armrest cubby (in the UK, at least).

Yes, this. Maybe Toyota wanted to encourage people to spend more on a T Spirit so external phone mounts/satnavs were not required!

[Grumpy Cabbie]

another option, on my last Yaris I got my dealer to install another socket on the right hand side of the dash.

It cost £80, but was a neat job.

Got one put in like that too. Best thing ever and it's always live (fused of course) even when the ignition is off. Not trailing cables and the sat nav sits just where it should - out of field of view but easy to see when needed.

I thought £100 for the sat nat (back in 2009) and £30 for the above installation was money worth paying. Much cheaper than £1,000 for the useless official sat nav.