New to hybrids and Prius, need pointers on a 2012 model

[kithmo]

TBH Pete, I wouldn't change the space saver at 5 years old unless it's had a lot of use. It's not exposed to the weather and sunlight (which is what ages tyres apparently). It should last 10 years or so if not used much, as long as it's checked regularly.

[danowat]

Picked it up, all seems fine so far, economy seems good, in my diesel car my commute gives me about 46mpg, this morning in the Prius was 69mpg, so that's a significant improvement.

Any tips or tricks for a new owner?, anything that you wished you'd known when you first had one?

[Anthony Poli]

Picked it up, all seems fine so far, economy seems good, in my diesel car my commute gives me about 46mpg, this morning in the Prius was 69mpg, so that's a significant improvement.

Any tips or tricks for a new owner?, anything that you wished you'd known when you first had one?

 

 

Just have fun and get used to it.

After that you can try the various tips and see which works best for you.

If you can get 69 mpg on a regular basis then you probably don't need to worry, until winter ;-)

 

 

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[Duffryn]

69mpg is very good indeed. But it depends on where you get the information from to come up with that figure. If it's from the cars' own computer then I'd take it with a pinch of salt. Mine read 83.5mpg after a 27 mile trip recently, but overall I struggle to better 60, this being a far more accurate figure provided by using the Fuelly website.

Glad you're pleased though, and good luck with the car.

[danowat]

9 minutes ago, Duffryn said:

If it's from the cars' own computer then I'd take it with a pinch of salt.

Ahhh, is that a known 'feature' then?

I'll take a look at Fuelly.

[Anthony Poli]

If it's from the cars' own computer then I'd take it with a pinch of salt.

Ahhh, is that a known 'feature' then?

I'll take a look at Fuelly.

 

Using fuelly it gives my average as 51 v the dashboard average of 56 mpg.

 

It also gives you the miles per tank. For me that is more important

 

 

 

 

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[kithmo]

My previous Gen 3 and the Prius+ were 4 mpg optimistic on the trip and my current Gen 4 is slightly better, 3.4 mpg optimistic. I always fill up at the last pip on the gauge and usually get between 35-39 litres in. 

My fuelly currently says 57.5 mpg and my lifetime average on the trip says 60.9 mpg so it's  3.4 mpg out

[kithmo]

4 hours ago, Duffryn said:

69mpg is very good indeed. But it depends on where you get the information from to come up with that figure. If it's from the cars' own computer then I'd take it with a pinch of salt. Mine read 83.5mpg after a 27 mile trip recently, but overall I struggle to better 60, this being a far more accurate figure provided by using the Fuelly website.

Glad you're pleased though, and good luck with the car.

If he's taking the trip computer reading on both cars then it's still a good indicator for comparison.

[johalareewi]

On 6/23/2017 at 0:26 PM, danowat said:

Ahhh, is that a known 'feature' then?

Yes. There are a few known features ;)

[danowat]

12 minutes ago, johalareewi said:

Yes. There are a few known features ;)

Ha!, which other ones!!!

There is still a lot I am trying to get my head around, I can't see to get the car to connect to the internet (for traffic on the nav) through my phone, just keeps saying connection failed.

Plus, it's the first car I've had with such a complex system of settings and options, blows my mind a little bit.

Other than that, car is going well, settled at 66mpg over the last 200 miles (on the computer of course!) which is good enough for me.

Couple of little things I don't like, the reversing buzzer is a pain in the rear, and for some reason the HUD seems to lighten and darken for no apparent reason.

[PeteB]

6 minutes ago, danowat said:

...Plus, it's the first car I've had with such a complex system of settings and options, blows my mind a little bit.

Other than that, car is going well, settled at 66mpg over the last 200 miles (on the computer of course!) which is good enough for me.

Couple of little things I don't like, the reversing buzzer is a pain in the rear, and for some reason the HUD seems to lighten and darken for no apparent reason.

It works fine with everything on default, as you get more used to the car you can tinker a bit more - wait 'till you get a gen 4 Prius - the gen 3 is minimalist by comparison - it took me 20 minutes to set all my preferences up before driving away when I first collected it!

I calculated my fuel consumption at each fill-up on a database on my phone and log the car's estimate from the B trip meter.  On average the car is about 5% optimistic.

Unlike the Gen 2, the Gen 3 reversing buzzer can be disabled by the dealer, or the owner if you buy a device that plugs into the diagnostic port.  My dealer (Dingles of Norwich) has never changed me for doing so, but some charge £25 or even £40 (or more!) for hooking up their diagnostic computer.

[PeteB]

Oh yes, and the HUD reacts to background light to keep it visible, which I've found works well about 98% of the time.

If I get the intensity right for a given situation, the auto adjustment works well enough for me - I almost never have to alter it, same goes for my Gen 4 Prius.

[danowat]

20 minutes ago, PeteB said:

Unlike the Gen 2, the Gen 3 reversing buzzer can be disabled by the dealer, or the owner if you buy a device that plugs into the diagnostic port.  My dealer (Dingles of Norwich) has never changed me for doing so, but some charge £25 or even £40 (or more!) for hooking up their diagnostic computer.

Excellent, my local dealer to, I'll give them a shout, as I need to speak to them about extended warranty.

[kithmo]

2 hours ago, PeteB said:

Oh yes, and the HUD reacts to background light to keep it visible, which I've found works well about 98% of the time.

If I get the intensity right for a given situation, the auto adjustment works well enough for me - I almost never have to alter it, same goes for my Gen 4 Prius.

If you want it to stay bright all the time (Gen 3), adjust the brightness up to the highest then hold up for two seconds and the HUD will Brighten more and stay at that level.

With the Gen 4, setting it to the max brightness will cancel auto brightness. 

[QuantumFireball]

2 hours ago, danowat said:

Ha!, which other ones!!!

The speedometer over-reads like crazy in my experience, e.g.:

56 km/h indicated = 50 km/h real
109 = 100
130 = 120

It's definitely the same with miles :) Might be different with 17" wheels (I have 15").

You can check with the satnav, as the speed limit indicator will turn red when you're over the real speed. Other GPS devices or an OBD-II scanner will also be able to give you a more accurate speed.

The low fuel warning is also very pessimistic. When it starts flashing/beeping I find there's still about 9 litres left in the tank (it is 45 total). I think it's similar in other Toyotas though.

As others have said, the reverse beeping can be turned off (well, it will still beep once when you select R) by a dealer or any other OBD-II scanner with Torque or similar software.

With the HUD, I find on sunny days when wearing polarising sunglass I need to manually set it to the maximum brightness, which you can do by pressing and holding the brightness "up" button.

[danowat]

Just to return to the extended warranty, my local dealer are offering two years for £516, a bit more than the £400 as previously discussed.

I know it's a bit of a gamble, but how likely is it that the warranty will cost me more than anything that's likely to go wrong in 2 years?, I know it's a piece of mind thing, but a car with relatively low mileage, and with a reliability index of the model as low as it is, I can't help but think it's a lot of money to gamble on such low odds!!!

[FROSTYBALLS]

1 hour ago, danowat said:

Just to return to the extended warranty, my local dealer are offering two years for £516, a bit more than the £400 as previously discussed.

I know it's a bit of a gamble, but how likely is it that the warranty will cost me more than anything that's likely to go wrong in 2 years?, I know it's a piece of mind thing, but a car with relatively low mileage, and with a reliability index of the model as low as it is, I can't help but think it's a lot of money to gamble on such low odds!!!

How long is a piece of string?

Your hybrid components warranty will also end in November, but you will have the remainder of the 8 year/100,000 mile hybrid Battery warranty.

The extended warranty will include Toyota's Roadside Assistance for the duration of the extended warranty which is worth a minimum of £72 annually if one were to buy this separately. In effect the extended warranty will cost less.

At the end of the day what may or may not go wrong over the two year period is impossible to determine. So unfortunately the choice has to be down to you. 

The one time we bought an extended warranty (on a Mazda Premacy we'd had from new), 8 months into the extension, the driver's airbag developed a fault and needed replacing. This was back in 2007 - the airbag module cost £750 plus fitting, which was more than double the cost of the extended warranty.

 

 

 

[danowat]

Another quick question, the fuel price setting, what are the units?, price per litre?, per gallon?, also, it's in Euro, I take it all EU priuses have it in Euro, or can you change it to £?

[PeteB]

Don't worry about the € symbol, it's just a symbol.

The units you want are £ per gallon.

It's easy for me, I have a database on my phone and type in the litres and price paid.  I have created fields that calculate the cost per litre (to check I've entered valid data), per gallon, pence per mile and lots of other info.

When I first got my previous Gen 3 Prius I initially entered cost per litre, and got some weird data which made me realise it had to be gallons.

[danowat]

Thank you!

[johalareewi]

19 hours ago, danowat said:

Just to return to the extended warranty, my local dealer are offering two years for £516, a bit more than the £400 as previously discussed.

I know it's a bit of a gamble, but how likely is it that the warranty will cost me more than anything that's likely to go wrong in 2 years?, I know it's a piece of mind thing, but a car with relatively low mileage, and with a reliability index of the model as low as it is, I can't help but think it's a lot of money to gamble on such low odds!!!

The £400 quoted by the independent dealer was probably not for Toyota's own Extended Warranty but for a generic warranty product which might not cover some of the hybrid parts.  You would need to read the small print to see what was covered.

Toyota's own Extended Warranty covers all hybrid parts and includes a few extras.  FrostyBalls already mentioned Toyota Roadside Assistance (which is excellent).  MOT failure cover is handy. And there is some car hire cover if your vehicle is in for warranty repair.

I did mention it earlier but one of the requirements of the Toyota Extended Warranty is that your car is serviced by MrT so it is worth asking your dealer what the price is for a 2 year warranty + service plan bundle (and + MOT while you are at it).  

[danowat]

This was the blurb the guy sent me, no service plan, but an MOT failure package.

Quote

If your Toyota is under 12 years old & less than 100,000

You are eligible to PUT YOUR CAR BACK INTO WARRANTY

for up to 24 months or 30,000 miles (whichever comes first)

Comprehensive coverage against Mechanical or Electrical failure

In the unlikely event of a breakdown to a protected component

the repair will be carried out at no cost to you

MOT test cover is also included!

Failed components will be repaired.

You just pay for the test fee (& the first £10 of the repair)

!

Free Toyota Roadside Assistance provided by the AA

Roadside assistance throughout the UK & 44 European countries,

24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Equivalent to AA's top package

Nationwide coverage for repairs

Toyota Trained Technicians, using Toyota genuine parts

All we ask is:

Your vehicle is serviced once a year (more frequently for higher mileage)

At an approved Toyota dealer or service point

 

[danowat]

The water is getting muddier, apparently as the last Toyota service was in 2014, has been serviced by an independent since, they first need to perform a Hybrid Health Check, if it passes, they can offer the warranty, if it does't (:-O) they can't!

[Anthony Poli]

The water is getting muddier, apparently as the last Toyota service was in 2014, has been serviced by an independent since, they first need to perform a Hybrid Health Check, if it passes, they can offer the warranty, if it does't (:-O) they can't!

 

Hopefully if there is no problem with the car, then it should pass the hybrid health check. Usually you would expect the mpg would deteriorate over time, as the Battery is worsening.

 

 

 

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[danowat]

Fingers crossed, it appears to be ok, computer reports between 65-70mpg per trip, and the car has only done 34k, so I'd like to think it will be fine, but who knows!

What specifically does the HHC do?, what do they check and look for, it takes 45mins, so it's a bit more involved than just whacking a multimeter on the Battery!