Leaderboard

Ormi is the man in the know as he is a fully qualified Toyota Technician. He seems to be repairing these faster than Toyota sold them, so I'd imagine they are quite prone to HG failure, but on the bright side the engine gets replaced with revised parts, so you could end up with a better/newer/ more reliable engine free of charge! Not many manufacturers would do that, so don't worry too much.

http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/products/0419744/?searchTerm=419744&relevancy-data=636F3D3126696E3D4931384E525353746F636B4E756D626572266C753D656E266D6D3D6D61746368616C6C26706D3D5E5C647B367D247C5E5C647B377D247C5E5C647B31307D2426706F3D3126736E3D592673743D52535F53544F434B5F4E554D424552267573743D3431393734342677633D4E4F4E4526 Fits nicely in the existing blanks, placed vertically.

ok i will go to the toyota dealer and let it instal it i gonna post picktures when they are installed :)

Have you given the tyres time to bed in? I recently changed my front tyres and found a similar drop in economy that you refer to. I was so concerned after no change after a couple tanks of fuel that I contacted the dealers. They said its normal and it should balance out after about a 1000 miles. Sure enough, I have noticed a steady increase in my mpg and now on my fourth tankful (about 1000 miles) I am pretty much back to normal mpg. Have you noticed this too?

Thanks for this Chris - I didn't know it existed! I have re-set the calibration so let's see what happens with the mpg reading. I'll let you know when I've clocked up a few miles... Hi Chris. I have done the recalibration and no change, my Prius is still returning a measly 42/43 mpg. What is even more annoying is that I have written twice to Toyota about this and they haven't even bothered to reply. I changed my front tyres recently and found that the mpg dropped quite badly as was getting about 42-43 mpg I thought they seemed to be improving as they bedded in, but no I was still getting 42mpg on average. On a long run I managed 50mpg where I would normally have got 60mpg! I have today been to the dealers who thought they'd replaced the fronts with like for like Bridgestone B250's. It appears the B250's on the Prius as new and the B250's sold in the UK are COMPLETELY different tyres. Word of warning - Do NOT replace with B250's - they are not the same. The Japanese version the Prius comes with is a B250 Ecopia (low resistance tyre) whereas the UK (made in Poland) B250 is an economy (as in cheap) tyre. Been in communication with my dealers since the tyres were changed two weeks ago as the mpg loss was worrying. Been to see them today and they have agreed to replace the new B250's recently fitted with some new Bridgestone ER300 Ecopia's to see if this will rectify my very poor mpg. To assist they also replaced the engine oil with 0w20 just incase they'd accidentally filled it at last service with 0w30. They don't believe they did but thought it a small costing to try and rectify the mpg. So, we shall see if the Prius will return to its super mpg or whether I now have an expensive car that gets the same mpg as an Avensis. Will keep you updated.

Update : The new Bridgestone ER300 Ecopia's are fantastic. They've done the trick. My mpg's are back to normal, the car is much quieter and handles smoother. So be very careful what tyre you get when you come to change. Do NOT replace with B250's and if you want to stick to Bridgestone, then I'd recommend the ER300 Ecopia's. It is nice to get my mpg back to normal again. Just been on a nice airport run of about 200 miles and averaged 60 mpg

Check out the following; http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Tyre/ Appears low rolling resistance tyres are great in summer and in the wet but not so good in the snow. Guess it depends on where you live, the tyre of driving you do and balance that with the extra mpg's LRT's offer.

The rate the energy suppliers are putting electricity prices up it won't be cost effective to run an electric vehicle soon. The premium paid for the vehicle plus the high price of electricty and the high depreciation, due to the feared cost of new batteries, means it's cheaper to run a hybrid if you need an automatic or one of these eco cars if you don't.

Mr Flan, you know my views on that but a 14 mile range for £31k when you can have 45 miles with the Volt/Ampera at £33k? A 14 mile EV range at £26k - £5k = £21k would be just about viable. I would also be gutted if the EV 'dream' backfired because of this profiteering.

Just the OTR price. I also noticed that the IQ still costs a couple quid under £10k - just like it did when it was released 2 years ago. Hmmm. That's built in Japan and would be subject to the same currency fluctuations but hasn't gone up. I recon Toyota are pricing the Prius at what they can get away with, probably using a London centric model as usual (£8 daily ccz saving) but I'm beginning to struggle with the sums at £21k when you can get a 6 month old Avensis estate for £13k. Perhaps my colleagues were right to avoid the Prius?!? The reason I'm looking is that I'm near the 60k warranty period and the car now needs its 2nd steering column! A warranty item for sure, BUT it costs £1,300 + vat + fitting for the part. Almost a £2k bill for a steering column that is lasting 30k miles of taxi use. That is unheard of in taxi circles. OK, the later models have a 100k mile warranty but I want to run a car to 200k like my colleagues manage with their Mondeo's and Avensis's (and limited success with Vectra's :!Removed!: ). I'm feeling my Prius bubble is quickly deflating

And the worry is, according to the mechanic they haven't redesigned the part so I guess it's going to fail again soon! I noticed the price increase with the Prius because I was going to trade my old girl in and buy a new one with a 100k warranty. Anyhow, I'll get the new column in and see how it goes - if it fails again I will be handing the car back under the hp agreement. I like the fuel savings and the talking point of having the Prius but if steering columns are £2k a pop every 30k miles then I'm gonna have to look elsewhere! The first replacement could have been bad luck, but needing a 2nd at 58k miles is poor! :ffs: I notice partsking is absent on this discussion

The sums just don't add up for the Prius PHEV. Someone prove to me it isn't profiteering! Leaf = £10k car plus £21k batteries (100 mile range) Ampera = £15k astra plus £18k batteries (50 mile range) Prius = £15k car plus £5k hybrid system & batteries (1 mile range) Prius PHEV = £21k standard Prius plus £10k batteries (14 mile range) General figures largely made up but they give an idea of how significantly more the PHEV is compared to the competition. The pricing was made up by somebody in UK marketing who doesn't understand the market. I guess they tried to pip the price below the Ampera without realising that it goes at least twice as far on EV as the PHEV. And Mr Flan has a £3k EV kit that allows increased EV to the standard Prius. This is an aftermarket kit including import duties and shipping. So how come a backstreet company can ship this to the UK for £3k but Toyota want an additional £10k with their buying power?

Just checking the Toyota website and noticed that the base Prius has gone up in price again and now costs £21,055, up from £20,500. Is this just because of currency fluctuations - is the £ slowly becoming worth less (not worthless) or are Toyota confident of their product? To put it into context the base price was £18,500 when I bought mine 2 years ago (almost to the day). £2,500 in two years. Am I missing something? There seems to be a growing gap between the Avensis and the Prius, almost to the point that the fuel savings are becoming negligible.