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Finally got around to changing the oil, the dipstick pump was a failure, clearly the Prius has a very narrow tube, I got a 6mm tube from B& Q, went out to the carpark to make sure it fitted part the way in and it appeared to be o.k. Got home and tried it again and halfway down it went very tight , I was aware of what would happen if it got stuck and decided to take it back and get a 5mm tube but non in stock. I decided yesterday to raise the car and drain it from below, I saw a Youtube video of a Gen 4 having it's oil changed from off small ramps, without me having ramps anymore I hit on the idea to cut an old 30mm plank into suitable pieces, jack up the wheel, push the board under, lower the jack, put another board under the jack and raise the wheel to get a second board under the wheel. Doing this repeatably on both wheels I got 4 pieces under each and it was completely safe, nothing could collapse. Underneath it's easy to reach the 3 X10mm bolts holding the little plastic cover, then the 14mm drain plug is clearly visible, I ran the engine to warm back up, switched off and drained it into a container. I left the filter as I wanted to tip the oil out but it is more awkward to reach and needs a special tool . Refilled to the original factory spec of around 7-8mm below the top mark on the dipstick and set off to test it. ( I did check the level the day I collected the car) We've been out on one of our regular local trips today and it seems to be vastly improved like it was the first year we had the car. Clearly my car was not filled with 0W-20 by Listers and combined with 5mm of overfill cannot be trusted to do a simple oil change, just shoddy careless work. I'm going to cancel the service contract so not only will they lose my custom for servicing but also my next vehicle will not come from them either.

I arranged with my local Toyota dealer, Chester/Deeside area, to have 2 new tyres fitted today. All 4 tyres were hanging around 3 mm but I decided to have 2 new on the front. I have a Gen 4 Prius Excel with 15" wheels. Originals were Toyo and the dealer quoted me about 2 months ago £50 per tyre, that included balancing, new valves, disposal etc and included VAT. That matched any price I could see on the internet so booked in for today. When done I started chatting to the service guy about satnav map updates, and he offered to update today if I had time to wait for about an hour - it takes that time for the software to do its job. Job done, just had to hand over the £100 for 2 tyres. If there is another map update before my car is 3 years old end of September then they will do that freebie as well. I know some on this forum are not too impressed with their local Toyota dealer, so I thought I would give a good comment about my local dealer.

If you want to save money, just keep the Auris. With such low mileages, I can't see how it could ever make financial sense to change the car.

Yer perfectly serious, I'm guna try get some for my MK3 SR as in JP I've seen videos from Gazoo Racing Garages that have mk3's in the showroom with them in. I've got Colin McRae seats from the Scooby in my mk1 Yaris just had someone modifie the rails to fit them job done. I'll try find a pic for you 👍

I found this 5w30 trick was happening on every service. So much that I would deliberately travel around 200 or so miles after the (dis) service and then change the oil for the correct grade in order to get the car running on the right specification of oil. There's nothing you can do about it . If you change your own oil and cancel the service regime you commit the mortal sin of not having a FSH.Its a no win situation which i have been at a loss to fathom. One has to pay for a clever ***** to service the car with the wrong oil and then stamp the service book and then one has to carry out the service oneself in order to ensure everything is done properly.I once refuse to buy a 2nd hand car on the grounds that it had a FSH completed by a certain dealership. The salesperson even offered sizeable discounts however, I knew most of the guys who would have been "completing" the "service".This was a certain Jaguar dealership.

I changed today to the Cross Climates. They do seem quieter and the steering feels sharper. Too soon to say if mpg will be adversely affected. Both the Toyo and the Michelin are 195/65 R15 91H. I feel we may be getting into the 17 vs 15 discussion again. The circumference of the tyres is the same it is just the depth/ width of the tyre that changes. From experience over 12 years and 4 hybrids I can assure you that tyres and tyre pressures make a huge difference to mpg. Even the brochure for the Gen 4 says Urban mpg 97.4 for 15 vs 85.6 for 17. My averages have never got near either of these but I regularly see 80+ on 20 mile trips. Summer was 62.7 winter maybe 61 but often trips are less than 5 miles and the long trips fast motorway, neither of which are ideal. I have never known what the correct pressure should be as the handbook is ambiguous It says 32 psi with a full spare and 36psi front 35 rear without. I have a spacesaver but thats not quoted.. I know that after a service my pressures were always down. and I put up to the label inside the door pressures again. 2.5 /2.4. maybe that is why I was not happy on the Toyo . In the past when I changed from the OEM tyre type I always consulted the manufacturer of the tyre for pressures and invariably found they were not the same as the manufacturer of the vehicle. Michelin say go by the label in the door. By the same token in the past I always went 4 psi over or the fast setting for better mpg and less wear (Pre Toyota). A friend just swapped his Rav diesel for a Rav Hybrid and was moaning about the fuel consumption. When I went out to look at it he had huge Black wheels with very low profile tyres. He was completely unaware of the affect wheel size had on mpg.. Style over substance.