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Further to Aaron's post, I think that there were a few modified piston, ring and head gasket part numbers in the first year of Prius production, 2009-2010. In this link :-https://priuschat.com/threads/excessive-blow-by-head-gasket.200698/ a Canadian owner, Mendel Leisk , lists the part numbers from 2010 onwards in post no.20. But just to confuse, by convention, the Americans call a 2009 car a '2010 model year' . So the exact year starts to get a little vague. This table is for US and Canadian market Prius, but I don't know why this shouldn't also apply to European Prius and Auris. Whilst any likelihood can be discounted in this case, just for reference, the OP's friend's car's mileage could be confirmed as genuine by reading estimated mileage total (in kms, actually) that exists in the engine ECU and is viewable through Techstream etc. This cannot be changed easily, unlike the speedo/odometer. It would be an easy car to clock as they hide their mileage so well.

I admit I was a bit tired before. The bit about the pistons being different is the bit I’m wondering about. Considering Toyota engines are supposed to be legendary for their reliability. Previously I did buy a corolla verso that was 7 years old and 90000 on the clock, the clutch was worn and that only had a slight oil leak that was only noticed during a service. Never added oil between services, mainly down to doing less than 6000 a year. I sold the car to someone at work. All they had to do was replace the clutch and drive shaft, by that time it was over 130000 miles and it’s still not needing topping up with oil. In the my Toyota history is there any reference to any repairs?

it doesnt look like a deep mark in the paintwork it looks like its on the surface i use meguairs products here is a link for the cutting compound i use https://www.meguiars.co.uk/shop/ultimate-compound this compound or an equivilant should work for you and remove the blemish.

Both 1.5 and 1.8 Prius engines have been known to start using a little oil after 100,000 miles but I've never before heard of anything as severe as the one Joe described. Only one of the 4 Prius I've owned (plus 3 company cars) passed 100k, and it started to gradually use a little between services. By the time I sold it with 163k on the clock it went from Max to Min on the dipstick in about 7,000 miles, and adding 1 Litre was more than enough to keep it above Min until the next service. I've heard about a number of cars that have had similar (a little better to a little worse) loss at these mileages btu that's all. Certainly, I've never before heard of oil consumption that would raise eyebrows, never mind require surgery. Indeed, in the 1970s and 80s it was far from uncommon to have to top up new cars between services (which were often at 5/6,000 mile intervals then) in their first year!

I am a new owner of the Aygo 2014 model. In the small period I own the car, I learned a lot about it, but exploration goes on and there comes a time when you discover that you need this so useful sharing experience like the one that is done in this forum. I have my first impressions, but also many questions about the car. And I am sure that the answers I can get from real everyday owners and users, no official branch or representative would ever give me. So, lets start. Please feel free to comment in any of the following thoughts or questions of mine. - Sound system. I find it terrible! I took a version that maybe not available in other countries than Greece (x-city), but even for a two-speakers system, it sound very bad! And I am not a person with high expectations! I had the chance to drive and hear even the x-play version of aygo, which is the best one in terms of sound system. I did not heard significant improvement. I could never imagine that a new car of our days would ever have such dull sound. No bass, but even the treble is awful. How is it possible, a cheap 10 euros bluetooth speaker, to have better sound than the one in this car? I mean, they should have put the most useless speakers they could found on market! Am I the only one that is annoyed with the sound output? Is there any suggestion/solution? I am very skeptical if it is wise to go and replace speakers, and I mean that I do not want to make any harm to the car, with cables, or power supply etc. Where are the speakers positions? I hear the sound from the dashboard (left-right speakers), while I can see speakers cases in the front doors too? Are these door speaker cases empty but wired and ready to connect speakers, or they are almost useless? Does anyone dealt with the sound topic of this car? - Plastic strip, downside the front bumper. Underneath the front bumper, there is a black plastic strip. How sturdy is this? Sometimes when I try to park the car using a ramp, I hear it touching the ground. Not a lot, just a little, and not every time. But will it remain there after such repeating situations? - Windscreen rubber. In the exterior of the windscreen, I see that rubber is used for finishing touches. Will this remain sturdy after some years, in several weather conditions? - Car exhaust. What about the car exhaust? I can’t understand why it should be visible, while in older aygo model it was not. It seems like being exposed without an obvious reason for me. - Exposed pipes. When I take a look under the car, I can see two pipes in left and right of the car, and in front of them some kind of protective plastic piece in front of them. What are these? I believe that whatever they are, they should not be such exposed. Don’t you believe that these pipes are so fragile to be cut or damaged in a random obstacle on the road? And then what? Why they should be put this way? And what we can do about it? Any concern or advice? - Roof bars. I asked Toyota to tell be if there are official roof bars and they were negative! So, not only limited space due to cars’ small dimensions, but no roof bars too. I believe that maybe there are third party solutions on the market, but I am very concerned about the possible damage on the doors rubbers or impermeability matters. Does anyone made any investigation on this? Any eBay suggestions? - Alarm. I got my car with alarm. The one that Toyota suggests. Not absolutely ‘official’, as I could not configure it from the beginning, but putting such thing in the final order, and it was placed by Toyota before I got the car. It is from ‘meta’ systems. Anyone with such alarm on his Aygo? There was a confusion with Toyota, whether the remote control could be put inside the car’s primary key or not. At last they told me that this could not be done due to some circuit incompatibility issues, while on the beginning of my order the had told me that this could be done. So, they gave me a separate remote control for the alarm, and now have to carry both the car key and alarms remote control too. Does anyone knows about it? - Fuel. I am impressed with the low fuel consumption. I am very glad that the car is so economic. Does anyone used Shell’s ‘v-power’ with this Aygo to tell me if it makes any further difference? I change the shift every time the indicator flashes. Any other advice for saving? - Soil roads. How well does this car can go in roads with soil and dust? I know that this is a city car, but I am talking only for sporadic visits to remote villages every now and then, and for soil roads that are rather maintained. But I still wonder if there is any danger for the car, like low height, or the pipes underneath, or car exhaust etc. - Robust or fragile. Speaking in general, I am satisfied with this Aygo, though I have it only the latest months. But it gives me a feeling that it is not a so robust car. I hope I am wrong though. I pay attention to any of my cars’ needs and so I will do with this one too, but I wonder if this is really a hard and durable Toyota as we knew these cars in the past, or just a fragile modern car, which has many imperfections. I intend to keep it for many years, over a decade, so I hope that it is really a good choice. I would like to hear experiences from owners who have it for 2-3 years(new model) and general opinions from older Toyota owners. I need to know the real boundaries of this car. Thank you in advance for your answers and participation!

Thanks guys, had been searching and when contacted direct some said theirs would not fit, but this morning found one who said they believe theirs would be suitable, but if not they would arrange return and reimburse, so ordered a £17 pair from them, hopefully get them by Saturday, will let you know if they fit ok. Had seen SGS, their "UK made" ones, £36 a pair with delivery, so have them as a backup is the ebay ones are no good.

Have you tried a company called SGS-Engineering. Easy to find on the web and you can do search for you particular model. Don

Oooh.... Mmmmm... Ah! Yes... Perhaps googlefu is your friend. AFAIK all struts are created <in China> equal but have different ends [not many!] Search your type and try to find out what the *end type is and then go for min/max length... *muddy option = breakers yard and do some sleuthing 🙂 2sav

That is the 2ZR-FXE I speak of, and it does, at least up until some point in 2014-2015 - and it would be the same engine in Auris Hybrids of that era.

Hi, this is a well known problem with some Toyota engines, design flaw on piston rings and or a stuck piston rings. There is a lot of information on the net, particularly YouTube. Don’t remember if Prius 1.8 engine has the problematic rings, probably not , because I had more than 5 of those cars and non of them had ever consumed any oil between changes. My last Auris Hybrid done Euro trip from London to Black Sea in Bulgaria and back on 0w20 oil with temperature of the air as high as 40c and no problems at all, never even topped up during the 6000 miles journey. Now the car travels 5000 miles per month mostly motorways and no consumption at all @ 90k miles on the clock. The main reason you can have piston rings stuck is neglecting oil changes or using a poor quality oil or wrong type of oil or any combination of the above done by the previous owner. There is an option to try to get the rings unstuck without opening the engine but has a bit of a risk and no guarantee that will help, if the cylinder wall is already glazed oil consumption will remain however can be more acceptable, but 1 litre per 1000 miles it’s a way too high.

finally i fix it......you just need to press the button up or down for 2 seconds to change cd ..........thank you anyway...

I hear about piston rings leading to oil consumption all the time with Gen 2's and early Gen 3's from owners in the US, though usually only after they are well over 100k miles if not double. There was a redesign of the piston rings and pistons in the 2ZR-FXE (Gen 3) at some stage, but I'm not sure when this was introduced. Certain other Toyota engines are known for similar issues - some early ZZ engines had serious oil consumption problems (some were replaced by Toyota), and the 4E-FE (1.3 common in the Starlet and Corolla for most of the '90s) are not unknown for burning oil with high mileage.

The usual problem on this engine with variable or high / low idle speed is: Early 4.2 (square front fog-lamps) - dirty idle control valve Later 4.2 (round - fog-lamps) - dirty throttle valve / body or sticky throttle linkage. (this model doesn't have an idle control valve) The idle speed is controlled by the ECU. Do not disturb the adjusting screw on the throttle valve.

My 2011 hybrid also had a water leak through the passenger side light cluster and this was fixed 2 years ago under warranty. In September I was noticing condensation in the car again and checked the boot to find 50mm of water pooled beneath the spare wheel. I thought to myself at the time that it couldn't be great to have all those electrics in there and water ponded in the boot. When I investigated it further I found that one of the rubber grommets wasn't sealed properly so I drained the water and resealed it. The water hasnt come back but for some reason all my cars seem to get water leaks!

Prius is not an oil burner. I am on my second Prius and have never had to add oil.

The first generation pre-facelift (2007-2010) could suffer from water leaks via the vents behind the rear bumper, or from the seals to the rear light clusters. It also seems that the first generation post facelift (2010-2012) may suffer water leaks from the seals to the rear light clusters, and this includes petrols, diesels and hybrids.

Thanks for this info. Went to Peugeot citron for mine, £5.60 (quoted £21.59 from Toyota dealer and that's just for the part). Thanks again, B.

A new video has just gone live 😄

Don't you find a lot of scratches on the sides of front seats, due to limited space between seat belts and the seats?

I am not sure if it is just accidental incidents or a fact. But I believe that the plastic parts in doors and the interior of the car, are rather soft and easy to be scatched. I am so careful with my car, but I can see small/soft scratches in several points, like the position of the seat belt, or under the door cases-possibly by my shoes etc. Anyone else with similar observation?

Aside from the above checks, you shouldn't need to check anything underneath. In winter and at the end of the winter months, when one washes the car, it does pay to wash the underside and inside the wheel arches with a hose or similar to get rid of road salt, build up of road dirt, mud, etc.

They've done okay; Not as well as say, the Mk1 Yaris (I may be biased... ;), but the important bits should be pretty solid. Just need to look out for silly design issues like the leaks and clutch and such when buying one. It mostly just seems to be niggly issues that crop up with age.

I believe, possibly a suspicion but there are clues, that local resellers with Toyota's agreement of course, throw out some car systems related to 'comfort' (not the essential ones!), in order to put them back to the more expensive editions of the car, and push clients to pay for more.... Do you believe that the basic edition of aygo in Greece, come without electric windows? I could believe in my ears when I heard it from the local reseller!!! Unacceptable from any optical view! 'Who may ever buy such a car nowadays?' I asked him. 'Car rentals in Greek islands' was his response.... Regarding the sound system, even the x-play version that I drove, did not had sufficient sound and I am not having big expectations in sound, but at least I want the sound not to be dull... In any case, I would like Toyota to be more strict in such possible practices, rather than choosing this kind of ....'flexibility' that may harm their own brand name fame too...

Hello, Flap below front bumper: nothing to worry about. My Aygo sometimes scrapes the floor, too. This is normal and happens on many cars. Some cars touch more than the Aygo because they are lower and have a longer front overhang. If you stay near the entrance of an underground car park with a steep slope, you will hear that many cars scrape! Look how the ground is marked with scrapes. I try to drive very slowly but it still touches, sometimes. Car exhaust: nothing to worry about, either. I was much visible on the previous generation, too. A few Aygo 1s had problems with rust on the exhaust, if I remember well. I think your car should age well. In the long-term, I am concerned about 2 aspects: - The clutch: I guess that after receiving so many complaints about clutch problems on the Aygo/C1/107 produced between 2005 and 2009, it was at last decided to install decently sized clutch discs. But this car drives so strangely, I do my best not to damage it but still find myself failing to start or change gear properly. So I just hope the mechanics will make it. - Water infiltrations: I still remember my Aygo 1 turning into a swimming pool when it rained. It hope this is no longer an issue on the Aygo 2.

Wouldn't worry about it, handbrake cables are pretty tough!

Thanks a lot for this link - helpful. I did find however that you cannot simply pull the Aygo side indicators out, you need to use a screwdriver wrapped in a cloth (to prevent scratching the paintwork) at one end and ease the unit out. When I eventually got it out, I found that the bulb didn't appear to be working and you can't seem to just replace the orange bulb on its own. In trying to lever the other side indicator out to test it, I broke the lens! So now I needed two new side indicators. Anyway, get this - I noticed that on the actual side indicator unit was printed both Citroen and Peugeot logos as they're obviously the same parts used on the C1 and 107. I rang Toyota to find out how much a replacement unit is from their parts dept - £12.50 or thereabouts each. Said I'd think about it! Rang Citroen - £4.86 each including VAT. Of course ordered them from Citroen at 2.30pm and picked them up the following morning. Exactly the same part! This sort of mark up on parts is a disgrace. I guess most owners would simply go with Toyota for Toyota parts, but some useful advice - always speak to Citroen or Peugeot to get their pricing! It seems to pay to shop around.

I've been looking for a looooonnnnnngggg time 😞