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I would be disinclined to trust your YouTube sources, on the basis that if they're driving at 82mph and trying to be economical (either financially or in terms of fuel), then they're doing it wrong! There's a lot of inefficiency in Charge mode - you're using an inefficient source (the ICE) to put power into the battery with associated transfer losses, then you're getting that power back out of the battery with further associated losses. Whilst not all the power harvesting will be inefficient (the hybrid system is fiendishly clever in siphoning off power that isn't 'needed') the car is set up to do that all the time anyway even when not in Charge mode. In the circumstances you describe, I would suggest that it would be more efficient to charge the car at home and just switch to HV mode during the journey once the EV range drops to approximately the amount of 'town driving' you're going to do at the end of your journey. That will keep enough in the battery to use EV mode in town, without wasting fuel in Charge mode. This is basically what Geoff is describing above, using HV as the default. That only makes sense on long journeys though - don't switch to HV mode and then find you get back home to your charger with EV range to spare! The only time I could see Charge mode having any real value is if you can't charge the car from a socket before setting off. It could then be used on a long run to build up charge for EV driving later on. Even then, the transfer losses mean that I'm not convinced it would work out more to be more efficient overall, but it would give the advantage of reducing local noise and pollution in the built-up area. Personally I'd just stick with HV mode which gives pretty phenomenal returns even on an empty battery. It is at least as good as the Gen4 ordinaire despite the extra weight being lugged around, possibly because it can store more regen charge in the larger battery. Set the cruise to 65mph on the motorway, leave the outside lane to the German dieselburgers, relax and enjoy an easy 70+mpg. Away from the motorway, I'v found mid-90s mpg to be achievable on a warm day when starting with zero EV range, although perhaps not in Yorkshire as you have proper hills up there!

I think a little of the extra advantage plug-in Prius seem to have over the ordinaire variety is that when you charge the battery it also fills the bit of the HV range that would be almost always empty in the standard car. When I switch mine off at the end of the day, I may have anything from 2 to 7 bars on the HV battery gauge, dependent on whether I approached on the dual carriageway from the south, in which case I'll have been braking from 60 mph down a gentle incline to the last roundabout before entering my village (7 bars) or come in on the coast road at 20-40 mph largely in EV (car's choice) (probably ending up on 2-4 bars). The plugin is like me being able to charge the missing bit somehow and that will explain a small part of the plugin's advantage. A former member of this group (who's now bought a EV and disappeared) previously had a first gen plugin, and he suggested another part of the advantage was the fact plugins used Lithium Ion technology instead of the Prius ordinaire's NiMH, and he believed the former's charge/discharge efficiency was greater.

I also had this problem with my 2012 Avensis. The doors wouldn’t lock with the fob but the boot did lock. If I locked manually with the key then unlock worked fine with the fob for the door and the boot. Same issue with the internal locking button on the drivers door, unlock worked but lock didn’t. Two days ago i started repeatedly pressing unlock, then lock, unlock, then lock..... on the locking button on the drivers door. After about 10 seconds the doors locked. Since then it’s been locking as normal with the key fob. Its only been two days and the problem might come back but it’s worth a try for anyone else that has this issue.

Thanks for Thanks for the info I have no intention of not using mains charge wherever possible or using HV where I have EV capacity. However I understand that in HV mode the Prius only uses regenerative battery charging to maintain the HV part of the battery, whereas in the charge mode it diverts some of the ICE power into topping up the EV part of the battery. It seems that if all it has to do is spin a generator then the conversion should be reasonably efficient and for under an extra litre or so of fuel you could get about 20 miles of EV. I look forward to using the fully charged EV (from home/public charging) for most of our use, and 100 mpg as an average seems easy on a 10k annual mileage with most days being sub 80 miles. OOI I have a Skoda Octavia 1 litre turbo that is averaging 49mpg so there was a high bar for the new car. Cheers Tony B

Nope, it doesn't have OBD2, only the diagnostic port in the engine bay which (I think) is OBD1. In fairness the car was up on jacks, the bonnet up so plenty of air was going to it so it would probably keep the temps down. Plus the top water pipe was hot so I know the thermostat is working, or at least failing open so that's not too bad. I'll book it in for the MOT so it'll have a good run. Like I said, the temperature gauge didn't go above half way (and I know from the time I drove it without coolant that the gauge can go further than that!) so the run will at least give it a good test. Quite excited to drive it now!

Timing chains are projected to last for a lifetime of the car, just pay attention to check the oil from time to time, and replace it in a regular intervals (once a year, or 10k km), and your chain should be just fine.

You will be delighted to know that your car is not fitted with a timing belt, it has the alternative, a timing chain. This is not a service item. Provided the car has regular oil and filter changes, this should last the life of the car with no maintenance. Only the Corolla diesels of this era have timing belts.