kithmo

What a coincidence, SWMBO had hers stolen yesterday, broad daylight, parked in a disabled bay not 5 yards from the unattended 😡 security gate office, Rotherham General Hospital. How low can you get, a disabled persons vehicle and I was fuming that the security office was unattended with the price you pay for parking it's disgusting. They destroyed the exhaust by sawing the back part so it's £1200+ for a Toyota part or £820 for an aftermarket one. She's going for the latter and after figuring in the excess, it's not quite worth claiming on the insurance.

Hi Chris, assuming you mean the 12v, if you look carefully between the two halves of the cover (where it hinges) there are two very small arrows with the word "push" on them, squeeze these towards each other to open the half that covers the terminal.

So tempting, I see they lost the panoramic roof with the face lift, I felt it brightened up the interior. SWBO is eyeing up my Gen 4 (she has a Gen 2), so I might consider another + and give her the Gen 4.

Having owned a Prius+ I can tell you that on the odd occasions I did load mine up, when we went on holiday to the static caravan, we took just about everything except the kitchen sink and it still managed mid to high 60s mpg, which I think is great for a 1.8 litre, petrol automatic mpv. If you look on Fuelly for the real world average mpgs: Prius+ is around 50mpg, Gen 3 is around 55mpg and Gen 4 around 63mpg.

Depends whether towing is a must. The only Prius that can officially tow is the 2016 on, Gen 4, the others can be fitted with bike racks if that is your only requirement for a tow hitch. The Gen 4 is the most economical and best to drive but lacks interior stowage space and is quite low down compared to your Verso and may not be the best for getting elderly relatives in and out. The Prius+ sounds ideal for everything you mention except towing. It has 3 rows of seats(2) but the 3rd row seats are small and only suitable for children or small adults, they can be folded down to create a huge boot area, but they can't be removed. The second row of seats(3) are adjustable, they slide back and forth and recline and they can also be folded down, which basically turns the car into a posh van. There is also an under floor storage tray in the boot. The HV battery is Li-Ion and is inside the centre armrest so the armrest storage is just a shallow tray, but there are two fair sized glove boxes. I loved my Prius+ but never made use of the extra seats and rarely made use of the space available in the boot so I traded it in for the Gen 4. Best thing to do is have a test drive of each and see which suits you best. The Prius+ was a limited run 2012 to 2018 IIRC so there are not so many about and they fetch a good price, I had a 2012 pre-facelift model which was still a good looking car (almost identical to the Verso except the rear lights), the later ones have a sharper front end.

The Toyota cover (by the AA) is around £70 IIRC all in, home start, breakdown, recovery etc.

Mine has 17" wheels and a space saver spare. The 2016 Toyota Prius car builder website had the spare as a no cost option at the time. Mine was a pre-stocked (brand new) car but had a gunge repair kit in it and as part of the deal I got the spare wheel and associated foam surrounds for it as part of the purchase deal.

Hi Andrew, it just shows what can be achieved when you go back armed with the correct information. Second hand cars are automatically covered by law for 6 months for defects that are not wear and tear stuff like tyres, brakes and clutches etc. so I don't know why so many dealers think they can offer a three month warranty and get away with it. Heck, some even try to sell you the 3 months warranty that is totally unnecessary.

No squeaks or rattles on mine with 17" wheels, but then again I've only done 9K miles in it, in almost 3 years, so it's relatively new mileage wise.

Being retired I don't do the mileage to warrant buying Winter tyres, I just stay in if the weather is bad, but if I did I would go for the 15" wheel and tyre combo. Apart from the TPMS light thing, it makes more sense to have a softer tyre for winter grip and it saves getting the original alloys caked in salt off the roads.

Just read Honest John's top rated cars and The Gen 4 came out top rated by owners and top (100%) rated for reliability. https://www.honestjohn.co.uk/honest-john-satisfaction-index-2018/honest-john-satisfaction-index-2018-the-results/

If it has park assist then it must be a T-Spirit.

Hi, Dave, SWMBO has the same 2006 Gen 2 T4 as yours and she's had it for 9 years now. In terms of repairs, over the 9 years of ownership, she's had one new 12v (about 3 years ago IIRC), one broken rear spring (worth checking on your creaking), a full set of brake disks and pads and a very expensive replacement rear light cluster. Sod's law every light in the cluster is a bulb, except the LED brake light which failed and is not repairable. The only complaint she has is that the steering is heavy compared to my Gen 4. She bought it at the same time as I bought my first Prius, a Gen 3 T-Spirit and I was surprised, after reading how much the Gen 3 was supposed to be better than the Gen 2, it wasn't all that much. IMO the Gen 2 had a more comfortable ride, seemed to have more torque and pulled away better than the Gen 3 at lower speeds. Specification differences aside, the only advantages of the Gen 3 were better mpg and better handling if you need to push it. If you are considering a Gen 3, take a good test drive first, you may be disappointed. If you can wait until you can afford it, you'd be better saving up for a Gen 4, a totally different beast IMO, I can honestly say the Gen 4 Prius is the best car I've ever owned in my 48 years of driving.

That proves it's working 😉

Fake news, Toyota only call it the Prius+ in Europe and the UK, it's called the Prius V wagon in the USA, and it certainly was not nor is not available as a plug-in. I think that website has just incorrectly cut and pasted the specs from the latest Prius plug in.