2012 Prius v Information and Specs

Thanks for the feed back about the Moon Roof panels. I learned this afternoon from the dealership rep.. that Moon Roof is standard on all Prius V fives. I guess what works.. works.

 

The moon roof is standard only on the model five's with the AT package-not standard on the "regular" model fives.

 

Anyone know what they set the v total load capacity up to? It's 825 in Prius by the way.

TIA.

 

915 lbs.

 

Probably already been mentioned, but the Sales Reps got a serious laugh about this one.

We were sitting in our new Pruis v5. The sales rep was politely pointing to and explaining all the car features. Ah yes, There is the USB port, cigarette power port, the left and right heated seat buttons. Far left there was a new icon button.. he and I were not familiar with. Looked like a HEADLIGHT icon with white dots.

So I decided to push the button to find out what happens. PUSH PUSH PUSH _>>> SPRAY SPRAY SPRAY... all over the front hood.. sort of like the windshield washers... ONLY FOR THE HEADLIGHTs !!!!

Both of us sat there and LAUGHed out loud. Got out of the car only to learn that those small rectangle button like 1" x 2" cover plates when you push the inside button... jumped out about 2 " and sprayed water/soap all over the head lights.

To be effective you need to be driving 60 mph to get any washing done. Then you get a 60mph Blow Dry

 

Thanks for sharing this (in detail). I wondered about that and asked about this in the "Prius v three versus five" thread. Tideland Prius was kind enough to point that out...How do you like the LED lights? Like F8L pointed out "I could always put an HID into the halogen projectors in the lower trim packages."

 

We think the LED lights serve a useful purpose... saving battery electricity.

 

Just tried a test for the Prius v5 USB port.

We wanted to cross test USB port CAR GPS to Garmin 3790LMT GPS.

Bought a Y splitter for the car USB port. This is because we wanted to plug in our HTC EVO 4g smart phone & our Garmin 3790 GPS devices.

Plugged in the Y splitter and only the Garmin 3790 GPS. Turned the car on along with the Car GPS. Immediately got a Car Err notice that the plugged in 3790 GPS was drawing too much power for the USB port... please unplug this device or the car will disconnect the device.

I checked the 3790LMT GPS specifications and learned that it draws 10 Watts.

Guess I will have to use the cigarette lighter power plug.

I now wonder what the Prius v5 USB port power capacity is ? Any ideas? Wife has the car right now. The Toyota user manual is in the car.

Why bother with the Garmin when we already have the Prius GPS working? To check the accuracy of both devices.

 

10W / 5V = 2A!!! Most powered USB ports give at most 500mA, at least on a computer, not sure if the Prius USB port has this limitation, but I'd imagine it would have a similar current limit. I also doubt your GPS is drawing that much current, but even with that rough calculation, I woudln't be surprised if it drew over 500mA.

EDIT: I totally forgot USB is only 5V, not 12V, changed me reply a bit

 

YOU are correct. Thanks for bringing that to my attention.

Watts divided by volts = Amps

10 watts GPS consumption / 5 volt from USB = 2 amperes draw.

That is if the GPS does draw 10 watts. Which it probably does draw alot less

A 2 amp draw really is alot for a small handheld device. I suspect the garmin 3790LMT specifications is not correct.

A small USB/AC adapter F-2A-1B for a small Olympus point and shoot camera is
OUTPUT 5.0V ~ 500 mA NOT 2 Amps

Blackberry Cellphone is Output 5V ~ 700 mA

Think I will call Garmin and see what the actual power requirement is. If I get an answer I will reply here.

I will also send an email to our dealership and try and find out what the max load is for the car USB port.

 

my suspicion is that the port is 500 mA because that's all that the standard USB spec provides for. Apple went out on a limb and shorted a few pins to enable higher power draws over USB such that their laptops provide 1 A to devices that request it. The iPad uses 2.1 A for charging.
this charger from kensington supplies sufficient power for such uses: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003GSL6UG/ (they also have a two-port model that has one 2.1 A port and one 1 A port)

 

Got a reply from Garmin. They said what we expected. The reply talks about the "mount" not drawing any power. I have resent my request back to them asking about the GPS power consumption (not the mount).

Thank you for contacting Garmin International. I will be happy to assist you with this. The nuvi mount for the nuvi series devices draws less than one milliamp (.001 amps) at all times. This is also the case when the zumo is in the mount but is powered off.

Here is photo of screen err message

 

"kensington supplies sufficient power"

I agree that power supply draws power from the cigarette power socket. And we do have a power supply device.

One other thought .. are there two types of USB ports?

1 provides power AND signal. Maybe the Prius v USB is only for 500 milliamp and signal only.

or

all USB's are signal and rated for 500 milliamps power draw. IF the USB device draws more than 500 millamps... then the USB [like a hub] needs an additional power supply source like an AC adapter or from a cigarette DC power port.

FWIW: I just tried to charge up my Smart phone HTC EVO 4g using the USB cable... no error message

 

Got a reply email from the dealer. I think he called into Toyota Tech Support.

"The only word I got was you cannot run a splitter operating multiple devices off the USB. Nobody I talked to had the exact amp numbers."

Word back from Garmin International : "The power that it [Garmin 3790LMT] draws, is proprietary information" LOLLL well ok then. We will just use the car charger.

"I am happy to help you with this. The power that it draws, is proprietary information. We recommending using the included car charger as this was the intended way of powering the device when connected in the car. There are no adapters that will allow you to use it this way. If tried, the device will typically go into mass storage mode like it is connected to a computer."

 

When we bought our Prius v 5 we asked for a bottle of touch up paint to keep our finishes bright and shiny. When we got our bottle of touch up paint all that was written on the lable was the number 70.

We found on the upper left corner of the car window sticker label:
Blizzard Pearl exterior / Misty Gray (0070/66)

Touchup paint Blizzard Pearl = 70

But you already knew this.

 

The mileage with my V5 so far has been, unfortunately, well short of even the low end of EPA posted mpg. I am right now at Spartan Toyota of Lansing with an unrelated maintenance issue. When I told the service writer here that I was only realizing real-world average of 31 mpg, he evaded the issue.
He of course offered that's it's cold and the engine needs to break in (current mileage 2,400) but this position, although valid, does not account for a Prius V5 producing starkly poor numbers. When I persisted, asking him if he thinks this is acceptable - he replied smugly, "...it is what it is, there's nothing that can be done to improve mileage."
But my biggest problem with that answer is the contrasting mileage reports that posters on this site are reporting with same car under similar circumstances.
Hopefully above problem is not without resolve; the Prius V5 is hands down the best car I've ever owned; this car is remarkably quiet, has good road manners and, I found out last week - handles surprisingly well in blizzard snow conditions.
Bottom line, if I never get better than 30 mpg with the Prius, I would boast its merits and could easily recommend anyone seriously considering buying one.
Regards, Bob

 

So I'm trying to decide between this electric Prius or the Nissan leaf. Traditionally I try no to buy the first version of new technologies (Until they work out the bugs) but its time to quick blowing money at the pump. I've been in talks with Greener Energy Solutions and they've helped me find tax credits and explain home charging stations to me. But I didn't know if anyone had a preference between the leaf or the prius ?