What do you dislike about your Plug-in Prius?

. Drama ? I like that. In German, it's yammering, or maybe, I'm confused. Or, is it chatter?

 

Drama - a state, situation, or series of events involving interesting or intense conflict of forces

or in other words - angst, fear, concern, issues, trouble. Hmm trouble works.

As long as there is no trouble going to where I'm going and back, I can't complain about the car

Does that make more sense now?

 

Lack of a Spare tire. Only downside to my PIP. Love the way it drives,handles etc. MPG is high 60's. Nothing better for a retiree. Short trips all on electric. Bought a wheel and tire ( tire rack) so the spare issue is solved.

 

oh yes, I clearly understood your point before, naturally interpreted toward my own perspective.

 

EV miles too short. Would like to see 25-30 Miles in the next generation PIP.

 

Dislike that I had to...
-Fight for almost two months to get the $500 promised PIP rebate from my electricity supplier.
-Fight with the IRS for the $2500 tax credit for 2012- they have rejected my initial submission- so who knows if I'll ever get the $2500 PIP credit.

 

* the location of the seat warmer buttons is ridiculous
*materials/build feels entry level

 

I purchased my PiP this past November so most of my driving has been in cold weather. Thankfully Spring is here in CT and I expect to see better MPGs. My things:

What I thought would have been a problem, but hasn't:

• Noise with rattles, road, etc. Actually I don't have any issues and it's much quieter than I expected. Probably not as quite as my Acura TL, but not a concern for me
• Lack of sunroof. I really do love sunroofs and thought I would really miss it. I do miss it, but not as much as I thought I would.

What I wish it had:

• Some way of heating up the cabin without using the gas engine. The heated seat wasnt enough and I hate to turn on the ICE just to warm the passenger cabin.
• I have the Advanced model and I hate how it reverts back to the Apps, Map, etc screen and there doesn't seem a way for it to stay on the "Radio" screen.
• Better entune. It's not terrible, but using Pandora has been flakey. Currently it streams music but no sound. I usually don't bother with it.

What I really like:

• watching my MPG go up as I drive more and more electric mode
• the HUD is pretty cool and I like it
• Getting miles back by breaking or going down a hill. Regarding breaking, loving the lack of any brake dust on the rims. I try to only stop using the regenerative breaking.
• charging it. I love to plug it in. I still haven't gotten tired of it after 4 months.
• Free charging at Whole Foods although that doesn't add much in my pocket, it's still pretty neat
• The radar cruise control is awesome
• I love the look. I could have spent up to 50k on a new car and picked the PiP, not only because of the EV factor, but I love the styling.

 

My biggest beefs:

1. The rattling (common to all Toyotas I've owned). My God this car rattles. Sometimes I wonder if they've hidden a bunch of film canisters filled with BBs all around the interior.
2. The warmup cycle keeping the engine on when it's not necessary. The warmup inevitably happens right at a two-minute traffic light just burning gas doing nothing, and where the stretch after the light to my parking spot is all downhill and doesn't need ICE. It drives my MPG for the trip down almost 50%, and it's an unnecessary waste of fuel and pollution.

 

The rattles have disappeared in mine, which means Summer is on it's way. It works better than that groundhog.

 

You can thank the idiots who were stacking them on top of the carpeted mats in the Gen 2 for that. Toyota made them thinner, so that they won't entrap the gas pedal, even if you can't follow directions and stack the floor mats. That entire recall was due to operator error.

I'm confused. My 2012 PiP Advanced has "bottle holders" in the doors. Were there additional cupholders in the Gen 2?

Everyone's standards for bass are different. I require my stereo to be capable of reproducing the entire range of human hearing, which is 20Hz-20Khz. The PiPa goes down to 50 or 60 hertz at best, according to my calibrated ears and chest cavity. ;-)

 

My bad, I meant the drawer space besides the bottle holder. We kept the take out menu in the door drawer pocket. That is gone now.

PiPA has GreenEdge sound system so the bass maybe different.

 

Love the car but do wish that the steering wheel buttons were backlit.

 

The PiP is the absolute worst car I've ever purchased new but it has performed its function more than adequately and has exceeded my expectations.

Dislikes:
1. 11 mile battery range is too short.
2. Center console bridge is waste of space. Looks futuristic but I'd rather have the function and space of the Prius V center console.
3. Rattles like a tin can.
4. Cup holders do not accommodate mugs. There's no place for the handle. Have to buy a tall mug with handle or use a glass for my coffee in the morning.
5. No spare tire, I understand the space and weight issue but should've made it an option. I'd gladly pay for it.
6. Base GPS requires smart phone to search. Since I have no such device, the only time I use the Navi is when I have an exact address.

Conclusion: I'd buy it again in a heartbeat. The engine is surprisingly peppy. It doesn't hold a candle to my plebeian Civic LX but its an easy compromise for 82 mpg. And even with 11 miles EV range, I can achieve that number with my 106 mile round trip commute. I can only imagine what I can achieve with a larger 10 kwh battery. It's not as comfortable as other $25k cars after rebates and tax credits but wow am I enjoying the extra hour I spend at home with my daughters. Solo carpool access is why I purchased the car and it has satisfied me to no end. 12000 miles and 6 months later I am still enamored by the worst car I've ever purchased new.

 

They are mirrored on the main display, once you touch them, is that not enough?

 

Have to find them in the dark first.

 

This was done intentionally, since Bloomberg's 16-oz limit will soon be approved and go into effect nationwide.

It is an option...anyone can buy an extra wheel/tire at any Toyota parts dept.

I don't know what you mean. With the Base nav you can:
- enter an address
- point to the map
- search for POI by category (by a city or nearby)
- search for POI by name (by a city or nearby )
- enter lat/long
- enter an intersection
You only need a smart phone and Entune to:
- load addresses from your phone
- search by Bing (need phone connected to Internet)
- search by fuel prices (need phone connected to Internet)

Mike

 

actually mike, the spare tire is not an option. there is no part number, and the parts guys are clueless as to what will fit. and if you buy a gen III donut and tire, mounted, it's $450.

 

I have already moved on to my 85KW Tesla Model S, yet I can't unload my $40k+ Advanced PiP for anything reasonable, since Toyota has a $5K incentive on remaining 2012 PiPs,and I here they've lowered the list price by $2K. So that makes remaining brand new 2012 Advanced PiPs in dealer inventory $33.5K new. Mine is 11 months old, with 11,300 miles on it, has the Toyota all weather mats, door edge guards, lower molding, I even have a full sized spare I'd throw in, yet I can't get anyone to offer me anything reasonable for it.. What don't I like? How about piss poor or no resale value? Yep, that's it. My dealer tells me he is no longer accepting any 2013 PiPs from Toyota, they are NOT selling. Period.

 

Thanks! I did not know you could do that. I just saw that Bing search on top and it needed Internet. I didn't even notice the POI search options below it. Okay, only 5 dislikes left. I don't know what you mean about the Bloomberg size limit. A mug is pretty small. They just forgot to make the cut outs for the handle. They remembered to do it my old Corolla.