So I took my buddy, Hal9000, for an oil change at the local Toyota dealership on Saturday. I saw a 2013 Prius C (model 3) that really caught my eye, and jokingly texted a photo to my husband. We ended up going back that afternoon and trading my 2006 Prius (with 118,000 miles and a few dents and dings) for this cute little pumpkin (the color is habanero). While it was very hard to give up my old Prius, I am sure that I will not regret my decision. I think of it this way - Hal is now moving on to get purchased by another family that wants to jump into the Prius world, but might not be able to afford a new model. Maybe a graduating high school kid will get their first of many hybrids. But I will certainly miss him! I was sad to give up the higher hp and my rear back up camera. I compromised on the size because my husband has a Subaru Forester, so if I ever need to haul more people or larger items, I can just trade with him for the day. (Like he will mind!) I was also sad to give up my vanity plate that said KSMYGAS, which I proudly displayed for the 7 years I had it. (My former car was bought and registered in Florida. I bought the new car in Texas, so I have to get Texas plates.) I was willing to trade off for the higher MPG, and other upgrades that my former Prius didn't have, like Bluetooth, navigation, voice control commands and Entune service. Now I have the joy and excitement of learning the new features, buying cool new accessories (first up - seat covers, window sunshade and a leather steering wheel cover) and playing the Prius MPG game. Looking forward to logging on to PriusChat once again, asking questions and sharing stories with you all!
Congrats on the new car! You can always add a backup camera to your factory screen its quite easy and inexpensive.
That's good to know! If you have any information on that, please send it my way. It is a feature that I was really spoiled by. Is it a Toyota thing, or would I go to an external vendor for that?
Well I just did it myself with stuff around the shop (Im a professional install for the last 12 years) but theres a couple companies that make plug and play kits for the car if you do a search on this forum you can find the link. With basic tools the install only takes about an hour.
Great, thanks! When I asked about it at the dealership, they said it might be a problem because the screen may need to be modified or reprogrammed, blah blah blah. But my salesperson was kind of a newbie. I'll trust someone who has actually done it.
Yeah its incredibly easy. Basically all you have to do is buy any universal camera you want from amazon or ebay cost between 10 to 30 dollars. Mount and run the camera to the front fusebox(under the steering wheel and to the left cover pops right off. Connect the power and ground for the camera up there and then run the video signal wire (usually an rca) to behind the radio cut the head off the rca and there will be 2 wires, unplug the harness with only one wire in it (i can sent you a pic if you want) and put the 2 wires through 2 empty slots (again ill send you a pic of what goes where) and thats it. The radio already gets the reverse signal and is programmed for a camera just needs to see a signal from the camera to work.
I'll tell you what, there's no way to miss it in the parking lot. I have one too, and it gets attention from the masses.
I saw this truck in a parking lot this morning and had to stop for a photo. The same bright orange as my little pumpkin. It was so jacked up, I could have probably parked my C underneath it! So, who do you think gets better MPG? LOL
