Is it me or the heater?

It seems weaker than other cars but not like your saying.

 

Are you doing lots of short trips? The heat's only as warm as the engine coolant.

 

Do you drive in the eco mode, see if turning the eco mode off helps.

 

GIII seems warmer than GII to me. I have no problems with heat. Do remember the heat is -controlled- so it doesn't "cook your feet".
"The engine should be on enough to be able to heat it" is rather nebulous. What IS the coolant temp? You need a Scangauge or other to be sure.
I just blocked the lower grill this week and Pearl S is now getting the coolant up to the thermostat opening 85-90C much faster.
Do remember no heat comes from the centre dash vents, only from the two side ones and the lower ones.

It is possible the thermostat is stuck open. That would cause the car to run cooler and take a very long time to warm up fully.

 

I've had that happen. Didn't no what to make of it at first. Long drives on freeway, low rpm, higher speed, and the temp needle (this was on an old-fashioned vehicle that still had gauges, lol) would be down at the bottom. The thermostat wasn't completely stuck open, but was failing:

I took the old one out, and put both old and new in a pot of water on the stove, brought to a boil, watched their performance. The old one had frayed, leaky rubber gasket, and opened at lower temp.

I kinda doubt it on a 2013 though. Thermostats take a while to degrade. Unless it's been defective from the get go. A defective thermostat would be impacting fuel economy too. Run it by the dealership??

 

It's a year old car. I'd be straight round the dealers to get it checked whilst it's under warranty.

 

What temp is your thermostat set to? I suspect the larger the difference between cabin temp and setting, the more aggressive the system is in trying to heat the car.

 

Prius engine is more efficient than other engine so it takes a longer distance to heat up. Also the engine stop doesn't help either. The heater core is another radiator so having the heater on cools the engine down even faster. Get a Scangauge or other OBD reader to read the coolant temp. Right now, the outside low temp is about 50f. I have full hood/fender gap blocked, 95% lower grill blocked and 50% upper grill blocked. It takes twice the distance to heat a Prius engine than a normal engine. I don't turn on my heater til 5 miles later. Even then it's only lukewarm air. I don't feel hot air til 8 miles later. By that time, I'm only 3 miles away from home. Sometimes I don't even turn on the heater and only use the heated seat. It warms faster.

 

I find my 2010 will cook you like a Thanksgiving Turkey if you turn it up high enough. Make sure you have the vent mode set for both floor and the dash vents. I find if you have it only set for the floor vents you get marginal heat. If you have a Scan Gauge you'll find that the car will not start heating until the coolant temperature hits 105 degrees. This is another reason you get killed on fuel mileage in the winter as long as you need to heat the cabin the engine will run. I live 1.5 miles from work, a five minute drive and with in a mile I start to get heat.

 

^ I've found, when stopped, I can consistantly turn the engine on or off, just by ticking the cabin temperature up or down a degree or two. If I'm stopped (with warmed up engine) and the engine's still running, my first suspect is cabin temp being a bit too high. The threshold may vary, depending on coolant, usuall for me it's around 21C.

 

Was I correct in hearing that the US or Canadian spec gen2 had a supplementary electrical heater for very cold temperatures? Does the gen3 have this and if not is it hidden in there somewhere just needing it switching on in the main computer?

 

Gen III US Prius/PIP version doesn't have any electric heating elements other than seat/rear window defrost.
IIRC the prototypes had a heat pump, but that didn't make it to production Gen III vehicles.

 

Technically more powerful engine - more heat. I am not surprised you're getting your feet cooked in your Audi which has a more powerful engine.

I am getting just enough heat and I am not using an eco mode. In eco mode the engine will take longer to fully heat up because it isn't getting a lot power, so it will take longer to start blowing warm air.

 

I've noticed the same thing in my switch from an A4. In the winter... In the Audi I usually set the heat at 66 or 68. I'd go 70 or 72 on a really long trip (usually have a jacket on for short trips). In the Prius I'm finding that I set it at 70 to 72 so far and I haven't gone on any long trips yet. I have a 9 mile commute to work so it's sort of perfect for getting the car fully up to operating temp.

 

I have a 12-mile commute one-way. The car is frigid for the first mile and a half (about seven minutes) , and then the fan starts to distribute warm air. (Thank heavens that the fan doesn't run before the air has warmed the way it does in many cars.) By the two or three mile mark, I'm fine. I keep my thermostat on 70. I usually let it run on automatic so that the heat goes to the footwells, but sometimes I have it warm the inside windshield. I find that having it run in bi-level mode makes the car seem drafty. Just my two cents.

 

I just bought a 2010 with 30,000 miles. Outside temp in the teens and the cabin never gets warmer than "cool" even though I have the heat set at 84

 

You should have that checked out...

 

Just wanted to add my two cents to this thread. I have a 2012 Prius III and just completed a round trip from SoCal to Kansas City. I was there during the "Arctic Vortex" and it was cold Average daytime temps during my 1 week stay were 14 F. I left my fan setting on Auto and the temp set to 74. It took about 2 miles before warm air started flowing. No complaints from me. I also rode in other peoples cars (non-hybrid) while there and there cars I think to a little longer to heat up than mine did.