3 days in - new Prius owner disappointed

I don't own one - yet, so can't say for sure. But it is reported with great frequency on the UK Leaf forums that the gen1 Leaf will go about 40k-50k miles before losing a capacity bar, and then every 20k thereafter. The gen2 Leaf seems to be holding up much better and reports from high(er) mileage owners are that the capacity bars are not dropping - as shown by a 100k mile taxi.

Strange that a good taxi experience on a Leaf is discarded and a poor one on a Prius is trolling.

Maybe the cooler temperatures here are helping the Leaf batteries, but the gen1 battery just isn't as good as the gen2?

 

why do you keep saying Gen2?

let me try it in all caps

THERE IS NO GEN2 LEAF YET.

got it? The 2013 Leaf is not Gen2. No matter how many times you say it is.

GEN2 LEAF WILL COME OUT IN 2017.

CEO of Nissan says the Gen2 Leaf will have twice the range of a Gen1 Leaf.

Please grab a cup of coffee, glasses, or whatever it takes to allow you to read and comprehend and go back to read my list of Leaf revisions in the prior post.

 

New information for me. Then I don't know what the failure mode was in the handful of Taxi failure reports I read about.

Were the fan checks by the dealership or a private business with a motivation to lie (in order to pursue a warranty claim?)

 

Oh yawn off.

You know exactly what I mean. How should I call it? Leaf 1.5? The updated version that looks the same but has had some new battery tech? An easy way for people to work out the differences was to call it the gen2.

 

There is no new battery tech in the 2013, the battery had a different connector.

It's like saying that your favorite restaurant changed from a beer mug with a vertical side to a beer mug with a slight taper. No change in technology, it's just shaped different.

Saying the 2013 Leaf has new battery tech is just misleading and wrong on many levels.

I'd suggest you call it a 2013 Leaf not gen2. Is is so hard to write 2 0 1 3 L e a f ?

 

capitalizing the l is a problem for me.

 

Do you have a reference for that?
I recall Nissan talking about using a "lizard battery" which handles the heat better.
Are you suggesting this lizard battery is simple new connectors?

The reports of drastic battery capacity loss seems to have gone down, although not to zero.
Could that be explained with a change to connectors?

 

The "lizard battery" came out in 2015 not 2013. It exists, just not in the older cars.

The change between 2012 and 2013 was mostly physical.

In 2015 the change is purely chemical.

As to 2013 being better it's too early to tell.

The 2011 Leafs that started the roar were mostly made in Jan-Apr 2011 and saw all the heat of Arizona summer in 2011 and 2012 before it was clear there was a problem.

A 2013 made early in 2013 is only just this summer seeing its second summer and that isn't over. It may be a few months for more to roll in but so far we have at least 4 that have reported the first bar loss.

May 26 2015 San Dimas, CA 23,996 miles 26 months 01/13
Sep 02 2014 San Fernando, CA 20,000 miles 20 months 01/13
Mar 2014 Plano, Texas 4,000 miles 9 months 05/13
Nov 2013 Pheonix, AZ 8,000 miles 10 months 01/13

It'll take time for reports of this summers losses to roll in. Especially since the majority of the high temp Leafers from the first go round have already moved on to something more heat resistant by way of

A. getting a free battery after their first one lost 4 bars
B. letting the first one go back as a lease return and either leasing another with a shorter lease or moving to a car with active cooling for the battery
C. extending the lease just long enough to move to a 2014 Leaf

I don't think you'll see a lot of 2013 leafs in the garages of the people that got burned on the 2011.

 

Put another way. The 2011 leafs in the wiki show the first bar lost between 2.5 months and 42 months (for one made in June 2011).

To have that much data on the 2013s we have to wait until Feb 2018.

Obviously we don't want to wait that long. So what would it take to do something with the data from the 24 months we do have? Well we'd have to know the number of cars sold into each state and their current bar status and preferably the AHr or SOH remaining.

The problem is it's not a hot button issue right now so people aren't reporting it. When it happened for the 2011s Nissan didn't specify a battery warranty for degradation and they didn't specify a price to replace the battery if warranty replacement wasn't offered. The Leaf community was up in arms trying to get answers all through 2012 and into 2013 until Nissan finally put out a policy.

Now it exists, those people that caused the stir have for the most part moved on and aren't complaining anymore. They took their lumps or gave some to Nissan, but either way they moved on.

We need more 2013 Leaf owners in hot states like AZ, TX, FL, CA to give us data.

If we end 2015 with only a handful of 2013 one bar losers I'll ease up on waiting for data. But if they continue to stream in as the hot weather continues I'll raise the call and say here they come, it just took time.

 

many of the prius v cab drivers around John Wayne Airport sleep in their cars while off duty, near some of the seedy hotels. If it weren't for the choking car perfume treatments, I'd hate to think how much it would stink in some cases ... much less - the likelihood of stray hair all over the place. Lots of people has to mean lots of dander - germs! etc.

 

Makes perfect sense, thanks!
I thought the 2011s fell apart (battery wise) much faster than that.

 

Not saying this is the case, but ONE of the issues was discovered to be ignorant dealerships that'd leave their inventory / in the uber heat / stored at 100% / numerous weeks at a time. I'd look at that Plano Texas ride to see if that might be the case, if it isn't simply a few defective modules. That's the great thing about the PiP & the standard Pri - it isn't ever topped off to the extent that EV get.
.

 

Still true at Nissan dealers with new cars and at used car dealerships all over the US. 90% or more of the people taking care of these cars on the lot don't know that a full battery + heat = problems.

 

To the OP, the (liftback) Prius in any trim IMO is not a car for 'picky' drivers. I think Toyota might have gone a little overboard with this generation's MPGs and tried a little too hard to appeal to Star Trek fans with the unusual interior. The driver gets nothing in front of them, the displays are 'for all too see and appreciate' I suppose.

Car and Driver says "It's (Prius is) the automotive equivalent of eating our vegetables". I think it is more like eating only vegetables. Toyota Prius Reviews - Toyota Prius Price, Photos, and Specs - Car and Driver

Yeah, I see 50 something to 60 MPG after a day's commute on the display, but it's usually a 'thanks but no thanks' or 'meh' overall driving experience. It seemed reasonably comfortable before buying it, but turns out I didn't have much a clue how to properly grip a steering wheel, sit up well, and drive the thing. At least now I can rule out uncomfortable seats, controls, and case out cars that go about their business without much driving excellence.

The front seats, they are poo in my experience: There is zero, nada shoulder support (even a $30k + Five) as the upper seatback is completely flat. Therefore, going around corners is an exercise in getting thrown to the side by some amount. I need a magnifying glass to see the driver's seat bottom cushion, it is so small and rolls off at the front edge, offering support only for those with 'shorter legs'.
And Toyota sure has penchant for punting the knees up high: They seem to never let their driver's seat (cushion) as a whole really lower, just let your butt lower down mostly. (boggles my mind the $29k Rav4 XLE is also a 'butt sinker').

There is not much luxury in any trim with the hard, thin plastics everywhere inside. Steer the car and it is 'video game' light in a parking lot and not so connected on your favorite road. The displays are pretty boring to this day, but the HSI helps see what's going on.
I seriously doubt the 'average' driver would get in a Prius and consider it 'cool' inside. Obviously a certain segment seems to get pretty turned on with the Prius, but I think driving then becomes more of a cerebral, analytical pursuit with scan gauges, HSI gauges and hypermiling for max fuel economy. Driving an EV or EREV would seem simpler.

But, for people who driver a LOT of miles, Prius delivers on FUEL ECONOMY. Get up into the 70 F + with a long commute and these cars start banging out 60 mpg indicated trips. Reliability, flexible cargo space are added bonuses. Reports of HYBRID battery theft in SF are so NOT a comfortable thing to know about.

I've never driven the new Accord hybrid. Not interested in the price, value equation, small trunk, unknown reliability / poor hybrid history and now Honda is pulling the Accord Hybrid out for 2016 and sending production back to Japan.

Compare a conventional Accord against a Prius? I spent $150 and 285 miles to see why mags like Car and Driver gush over the Accord. Driving-wise, my Prius is a stinking pile of cow dung compared to driving and being in a 9th gen Accord (excluding the base LX). Prius stinks somewhat less after years of trying different band-aids like legrest box, homemade wedge cushion, etc...

An Accord EX with leather or even a sub $25k Sport sedan looks, feels, drives, steers, handles corners, mutes bumps, give driving pleasure much closer to a European luxury car than a eco mobile like the Toyota Prius. There are much worse cars to drive, but they also cost a WHOLE lot less than a Prius. Good thing a Prius gets over 50 MPG, because if it had no hybrid drivetrain, offered the same driving characteristics and looked the same and cost $21k $26k for 32 MPG combined, it wouldn't sell 500 copies a month. Honda's new HR-V with its 1.8L CVT and 31 combined would rip a conventional Prius a new one day in and day out.

 

yes ... i can relate to that "problem"

.

 

So how do you feel about your Prius today?

 

How are you guys getting 60 mpg the best i could over get is 54 mpg over a full tank of gas.I was driving literally like a grandmother

 

I beat 60 mpg one time only on a 400 mile round trip non-traffic freeway with windows up and 70 degrees high both days never exceeding 60 mph...and p-ssed off everyone on the Interstate. If you live, work and drive safely in the real world with freeways, traffic, weather variables, multiple drivers, ect...50 mpg is still realistically optimistic.

 

Yea I was leaving the house early and not rushing to make it home.Going 55 in the slow lane on a 70mph freeway,lol
going 40-41 on a reg street that was a 50 mph zone.

 

As a former Prius owner who loved the tech, but wasn't so hot on the execution of MPG above all else, I think I've found a comfortable medium in a Camry Hybrid. The Camry feels just like a Prius (in a good way), except with way more power, refinement, and build quality. In other words, a real car, instead of a science experiment. The Camry also seems to be treated much more normally on the road than the Prius.

I still love (and hate, at the same time) the Prius, though.

I also looked at an Accord Hybrid, but just felt that Honda cannot be trusted with any Hybrid. Their track record with Hybrids has been absolutely abysmal, which completely nullifies any MPG advantage they have.