Strongly Considering 2017 Prius: Unsure Which Trim (Two vs. Three) + Miscellaneous Questions

As you can see, I got the Two. Both the Two and Three have the space saver spare tire. I think the Three has the heads-up display and possibly a better entertainment system with GOS navigation.
For me, the difference in price was not worth it. I would not likely use the HUD and seldom use the entertainment system. Toyota's navigation system is well known to not be good. My son still uses his old Garmin even though his 2015 Prius v has navigation.

 

NiMH is a good battery. Li-ION is lighter, not better. They both have much the same specs overall, with detail differences. I bought the NiMH - because that's all they bring to this market and a few other markets (we only get Li-ION on PRIUS v. The difference of 16kg is less than the mass as I lost when I dieted last year. And probably approaching the mass of the unnecessary "junk" most people carry around in their cars.

I think that part of the reason why Li-ION was included on the upper models was to counter the extra mass of the luxury stuff, and still perform as well.

NiMH has the advantage that it's known to last well - Li-ION has less than half the historical evidence. Li-ION needs more careful management - as SAMSUNG (and TESLA and even BOEING) discovered recently. Initially, TOYOTA released Li-ION in the home market, where the life-span of cars is only 3-5 years - so length of life of batteries is less of a concern. TOYOTA commented about the NiMH before Gen 4 release "Engineers tweaked their formula for improvements this time. The new nickel-metal batteries are 2.4 percent lighter, 10 percent smaller, and recharge 28 percent faster.".

I'm not sure about where you are, but here, NAVIGATION isn't worth having - most dealerships charge a fortune to update - you can buy a new NAVMAN/TomTom every year for much less - and many come with lifetime maps (which turns out to be what they consider the lifetime, about 4-5 yrs, not your lifetime, but that's another story).

 

Here in Australia, Toyota have chosen to sell NiMH only...

2016 Toyota Prius sticks with nickel hydride over lithium-ion batteries in Australia

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

I went the three 2016 with advanced tech package which in that year includes the HUD, moonroof, and Safety Sense (not standard on the 2016 model), but I only got the 2016 because of the cash rebate deal ($2,500 in nov 2016) made it essentially equivalent to a standard three 2017. I like having the moonroof and Head Ups Display, but did not need to have them.

I wouldn't worry about the battery, as others said, it was probably only done for weight reductions.

Keep in mind that the HUD and moonroof are AVAILABLE only with the advanced tech package which is another ~$1.5k add on.

The only none luxury item is the smart key entry for side and rear, but I wanted it because I was used to it on the 2007 touring edition I used to have. Up to you if you want it.

Entune kinda sucks with smartphones, I use navigation sparingly and opt to use Waze on a smartphone.

I still prefer the three over the two.

 

1. No
2. Yes
3. No dealer addons are not needed on any car ever. Repeat after me. NO DEALER ADDONS. No pin striping, vin etching extended warranty, prepaid maintenance, gap insurance, paint protection, interior protection, etc.

Your choice between a 2 and a 3 will just be whether you want to pay for the extra luxury bits.

 

The one thing that comes to mind for me is drivers door only touch unlock on the 2, vs 2 door and hatch on the 3. Am I right on that?

It would bug me, but depends on what you're used to I guess.

 

IMO, the Navigation isn't too bad if you do long trips that don't take traffic into account, I believe if you have the upgraded entune, you do get some traffic alerts as well and slight traffic avoidance/heads up, no where as good as google maps or waze, but its there.

HUD) There is some easily understandable confusion with the multiple "information" display which is the screens to the right of the speedometer screen in the middle. I like it, but again not necessary, but if you do use nav, its nice to see directions in HUD, rest of the time I have it display the "eco driving meter"

1) I don't think so, ATP is only available on three or four, but NOT the touring models of those, one other approach is to still see if any other dealers still have a 2016 with ATP, you may get really good deals, just remember that only ATP/high trim models of the 2016 had TSS

2) Smart key is you can approach the door and as you reach to unlatch the trunk or passenger door, it will auto unlock because it senses your key nearby, you don't have to initiate the unlock from your key fob. Basically, laziness.

3) From what I've been told, the dealers like to add the all weather mats option because to them its only $20-50 more for the all weather mats than the standard options so they can look better and say it has add ons . To answer the original question, I believe you can get the original mats if you request it, but if you get the all weather mats as standard, you don't get the original carpet style mats. My dealer threw in the rear all weather mats as well.

If you want to purchase after the fact, the priuschat shops and ebay sell all the accessories you want.

 

2. The SMART KEY works the same as an older remote key, with an unlock and lock button. As such, it unlocks or locks all doors and hatch:


The SMART part is that, if you're within close range - ie standing near the door, you can touch the 2 little sensor bars on the door handle, and it will lock all doors and hatch - using the back of your hand, finger, elbow, knee if your hands were full, though won't always work through clothing (and some have reported that it's not always successful with gloves). To unlock, the inside of the door handle is a sensor pad, and just touching the inside of the door handle will unlock all doors/hatch. With mine, there is ONLY a sensor on the driver's door, but locks all doors/hatch. On upper models, there is a sensor on the front passenger door and, I think the hatch.



The key also has a small REAL KEY hidden inside, which allows you to lock the doors while the car is POWERED - if you wanted to leave the A/C or heater running while you slipped into a store - however, I suspect that the security isn't as good. It also must be unlocked with the same REAL KEY as, having used it, it disables all SMART KEY operations.



I'm in Australia, so can't comment on 1 or 3 (though here most dealers just throw in floormats and a hatch mat for "free"). Nothing is really "free" - you end up paying for it one way or another. You mentioned above about dealer add-ons - yes, overpriced at a dealer. I wanted paint protection and tinted windows, and bought it afterwards, for well less than half what the dealer quoted - when I went to get a quote, the salesperson commented "we do the tinting and paint protection for that dealer anyway" which I took with a grain of salt. 'Till I dropped my car off, and there were 4 or 5 brand new, unregistered TOYOTAs there having it being applied.

 

Regarding your question (3), I suggest making sure the dealer hasn’t installed an aftermarket alarm system, other than possibly the TVIP RS3200 system offered by Toyota, which is basically just a glass-breakage sensor connected to the factory anti-theft system.

My new Prius came with a third-party alarm unit, installed mostly for the dealer’s convenience. (The salespeople carry transmitters that can unlock, but not start, any car on the lot, and the office has a transmitter that can lock all of the cars for the night.) It was supposedly de-activated when I bought the car, but if I hadn’t required that they be removed, the car would’ve been left with some active devices spliced into the factory wiring harnesses: a pushbutton screwed to the lower instrument panel, and a cheap-looking module zip-tied behind the dashboard. I’m still a bit concerned about the long-term reliability effects of the dozen or so wire taps the installer used, even though nothing is connected to them now.

I accepted all this because I got a very good discount on a 2016 model that had been in stock for a while; otherwise, I would’ve insisted on an unmodified car, even if it meant waiting for the dealer to receive a new one from the factory.

As far as other add-ons, I bought a set of Genuine Toyota rubber floor mats (part number PT908-47165-20) online for about $100, and the car came with a carpet and a cargo net for the luggage area. I’ve also added a couple of accessories sold by Toyota only in Japan, but that’s a story for another time.

 

I would like you to do the story for another time in another thread , do you have a lead on/source of who you purchase from the toyota Japan parts? I was interested in the official trash can, but the places I saw that shipped to US had it for $100+, you can PM too

 

In my previous posting I forgot a few of he differences. I normally download the brochure & look at the comparison chart beginning on page 21.
http://www.toyota.com/content/ebrochure/2017/prius_ebrochure.pdf

The Trim Two has no option packages. By default, the car has a carpeted floor lining, but comes with no mats. Many dealers always add the carpeted floor mats. Some put in the all-weather rubber mats instead. My car came with the carpeted mats but I wanted the all-weather ones. It was cheaper for me to order the Toyota mats from a dealer on Amazon than to buy them from my dealer. I still have the carpeted mats but do not use them.

In my opinion, the battery in the Trim Two is proven technology. The battery modules are the same as those in the Generation 2 and newer. The other US trims have a largely unproven battery as far as lifetime is concerned. I believe the Gen 2 people are seeing 125K+ miles from their batteries.

 

A lot more than 125k miles - there was a report in the press here in 2008 " ... Up in north Queensland a Cairns-based Toyota Prius taxi has recently clocked up 550,000 kilometres, the highest kilometres recorded for an Australia delivered Prius to date....". There was one with 600,000 MILES on HybridCars.com a couple of years ago.

 

Was it on original battery?

(Either way: a battery swap every 200~300K km's is not bad at all.)

 

I was going from memory and trying to be conservative. Of course, there will be outliers. ( & liars??)

 

Sorry, I was questioning something in Alan Clarkeau's post #14. should have quoted.

 

I know it seems minor but once you have the 3 door (driver,front passenger and hatch) smart key, you will be glad that you do. When you go to the hatch with a bunch of groceries, it is really nice not to have to reach into your pocket to unlock the hatch.

Also, if you are married or have a significant other, and the other gets to the passenger door first, she/he can open the door seamlessly without waiting for you to fumble to get the key out.

Bottom line, it is not necessary but it is a big convenience. My wife is definitely glad that we have it.

 

I usually drive alone but YMMV. Shouldn't you go around to hold the door for her?

I have my door set to unlock all doors because I frequently open the back seat door too.
If I am using the hatch, I use the driver door handle unlock (unlocks all doors) and then the hatch release.

 

This may also help OP with deciding or make it more difficult , I believe this list is mostly correct except for the Toyota safety sense being standard on all 2017 models

Visual Tables of Gen4 Package Combinations | PriusChat