Just wanted to share a conversation I had with a friend today, he is the marketing manager at the local Toyota dealership in Lake Havasu AZ. He said that Toyota has solved engine oil burning issue for 2013 Prius by limiting the engine to 4000 rpm electronically. I am not sure if this is the case for all gen 3, but certainly for 2013 and beyond because I was talking to him about my 200K, 2013 Prius. He also suggested that I avoid a refurbished battery in our hot climate, those do not do well. Here a lead acid battery only lasts 27 months. We are the hottest part of AZ.
There are 3 kinds of lies: Lies, damn lies and marketing. I kind of doubt that story......for several reasons, not the least of which is: "Toyota" has no way of accomplishing that on a used car without having the car IN a dealers shop.
The marketing manager belongs to the Rotary club I am in and we do many community service events together, so he does not have a good reason to lie to me. What he is saying is that for my model year, this is built in.
VERY HIGHLY likely that is NOT true. Marketing people usually know NOTHING about how the stuff they sell actually works........and often what they do "know" is wrong. He probably is not purposely lying. For that to BE true......Toyota would have to have KNOWN when they built the cars that there was a defect that would cause excessive oil usage down the road.....and their solution was to change the control computer to limit the engine revs. Possible but not likely.
May be false..but an interesting tidbit of info nonetheless. After 2+ years of observation, our 2010 certainly does consume MUCH more oil when at extreme RPM. Probably just a coincidence with this post...but it does seem 'reasonable' that limiting it could make a difference. I'm highly skeptical though until we get official word from Toyota ( good luck with that )! It also seems like limiting max RPM would cripple the car under high load.
I wonder how often Prius goes over 4K, and if people with scan gauge see it. I'm thinking more the ipm flash.
Your friend might not be overtly "lying" to you, but this is very different from his statements being....accurate. He may just be wrong. As far as the rev limiting, I'm unaware that the 2013's are rev limited differently than my 2010, and I'm suspicious that even if such a measure was implemented on the G3s after 2012 that it would have a meaningful impact on oil use. Besides......very few Priuses "officially" use excessive amounts of oil given Toyota's definition for this condition. Perhaps you might ask him to comment on that the next time that you're sharing a rubber-chicken entree at the next Rotarian event.... The comment about refurbed batteries is also sketchy, since most of these are re-manufactured in facilities outside AZ besides.....they stopped manufacturing G3 batteries.......what? 2 years ago? If I drove...........let's say a 2010 Prius, I'd probably be tempted to roll the dice on a remanned unit whereas if I were driving a 2012 it would be more of a wobbler since the 2012 is only 5-6 years old and might benefit from the added lifespan from the OEM battery. It would depend on the price difference. Good luck with the 2012.
