Any buying advice for used 2012 v ?

welcome!
i'm not familiar with the v, but i'll have a go:
1) later v's were reworked for the offset frontal crash test, iirc.
2) entire is a suite of apps on the display screen, and does require a subscription. it's pretty useless, as is gps, so stick with your phone. you can pair it by bluetooth and listen to music, but i would do it before buying the car to be sure.
3) afaik
4) there's a 12/12, 3/36 5/60, and the big one on the hybrid battery, 10/150 in cali, as long as it was registered there originally, and always in a carb state.
5) yes, any toyota dealer, they all specialize in prius.
6) all the best!

 

The 2015-17 models have strengthening for the IIHS small overlap test, but they have no additional safety features compared to the 2012-14s. Same airbags, same traction / stability controls, same available driver aids...

There are two variations of the Five trim - with and without the advanced technology package (ATP). The more powerful eight-speaker JBL system is only available with the advanced technology package, but heated seats are on all Five trims (and the Four trim of the 2015-17). Power lumbar support is on the Three, Four and Five trims. All trims will do Bluetooth streaming, and they all have at least six speakers, so no worries there.

There are a few ways you can tell the trims apart. Here are a few if / then statements for you:

If the car has fabric, manually-adjustable seats AND power lumbar (a left / right switch on the side of the seat), it's a Three. If the car has front fog lights (round white lights inset from the turn signals), it's a Five. If the car has a glass roof, it's a Five with the ATP. If it's a 2015-17 and it has the leather seats but WITHOUT the front fog lights, it's a Four.

Finally, I would recommend against a 2012 model year. Go with 2013 or newer. The 2012s, being the first model year, had a lot of recalls. I personally purchased a 2013 Five and I am beyond excited to pick mine up here soon.

Another thing to note: Dealers, especially non-Toyota dealers, get confused about the transition between Prius trims being roman numerals (II, III, IV, V) and names (Two, Three, Four, Five), so you may see a Prius V marked as "Five" when it is actually a Two or Three, or the other way around. If you're not sure, post and somebody will be able to make sense of it for you.

Good luck!

 

I remember only one recall on my wife's 2012 Prius v Five/ATP and, IIRC, the same recall applied to the 2013 and 2014 Prius v. Her 2012 Prius v has been the most trouble free vehicle we've ever owned and we've been buying cars for 50+ years - not a single thing has gone wrong in 6 years of ownership.

That said, if buying one today, I would look only at a 2015-up Prius v Five with ATP. It wasn't until 2014 that the Prius v got DRL which I though was horrible for a small car. I installed a DRL kit due to this shortcoming. And none of the Prius v have turn signals that can be seen from the side - pathetic but I took care of that too with turn signals from a Toyota Scion.

Entune works great for me but my wife couldn't care less about it. It is necessary to register on the Entune website if you use some of the apps but it is free. For example, it is necessary to link your Pandora and Slacker accounts to your Entune account.

The hard drive based JBL navigation in her 2012 Prius v works great and even better than the DVD based JBL navigation in our 2014 Sienna. We updated the nav maps in her Prius v last year by buying them at discount through the Costco Auto Program through which I always buy nav updates. The navigation system's Destination Search feature is very cool. And you can set destinations on your phone while sitting in your kitchen and they will sync up to the in-dash nav system when you start the car.

The 2014-up Prius v Four and Five got a standard power driver seat. I can't get comfortable in the pre-2014 driver seat but I can in the power version.

The 2015 Prius v Five with ATP was the first vehicle tested by the IIHS that received its highest "Good" headlight rating which VERY few vehicles have earned. It is the first year that the Five/ATP got Auto High Beam which is a wonderful feature and now part of the Toyota Safety Sense system.

On the downside, the 2015 Prius v Five/ATP lost the headlight washers which perturbed me living here in the Midwest.

The 2015 Prius v Five/ATP also lost the "Advanced Parking Guidance System (APGS)" which is probably more fun than useful. It can parallel park or back the car into a parking space and the only thing you have to do is press the brake.

The Prius v can carry a roof box but you might have difficulty finding a rack that fits the roof area on the sides of the resin panoramic roof. You can view photos of the similar European Prius+ carrying roof boxes on one of the Toyota Europe websites. Toyota sells both roof racks and roof boxes for the Prius+/v in Europe.

 

Ditto. One recall for my '12 v. One will not start failure so rare it took a few failures before even the regional techs could figure it out but that failure is so rare no other mentions of it are on the forum.

Can you tell me more about the process you used to buy the map update through COSTCO. I don't mind an update every couple of years though Toyota's map data is at best more than a year old even when the update is first available. And expensive is being generous.

 

There is a Hybrid System Warranty for the first 10 years or 150,000 miles (in CARB states) that should be in effect. Battery control module (battery voltage sensor), Hybrid battery, Hybrid control module (power management control module), Inverter with converter.
There is a Powertrain Warranty that is for the first 5 years or 60,000 miles that may be in effect. Engine, Transaxle/Motor/Generator, Front Wheel Drive System.
The restraints are warrantied for 5 years or 60,000 miles in California.
There is a 5 year corrosion warranty.
The basic warranty is for 3 years or 36,000 miles.
There is a wheel alignment and balancing Warranty for 1 year or 12,000 miles.
Any tire warranty is not by Toyota.
If a part under warranty fails, towing is covered.

https://www.toyota.com/t3Portal/document/omms-s/T-MMS-12PriusV/pdf/2012_Toyota_Prius-V_WMG.pdf (starting on page 12)

 

I am curious, though, as to how many TSBs were / are specific to 2012s. Perhaps I'm just paranoid about the first model year of a new / redesigned vehicle.

One thing I do believe that was added to the 2013s and forward - the Softex steering wheel for the Five. That was something I specifically wanted on my own vehicle.

 

Sure. If you are already a Costco member, go to https://www.costcoauto.com/ and request a 15% discount coupon which is good for parts or labor. The coupon or a link to it will be emailed to you. The coupon you will print will have the name of the participating Toyota dealer and an expiration date. I print a 15% discount coupon every time I need anything for our vehicles such as wiper blade refills, touch-up paint or even a few bolts to replace ones that a body shop left off. The 15% discount brings the price of a Toyota nav update part down from its retail price of $169 to $143.65. If your navigation system type requires a dealer mechanic to install the update, you might need a second coupon for that. I'll attach an image of one discount coupon with the authorization code blanked out.

When we had our Prius hard drive nav system updated last year, I was surprised to find a non-Costco dealer Toyota dealership that did the update for even less than the Costco Toyota dealer. It might have been a promotional price but the labor cost of the update at that Toyota dealership was right at $40.

I also bought our special order Toyota Sienna Limited through the Costco Auto Program - a very pleasant experience with full disclosure of invoice prices and deep discounts on options and packages. (Full disclosure: We're long time Costco shareholders.)

I doubt that Toyota's map data is any more out-of-date than that of other car companies. It sometimes takes years for addresses and POI's to show up in our portable Garmin's and I keep them updated. Heck, our home address in a neighborhood right behind city hall didn't show in Garmin systems until around 2008 and our house has been here since 1982 .... which is pretty funny since Garmin headquarters are less than seven miles from our house.

 

Thanks. My Costco membership goes back to Price Club days but I have never bought anything through one of their programs.

My experience with my dealer's parts department is I can get a discount of at least 10% and often more just by asking for the "I bought the car here discount". And they discounted labor too but nothing like $40.

My experience with map data is with the same data that Toyota uses as it was used by a 10 year old TomTom that came out with official quarterly updates with user supplied updates available with even more recent data. The map data disk I bought for my wife's car (Avalon) clearly showed a production date of a year before Toyota made it available.