Which year is the best year to buy? Former Prius owner

Great stories here. I have yet to try camping IN either our 2010 or our Prius v (wagon). I've considered it but always end up tent camping.

Assuming there are 2 sleeping in the back..where do you put all of the other stuff? Front seats? While on road trips I'm not sure we would have enough room in the front seats to store *all* of our stuff.

 

Which year gen 3s don't burn oil?

 

And more importantly, why

 

TSB 0169-16 (2ZR-FXE excessive oil consumption repair procedure, '10-'14 Prius) states: "The piston and piston ring assembly have been changed to reduce the potential for oil consumption." I've seen it stated here a few times that 2015s have the updated parts, but given that both TSBs 0168-16 and 0169-16 were dropped on November 16, 2016, I don't feel it's a safe assumption...

I also don't feel it safe to assume the updated piston/rings are a definite fix, but that's just me...

 

Some think the EGR engine changes in the Gen 4 may be the fix.

 

Ok, I’ll try to answer: Our approach to Prius camping is moving the front seats forward in the upright position to get enough room for us to sleep (I’m 6’2”). So there is a little space on the driver seat and slightly more stowage space on the passenger seat and in the passenger’s footwell. Im using a plywood shelf about 44” across and 17” wide to span the gap between the folded down rear seats and back of the front seats, which also gives us the entire rear seat footwell area to store stuff in. On the back of each front seat we hang a kind of apron with pockets to store small items like glasses, toothbrushes, flashlights, and so on while sleeping.The two curved “pocket” areas in back of the rear wheel humps can also be used to store fairly small packages as your feet whilst sleeping will not typically push into those areas. That is all the “in-car” storage.
For “out-of-car” storage you can use a rooftop carrier, but of course that effects mpg adversely, so we do not take that approach. What we do, however, is carry a dome tent made to attach to the rear of the Prius over the open hatch, and store all our other other stuff in that area when we set up camp. The tent serves as both a dressing room and also as a kitchen and dining room in areas where bears are not a problem. With the hatch open, a person my size can sit on the rear bumper to have some seating, and we bring folding chairs and a table, but that all adds to the total weight and bulk of things, of course. I can post pics if you would like. Cheers!

 

There's old and parts numbers in TSB 0169-16, for both the pistons and rings. That's essentially the fix. Whether the revised p/n's are effective is an open question. FWIW, I went through the 3rd gen years at McGeorge Toyota parts search, and this was the outcome:



Model year 2015 is the one year with both the revised pistons and rings.

FWIW, our 2010 so far has zero consumption between oil consumption, at least not enough to make a noticeable drop on the dipstick. Which is a first for me, compared to our history of Honda's. The car only has 78K kms though, and the oil/filter's getting changed every 6 months, around 5000 kms at most now, with Toyota 0W20.

 

My point zachly.. We'll need some 2015 data before it can be called a fix. Or not.

Despite your low miles, it's no coincidence the world's-best-kept-2010 is a non-burner. Your short-change interval has everything to do with that, imo.

 

Created thread with poll.

3rd gen model year and oil consumption | PriusChat

 

It was actually resolved earlier than that with the Prius Plus Performance Package on the Gen 3.

 

Seems like most people do it that way. The minority option -- which I subscribe to -- is to recline the front seat until it is flush with the rear seat bottom (obviously the head rest has to be removed). I then place one of those "plastic storage drawers" on the passenger's seat and then a sheet of plywood on top of that to provide a level area for the mattress. In this configuration, the bed area is about 10 feet long (from glove box to rear hatch), so no claustrophobia!

I point the drawer opening toward the passenger's door, so it can be accessed, albeit from outside with the door open. There is additional storage above the reclined passenger seat back, below the plywood, as well as the foot wells.

 

I know that 2010 is the most problematic year of the Prius. I know that 2012 models are excellent. What I am interested to know is if the engine oil consumption issue, head gasket issues where both fixed in time for the 2011 year?

 

I have rented an 04, a 2010, and a 2016. There was pros and cons to them both. My most recent experience was with a 2016 obviously. It was dark red with black leather seats. I had the car for over two weeks.

The 2004 was cool at the time but was boring to drive, but the video touchscreen was amazing especially back then. The 2010 had more performance but the cool video screen was gone and I wasn't a fan of the inside, especially with the energy monitor being removed from a video screen and being put on the instrument panel with an ugly graphic. The 2016 had a nice updated video screen, but I honestly thought it was slower than the 2010, in my opinion. I think the 2016, even in a cool color, is really ugly on the outside and there are some things they did on the inside that didn't make sense either. But the 2016 to me seemed to be the most boring out of all of them when it came to acceleration and power. I understand you don't get a Prius for the acceleration and power, but the OP that asked this question is looking for a quicker car he said, and my experience with the 2016 was that it was dangerously slow.

 

You may be overthinking it. I'd say it's not so much the model years as the attention that been paid to the EGR circuit, intake manifold. These are items that Toyota is reluctantly acknowledging, too little too late. Their response is IF there is a code displayed, then they'll maybe replace some parts for you. Problem is, arguably: by that time the damage is done. The main consequence of clogging EGR seems to be an engine that runs hot, and can accelerate head gasket failure.

There's also some expensive brake master cylinder issues. There's a warranty extension on that, not that long though.

 

I mentioned that the 2010 Prius has the most problems of all Prius cars. I didn't even mention the EGR or intake manifold. The main problem that receives the most complaints is that the 2010 Prius not only consumes about 1 quart per 1000 miles of driving, but besides the oil consumption issue, it has a common head gasket issue. The repair for the head gasket is expensive and the repair for the oil consumption is a whole new engine. Toyota does not help with these two issues (read thousands of complaints online). Now I know Gen 3 has different issues than Gen 2. I know that the EGR issue is common as well and is also an expensive fix and can cause further damage to the car. My question is, the 2012 models have the oil consumption issue resolved and head gasket issue resolved. I want to know, especially from 2011 owners, is if the 2011 models have the oil consumption problems resolved and the head gasket problems resolved? Please see this link as it is the most important tool for buying a used car. You can read all the 2010 complaints for yourself. 2007-2008 had tons of headlight issues. 2010 models have engine problems. Both problems are expensive but I'd rather have headlight problems any day. I have a 2005 and it is a project right now, but I am considering a newer Prius and have my eyes on a 2011 so I want to know if the problems were resolved in the 2011 year. Toyota Prius Problems | CarComplaints.com

 

@Mendel Leisk I just got done reading one of your earlier posts with the piston p/n. Seems the oil consumption problem wasn't fixed until at least 2015. That is not the answer I was hoping for. I wonder why there isn't near the amount of complaints about this issue on car complaints website? I had a 2009 Camry that actually blew the engine because it went though 1 quart every 500 miles. Toyota wouldn't fix it but then I took it to my Toyota dealer that I do a lot of business with and they replaced the engine but the regular customer was out of luck. My current personal car is a 2011 Hyundai Sonata Limited Turbo. They had problems with the 2011 model with the Turbo. The Turbo itself wasn't an issue, but it caused other issues. In 2011, it had 274 HP and a TON of torque. My car will throw your back into your seat. But from 2011 on, Hyundai kept dropping their HP on the Turbo model. It was down to 245HP last year and this year I think it is 225HP. Nobody even wants it anymore because it isn't worth the expensive upgrade. My main problem on my Sonata Turbo is that it has less than 70K and it burns a quart of oil about 1 quart per 1500 miles and it is getting worse. Several 2010 Prius owners complain that even when changing oil every 4000 miles, they almost run completely out of oil. I don't want to buy another car with an oil consumption issue. I'm sick and tired of oil consumption issues.

 

I can guarantee a Tesla will not have engine oil consumption issues

 

Funny thing is, Tesla has tons of Tesla charge stations all over the city, but there is no Tesla dealership anywhere near this area! Maybe Indy might have one but that's 3 hours away!

So, I still need to know, does the 2011 Prius have oil consumption issues? Some places I read make me think the issue was resolved in 2011+, but other places I've read make me think the problem wasn't resolved until 2015.

 

You might try contacting True Delta, they collect data on cars. I used to update my original Prius on that website and he used to be on Prius Chat. His name is Michael Karesh.

TrueDelta -- Real Car Owners Driving Real Car Information

 

There's a TSB on oil consumption, well two: the first outlines is a testing instruction, the second is the "fix", comprising piston and ring replacement, with 2015 model year parts. Still, until there's a significant amount of oil use data available, for 2010 through 2015 model year, it's hard to say the updated pistons and rings do fix anything. Even replacing an oil consuming 2010's pistons and rings with the same parts would likely solve the problem, for 50~100K miles.

Hoping to shed a light on the 3rd gen year vs consumption, I started a survey thread, but got so far only one 2015 reporting:

3rd gen model year and oil consumption | PriusChat

I really wish more owners would contribute, especially a few more 2015'rs.

I'm a 2010 owner, albeit with a mere 80K kms. Just one data point, but so far our car is consuming no oil between oil changes. I'm a little surprised by this, coming from a parade of Hondas, that invariably consumed some, but never extreme amounts.

Admittedly our miles between oil changes are very short, but still, the oil level on the dipstick never budges. I follow the Canadian 8K kms or 6 months, whichever comes first, oil and filter change schedule. That used to be fairly close to 8K kms, but more recently the 6 months governs, and the kms can be as low as 3K.