Gen 3 facelift.

a facelift is not the same as updated mechanicals. they did the body face lift in the 2012 u.s. model year.
mechanical/electric issues were hit or miss. i don't recall inverter issues. there was a recall for the diodes inside to prevent burnout from high electrical draw, which could cause the car to stall at high speed

a bigger concern is egr clogging and oil burning

they updated the rings in 14 and pistons in 15

 

15 would be your best bet, but more costly, naturally.

one obvious facelift is two exposed cupholders in the console, vs one before the facelift

 

The 2012 Face lift (front Bumper cover) consisted of a tapered or sculptured Day time running light change.

 

Taillights changed in 2012

 

That is the most obvious. They went from a red section at the top to ski shapes along the outside edge.

 

Pistons in 14, rings in 15.

Think what would be logical, then it's the inverse.

 

Thanks, I’ll never remember

 

Cosmetic updates doesn't fix any electrical existing issues. If it did fix the inverter over-heating issue, I'd slap on a 2014 front bumper on mine.

 

That's like me and @ChapmanF : there's a couple of brake components on the firewall, I can never remember the name of either; he always comes along to sort it out.

 

IIRC, there's something inside the inverter housing, which Toyota says is not considered part of the inverter, for warranty purposes. You can't make this stuff up, lol.

(I sometimes wonder if I'm sailing a little close to the wind, considering Toyota maybe has some sponsorship status on this site. But how can it be slander, just stating info that's their public record? )

Here we go:

IPM Extended Warranty (Canada?) | PriusChat

 

So my inverter blew up or died, don't ask me the engine code... All I know is that one morning the car wouldn't start in the garage. I had it towed to my local dealer...And because 'I had done all the software updates' on my 2012 (I think 2 of them) they replaced the inverter the dealer said. This happened about a year ago and I am under 100K if that all helps you some.

 

Cautionary tale for refuseniks?

 

I am not sure if the dealer was trying to pull something on me, they didn't say THEY pushed for it but the car was fixed... I like my 2012 but am getting itchy for all the safety features of the newer Gen4 so mine might go up for sale. Car has been completely reliealable up until that issue. 98K, same brake pads...

 

I know there were mechanical updates to the 2015 Prius v to improve the front offset crash test results. My son has a 2015 Prius v.

 

For the fourth gen's, I'm mostly just bilious...

I like a lot of the under-the-skin stuff, but the dash, interior in general, not so much. Exterior, it looks like something that escaped from Disneyland.