The instrument lights have two settings. If you do NOT have the headlights on ... the display is bright. If you DO have the headlights on ... the display is dim. The idea is that you don't want the lights as bright at night so as not to blind you. HOWEVER ... there is a simple fix to get a bright display WITH the headlights on. If you adjust the instrument dimmer switch up all the way ... until it clicks ... you will have a bright display WITH the headlights on.
We traded our Gen I (03) in on a new Gen III, keeping our Gen II (06). Without a question, I prefer the Gen II styling, especially the interior, over the gen III. Why they chose to do away with several of the user friendly amenities on the interior, I can't fathom. The design of the glove compartment, reducing size of door storage areas (can't hold road maps now), the clumsy "purse storage" area at the middle console, the fact that the door key doesnt automatically unlock rear hatch and passenger door, the hard to read travel info, small type, the sometimes confusing "trip a" "trip b" options. The Gen III, now with 5,000 miles, gets about 54 miles per gallon on the road, morer than the Gen II and its 47 MPG. If I had it to do over, I would select a loaded Gen II over the new Gen III. But, that's the way it goes.
Did you buy a Package II or III? That only comes with the driver's side SKS. Furthermore, you can change the unlocking scheme so that it unlocks ALL doors when you unlock the driver's door.
Resurrecting this discussion 11 years later. It was clear back in 2009 people didn't realize the piston ring, EGR, and head gasget issues that would plague Gen III. n. I wonder if anyone who was involved in this discussion and purchased a brand new 2010 is happy they went forward with it, or did you experience unexpected problems? Also funny to read in this thread that the Gen III is mechanically superior to Gen II (which isnt wrong, it is in many performance aspects), but now Gen II is widely considered to be more reliable and solidly built than Gen III
a lot of 2010 owners haven't had any problems. it's not clear why, or what percentage of total cars purchased. so far, my 2012 has been every bit as good as my 04 and 08, but i only have 74k on her
Former 2010 owner here who bought in August 2009 and put 200k miles on it. Did I run into problems: nope Did I expect to maintain it: yes Did we uncover some design opportunities: sure Are these design opportunities a bigger challenge than other car manufacturers: not in my opinion Did these design challenges change my opinion of Toyota or the Prius: See my avatar That's one piece of data for you from my experience anyway.
Every car as it ages will have issues. Kinda like us humans . But if you do as much preventative maintenance as you can, it helps.
Thanks for the replies. It does seem that many people didn't have issues with the Gen 3 Prius but some did.
Former 2010 owner as well, bought August 28, 2009 and traded in Jan 2019. 161,000km (just over 100,000 miles). No EGR issues and haven't noticed any oil use. Happy with the decision - it was the most high-tech car back in the day with a solar panel roof for auto-ventilation while parked, radar cruise control (basic but it was the only car at that price point that had it), PCS (again, basic version but only one to have it), Bluetooth audio for music and 49 mpg over the entire life.
I just bought my 2010 and it still feels very high-tech even today. Granted I am upgrading from a base 2005. The only thing that feels a bit dated is the navigation system, and the voice control system, but those items are still nice to have. Two things I am surprised that the tech package didnt include was blind spot monitoring and a parking proximity sensor. Thats all to say I am excited about the Gen3 Prius as a new owner of one that is 11 years old. Anyways, let's all hope for many more trouble free miles!
that’s like teenagers today using a record player saying this doesn’t even have a skip to next song button.
Haha. Pretty soon people will be complaining that their fully electric 2026 Prius EV with 350 miles of range is lacking full self driving and will be using that as a justification for buying the 2030 model that has it and has solid state batteries that can charge from 20-80% in 10 minutes....
