My Concerns with the New Prius

First, I had to use my donut twice:

1. I clipped a curb with my brand new 2016 Prius. AAA came and put on my donut to get me home. I then bought two Nokian WRg3 tires to replace the front Toyo tires.
2. Later one of my Nokian tires failed after I clipped a sharp curb in my 2016 Prius 3 (I have to learn to keep sufficient margin from curbs). The donut lasted about a half mile in New Jersey when a pothole dented the rim. Since it was Mother's Day Sunday, it was a challenge to get a replacement tire so we could get home. My failed tire (split sidewall) was later replaced free by the tire dealer (The Nokians were covered for road damage, not so the Toyo tires).

When I replaced my 2016 with my 2020 AWDe, I "borrowed" the donut to use with my new Prius. I will make sure to avoid deep potholes in any future use of the Donut.

I have had several patchable slow leaks in my driving years (4 in a Prius in 18 years of driving. having a 12v pump allowed me to get to a garage to patch each tire.

JeffD

 

i wouldn't want mrs b out in an area i couldn't get to with just a repair kit.

my house has never burned down, but i still have insurance

 

This has come to mind too, when this discussion comes up. And yeah, I've used the spare once with our '10, to get home on a super cold day, do a plug-repair on the flat, indoors.

 

That sounds like you were taking your time, and counting the time needed to find the gauge buried somewhere in the glovebox or console, the pump buried somewhere in the garage ... maybe even find and put on a coat before going out into the garage?

I'm not sure I've ever used a coin-op pay pump. Not because we have any free ones left anymore, but because it has been that long. There is also the concern about excess water in gas station air.

Somewhere here, someone mentioned how to very easily override the payment part and get free air, something the shop or station employees would need. I haven't tested or even looked to try to confirm.

My 12V compressor is compact, but very noisy, and not convenient to re-bundle when putting it away. The hose and cord only barely fit in the storage compartment, only when coiled just right. And its gauge is not good enough.

My bike pump's 160 psi gauge is also not good enough down in car tire range, so I use a separate gauge. But I remember how many strokes per psi are needed (7 on the Prius, 10 on the Subaru, for consistency use the full stroke length), so can hit the desired pressure with a single batch of pump strokes. Measure the pressure once, compute how many strokes needed to top up, connect the pump and count out those strokes (plus maybe a few extra for good measure), measure pressure a second time, then maybe sometimes release a half pound or so to get it right on. No repeat pumping cycles needed.

 

As I said, it is just a matter of personal risk tolerance. It depends on who you talk to. If it was for my wife, a repair kit is just as good as a spare tire. She wouldn't even know what to do with either one. Her cellphone would be her life line.

 

Spare tire plus AAA equals insurance.

JeffD

 

Same, but at least someone could put it on vs very few would likely try a repair. Even a call to triple a, vs a tow

 

Yeah much better if AAA just needs to put on the spare, vs tow, somewhere…

basically a fail from Toyota Canada; no spare for us.

and in the States, virtually every level the same story.

 

I also carry an electric tire pump, and used it probably every day on a two week vacation when I had that nail in my tire causing a slow leak, because I didn't wish to try to find a tire shop during my vacation. Important thing is not to pull the nail out with this kind of slow leak, or it won't be a slow leak anymore. When I got home I told the tire shop and they fixed it. (It probably saved them time, too, because they could easily see exactly where it was leaking.)

 

We added aftermarket spares to both or vehicles that didn't come with them. Used them yesterday to rotate tires after my son decided rotating tires sounded like more fun than paying Plazza Tire $25 to do it for us.

 

Sounds laborious though. I know you have to make do with what you've got, but if you've got a slab, a floor jack and four safety stands, just putting the whole car up on safety stands makes it easy. Aim for no more than one inch clear of slab, easier on your back.

If you don't have an impact for sure slightly loosen all lug nuts first.

 

I was a 30+ year long member of AAA, but we did not use their service for the last 5+ years before dropping the $140/yr AAA membership. We added roadside assistance from our GEICO insurance for $12/yr. Haven't had a chance to use it. But my son also switched to GEICO roadside assistance coverage and has worked very well for him.

For us, calling AAA means towing. I can't think of a single time we called AAA for another reason... besides a few occasions of unlocking the door a very long time ago.

One occasion was when my son swiped the side of the road and slashed the both front and rear tire side walls at the same time. Yep, a compact spare would not have helped. Called AAA to have the car towed. On another occasion, I was riding with my friend to work in his car. He lost air in one of his tires. Spend 30+ min to change to a compact spare. Just a few miles after the swap was made, the compact tire was flat. Not sure what caused it. The car was a relatively newish Chevy Spark. Having been stranded with two flat tires, I just called my wife to come to get us. My friend did not have AAA. I still had my membership back then. I helped him to call AAA to have the car towed to the nearest shop.

A good thing about AAA membership is that it covers a member, not the car. I can tow somebody else car as long as I was a passenger at the time of the breakdown. For 30+ years while both I and my wife were AAA members, the only two reasons we used their roadside assistance were, towing and unlocking the door. I don't know if they still offer the unlock door service now with all smart keys in place. But I have locked a key inside my car several times at work, and it was easier to call AAA than have my wife come with a spare key.

 

they gave us a jump start a couple years ago when the 12v finally gave out. i assume they will put a spare tire on, no?

 

Yeah, I think if you ask them. I am sure they will help you with that. But for all my calls to AAA, they came to tow.

 

A few questions….

What does wireless AA mean?

New navigation system- does anyone know what will work once the free trial is over?

Info screen- I typically like smaller screens but Kirk Kreifeis pointed out how awkward the 8” looks in person because it’s basically attached to the same plastic frame sized for the 12” display. I agree but has anyone else seen this in person? Thoughts?

19 inch tires on XLE is really bumming me out. Is it possible to switch to 17” and what’s involved? Is this primarily what’s keeping the mpg lower on XLE and Limited.

The red accent light on Prime looks much brighter than the blue. Maybe it’s just the photos. I love red but not crazy about a bright red light shining across dash board. I think it says Prime has a copper like finish along dash board. Maybe that’s causing more of a reflection?

Digital rear view- thoughts on needing this since hatch has such poor visibility.

120V 1500W - has anyone confirmed 2023 Prius and Prime will have this?

Cargo cover- I’m going to miss my cover that slides in and out. Any pros or cons to power lift hatch? I like that the power lift actually lifts the cargo cover as it opens. With the manual lift I’m trying to picture needing to remove and replace the cargo cover every time I open hatch.

As with everything going on in this world, I wonder if there are any women on the Toyota design team. I’m not bashing men. I just find a female perspective is extremely important and can often catch important overlooked details.

 

wireless Android Auto to connect your android phone for maps and music without needing to plug it into the USB.

no details yet. Likely the new system allows for over the air updates which would end should your subscription expire. But just assuming.

Toyota didn't provide the LE trim with the smaller sceen for the US media event. So nobody has seen it yet but likely will look similar to the Japanese version.

Some speculation based on tires seen on the press events indicate they may be interchangeable similar to the 17" to 15" in earlier generations. Again no us spec LE was seen yet and these are pre production models. Things could change

In a snowy climate it might be worse. From Dec to March my backup camera is covered in ice, mud or road salt as soon as I get moving. I don't know where they intend the rearview camera to be but I don't think it'll be great in the snow. I don't think it'll be that much worse than the already pretty bad visibility in the current gen. Or any SUV on the road.

So far only info is on hybrid prius and no mention of inverter on it. Toyota USA YouTube video of walkthrough of new Prime showed a 120v plug but the actual info on the Prime hasn't been released yet so no idea if it was confirmed. Japan gets 100v inverter but they've had that in current gen without it coming to our market.

I don't think the limited with power hatch will also get a different cover. It'll probably be similar to the rigid cover that came with the gen 4 with the string attached to the hatch to lift the cover with it.

 

A few of the XLEs provided to reviewers had the smaller display(the bigger screen is an option on the XLE/XSE, standard on the Limited/Premium), so we can see what they look like in those video reviews. But no regular people have seen them in real life yet because no gen5s have reached dealer lots yet.

All Priuses get the same hatch cover(assuming the LE gets one) and they operate the same whether it's a power hatch or not. Some reviewers got XLEs and some got Limiteds; it's easy to see the hatch covers are the same.


edit: I can't quickly find any review videos that featured the smaller display for the whole review(I could swear I saw at least one last week, but I've probably watched 20-30 by now and they all blur together). But I did find a couple that filmed a tiny bit with the smaller screen for comparison and inserted it into their review.

3:42 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hm8CXLsrNGM
1:55 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQrwYdqQNoM

 

Wireless AA plus wireless charging is going to be a must have on my next car. Just drop your phone in the charger hole and the car becomes an extension of your phone. A big phone with wheels!

 

Thanks

 

does the gen5 have a phone holder so you don't have to plug one into the air vent, or use a cupholder, etc.?