Gen 5 Prius/Prius Prime: poor fuel economy, poor choice of colors, poor choice of packages/options

You can search on raising a truck, and warranty issues. It's similar warranty issues with raising or lower any vehicle. Any change in suspension, changes the power-train, drive-train, and suspension forces/stresses.

Fwiw, anyone that serious tracks a car, knows that very well. Since, those added stresses often lead to other failures, unless key additional bracing is added.

Iirc, I forget the truck, but there was an "off-road" version of a truck, advertised as an "off-road" version, and always shown being off-road in ads. It was an expensive truck, and an expensive add-on package. Then, someone was off-road, and something broke (something like the rear differential). The new truck owner was far from being poor, got very PO'd, and sued. The cost of the law suit likely easily surpassed the cost of the repair. For that person, that wasn't the point.
Eventually, the court ruled in favor of the person. And, that ruling affected advertising, and ad wavers, from then on.


From what I could tell, the warranty violations are handled differently today, then in the 90's.
In the 90's, as soon as the dealership identified a case were part/all of the warranty was made invalid, they often informed the car/truck owner right at that time. Of course, then many people when on forums and bitched and complained.

Now, with social media, it'd be worse. So, many times, the dealership will document the warranty violation, and never say anything. If there's never a warranty claim, then "every one is happy".

Another example of a possible warranty violation is installing a trailer hitch on a Gen4. I would've liked to put a trailer hitch on my car. It would've been nice to use my Prius, to tow a light small trailer, and haul a few 4x8 pieces of plywood from Home Depot, to my house. But, I don't even dare to put on a trailer hitch, and then take it off before the car goes to the dealership.
Any half decent mechanic would be able to tell that the rear bumper support was removed, and then put back on.

In America, towing is not approved for a Prius. So, towing would violate the warranty.
Towing adds stress to the brakes, the frame, the traction-battery/engine/drive-train, and many other areas.
The same car is approved for towing in Canada. Regardless, in the American Gen4 Prius owner's manual, it's in writing that towing is not allowed.
If Toyota writes in the owner's manual that driving the car over 50MPH would violate the warranty, then that is considered part of the contract between the owner and Toyota.


Good Luck!

 

I didnt know you could do that. Could you plug in an induction cooktop into it? Or an electric water kettle? Or an instant pot? Would this be bad for the battery long term? Short term do you have to be careful not to go too low? What’s your experience with this? Is the 2023 any better at this sort of thing than previous generations?

 

I’m curious if anyone knows if the 2023 can be used for camping or emergencies despite cargo space being smaller. I thought I read that the Gen 4 and Prime don’t have the capability of running heat or AC all night like Gen 2 and 3 but I’m not remembering why.

 

Idk, but they added camper mode to rav4 prime, so hopefully they have realized their mistake

 

So if I got a new car and wanted to tow in it I better make sure it has a tow rating before trying to do it, otherwise my warranty could be worthless if something failed?

I sure do hope the used car market goes back to normal. I've never bought a new car, but with prices the way they are I don't think I'd have much of a choice. But I'm not to savvy about warranties on new cars.

We bought the Avalon used and the radio stopped working right after we got it, and it stopped working again after being repaired by the dealer. So we just drive around without a radio because the dealership charges too much to fix things. When a wheel bearing goes out I just get another one and put it on myself.

 

I don’t know if this is the case.
I only have one example of a warranty issue being refused warranty work.
As soon as they discovered the work a third party had done incorrectly, they contacted me to ask me if I wanted to go ahead ‘on my own dime’.

This seemed appropriate and would be what I expect from a dealer of any manufacturer.

 

NO heated steering wheel???

 

XLE and Limited have a heated steering wheel, as they did in the previous generation.

 

The Prius has had Smart Key since 2004. It is the system that lets you open locked doors and start the car without having to take the key/fob out of you pocket.

Digital Key is the system that lets you use your phone as a fob for those functions.

An engine designed for higher octane fuel can run at a higher cylinder compression. That lets them extract more of the gasoline's energy for useful work. Most of the premium fueled cars sold in the US are performance models. Their engines are sized, and transmissions geared, for performance, but high octane can be put to use for efficiency. In two cars, identical except for the octane rating they can use, the higher octane one will get better fuel economy.

Putting premium octane in an engine designed for regular is of no benefit. A car labeled as regular in the US doesn't mean the engine wasn't designed for higher octane though.

The new Prius with 19in wheels have 0.4in more clearance than your 2009

 

Yes! I just figured this out. Every bit of clearance counts and it’s a good thing I didn’t get 2022 because it has less ground clearance.

 

Anything works, as long as you keep the power under 1kW. (And of course, the car must be in READY mode.) See below.

 

Agree...We have done many road trips in SE Utah in various Prius vehicles...and I have always been too afraid to take them on the back roads ( even the 'nice' ones ) due to clearance issues ( we bottomed out a couple times in the 2010 liftback ). However, I'm sure I would be too afraid to take a shiny new 2023 out on those roads as well...even with the higher clearance. This is why I was looking at the Ford maverick a while back...but I'm just not convinced on the reliability of the hybrid Maverick yet....not sure I will ever be.

 

After posting here I looked up the ground clearance of my 2009 and data I could find said 6” which is surprising and disappointing. I was hoping for an increase in my current ground clearance. Oh well…better than a decrease.

 

we're unlikely to see higher mpg vehicles with more ground clearance, you're better off with a cuv type vehicle

 

I know…I want a Crosstrek. I like the more elevated seating and extra cargo space but I can’t psychologically deal with lower mpg.

I’m just hoping the new Prius doesn’t feel like I’m sitting in a sports car.

The body style is surprisingly similar to my 2009. I showed pic to an older attorney friend and he said he could barely tell the difference. Obviously he’s not into the details. : )

 

I saw for 5.6in for the 2009. It will vary with specific tire model and inflation level. The springs on your car can also be a bit 'tired' now.

 

I thought 6” had to be an error. Thanks for checking. Yes, the shocks are definitely tired. I can feel and hear some struggling.

 

Thank you!!!

 

Where did you get this info? Curious for future reference because I looked at multiple car websites and each one had different specs. : }