Gen 5 Prius and Prius Prime owners thread

It’s gorgeous! Thanks for the upbeat review especially comparing it to the Gen 4. I parked next to a Gen 4 today and FINALLY thought to myself that I made the right decision passing on the Gen 4. Then I got the text tonight saying my Gen 5 Prius will be on its way soon. Fingers crossed I can see the displays okay.

Sounds like you’re really enjoying it. Have fun and keep us posted!

 

You have to give the wheel just a little bit of input once in awhile to keep it happy. On empty road, highway driving, I can hook one finger near the bottom of the wheel and just give little pulses now and then.

 

Do we have to follow engine break-in period and change early oil too?

 

No, my first oil change is scheduled for November or 8000KM which ever comes first.

Because of the CVT and the battery the engine doesn't stay in a constant use.

The computer has now upped my electric distance to 63.8KM

 

Manual:
For the first 200 miles (300 km):
- Avoid sudden stops.
For the first 600 miles (1000 km):
- Do not drive at extremely high speeds.
- Avoid sudden acceleration.
- Do not drive continuously in low gears.*
- Do not drive at a constant speed for extended periods.

No early oil change recommended by the manual. Toyota has also reduced the list of extreme service conditions for the 6m/5k oil changes. Short trips in freezing weather and long periods of idling/slow driving(taxi/delivery) have been removed, leaving only towing*/car topper/heavy loads and dusty/rough roads.


Personally, I'm doing the first oil change at 750 miles and 6m/5k oil changes for the extra safety net. But I plan to hold onto the car for 10+ years and 150k+ miles. If you plan to only hold onto the car for less than five years, you may find that using just the recommended service schedule more appealing.


*obviously Toyota must have boilerplate sections of the manual, as neither of these really apply to Priuses

 

Thank you for your detail message and advise. I will follow your advise and have plan to keep it 10+ years by the will of GOD.

Do we have to use 0w 16 grade oil? or I can use 0w 20 too? Is Valvoline a good brand?

 

Don't use 0W-20. If you were stuck somewhere and that's all you could get, you could use it for 5k miles, but it's not good to use it for anything other than an emergency. The engine was designed for 0W-16, so that's what you should use.

Any of the major brands are fine as long as you stick to the maintenance schedule. I prefer Pennzoil Platinum(though I'd use Pennzoil Ultra Platinum if it was available in 0W-16) followed by Mobile 1, but Valvoline is fine if you have a reason for buying it(low price or easy availability or something). Since you plan to own the car for 10+ years, I'd suggest 6m/5k instead of 1y/10k, but that's up to you. It also depends on your climate and your driving habits. At the very least, DO NOT go beyond one year between oil changes and DO NOT go beyond 10,000 miles between changes.

The priority chain is something like this(best to worst):
1. High quality oil + frequent changes
2. Mid quality oil + frequent changes
3. High quality oil + long changes
4. Mid quality oil + long changes
5. Low quality oil + frequent changes
6. Low quality oil + long changes

1&2 are for if you want to keep the car in the best shape possible or own it for 10+ years. 3&4 are perfectly fine for 3-5 years, but you might start seeing more problems at 150k+ miles. 5&6 should be avoided unless the car is on its last legs anyway and is destined for the scrap yard within a year or three.

At least that's my opinion. Take it as you will.

 

100%. Simply put, if you put out the money for a new car, why try to scrimp a few dollars a few times a year that could result in repairs later that cost thousands (or void warranty, etc.). Just follow the maintenance recommendations from the manufacturer.

 

Excellent advise. I agree with you. Thank you

 

I wonder, does the optimum point for the break-in oil change actually depend on ICE miles? i.e., should it be at a slightly later mileage since so much distance is covered with the ICE off?

I'm going to do a break-in oil change on my Prime SE and initially planned on 1,000 miles but am reconsidering that after seeing ~70% "EV driving ratios" in HV mode (though I think that's based on time, not miles).

More than one person online says the directives relating to speed are actually trying to avoid high or constant RPMs, which I'm monitoring via Torque Pro, so I'm making sure to vary RPMs and keep them under 3000.

 

I assumed it was about the ICE and ran the first 600 in HV mode just to be safe.

 

I took delivery of a 2023 Reservoir Blue Prius Prime XSE about a week and a half ago, and here are some of my impressions.

Things I love:
The look - the car is just stunning, and looks like a sports car. The blue color is gorgeous (as is the gray, which was my first choice). Details, lights, typefaces, all are really nicely executed. It is an understated, sleek, sporty car.

EV Mode - quiet, fast, with good range - I have gotten 38-44 miles on a charge, even with the 19" wheels.

Hybrid mode: Pickup, steering, braking, all better than my Gen 2 and Gen 3. Fun to drive!

The interior - I thought I would hate it, but it really does look sharp. It doesn't seem to get excessively hot, despite being black, and the red trim is nice. Seats are comfortable, and after a few drives, I no longer feel "closed in" compared to my Gen 3- in fact, it feels pretty open and airy.

The safety features - all work great, and all have ample controls to limit the beeping and annoyance. And most can even be shut off. The cruise control is the best I have encountered.

Things I am not very fond of:
Rear visibility - terrible

The wheels/Tires- The 19" wheels look great, but lower the mpg, have expensive super low profile tires which look like they would be useless in the snow and have a rougher ride. And I don't even see snow tires in that size available locally yet.

Steering wheel/ Instrument cluster - it's nice having the display on the driver's side again, but it is not easy to adjust the steering wheel so you can see the the whole display, and not have the wheel very low and close to your legs. A larger steering wheel could have fixed that (so you could look through it). I was told by the dealer that they were originally planning to use a yoke instead of a wheel but they decided that was too "radical".

Multimedia screen: the choices made here are terrible. There is no "home" screen with full useful information (like my wife's Rav4) - something showing clock, temp, MPG, range, current radio station/song, trip odometer, and such things would be a great default screen. It would also be nice to be able to hide invalid sources like Apple or Amazon Music so you don't have to scroll through them each time. Ability to reorder favorites would be nice, too, unless I missed how to do that.
Android Car Play works fine, but those screens are annoying, too, so I don't use it unless I want the Nav function. But everything works, and it just seems like it could have used a little more UX research. I also miss having an easy display of my average MPG between chosen resets (It will show per-trip but I have not found the average-between-resets like my old Priuses and the Rav4 Hybrid have)

Noise: in EV mode there is a little road noise; in hybrid mode, there is definitely engine noise, maybe more than my last 2 Priuses (Gen 2 and 3) I think. Not terrible, but quieter would be better.

Things I despise:
Rear cargo cover - there is this super annoying, cheap-looking butterfly cover that cannot be retracted. So if you want to put anything into the trunk taller than the cover, you have to remove and stow it. I hope someone develops an aftermarket solution with a normal window-shade type cover like previous Priuses.

All in all, though, I am really enjoying the car !

 

great write up, thank you!

 

The bZ4x and Lexus RZ have this type of instrument cluster. The RZ will be getting the yoke as an option. All the reviews I've seen of Toyota's yoke love it.

 

One of my few complaints about the car is getting into it because the bottom of the wheel pokes at my legs at first and a yoke would solve that.

 

Will be interesting to see how the general public takes to a yoke

 

Maybe in the future they will use the one from Lexus that is just by wire