Greetings all. This is my first post. I've been lurking for months on this forum, learning a LOT, and will be taking delivery on a 2010 Prius II THIS WEEK (blue). Very exciting ! But, in a brief moment of rationality, I thought "Hmmmm maybe before I drive it off the lot, sweating , I should actually check the car". So I searched the forum for relevant posts, and collated the following list of things to check. If you have additional bright ideas, please add to the list. Or, maybe flag an item if you think it is overly paranoid. Cheers! · Have them check the alignment · Have them check the oil level · Double check the VIN of the vehicle against the VIN on the purchase paper. The VIN is on the dash of the drivers side · Check spare tire and jack · Take 20 or 30 minutes to read the introductory sections of the owner's manual · Make sure they give you a spare key · Make sure windows are clean with no scratches · Check for any dents/imperfections in the paint · Take it for a test drive with the radio off to listen for wind whistles, rattles, etc. · Operate EVERYTHING to see if it all works. If you're not sure about something, get the dealer to demonstrate not only how it works, but THAT it works
Have them reduce the "Reverse Beeping" down to one beep only when you move the stick to reverse. You will be glad you did. Takes the technician only 15-20 minutes.
:welcome: Be prepared to get a sales pitch for an extended warranty and a maintenance agreement, they may even tell you if you don't get the extended warranty now you will never have another chance. Don't buy either one or any other stuff they may try to sell you, just tell them you are excited about your new car and don't feel it is a good time to make a decision about buying things. You have 3 years to decide if you want an extended warranty or not, if you do (not recommended) you can order the Toyota extended warranty through this site for $1080. Maintenance agreements are generally not a good idea, it ties you to one dealer and they often use cheap bulk oil instead of what is required for your Prius. When you do your test drive try to take it out on the highway and make sure it doesn't pull either way and that the steering wheel is centered when you are going straight. Make sure they checked the torque of the lug bolts, also the air pressure in the spare as well as the other four tires. They will probably put the recommended pressure in the tires, you can increase it later if you wish. Most of us run our tires quite a bit higher than the pressures listed on the door frame, there is a lot of information on the site about that. Do a good inspection of all the body panels to be sure it didn't incur any damage during shipment, once you drive it off the lot it's to late. In addition to setting the reverse beeper to one beep as mentioned by GSW you may also want them to turn off the seatbelt beeper (both front seats). We all wear our seat belts but the beeper can be very annoying if you have a dog or a package on the seat or just want to relocate the car in the driveway. A lot of car dealers are pretty disreputable make sure you don't sign anything you don't understand. Enjoy your new Prius!
· Take it for a test drive with the radio off to listen for wind whistles, rattles, etc. You don't have to take a testdrive to see if there are rattles...if they don't show up immediately...............they will after a couple of weeks. Or how became quality not one of their major keypoints any more... :-/
Definitely check the tire air pressure. I neglected to for about a week after purchase. When I did I found 60 psi in all 4.
In addition to the above, there are a number of dealer modifiable options that you might want changed (such as seat belt chime, reverse chime, auto door lock, etc.). Do a search--there's a few threads that discuss this.
