Okay, I'm being a bit melodramatic, but I'm upset. Just brought home my new 2011 Prius II this weekend and I scraped the front apron already. I was pulling into my regular parking space at work, which has a little lump of snow along the side. In my Accord, I would just drive over the lump. I forgot about the very low front apron of the Prius and since the snow has melted and refrozen, it is now a pile of icey sandpapery snow which scratched the apron. I'm guessing this is a piece of plastic so not buffable (is that a word?), correct? Anything I can do to make it look better? Thanks!
Sorry - join the messed up front bumper club. Check to make sure that it did not pull loose from the wheel well - mine did.
I know how it hurts .... when my 2011 had just a few 1000 miles, I ran-over a piece of scrap metal on the freeway .... cosmetically damaged the right front apron. I see it every time I approach from the right front. Then later, I was trying to get the front wheel off a bicycle, it slipped, and gouged the left front fender. Initially, my vision was the entire fender was wasted; then a second look, it was only about a 1/2 inch small dent. If you can get past the incident, the vehicle is still fuel efficient, and a wonderful ride. Glad, however, my wife didn't do either .... The front is low, and in time you will learn to take it easy over uneven roads. Here in the west, there are frequently alongside the main road concrete depressions (side gutters). Rain is so infrequent, that the aprons are the storm drainage. But it is a dip, and care must be taken pulling off the main road into side roads.
You should reverse into all parking spaces. it's safer and easier, and you're less likely to damage your car.
Love my GenIII but this is a bit of a pain. Scratched mine after about 5K miles. The one that got me was backing out of a very steep driveway onto the road and where the two meet at an angle scratch away.
Thanks for the commiseration, everyone! The ironic thing is that it's going back to the dealer on Wednesday because I noticed a chip out of the rear spoiler as soon as we got it home (it was dark when we picked it up so we didn't really look it over at the time). I'm afraid they will roll their eyes at me when I'm being so nitpicky about that little spoiler chip yet I have a big stupidity-induced scrape on the front!
Well, I can't believe I'm admitting this but we already had it back Saturday so they could buff a scratch out of the door. The only reason they couldn't do the spoiler then was because the "plastic specialist" who needs to do the spoiler doesn't work on Saturdays. I made it painfully clear that I went over this baby with a fine toothed comb already, so your suggestion won't work for me, unfortunately!
Congrats on your new Prius and welcome to PriusChat. Looks like you discovered Prius' low ground clearance. Oh, well...worse things could happen.
One time, I bought a new Jeep home and parked on the next block b/c no spaces available, the next day had 4 slashed tires, neighbors did not recognize and they don't like others parking in front of the house. Another time I got a Lincoln LSC, went to visit my woman and someone stole it from the front of her house, it was found days later all smacked up, not repairable. My 2 month old Nissan Quest was hit by a wind blown trash can, yep it put a dent on the big door. When I got my Prius, 3 weeks later someone put a 4 inch dent on the rear door. I can go on and on. Whenever I get a new car, I anticipate that something will happen like this within the first month or so, I've come to expect it now, hopefully it is minor damage. It seems like you had minor damage, don't sweat it, if that is all that happens.
Man, you have bad luck! It's weird, because it's almost a relief to me when the first door ding appears because it feels like the pressure to keep it perfect is off. It's just never happened so quickly before and it's never been my fault before. I could always blame the person who parked next to me who didn't know how to open their door. This one was all my fault! Oh, well. On the up side, I love love love my new car!
I was just kidding... I would never condone lying. That day after I brought mine home, I was jacking up the car to spray in some undercoating and the handle slip and hit one of the rear doors. It pealed off the clear coat in a 1/2 inch area. Nobody can see it but I know it is there.
I think we'd had ours for a whole week when I struck a coyote one evening! Just a tiny little crack in the paint on the edge of the grill opening, down on that lower front apron thing. We've covered it with a spot... it's been good for almost four years now, and no one has noticed it. :thumb: My DH's response was "thank God you put the first mark on it! Now I can drive it"...
No backup camera in the II, so backing in wouldn't seem so safe. Just don't pull too close. I have to stay back a foot in the Accord too. Some curbs are high and they would whack a very nice looking front. I get out with car running, look and say 'that's close enough!'
You get used to the low ground clearnace and can learn to park properly. My last car, a 2009 Civic, felt like it had even lower ground clearance. I learned to park the car about 1 foot from parking bumpers and curbs. It was just business as usual when I got the Prius. Watch out for angled parking spots, the passenger side will hit the curb a lot sooner than you think!
Toyota 202 Black touch up paint is a perfect match for the spoiler. Mine was scuffed down to white because one of the guys didn't properly close the hatch in a parking garage. Lesson #1 Don't let them close the hatch. Lesson #2 Park outside. I'm still working on the scuff on the left rear fender.
