New 2012 Prius V five owner (Our 1st Prius)

Congrats! I have to say that is an incredible price. How did you do it? In my area, San Diego, that is over $2500 below invoice. I don't see how that's possible.

I just bought one tonight for $700 below invoice and I thought that was a decent deal...

-Darin

 

Welcome aboard! If you have not, read over the owner's manual. Lots a good information in there and info on the break-in. Enjoy!

 

I liked to know that also. I just ordered a V 5 with tech for 300 under dealer invoice and it was $34K before taxes, etc.

 

OP might be a bit confused as I dont believe he got it for 2,500 below invoice. No way possible.

He also said he thought getting the V5 meant he got ATP and gadgets too. Again, he clearly bought a nice car, and I think I can tell it has V5 wheels, but he is a little off on a couple points and 2,500 below invoice is not believable. If thats the case, I will buy a one way ticket to that dealer, buy one and drive it home.

So where did you get it?

 

Welcome to the Vee family!! I am enjoying mine 400 miles in and haven't had a fill up yet

 

Can you explain more about that "noisemaker" sound that's emitting at low speeds. We have a new Prius V, too, an ours moans when we first drive it after it has been sitting at temp below about 40. Are you (or anyone else experiencing that? It goes away quickly. Otherwsie the car is great.

 

If the car is only using the electric motor and moving at low speeds, you will hear a "flying saucer" type sound emitting from the front of the car. The car needs to be moving, if it is still, you will not hear it. You also need to be outside and in front of the car to really hear it, I can BARELY hear it from inside the car. You might be able to hear it from behind the car too when it's moving in reverse, but I've never stood behind our Prius v while it was moving slowly in reverse.

Also to the OP, I agree with a previous post that $2500 below invoice is pretty hard to believe, the dealership would very likely have lost money on that transaction.

 

Way to go Goose Man. Great find. I have been dealing with 4 dealers here in Utah and finally ended up ordering the V 5 with tech because no one had the color combination I wanted in any of the states out west. Can't wait till mine arrives. Does anyone know how long it takes for car to arrive after ordering? Dealer thinks 4 to 6 weeks.

 

Goose, can you help us understand why the dealer HAD to sell a certain number?
Was it the last day of 2011?

Doesn't make sense why a dealer would totally lose about 1600 dollars, (even after getting the 900 in dealer holdback, back.) just to make a sell unless he was targeting a year end total and some kind of year end kickback from Toyota.

 

Like Goose said...it's all about timing & to purchase at end of the month. I believe the dealer had to sell a certain number to get an extra manufacturer's bonus...on top of the holdback.

A few years ago when I was negotiating for my wife's 2010 Subaru Outback I got a great deal...don't remember how much under invoice but the dealership told me after we signed that we were the 28th sale of the month and they needed to sell 1 more car to make a bonus of $500 for every car they sold. They were betting that they would sell one more car the next day which was the last day of the month. So to get $500 x 29 cars = $14,500 extra for the dealership...if they didn't meet their their quota the dealership would get nothing.

 

Ugh... I wish I'd seen this post earlier. We just bought our first Prius as well, Prius V 5, and I had no idea there was any kind of break-in period. The dealer didn't say anything like that, and there are so many manuals that I didn't get through them all yet...

So I'm reading in the owner's manual now, page 163, and it says for the first 1000 miles, do not drive at a constant speed for extended periods...

Well, last week, I had to vist family that live 4 hours away. So I just made 2 four hour trips at a constant speed (65-70) for an extended period (3.5-4 hours two times).

Did I just screw up the car now, or something? What is the break in period for? And how bad is this....

I'm seriously freaking out a bit right now, I've never bought a brand new car before, and I REALLY don't want to mess this thing up.

 

Deep breaths now... don't fret. Do you think rentals are broke in properly? Over the lifetime of the car it might make a difference but probably not a lot. They run the engine in at the factory so that leaves the rest of the drive-line to set. You might consider changing out the oils a little earlier than specified.

Fortunately the engine varies quite a bit even when the cruse control is set.

No worries... just enjoy the ride.

 

Ok, thanks for the reassurance. My blood pressure is back down now.

I'm coming from driving (comparatively) simple stick shift Volvo wagons, so this is a big change for me. So, I'm a bit jumpy.

 

I've owned my PriusV5 for just over a month. Fuel economy has been no better than 30 mpg so far. I drive conservatively, especially now with a hybrid and would have expected a litter better mileage even though the car is new.
Does anybody know if mileage is low at first, then improves later; it's not the weather as we're having record warm temps here in the Lansing, MI area.
BTW, I haven't been this enamored with a car since my first 1973 Volkswagen Super Beetle. The Prius rules.

 

We've had ours about a month, and we're averaging just under 40, so I do think that 30 sounds low...

 

Hybrid 101: don't try too hard to drive in EV. Try driving the way you drove before and see what you get.

What trip lengths do you have? Short trips hurt hybrid mileage.
Also, do you have winter tires on? Winter tires also hurt mileage.
Finally, check the tire pressures. Under-inflated tires can make a big negative difference.

 

@dustmonkey; what mode are you driving with (Eco, normal, power)? I suggest that you search all forums for winter in the tittle to understand how much/bad cold temps can be on MPG stats. Your 30 MPG sounds low. I would guess there is a reasonable explanation for the low MPG stat, like 75mph speeds in cold weather and not running in Eco mode (and maybe a bad fill-up that shut off too soon.)

I stated tracking MPG stats with fuelly.com after seeing it here on PriusChat and everyone should too. I suspect that you would track towards the EPA MPG stats (and beyond) as it gets warmer and you learn more about hypermiling and your Prius. Search on hypermiling on PriusChat too.

What are record high temps for Lansing MI in Jan? What mode do you drive mostly?

 

30 is pretty low. If you have filled up yet, did you try to manually calculate? Did you flip over to trip a to see what mileage you have gotten since last fill up? I haven't had to fill up yet (prius v5 bought 12/23) and I am averaging 42.3mpg, 75% city driving. It was chilly in Florida last week and I used the heat quite a bit