New Prime Ltd - What do I Need to Know?

If you don't plan on driving it for more that a few days (4 or 5?) put it on a 12v battery charger/maintainer. Or invest in a battery jumper/booster device.
Seems Prime's have stuff that uses the 12v battery even when not being driven. Users are finding the 12volt battery low upon trying to start their Primes after they have been left unused for days.
Seems to be exacerbated by the Pandemic shelter in place orders for some owners.
It seems some dealers may not fully charge the 12v battery prior to delivery which doesn't help things.

 

There is a debate at to whether that is to just save the battery in the FOB or the Prime's onboard 12v as well.
I can see owners with attached garages hanging the key fob on a hook that's within a few feet of the Prime and running the battery down on the FOB as the Smart Key system continually polls the fob. There is a little LED on the FOB that will indicate the pooling if that's a concern.

 

Jumstarter and charger are two very different things. An appropriate charger, used regularly (near constantly if the car's idle for long stretches) will ensure you don't need the jumpstarter, except maybe to help out others.

 

Congrats on your new PRIME. As others chimed in, if you can't drive your new PRIME every day, it is a good idea to have a smart charger on hand. My 2020 PRIME is 3 months old, but I have only driven a little over 1000 miles so far. I usually drive ~1500 miles/month. If you are not driving much, it is also a good idea not to keep the traction battery fully charged. I try to keep mine 30-40% charged while sitting undriven. If you are regularly driving every day, then just drive it. It makes the car happy.

 

I got a jump starter to have if I take the prime camping or other place without access to power to run a charger. I believe in redundancy. Mainframe roots I guess.

 

Congrats!! Aside from the 12V battery factor, which you're already familiar with on your Gen 2, the main thing I'd suggest is getting familiar with the controls. As you've probably already seen, this isn't your grandfather's Prius. LOL! If you haven't already done it, go to the owners page at toyota.com and get the PDF version of the owners manual and the various other manuals. Then browse the manual looking for stuff that looks like you'll want to know about right away (like turning off that dumb piano tune that plays when you start the car). After that, I just kind of went through it section by section so I became familiar with where things were and how to customize the display so it gave me as much of the information I wanted with as little button pushing as possible. It took me quite a while to settle on how I wanted it arranged.

 

jd, a big thing is how smart the car's computers are. Basically you can ignore most of the MODE buttons. Run it in EV. When the battery becomes depleted the engine will start and keep you going on your way. Ditto for charging...the system knows when to stop charging and how low to deplete the battery to give you both the best driving and the longest traction battery life.

The 12volt battery provides power for the electronics to get the car into READY status. It neither starts the engine nor is recharged by the engine. It is recharged from the traction battery under certain conditions. Some of the 2020 Primes have had problems with the battery becoming depleted when the car isn't used for a few days. I don't know if this is only a few cars or if it applies to every 2020. My 2017 doesn't act like that.

About MODEs...there are two MODE groups that are unrelated. The ECO-Normal-PWR mode is just how briskly the car responds at part accelerator pedal. The EV-EV Auto-HV mode is completely different. EV is the normal way to drive and good every day. EV-Auto runs mainly on the battery but runs on the engine for high load situations. I use it only for a drive where I know I'll have some good hills--I get slightly better overall efficiency. HV is hybrid mode with mainly engine and some battery operation.

Check the tire inflation pressure. The dealerships frequently do little more of a pre-delivery prep than wash the car. The tires are inflated hard for the ocean transport. Set the tire pressures according to the placard on the driver's door jam.

Don't get wrapped up in the gadgets and gizmos. Keep your eyes and attention on the road and the traffic. Just drive. You'll like the Prime as much as we all do.

 

My 2018 certainly had the 12v battery issue within a month of purchase new. I am a low usage driver which caused the problem. I now take multiple precautions to prevent reoccurrence. My point is it probably isn’t a 2020 only issue.

 

If that is accurate, that would be a new one. It has been a complaint from Prius owners forever that the tire pressures are treated like classified information, and available only when using an OBD-2 device to read it off the car's internal data bus. And it isn't a general Toyota thing; my son's 2008 Highlander Hybrid shows individual tire pressures on a graphic on that vehicle's display.

 

I've had zero issues with my 12V battery. I thought that was more of an observation with earlier models? Perhaps due to the remote apps that earlier models had that were removed for the 2020 models?

 

Are you sure you are quoting that from 2020 PRIME Owner's Manual Quick Guide? There is nothing in the Quick Guide about the TPMS. In the regular manual, it clearly states that the warning light will be on but not actual tire pressure. There is no such function on PRIME.

 

OK, then that means "warning" will display on the MID when the system detects low presser in any of tires. There is no pressure display on the MID.

It is interesting that the pdf version of the Quick Guide is different from the printed version. I also have the 2020 PRIME, but I have not even touched any of the printed documents that are in the glove box. I wonder if there are any other substantial differences between online and printed versions?

Edit: I just got printed manuals. The "Quick Reference Guide" is different from "Owner's Manual Quick Guide" which online version exists. There is no online version of the Quick Reference Guide.

 

Then this one is a misprint. There is no "tire pressure display" mentioned in the owner's manual, and the MID setting certainly has no tire pressure display screen on my 2020 PRIME.

 

aside from getting to know the car, get it tinted to keep the interior cool. consider getting a clear bra/ppf since the front is going to get plenty of paint chips, ask your dealer or purchase a carista device to turn off the constant reverse beeps.