ALERT: Prius V trims often misrepresented on sale cars

I was really looking for anything above a 2 but bought a 2012 Prius V with leather seats (softex?). Was that an option or did one of the previous owners have the seats redone?

 

Could have been a port or dealer or consumer install.

 

Last Friday, I found a "Toyota Certified Pre-Owned 2017 Prius V Five" with only 10,500 miles on it being sold by my local dealer a mile from my house. From the pictures, you can see that the wheels are 16 inch, not 17 inch, and there are no Fog lights. I peeked in the window when they still had it in the back lot, and the seats are the standard seats for a Two or Three. I also verified the tires are 16 inch. At $22,991, it is would be a good deal in a hot market if it were a Five (May of 2021, early post pandemic). .

Today I entered the VIN into the Link, it shows up as a Two. Interestingly, almost every used car search website repeats the erroneous trim level except "Edmunds.com" correctly reports it as a TWO!. That dealership already had a shady reputation as far as I am concerned.

I have a friend of mine who worked as a used car salesman at that dealership. I was shopping for my first "Rideshare" car in 2017 at the time, so I had him show me a few cars. He is the one that got me sold on the Prius or Rrius V (which they did not have in stock with low enough miles). When my friend would call me from his desk phone, NoMoRoBo would flag the call as a robocall. He quit after a month, because they made him make as many cols calls per hour he could.

 

The V gets them. Roman numeral for 5.

 

I really don't think the mixup was an accident. This is a Toyota dealer that should know better. If you research the vehicle history, this dealership leased the car to the previous owners back in 2018.

Given some sleaziness I have experienced with that dealership in the past, I assume they hoped that buyers would not notice.

 

Unfortunately this link no longer works. And the current Toyota owners site allows you to enter your VIN and see your full maintenance record, but the "view specs" link does not work, at least not in Edge, Chrome or Internet Explorer.

 

I noticed the same thing earlier this week. Another approach is to know the differences in the trims.

On a v wagon, only the highest trim 5 has synthetic leather and a homelink garage door opener mirror. Red in pic. Trim 5 also has 17" tires.

Trim 3 and 5 has satellite radio and a voice command button on the steering wheel. So if the steering wheel is plastic and has a voice command button, its a 3. Blue in pic.

No voice command or satellite? Its a trim 2.



The advanced radar cruise and enhanced safety features were only an option (P) on trim 5. For those, look for the control buttons.