Wrong things the dealer told you before you bought your Prius

Just heard a salesperson this weekend state that the regenerative braking was one of the 3 motive power sources for the Prius and it was worth 28 horsepower. :blink:

Wayne

 

According to my CAN-view, regenerative braking can produce a maximum of 33 horsepower or 25 kilowatts.

There's only one power source: gasoline. It can be temporarily stored as electrical energy in the battery, or temporarily stored as kinetic energy to be partially recovered by regenerative braking

 

My salesperson was good and did know about the car. We took delivery on a cold night and went over most features. But he forgot to tell me about the automatic rear view mirror (automatically changes to cut the reflection from cars behind you). Of course in the dealership lot with bright lights it was on daytime setting. As I drove out on to the busy highway the lights were blinding. I was trying to flip the lever (found on normal rear view mirrors) to switch, but of course could not find. I could just see me getting in an accident, distracted by my rear view mirror just a few feet from the dealership. This did not happen and eventually the high tech mirror adjusted. I found out about some of the less know features from this chat board.

 

The salesman claimed that he had sold many Prius and that he was the "expert" for showing the Prius. Initially, he seemed pretty knowledgeable (but then, I didn''t know anything about hybrids or Prius'.)

I wanted a Prius with all bells and whistles, so he showed me one with SKS and NAV.

For SKS, he said that it would automatically unlock the doors as I approached the car (with the key in my pocket). Also, if I left the car, it would automatically lock the doors as I walked away. Oh, man, TOO COOL! Well, as you know, it doesn't. He was either doing some slight-of-hand, unlocking door by opening it by the handle and claiming that it unlocked as we approached, and that we couldn't see that the car locked automatically because when we got close to the car, it would "automatically unlock"; OR he didn't realize what he was doing. Not until I tried it did I realize it didn't work the way he said. (After I walked away from the car (not hearing any locks activating, I placed FOB on another car and walked back to Prius. The car was still UNLOCKED. Salesman couldn't explain what was happening.

After the second test drive, I still wasn't sold on the Prius, uncomfortable seats (for me) and too little acceleration ability (found out MUCH later, it was because the traction battery charge was very low). He then told me that the Camry Hybrid had just come out. There weren't any Camry Hybrids on the lot, so I test drove a Camry w/ smallest engine available to allow me to see the power available w/ only the ICE. I was impressed and ordered a TCH.

During ordering process, he asked me if I wanted LO-JACK. (By this time, I had found Prius-Chat and Camry-Chat and done more research.) I told hime that since the TCH (and Prius) had highly secure engine immobilizers, in my view, if someone could by-pass the immobilizer, then LO-JACK would be cjild's play. He told me that the immobilizer (on both cars) was a safety device in the engine compartment that would keep the engine from intruding into the cabin in case of a collision.

 

It wasn't me, it was a friend. And it wasn't the Prius, it was the Ford Escape Hybrid.

The dealer called it a "hybird". Nice.

 

Not sure if this was wrong or not but my salesman told me the internal combustion engine (ICE) in the Prius is the same one as is used in the Yaris, that it has been around for years, that it is undertuned and top RPM is only 4,000 rpm, and is designed to last about 3 times as long as a 'regular' engine - he said 750,000 miles.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(1x1 @ May 7 2007, 07:56 AM) [snapback]436823[/snapback]</div>

Its similar to the Yaris engine but not the same; the Yaris uses the Otto cycle, the Prius uses the Atkinson cycle; this may be what he meant by "undertuned". Max rpm is 5000. Uh, I think he pulled the 750,000 thing out of his backside.

 

Well I was kinda lucky, in November 03 The dept was looking at hybrids for everything other than street patrol. They began testing and I was assinged one. I had to take a "class on how to operate the car" :lol:

I drove the car for 1 yr. and now they use them as unmarked cars.

I like the car so much I purchased my wife one 6 months later. It was soooo funny driving into the dealer ship in a fully marked prius, the salesmen loved it..... The sales mgr told me there was a 6 month waiting period for the prius but since I was driving one as a duty vehicle I could have the next one that came in, 2 wks later I got a drift wood pearl prius.

I recently watched a woman looking at a prius on a lot and the poor salesman was drowning and floundering in his sale I stepped in and told the woman what she wanted to hear and told her if she had any other questions to go to "priuschat" for answers.

She purchased the car......

 

Overall the salesman was knowledgeable about the car. He did say, however, that “B is for charging the battery faster, but don't bother with it, it’s not necessaryâ€.

 

I had some fun re-educating the salesman when my girlfriend was shopping for a Prius last week. The first thing he learned was that you're going to have a hard time starting the Prius when you have two smart keys from two other cars in your hand. I pointed out the key light that was blinking on the dash and suggested that he move the other keys farther away. Worked like a charm.

Next was "Have you tried using the 'B' to recharge the batteries?" Then I got to go into the whole spiel about how just stepping on the brake pedal recharges the batteries and "B" mode simply spins up the ICE to add compression braking.

The last part was the funniest of all, at least for me. He asked me how I like my car and I said "It's great. The only thing is I wish Toyota had given us an adjustable seat up front."

"Oh, yeah, they don't treat the passenger as well as the driver."

"Um, no...actually neither seat has a height adjustment."

"You're kidding?"

Later he told me about the first time he ever took one of these things on a test drive. Apparently they sat there for five minutes trying to figure out how to start the car before another salesman, who immediately knew what was going on, told the driver to put his foot on the brake.

Very nice guy, actually. I was happy to see that he wanted to learn a little more about the car.

 

In Aug of 2006, a salesperson tried to get us to buy a Prius by telling us that the tax credit will end completely "end of this month" and that the HOV lane stickers for CA will run out "in a couple of days".

He didn't like it when I called his bluff.

However, the biggest "wrong" was the greedy $5000 dealer markup, $2000 window tint or $1000 chrome wheel ripoffs during that time!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(FireEngineer @ May 6 2007, 07:23 PM) [snapback]436528[/snapback]</div>

Please dont tell me it was one of my guys Wayne

 

When looking at different options and packages available, the dealer told us that we didn't need to consider the Touring edition because that was a European thing, and not available in the U.S.

 

Don't laugh at me... The saleswoman told me that the DVD/Nav system played movies. She said my daughter could sit in her car seat in the middle of the back seat and watch movies as I drove. I didn't know any better... didn't have a movie to try it out and I took her word for it. When I got it home I tried it out and of course it was a no go.... Well, I called the dealership and explained to the boss what had happened. Needless to say on Monday they are installing a dual DVD headrest system because of the mistake.
Honestly if she had told me that before we signed the contract I would not have been as upset but we bought the car thinking that it had it in, therefore I wanted what I thought I had paid for. I knew that there were some indash systems that do both so I didn't think too much about it and after all, aren't they supposed to know what they are selling????

Anyway, I am glad they are fixing the mistake...

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(scapegoat @ Apr 30 2007, 08:26 AM) [snapback]432487[/snapback]</div>

What are vallet cards, I've not heard of them, my salesman did not mention them.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Atwork @ May 16 2007, 04:42 PM) [snapback]443658[/snapback]</div>

It's this stack of 25 or 50 little cards that explain how to start a Prius, basically, that you can give to valets. I found them in that red plastic envelope we got along with the full-length owner's manual, the abridged owner's manual and the quick-reference guide manual (all of which crack up the kid, who wonders what kind of car we got that needs so many manuals).

 

Actually, by the time I went to go buy a Prius, the salesmen weren't trying to teach me about the car. I knew more about the car than he did - I was teaching him! I guess that's what happens when you get it at a used car dealership, with minimal experience in hybrids.

 

I was told that I would see a triangle when I was low on gas ; the salesman obviously didn't know about the gas bladder and that the triangle means you are in big trouble. I had to experience this first-hand and then find PriusChat to find out what happened!!

 

My salesman was well informed for a non-PriusChat person, but he did say that most people turn off the MFD after a few days and never turn it back on.

 

My salesman told me that the "B" mode was for driving in battery only. :crazy:

B = Battery...so easy even a caveman could know it...