A Perfect Storm of Doubt

Careful with generalizations. I absolutely disagree. I've driven mine in enough different situations over a lot more miles than most others to know that it's a nothing issue. Is it there? Yes. Does it affect anything? No, the vehicle stops as it's supposed to stop. If you let someone else's fears get in the way of your life you'll be paralyzed. There's someone afraid of everything in the world. Perspective.

No vehicle is made by divine hands to be perfectly suited for every driver. This one is certainly different enough ( revolutionary even ) from the past 100 yrs that it does take an open and flexible person to meld with the new technology. You might still be a few years away.

Roger's Innovation Adoption Curve...Innovation adoption curve of Rogers - Innovators, Early Adopters, Early Majority, Late Majority, Laggards - innovations diffusion change model

 

IMO, you'll always be as welcome

it's just a little rough discussing if one of the sides of the discussion doesn't actually have the car. without an actual prius in your possession, you're at the mercy of opinion an emotionally charged statements, which may or may not be helpful

 

TEM - the Gen III is new, and many who buy the first articles find that they're the guinea pigs for the rest of us "johnny-come-lately's". Do what we did with our Lexus hybrid as well as our Gen II Prius. We waited ... and waited, and then we did a bit more waiting. Both of our hybrids we bought used. Both had over 10K miles on 'em. Buying used, if there were going to be rattles, we KNEW that by 10K miles we either would, or would NOT hear rattles, or brake issues ... or what ever ... it would come about by then. Buying used, we saw the stock Integrity tires were horrible. We saw issues with the MFD's. We saw issues with snow/ice traction. We learned all this, and THEN took the plunge, anyway. We knew what we were getting. ALL new products are subject to issues. Still, it was worth it. And by waiting, we also got a huge price savings, to boot.

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Yeah, you've nailed most of the ones I cared about (although I bought white so I didn't think I needed the cooling offered by the sunroof option).

So true, and I still love it 5 months later. The car is just so smooth to drive in stop-and-go traffic.

OK

Yes, a minor issue. I've never bothered to connect mine up so for me it's not even a minor issue.

Nope, still just a collection of light fluffy cumulus clouds on a warm summer day.

It's not an issue if you know what to do about it. In the extremely unlikely chance that it might happen, you simply pull the shift lever to the left for about a second to shift the car into neutral and that's the end of the problem. But for the people who don't know this simple trick it's a major issue. And shame on Toyota for not programming the car to automatically limit the engine revs when someone is pressing hard on the brakes! Anyway, with knowledge, it's not a major issue.

Nope, just a light mist.

This hasn't happened to me at all, but it apparently has happened in at least a few of the cars. But as long as it's limited to reverse then it doesn't sound too serious, and it's probably something a dealer could fix if it's reproducible.

Nope, just a few dark clouds that go away when you shift into drive.

I wouldn't call it a rattletrap, but there are definitely rattles that are showing up in mine, and they seem to be getting worse. These seem most noticeable when I start out in the cold morning, and reduce as the car warms up. I'd guess that dealers may be better able to deal with them as information is collected, but there is also the distinct possibility that they may make matters worse. But remember that these are only an annoyance and in no way reflect on the reliability of the car.

Nope - just a little bit of distant thunder without any rain!

It seems that this is just the price you pay with the advanced anti-lock/anti-skid logic built into the braking system. On a slippery road or a road with potholes, the car can sacrifice braking distance for better driver control. In other words, drive carefully and leave a bit of extra space in front of you just in case you hit a pothole during the last few seconds of braking.

Nope, you're educated and you know how to deal with all of these issues (with the possible exception of the rattles).

It will most likely take 10 - 20 years before plug-in technology becomes reliable enough and cheap enough to go mainstream. Your Prius will most likely be worn out before then, so I'll argue that this too is a non-issue.

Let's hope that if we're still driving the car 8 years down the road and we need a new HV battery pack replacement, that we'll be able to retrofit an advanced electronic substitute with double the range (or maybe even a plug-in upgrade) for a lower price than today's packs are currently going for. But I think that it's more than a good bet that we'll probably need some sort of a new battery pack if we drive the car for much more than about 9 or 10 years.

If you plan to drive this car for 17 years then the simplicity of an ICE Honda Fit might be a less expensive choice.

 

indeed... sometimes reading forums can be misleading, as most people tend to talk about problems (which is perfectly normal). But this is true of any forum, go over to VW/Audi forums, and you will see a lot more issues being mentioned.

Comparing Gen2 and Gen3, including their problems, Gen3 has improved in every way IMHO. And Gen2 was one of the most reliable vehicles on the planet by many surveys. Truth of life is that every vehicle has its own set of problems, some have more, some have less... and none have none. Average vehicle has betwen 20 and 30 TSB's issued during its lifetime.

One point for instance - in Edmunds tests, Gen3 has vastly improved braking compared to Gen2 - 118ft vs 130ft... thats 10% better braking! Thats as huge as it could get. Yet, reading forums blindly might fool you into thinking how Gen2 has better brakes, while in real tests they now stop 12ft sooner!

2009
2009 Toyota Prius Road Test and Video on Inside Line

2010
2010 Toyota Prius Full Test and Video on Inside Line

 

My apologies. I misread that sentence where you said you couldn't afford the car and then end up <insert what you actually said> in a few years.

You did start off with two non-issues which makes the "analytical" post seem a bit disingenuous. I've read posts about both of them and it's clear that the cargo net was handled and is no longer an issue and also that the mats have never been a problem for the 2010. So since you are telling me about the posts and you're not a newbie here it seems clear that you also know this information, so why did you bring those two things up? I didn't take it personally, I could care less what others think of the car or me for owning it, but not knowing your posts well enough to know "you" it really did feel like a set up since it wasn't exactly factual. And then you were already up to "yep it's a Storm" after having mentioned just those two things. And the fact that I've been spending time in the political forum rebutting gross misrepresentations and misinformation probably didn't help.

But anyway... good luck in your decision. I wouldn't take the plunge unless you're really sure. I thought about the fact that there will be new technology right around the corner, especially since I drove my last vehicle for 14.5 years and don't expect to get another new car any time soon, but I absolutely knew I wanted a new car now and that the 2010 Prius was it.

 

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It's a car, a wheeled box to go from a to b. It isn't going to be perfect. Everything can be nit picked endlessly. It will get old and outdated while someone else has bought the latest thing. More and more in our throw away society, we are never satisfied with things that are perfectly adequate for the intended use.

 

I think it's impossable to find a car, and then find forums for a car, and then find NOBODY complaining about anything about the car. If you can do all three of those things BUY IT. Even if they spent a million dollars on making each prius, there would still be people complaing.

You do have to note, That.
1. There is no other car sold in the us that gets better than 50mpg, so if this is big to you, every other car ever made is lacking!!!
2. If you want to put the smallest amount of smog in the air, then all other cars are lacking.
3. The prius is the best car in alot of ways, but if you don't really car about those ways, just move on.

4. This car stops faster than anyother car i have ever owned. I feel very safe about the brakes and trust the car with my life. And one time i was slowing down hard and the pavement had a 3 inch drop so the car did switch from regen to friction, and for a verry small amount of time it kinda did feel like i lost brake power, but from reading on here i knew what was happing. It's part if how they are able to get 50 MPG. If you want the best brakes on your car, i would recomend reading motor trend/car and drive and get a sports car they stop really good and have no brake fade.

 

A perfect storm of doubt = human nature.

Human nature being what it is... there are some people in this world who focus on the negative, and some who focus on the positive.

Doubt occurs when a person cannot, or will not make a decision on their own - for some rational or irrational reason.

Therefore, you end up with numerous PriusChat threads complaining about this or that... because people just want to complain, or to hear from others who will dissuade their fears and doubts.

Also in human nature, more people tend to complain about what they don't like versus proclaiming what they do like... such is the customer satisfaction issue, most people who respond have a complaint.

What most who complain fail to realize is the "pursuit of perfection" is just that... a pursuit that will never be attained.

So I ask... is this "Storm of Doubt" just another weather fluctuation that will pass, for sure. Will the OP ever buy a Prius... does it really matter?

 

This is going to sound harsh in writing, but I really do not mean it to be: you're not suffering from "analytic patience". Many of us here are very analytical and bought -- and drive daily -- a 2010 Prius. You're suffering from perfectionism and "absolute worst case" syndrome.

Lithium Ion is cool, but it's not here yet. And if you want to worry about something, think that all of the exploding laptops and MP3 players you've read about over the last couple of years were due to their Lithium Ion batteries. Once Lithium Ion's out, you'll read about Lead-Iron, or Paper Polymer, or some other cool technology. Or you'll be waiting for totally EV, but that requires an infrastructure if you're to go farther than 40 miles or so.

The future comes and what you have will either be out-of-date but reasonable, or worse. Just like buying a computer: you wait a bit, perhaps, but if you need it you get it and know that in 18 months it'll be outdated, but still work fine for you.

You've blown "brake grab" way out of proportion. Most owners experience it a couple of times in the first few weeks of ownership, then never again. Issues like that sound larger than they are because it's people with problems who seek out forums like this. Not saying it doesn't affect some people more seriously but if you could dig into ANY car, you'd find people with problems more severe than most.

The pothole braking problem... I haven't experienced it once in 6,000 miles of city/suburban driving. Now that ice and snow is here, I've experimented with the anti-lock brakes and I'm persuaded that at least some of the issue is pure perception: the anti-lock brakes are absolutely invisible. You don't feel any pulsing, you don't hear any "grinding" or pulsing noise, they just operate. Which could make their operation surprising, though I simply don't perceive them that way. So I may have experienced it multiple times and not even known it.

Again, not saying that I'm the end-all-be-all. Others may be experiencing something different from me. There may be defects in some Priuses, or specific, narrow conditions under which the problem occurs. But it may be, to some extent, perception: while very real, it's not actually a safety problem.

You worry about the Toyota acceleration problem. It's caused by a gas pedal that extends too close to the floor. Not "too close" under most conditions, and either not using floor mats -- if you have non-standard ones -- or tie-wrapping them to secure them beyond doubt is obviously an instant solution. The Gen III Prius has a higher gas pedal and as far as I can tell is not affected, so it's a non-issue for you.

(The other factor is being unfamiliar with the car and how it shifts to Neutral or Off while in motion, but you do know this, rendering it doubly not a problem.)

I've gotta go and don't have time to answer every issue. All of them have been answered multiple times, but you seem to "worst case" these issues, and if that's the case, why drive a car -- they're death traps with tens of thousands of people dying every year in car accidents! I may be wrong, but it seems like you've been worried about any issue you could find since your first or second posting here.

If you're willing to drive at all, the Gen III Prius is a fun car that literally makes every drive I do fun. It's like driving a spaceship. It's not perfect -- I've started having a bit of dash squeak -- but as far as I can tell it's not inferior to other cars in its class and price range. (Talking about a 2010 Prius III... personally, the IV and V are beyond my range and include more options but not better fit-n-finish, which becomes an issue at the V level.)

There'll be gasoline and hybrids using gasoline for quite a few years, and right now, at this moment, they're cutting edge (and yet also well-established).

 

Correct. The point is that it doesn't matter. I see the OP as an attempt to draw attention to the poster in the way a cat does by bumping against your leg or your hand. 'Hey you, stroke me.'

In the end whether the cat is stroked or the OP buys a Prius it has no effect on the world. We move on.

 

Electric Me:

No pun intended, I know your not trying to get a "Storm" of nasty responses...your points well made. I, having a GEN 3, Model V, don't experience any of the issues mentioned.... HMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

So, having said that, I love the decision I made, to purchase the model I did. Does this model play any role?? I would hope not...but don't know for sure.

When I read some of the posts about the noises and squeaks and rattles....I wonder if my hearing has left me! I know it has not....but I can't explain why some people experience the things they do.

I read Consumer reviews all the time before purchasing items and I see commentary all over the board. From 5 Stars to 1 Star. I can't believe the spread sometimes.

I think as many have mentioned, you should hold on to your car at least for 1 year, weather this storm and I think you will find some new choices will be coming. You may actually be able to compare the long overdue chevy VOLT, to what's available in the Prius line at that time. Or the Ford Fusion.

Although the Prius is not 100% PERFECT, it's damn close and I think compared to what is at market today, it's a wise choice based on dependance on foreign oil.

I wish it was able to obtain even higher MPG's, but that is coming too.

I wish you luck in your search for the proper "VESSEL" to weather the storm!

 

WOW you are really overthinking this. These are all minor issues and many are probably not issues at all, but characteristics of the HSD and are "corrected" with new HSD appropriate driving techniques. Also non of these are safety or major mechanical issues. Really the cargo net issue is affecting you purchase I find that incredible.

When you compare several of the documented problems with the VW Jettas TDI's.

1) Flywheel and clutch delamination on the Jetta that VW refuses to address
2) Cam flattenting (rought idle/loss of power symptom) requires engine teardown and replacement
3) Engine mounts defect
4) Glow plug deterioration and failure which requires engine overhaul.

If you go to TDIclub, these and others problems are well documented. This is why I decided to go to two Prius and get rid of the TDI.

Each of the above issues on the Jetta require several thousand dollars of repair, that VW is not acknowledging or fixing. The issues you have risen about the Prius are very minor when compared to the Jetta. Actually when compared to the Jetta, the Prius has virtually no defects in the 2010.

 

Successful troll is successful.

 

No rattles or noises, almost to 1st oil change (4700 mi now).
The dealer did not offer me a cargo net.

The "abrupt starting" can be eliminated with an extra pre-motion shift, so it is only dangerous if one does not know about it and does not compensate for it.
Dealers should be required to warn owners in writing.

The chuckhole / skid "reduction" of braking is real.
Until it is "fixed", one should compensate by leaving extra braking distance in slippery or bumpy conditions.
Again, the dealers should warn users, to reduce "undisclosed feature" liability.

I like the 2010 Prius, and would buy again, but shop for price.

The Nav function works well where there is "detailed" coverage, but ... lacks some "modern" functions.