How do you look after your Prius c?

Depends a lot on how & where you use it I guess. For me a weekly wash is required to get the dust off & keep it nice & clean. Also I get it washed, waxed & vacuumed by a professional car detailing outfit once in every 2 months or so, the pressure wash they use really helps to keep the wheel wells clean. Car wash: Eagle One, Armor All. As for wax AutGlym is a great wax also there is Sonax, 3M, Turtle.

If you live in a hot climate and the car is exposed to lot of sunshine use a protectant on the interior plastic panels regularly (say once a month or so), I use Armor All Original Protectant on dash/door panels and other plastic parts. Also you can use the same protectant on exterior plastic panes like mirrors, rear wiper, plastic tray where the front wipers are.

I have 3M Crystalline film installed on the front windscreen, also use a car sunshade if you keep the car parked outdoors.

 

Wash once a week, vacuum when needed. Wax once a year. I am against any type of Armor All type product, as I don't like the shinny appearance and believe that over time it causes more harm then good. Use a dash cover, and sunshade to protect the dash and interior from the sun.

 

^ I think ArmorAll actually turns tires brown. Yeah, terrible stuff.

I wash-and-wax ours Spring and Fall, and in between wash it occasionally. Actually more so in winter, especially when the roads are heavily salted.

Once, sooner than later, I'd suggest to raise the car and apply a wax/oil rust protectorant to every bolt and bracket you can reach, on the underside. Toyota's fastener specs are terrible for rusting, especially the smaller secondary fasteners. For me, I raised one end at a time, put in on safety stands, took a day or two. There were some small bolts holding plastic panels on: I suspect if I'd left it one more year they would have been totally seized.

 

Why all the hate for Armor All? Been using it on my previous car (Toyota Vitz) for over 10 years and the dash & rubber parts were well protected. I have felt that Eagle One car wash is better than Armor All but unfortunately its hard to come by here.

I live in a very hot climate, its like 95F (35C) during mid day right throughout the year (some times more) and I have to park in direct sunlight five days of the week Sun is not very kind to the car.

Look at the attached picture, this was soon after I bought the car (5 months after being shipped from Japan). Armor All Original Protectant applied on the left side of the door panel, the unprotected side looks grayish. After applying 2 or 3 times the door panels look really nice. The shining is not a big problem because both dash and door panels have a texture.

 

Many hate the shiny look, and after finding out how armor all effects rubber parts and painted surfaces many shy away. I think it was the way they marketed it, stretching the benefits. They lost a lot of trust and respect and there have perhaps been too much backlash. If you can keep it on the vinyl and like shiny crap, then perhaps nothing wrong with it. Butt do not know if its any better than just jeeping things clean.

 

I think it's only a matter of time before spelling auto-correct spawns some new slang. I kinda like "jeeping".

 

If you use Armor All or another type of protectant ( and I use that word loosely) it cause you to have to contuine to use the product or the plastic will start to dry and look dull. I don't like the shiny look, with just cleaning with water and dusting the dash and or other plastic parts, it looks a lot better and will last just as long. Again the best thing to do is cover a car from the sun, and or use a sun shade on the front and back window. It works!!

 

hand wash only

 

That sort of thing has been going on for a lot longer than spell checkers have been around. Check out "filk music".

 

If you haven't used Armour All in a while there is now a Matt version of there wipes. Looks much better than old shiny stuff.

 

Yes they came out with the matt version, but I still stay away from using it.

 

Armor all is something you have to keep applying. Used it on my previous 99 Toyota solara, wiped the dash every month with armor all, and kept it clean. Left it to my sister for her to commute with it. I didn't sitnin the car till 7-8 months after, and everything was dingy looking, and discolored. The "wood" plastic paneling started to peel from around the radio even. Lesson learned. If you will keep up with it, it'll work out, but on my C, I use soap and water, and Rain-X on ALL of the windows.