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Questions for our European friends on the Gen 3 specs

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Main Forum' started by DeadPhish, Oct 3, 2009.

  1. DeadPhish

    DeadPhish Senior Member

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    A family is looking to buy a Gen 3 Prius here in N America but will probably soon return to Europe. They posed a few questions that I had no answers for....so I thought I'd check at the source....here.

    They presumed that fog lamps are mandatory in Europe..thus requiring the purchase a Prius V here. I don't think fog lamps can be installed at the dealer level here in N America.

    Are rear fog lights also required?

    On the Navi unit can the DVD for Europe be installed to replace the DVD for N America? Is it as simple as ejecting one DVD and installing the other?

    On the cell phones in Europe is the Bluetooth connectivity the same? Here in NA nearly every modern phone has a Bluetooth option and nearly all of them connect easily to the Bluetooth system in the Prius and other Toyotas?

    Warranties? I believe that they are not transferrable between continents but that a warranty can be purchased in Europe. Yay? Nay?
     
  2. User37

    User37 Can spell PRIUS

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    There is Europe and there is Europe. The Priuses vary from country to country in trim level, but the underlying "technology" is the same.

    Rear fog lights are mandatory (at least each car here has one or two), front fog lights are optional. If fitted they must follow rules and regulations of the country where the car is registered in, but you are not required by law to have front fog lights.

    Some countries require day running light, but if you simply switch on the normal lights you are ok.
    You should verify that the beams have a legal light emitting pattern, AFAIU this is different between US and Europe/UK.

    I would guess so, but that would be worth a try. Some radio services like XM are not available in Europe though.

    Bluetooth is a worldwide standart, if both Toyota and the phone respect it is should work. :) iPhones for example work, and they are the same worldwide.

    Word on the road is hat the Hybrid warranty is valid world wide. Best would be to verify this directly with Toyota as they are the ones who will need to grant the warranty.

    hope this helps
     
  3. spinkao

    spinkao New Member

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    Hi DeadPhish,

    In fact, only rear fog lights are mandatory in the EU. Fog lamps are optional.

    Yes, most likely. There is no reason why it should be more complicated. In fact, I have multiple Toyota nav CDs for the whole Europe and West Asia and it works as simple as that for me.

    Yes, it is the same.

    do not know, sorry. I would try to call some local dealership in the country they are going to move to.
     
  4. RoyalBlue

    RoyalBlue New Member

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    I would advise them not to do this. The fog lamps are a very good example. The switch for the foglights (front and rear) is on a stalk on the steering column. So you would need a new stalk, wiring and a new tail light unit with a rear fog lamp. Expensive... And that is just one piece of the car that is different. There may be other bits and pieces as well that are different in the US. If one of those pieces has to be replaced, you're in for a nasty surprise. Tracking the part number, ordering it from the States, it may take weeks and it will be costly. This is not uncommon for Japanese cars.

    I would advise this family to buy the car in their own country when they return, or order one in their home country now. It may still take months to arrive.