Would you buy a 2010 Prius today?

All Prius, even the Gen II, shipped from the factory with brake override. No update is needed or available for that feature.

Tom

 

No, I would not buy another Toyota. Quite frankly, I feel that Toyota no longer is among the leader in building quality cars. They've cut far too many corners in order to lower costs at the expense of quality and safety. I feel betrayed.

 

I would not.

I never drove a toyota, but many hondas.

knock on wood, I hope my car won't have any of these strange
behaviors, but since I bought it, I love it. I love it because ITS NEW , because of the high tech display, the mpg, many options to listen to music, and the options that came with mine.

 

No you are not crazy why would you be? If you are crazy then we are all crazy here.

 

You're not crazy! Purchase Prius IV w/solar roof last week. We are LOVING it. Thinking of trading my RX 330 for this beast .

Nice handling. Superb ride.

We had a hard time thinking of package to choose. Initially we thought of going base , Prius III. Ended up with Prius IV, it's a big jump price wise, but definitely worth it.

Have fun shopping!

BTW, watch out for those vultures in the dealership!

 

if you're asking the question, you probably shouldn't.

 

I work in the Automotive Industry at a big supplier of electronic components, which are sold to those who provide the ECUs, and all electronic systems to the car manufactuers ("OEMs"). We sell, i.e. to Conti, Bosch, Delphi, Visteon, etc. (also called "Tier1s"). Tier1s sell their systems to BMW, GM, Ford, etc. The same is for mechanics, plastics, etc.

If you think that other manufactures are not cutting corners to lower costs at the expense of quality, dream on - actually I think it will get worse as the pressure of profit making is pushing OEMs for cost cuts without end to the Tier1s. Actually Japanese OEMs and Tier1s are the ones that are not doing so and still praise quality, extremely low dpm (defects per million) on deliveries and willing to pay a tad more for this. Japanese manufacturers are the only ones acknowledging this, including Toyota.

This is why I bought a Prius and not, say, a Golf or a BMW or a Ford or a Renault.
BTW: most statics on car reliability (at least in Europe) are increasingly losing "credibility", since the car manufacturers are offering direct support in case of a break down, especially BMW. BMW has 70% of its cars leased and all those leases come with road assistance from BMW included. Surely they are not telling you how many break downs per year they have.

Regarding the safety, if you really believe that a market leader like Toyota (or GM, or anybody else for that matter) are so naive to cut corners on a fundamental thing like safety, then stop driving the car (any brand) and use public transportation or walk.
Actually walking is more dangerous than driving any car. Or as Bjørn Lomborg, in his book "The Skeptical Environmentalist" (Cambridge University Press - ISBN 0-521-01068-3), on page 86, nicely puts:

(There are plenty of references in the book and about 80 pages (out of 500 of the whole book) of Bibliography. The statement above is not about the environment, therefore I do believe that the statement is not at all biased, and is actually backed by a wealth of references.)

So, if you say based on your personal taste and as you say "feeling", that Toyota is now low quality and un-safe based on what the media says and what "people" say (BTW mainly, if not only, in the US where millions of dollars are granted to people who burn themselves with hot coffee cups) go ahead.

You feel betrayed? Go buy another car. There are plenty to chose from. But don't think that the problems of Toyota will not show up one day or another on another car from another manufacturer. All of them are using the production methods of Japanese manufacturers for quality, and global platforms for reducing costs. If any component of a global platform has a problem. like an accelerator for example, they will have to recall millions of vehicles and several models. This is why Toyota had to recall so many vehicles.

You feel betrayed because of what you read and hear?
What should I say of VW then? I felt betrayed of my "german quality" VW Polo after 7 years of €€€€ repairs (actually 500€/year on average, including the 2 years of warranty - 2 years, this is how VW (and Audi) considers its quality on the German market...). After going to VW to fix something on the suspensions and hearing that not only the defect was known from VW (!!!), but they didn't issue a recall but only informed the dealers to fix it immediately as soon as a customer reported strange noise (BTW, fixed at my costs!). The suspension could have broken anytime, and I think that is nothing better than an accelerator that (supposedly - not yet proven) can get stuck. That is betrayal for me.
Or the AC, that I had to pay extra 1000€ on order, and *NEVER* worked 100%. That is betrayal for me. Not a company that actually takes action (slowly, maybe) and admits there is something to fix.

My Prius has the FM "reception" issue. A german car manufacturer would dismiss my claim and likely I would have to resort to a lawyer to get my rights. Toyota instead, considering that the issue is not really a big deal, is answering my questions (both directly and via dealer), they acknowledged there is a defect reported also from elsewhere in the EU and that Toyota Japan is working on a fix. VW doing that? forget it. In EU to get this customer support? forget it. Toyota is an exception. Together maybe with Honda and a couple of others.

I tend to stick to the facts - and so far, nobody has proven, white on black, that Toyota has faulty brakes, ECUs going bezerk under specific conditions. And Toyota is fixing what they believe to be a possible problem --> see the recall of the gas accelerator.
I don't think also that any other OEM would have stopped production on several of their own cars to fix something; this shows that Toyota, albeit too slow (or at least so perceived in the US) in reacting, has the gut to admit that they had to fix something, at the expense of image.

The spotlight is now on Toyota in the US, where state financed GM is waiting for them to make any possible "mistake".
Guess what, all the US-Toyota crap has not happened anywhere else in the planet. Not even in Germany, where German-automakers would not mind having 1 competitor less out of the way. Actually the US is doing the job for them pretty well.

I would buy the Prius again, since is it is the only car of its kind currently available on the market.
I also bought it knowing that it was just released on the market (but strong of 15 years of development and worldwide sales) and therefore bugs on such a complex car, could be possibe. The ABS re-programming is one example of a bug. The Prius is an extremely complex (compared to other normal cars) system built by a huge and complex corporation - things can and do go wrong. But this goes a long way before I can say that my car is un-safe. Actually the Prius, BTW, brakes really well and more smoothly than other cars I have driven, even recently (I drive rentals for work), considering that it is not a standard braking system. And it does feel safe, especially when you drive 180km/h on the Autobahn. And brakes really well at those speeds as well.
I just want to wait and see when the GM Volt comes out (is it?)...then we'll have a laugh...

I would stick to the facts from confirmed sources (not "people" or media) and look at all manufacturers with the same eye. Nobody is a saint in the auto industry, *nobody*.

BTW: I have never heard of a taxi driver saying that their Toyota has problems. *never*. And they drive *way* more than anybody else. *way* more. Taxis smashing walls by themselves? I still have to hear that. And guess what, as far as I know, in the US the taxi is not the property of the driver, so the driver has no reason to smash it in a wall claiming Toyota, therefore asking for a refund for a faulty car, like instead all of a sudden other US drivers are, IMHO, doing.

GM, Ford and Chrysler are selling better and higher quality cars in the US thanks to Toyota. Otherwise you would probably still have only the option of driving Pintos, Explorers and gas guzzlers (not necessarily SUVs).