Well, I've got my Gen3 Prius (T-Spirit) and nice it is too. BUT... I'm a little bit miffed to find that there are errors in the Prius brocuhre - which could actually be putting Toyota in breach of the trades descriptions act!

Two glaring errors that have come to my attention are:

1) In the page desscribing the T3 it says the car has "Dual Zone Cimate Control Air Conditioning". Now my last car had "Dual Zone" aircon - it meant that I could set different temperatures for the driver and passenger.... the Prius seems to have just 1 zone.

2) In the list of equipment, under "comfort" all models are shown as having "Low Temperature Warning". Now, I would expect this to be some sort of alarm to advise that it is getting a bit frosty outside, and so a skid-risk. Unfortunately, the only indication I can find of external temperature is the gague on the heater controls - this will tell me if it is freezing outside, but it is hardly a "warning". I've looked through the manual at the lists of warning lights and error conditions, but there is no indication of a low temperature warning feature.

Anyone spotted any other errors?
Any suggestions who I need to contact in Toyota (or do I just call Trading Standards!)

If you have a brochure to hand, try reading the small print on the very last page...

Sadly, a brochure does not form any part of your contract, a brochure is a bit like a price on the windscreen, if the label falls off and displays a car at £999 instead on £9999 you cant force them to sell it at that price, it is what is known as an "offer to treat" in other words, you say, I will have that car for £999, salesman says, sorry it should be £9999, no contract, no deal, not illegal. If you say I will buy that car at the screen price and he doesnt check, you exchange your money and a contract is formed, then you get it for £999 or he is in breach of contract. A brochure always has a disclaimer E&OE, errors and omissions excepted. This means a brochure can describe a model in detail, but any errors or change in spec cannot be enforced in law, it is up to you to confirm the full spec of the car on purchase, if you asked the question "Does it have dual climate control" and you can prove somebody said/wrote "yes it does" then they would be in breach of contract and you could do something about it

On the low temp question, I'm sure there is a light that comes on the dash just above freezing (think so anyway)

Kingo

If the car was not to the specification you ordered then you have the right to reject it. However if your purchase contract did not explicitly state "with the equipment list on page x of the brochure dated dd/mm/yyyy" then as others have said there has been no breach of trading standards. The brochure, as most other advertising and promotional material always has a clause stating the manufacturers right to change specifications at any time.

Fair do's - though the global "of course, there's nothing to say that anything we say in the brochure will be true" clause is a bit of a cop-out! Apparently the "dual zone aircon" has been deleted from the September brochure.

RE the Low Temp warning, I've had a good look through the manual but can't find anything about it... There's nothing listed in the "What to do if....." section of the manual that appearst to show all of the warning lights

I guess I'll just have to wait until it gets freezing outside to see if any alarms go off..... though I just hope I get the answer before I hit any black ice and skid into the ditch!

I'm waiting to see what happens when it gets cold too... IMO the external temperature display should be up on the main dash as it is an important safety feature in icy weather.
Maybe I'll have to watch for the traction control warning light instead and hope the car is smart enough to keep me on the road

My brochure (electronic, from July) mentions a luggage holding belt with hooks - don't think there's one of those in my car. It doesn't talk about dual zone air conditioning though, just automatic air conditioning, and I'm pleased to say that the Manual rear-view mirror advertised in the brochure was provided

I know my gen2 had a frost warning light which came on at 3 degrees, but I can't see any such light on the gen3 dashboard or in the manual. No doubt we'll find out for sure in a few weeks.

I'm not 100% sure, but I thought the outside temperature (and possibly a snowflake symbol?) were only displayed on the MFD.

Outside temp read 1°C this morning but no sign of a beep or warning light on the dash or a/c controls (I would have expected one at or below 3°C). I wonder if the T-spirits will do something different?
However, I did inadvertently get the car to emit a warning beep: I tried to lock the car with the key still inside - it took me a few seconds to figure out what the continuous beep was for

Aircon controls told me this morning that the outside temp was -1deg C, but did nothing to bring this fact to my attention. No Beep, no snowflake, no warnings of any kind

So I guess the brochure is wrong - there is NO low temperature warning (& that's on a Gen III T-Spirit)

Am I missing something here but isn't the fact that it displays -1deg C proof that it did bring this to your attention???

Yes and no...

It's a bit like saying that the fuel-gague showing no bricks is a "low fuel warning"

I agree that the temperature display on the aircon controls do give an indication of the outside temeprature... but...
Cars I've had in the past with an external temperature gague generally have an additional warning when the temperature drops below a critical level (generally +3deg C) to bring to your attention the fact that there is a risk of black ice.

Considering that the new Prius is designed to keep your eyes on the road (HUD etc.) AND the fact that the aircon controls are about as low down as you can get on the centre console, a temperature gague on the aircon does not really count as a "low temperature warning".

I think in these times of cost cutting it would be very optimistic to expect Toyota to devise a unique warning light for this low temperature warning, which is not a legal requirement, simply a customer comfort feature offered by Toyota.
I think (can't remeber exactly) in my auris it is as subtle as just defaulting to the exterior temperature reading on my speedo menu display,

In my missus micra, the exterior temperature sensor reading blinks when it is 4 degrees or lower , that is is... I think that is about as much as you can expect, it will display the temperature therefore it has warned you of it...

NOTE THE WEBSITE "configure you vehicle" does not define Dual Aircon in any of the vehicle grades. Another cost down in these times of hardship?