Hello quick review of my year

[demag]

Well there's not a lot to say really😁. I'm just coming up for 12 months ownership (T4 Gen 2) and the car has been great. I'm really impressed with it. I did change the 12v Battery last year as the old 3rd party one was dropping under 12v on the hidden screen test. I fitted an oe Yuasa which cost an arm and a leg! But that's it as far as repairs go. I have a slow leak on the osr tyre which I STILL haven't got done, inflating to 36psi lasts a couple of months so I tend to forget. I think it's leaking on the rim as there's no nails in it. The treads are all good and it has Michelin's on. It had done 60k when I bought it and it's on approx 66k now so it has an easy life.

It missed a service last year but was serviced at 59k just before I bought it anyway. I'm hoping to get it done next month when my pension arrives.😀 It's due the big one now which Toyota quoted at £380 or something like that so I think I'll take it to my local garage who I have used for years. They said they have done Prius' before and they are really genuine lads with a great reputation. It's 12 years old anyway and they will stamp the book for me. I'll take my own oil though.

Mpg has been good, I saw 70+ in the nice weather but I noticed in the very hot weather it dropped, and obviously the cold weather as well. I usually get about 450 ish to a tankfull so am happy with that, I've never quite made the 500 but come close once or twice. We did a 70 mile round trip on Sunday and mpg just went over 60, up from high 40's low 50's doing stop start town driving with heater lights and wipers. It flew through the mot with no advisories and apart from the 12v Battery and fitting some Night Breaker bulbs it's been a great year.

One thing I have noticed is some suspension noise, a few creaks at the back and a light "tap" from the osf sometimes going over speed bumps or the occasional rough surface although I don't drive hard. It didn't affect the mot anyway but I will ask them to look on the service.

In the summer I saw a Gen3 T3 in a local dealer and went to have a look. It had done about 62k so not bad and I noticed although a lower spec than mine it still had front fogs and reversing sensors as well. When I asked how many owners it had had he said 5! That put me off, just too many.

[Heidfirst]

5 hours ago, demag said:

😀 It's due the big one now which Toyota quoted at £380 or something like that so I think I'll take it to my local garage who I have used for years.

Toyota do an Essential Care scheme at participating centres for cars over 5 years old which is at a reduced rate from the standard Fixed Price Servicing . For a Prius, Essential Care Silver is £120 & Gold £200.

 https://www.toyota.co.uk/download/cms/gben/Toyota Essential Care Service Content_tcm-3060-1435366.pdf

[kithmo]

Hi, Dave, SWMBO has the same 2006 Gen 2 T4 as yours and she's had it for 9 years now. In terms of repairs, over the 9 years of ownership, she's had one new 12v (about 3 years ago IIRC), one broken rear spring (worth checking on your creaking), a full set of brake disks and pads and a very expensive replacement rear light cluster. Sod's law every light in the cluster is a bulb, except the LED brake light which failed and is not repairable. The only complaint she has is that the steering is heavy compared to my Gen 4. 

She bought it at the same time as I bought my first Prius, a Gen 3 T-Spirit and I was surprised, after reading how much the Gen 3 was supposed to be better than the Gen 2, it wasn't all that much. IMO the Gen 2 had a more comfortable ride, seemed to have more torque and pulled away better than the Gen 3 at lower speeds. Specification differences aside, the only advantages of the Gen 3 were better mpg and better handling if you need to push it. If you are considering a Gen 3, take a good test drive first, you may be disappointed. If you can wait until you can afford it, you'd be better saving up for a Gen 4, a totally different beast IMO, I can honestly say the Gen 4 Prius is the best car I've ever owned in my 48 years of driving.

[PeteB]

It's interesting how we all differ in out tastes.

My Gen 1 Prius had the best seats and ride of any version to date (IMHO), and was the best car I'd owned at that time, and my only real niggles were the lack (in the UK) of heated mirrors and a rear wiper.  My second Gen 1 did 9½ years and over 163,000 miles (without a new 12V Battery!), and when taking all costs into account (and adjusting for inflation) was the cheapest car to ownI ever had, before or since (and that includes a 600cc Fiat 126 and an original 1960s Mini!).  Loved the fact they came with a full sized, matching alloy spare wheel.

The Gen 2 was my least favourite Prius (which was still a brilliant car), but had the hardest seats and ride of any Prius version.  A number of Gen 1 owners found this such a shock (!) they sold them and bought a second hand Gen 1 again!  I did love the interior space though, but was gobsmacked that it still had no heated mirrors and a space saver spare (but at least it had one!).  That was despite 20-30 Gen 1 owners being invited (via the Yahoo Prius chat group) to a pre-launch event when Toyota impressed us greatly by interviewing each of us at some length after we'd crawled all over (but not driven) a pre-production Gen 2.  Everyone I spoke to had a !Removed! about the missing heated mirrors (which had for some time been standard on things like Corsas and Fiesta and lots of basic, cheap cars in the UK) and emphasised how much we wanted a proper spare wheel (the display car had a tin of gunge).  A couple of guys even removed all the boot trim to measure to check it could take a proper spare (it could), while the bemused Toyota people watched.  We were all bitterly disappointed that, after going to the trouble of asking us what we thought, everything we said had been ignored.

When the Gen 3 came out it didn't appeal to me because the T4 & T-Spirit had wide 17" wheels that gave a hard ride, made the cars rattle, and hit mpg & CO2.  The T3 came with 15" wheels which made the ride much better and killed the rattles, but lacked the centre MFD which killed it's appeal for me.  At least the Gen 3 had more comfortable seats again.  I did love the Heads Up Display though, but hated the so called flying bridge centre console, which wasted a lot of space and made it impossible to get to the driver's seat from the passenger side if someone parked too close.

When the 2012 face-lift Gen 3 came out, among other improvements a stiffer chassis finally put paid to (most of) the rattles on cars with 17" wheels, while the T3 acquired a centre MFD with Touch & Go SatNav option.  All models gained DRLs and heated, power folding mirrors at last!  My dealer told me they had a T3 demonstrator with the SatNav option in the colour I liked coming up for sale, and at 6 months old with 3½k on the clock I snapped it up.  The only thing missing was the Cruise Control switch (the whole of the rest of the system was there) so I got my dealer to fit the switch before delivery (they'd done the same for me in Gen 1S & 2s too).  It then had everything I wanted.  It became my best ever car (since I started driving in 1973) until the Gen 4 came along.

I fully agree with Keith's final statement, it's my best ever too, with only a few things to hate (like the auto headlights, vastly reduced glovebox space and lack of space under the boot floor.  I was delighted to be able to get the top model, but specify 15" wheels and a spare wheel as well.  Really love the safety features and the Adaptive (radar) cruise control which is just magic.