Car sits for 4 weeks: problem?

Four weeks should not be a problem except for any issues with the 12v battery. If it starts up normally you are good to go.

 

I'd also make sure the dealer isn't going to charge you for storage.

 

No driving necessary....Just leave the car parked in the driveway in ready mode for 30 minutes and the 12v will get a good thirty minute charge!

 

If a car's sat for a protracted time, a bit of idling in the driveway is not going to be enough. Just add a smart charger to your tool kit: it can be used as a maintainer, or to restore a neglected battery.

 

No.
They sit at the dealership for longer periods.

 

My impression is that the dealerships have an employee who pushes a battery charging cart around and hooks it up to each car every once in awhile to make sure the 12v battery is topped up.

 

Ours sat for 15 months after manufacture date, by that point 12 volt was toast.

This is an issue, doesn't get much attention. I would think in slow economic times, there's a lot of battery wastage because of this.

 

Keyword: Every once in a while.

Here's the thing.
If a Pip cannot be parked for four weeks without irreparable damage to the car, and if you're one of the few people that have to leave your car in the hangar for 4 weeks, then..........buy another PHEV.

When I was knocking holes in the ocean for a living, we used to leave our cars parked for MONTHS at a time.
Sometimes spouses and/or buddies drove them while we were on patrol.
Sometimes we left them with businesses that start them up every X number of days and drive them around in the warehouse.
Sometimes we left them in open lots on base.
Sometimes......the really anal, single people would invent all kinds or zany countermeasures to mitigate the ravages of idleness on the part of the parked vehicle like putting the car on jack stands, removing spark plugs to put oil in the cylinder bores, etc.
One time, a friend of mine had to beat feet to his boat when they got scrambled to leave, and he had to leave his car in the base parking lot with the windows cracked and the keys in the ignition thinking (erroneously) that a buddy would come and get it when his boat came in.
I can think of a few occurrences of not being able to crank cars due to depleted 12v batteries, and the guy with the windows cracked had some interesting plant life growing in his car (8 months later) but I've not seen one credible, verifiable case where a car was wrecked or even negatively impacted by being parked for a month in my 32 years as a squid, and for years afterwards.

Cars just aren't that fragile, even today.....and most people trade them out every 150,000 miles anyway.

The Pip is a compliance car.
People buy them to flout HOV laws, Toyota builds them to meet shifting "green" car quotas, and some people buy them because they are Toyotas, or they're suffering from first-world guilt, or because they want to be eco-chic.

It really doesn't matter, since the PIP is a pretty sorry PHEV.........BUT(!) it's a phenomenal, reliable, affordable and very green 'last year's' commuter car.
You can get a gently used example for waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay less than 20K, and if you already have one, and you keep it, and you check and top off your oil every 1,000 miles or so then you can expect one to last well over 150,000 miles even if you leave it parked for a month at a time every now and again.

Try to make sure that the traction battery is mostly charged, and buy a pocket booster.....and familiarize yourself with jump starting a Pruis.......Correctly!!!!
Of course......if you're going to leave the car parked for more than a week at a time regularly, then a $20 battery tender (NOT a trickle charger!!!!!) will solve the problem entirely.

Other than maybe having to buy a 12v battery every now and again, you won't impact your car's lifespan one whit even if you leave it parked for a month at a time semi-regularly.

Period.

 

has the hybrid battery been fully charged all these months, or discharged?

 

That gigantic battery charger is to try to breathe life into the baby blue car that's been sitting around forever, but matches your baby's eyes - so you just have to have it. "It's the only one like it! This is a very rare color! (thankfully, or they'd be stuck with even more of them)". If they can't breathe life into it for the test drive, they can always warranty the battery in the service dep't in time for delivery.

"Flouting HOV laws!?!" This isn't the VW PHEV. This Prius has (only) enough AER to qualify for the HOV lane. If you don't like the laws, change your elected officials. And ... vote with your wallet. If you don't buy them, they won't make them.

"Knocking holes in the ocean" flouts a bunch of laws and treaties depending on whose flag is on your vessel and whose flag is asking.

 

that's a good thing. how much are they asking? i should think they're getting fairly desperate by now.

 

Not really.
There's Innocent passage.
Innocent passage is a concept in law of the sea which allows for a vessel to pass through the territorial waters of another state subject to certain restrictions.

Besides....if they never knew you were there.....there are no 'restrictions.'

I'm not sure that applies to pips. People bought every one that they made.
.......and Toyota stopped making them.

See also: Insight I

 

is that a good price out there? how many miles on her?

 

does picked mean bought?