Hello Prius family....just became a Prius owner last week for a first time. Picked up a 2014 trim 3 pearl white with 18K miles on her. Pretty happy with the choice and with the car so far. I think these colors with the black rim makes them one of the best looking Priuses out there. I'd like to ask you guys what should I be aware of as a new owner to maintain the car at its best. Something that maybe not in the manual. Also I'm curious what mods, updates possible for these cars...and here forgive me I haven't browsed this site yet..maybe there are sections for this stuff? Anyway, great community here as far as I can tell looking forward to learn more about these cars. PS: I'm a big F1 fan and when I read about the kinetic breaking energy converted to electrical energy I was almost doing back flips ...I own a car now that is using a technology introduced by Formula 1? Enough yapping here are the first 2 pictures of my new car:
Beautiful car......I have the Prius c 2014 and have had it one month now.....love the MPG and how quiet it is when you first turn it on...I have almost 27,000 on her now.....fun to drive
1. Oil level checks. About every other tank... 2. Consider changing the transaxle fluid at 30K, and thence every 60-90k. 3. Study the maintenance schedule.
Congratulations - enjoy, you've beaten me to Prius (waiting for Gen 4 to arrive in quantitiy downunder). You might check here for modifications - I haven't looked, other than the heading: Gen 3 Prius Accessories and Modifications | PriusChat With Formula 1, I don't follow it as much as I did years ago - but Prius was there about 15 years before F1, now in Generation 4. Doubtless, F1 will advance the technology more, and might have some spinoffs to mainstream in years to come.
Toyota feels the ATF WS is good for the life of the car. Since if the transaxle fails a new one is $5000, this is a self fulfilling prophecy. Find some regular interval you like (I use 30,000 miles, then 90,000 miles then every 90,000 miles) and drain and fill the ATF WS. (no need for a flush) BTW, pick up a cheap Jump Box, the Prius 12 volt battery is too small to jump 'real' cars. Jumping wrong with a Prius costs $4000 for a new inverter, so do not jump it or with it.
