I haven't been all that active here, but have posted some about my '03 bought back in 2018, and to try to help others where I could. The '03 threw a P3006 last month and I just decided it was time to get into something newer. It was at 220K and other than the A/C not working everything was in order. But it was 6 yrs into a remanned hybrid battery and it threw the P3006. (Which I cleared and then drove it around for a week with no further problems, but the writing was on the wall). So I guess I figured time to grow up. I sold it running and driving for $800. Considering that I paid $2700 for it 7 yrs ago, and drove it for almost 60K miles, I think I came out ok on the whole thing. Cool little go-karts. Addicted to 46 mpg I found a new "Snowflake" (a.k.a. a new white Prius). It's a 2013 and has 144K, and I actually bought it from a Toyota dealer, which is not my style. But it was a one owner car bought and serviced religiously at the same Toyota dealer, and I have all of the records. Anyway, the Snowflake 1 and Snowflake 2:
Congrats! All the best. NOW.... Your newly adopted G3 isn't LIKE the G1 you just parted company with! You need to familiarize yourself with the pitfalls of the 'turd-gen' as some people call them. -ESPECIALLY for a "dealer-maintained" G3!!! Good Luck!!!!
I also replaced a gen 1 with a gen 3, and I've been happy. One difference you may notice: in gen 1, you could shift to B while using cruise control, and then the cruise control would be able to hold your speed on downhills as well as on uphills. In gen 3, you actually can't use cruise when in B, or shift to B and stay in cruise. Which disappointed me bitterly, until I figured out the gen 3 cruise control will just naturally do what you needed cruise+B to do in gen 1.
Nice! I'm, still, piling up the miles in my 21 Blizzard Pearl 4WD Prius. (My wife nicknamed her Mini Pearl but younger folks won't get that.) Did you price out fixing the A/C in the old Prius? I once had a 92 Subaru Legacy (hand-me-down from Dad) that was an amazing car but the A/C went out and they told me $2,000 to fix it....was more than the car was worth at that time....ouch.
Ha! We thought about doing that! Our Tundra pulls a Forest River Rockwood camper so they are named Rocky and Bullwinkle!!
LOL, I never actually even knew that about the Gen 1 b/c I never used B. (Tho' I also have few to no downgrades that challenge the coast too much). I always thought to myself that I'd use B mode for driving in snow/ice - sort of like downshifting if you had a normal transmission. And I always though the cruise control worked pretty well in the '03, but great to know it's improved for real speed control on the Gen 3. I started this thread (Help me make sure it's an A/C compressor failure | PriusChat) way back when we first hit the hot weather and it didn't work. It was confirmed by a shop to be the compressor. They quoted something like $1500, but that was to do it right - not just throw a new compressor on it. To do it right is really a full tear down and rebuild of the system. This involves pulling the radiator since the condenser is integral to it. I found a new compressor from Rockauto for like $230 and was just going to do the old "throw it on and see what happens," but never got around to it. (We have two other cars with working A/C, so it was always easy to avoid it). I sent the new still-in-the-box compressor with the buyer. I actually posted it on craigslist for the $800 (I was thinking it was a $750 car). I got something like 5 responses, but the first guy who responded bought it the next morning with no haggle. I was just happy to get it done. But I was thinking "damn, should have asked like $1200 and see what happens." But I also just wanted to get it done. It worked.
Not too worried about it. I've got tools, brains, and Priuschat. Not sure what the quotes are about on the "dealer-maintained," but I do have a complete and detailed printout from Toyota's database of regular visits/maintenance since the day it was purchased. The prior owner even had the dealer replacing wiper blades and air filters. Everything was always up to date and remain so. Unless you're suggesting fraud? Then, when it was taken in on trade, it got a new timing cover gasket, which actually involves removing the head. That's weird, to be sure. Four new TPMS sensors for the Michelin tires with only 10K on them. A fresh oil change, a new state inspection, and new brake pads, even though they would have passed inspection. I'm pretty confident that I got it in as ok condition as you can get. I paid $10K for it. The only wildcard is, of course, the HV battery pack. It's 13 yrs old, and there's no amount of "maintenance" or whatever that can change the age of a battery. But like I said, I've go tools and brains. I swapped out the HV pack in the '03 in 2019 (free pack since it was under warranty), and I'm sure I can do it in a 2013.
Suspect the "dealer-maintained" refers to EGR maintenance, which, if not done regularly, leads to head gasket failure.
First of all, if you have tools brains AND Priuschat, then you're golden. That's ALL you really need. Easy to explain, really. Toyota's maintenance schedule is designed to keep your car in near perfect running order for the balance of their over-priced extended 'Guilded' factory warranty period plus an amount that will keep a (real-world) well-maintained unit on the road for a nominal life-cycle to maintain the brand image. -right? It's math. The typical lifespan of a car in the United States is around 12 years and 200K. HOWEVER (comma!!!!) Many vehicles exceed this with proper maintenance. The G3 (IMHO) has at least two major design flaws: The famous low tension rings and the EGR cooler. I've always maintained that PROPER maintenance (not to be confused with DEALER maintenance!!!!!!!) will keep these cars on the road for much longer than the 150,000 miles that they seem to be failing at. The difference between PROPER maintenance and DELAER maintenance can be found in the warranty and maintenance guide for your car - and the answer to one simple question: -do you take your car to the dealer every month or 1,000 miles? If you have a 'dealer maintained' '13 Prius with a little less than 150,000 miles? Mazel Tov! You're beating the house odds for a 12-year old car. JUST BE AWARE of the two MAJOR (and IMHO) one semi-major design flaw and you have a 300,000 mile car with not-much in the way of 'sweat-equity.' The minor design flaw would be the inadequate oil sump volume... BTW: We have a PC sub who is YouTube 'royalty:' @NutzAboutBolts Like. Comment. SUBSCRIBE! (he deserves a 100k plaque!!) Best of luck!
B has the same effect as downshifting a normal transmission when you do it to slow the car down. It doesn't have any of the other effects of downshifting a normal transmission. Often, downshifting really isn't what you want in snow/ice—you kind of want to limit torque in those situations, and lower gears give you more torque. When I was driving a stick, I would often move away from a stop in 2nd instead of 1st if it was snowy/icy. A friend's 1965 Ford Galaxie 500 had an auto transmission with a similar feature: there was a 2 position you could select that would actually prevent it shifting down to 1!
if you decide to sell your 13 in a couple of years, let me know lol that’s a nice looking white Prius.
There are plenty of hilly back roads around my area, and I use "B" often, going downhill. In fact, I'm just getting ready to take a drive on this lovely July 4th day. Then it's back home for the hot dogs. Good health to you all!
I see you're a person of either few words, or many words. I think the first post could have just said to check the records for any form of maintenance on the EGR system. And either way, look it up if you don't know about it. (Which I didn't, but I'll look into it and take care of it). Thanks for the input.
Yes, hilly areas. I never thought about it much in terms of day-to-day driving and the B. But I grew up in the foothills of the Catskill mtns in the "downstate" part of "upstate New York." Plenty of snow & ice and hills, and I was taught to use engine braking to help control speed rather than brakes on those down hills. It's the best way to do it. I'm still in a hilly zone - same mountain range, ultimately, but about 400 miles to the SSW in Central VA where the Blueridge foothills give way to the Piedmont. (All foothills of the Appalachian range). I probably still won't play with the B, but I guess if I want the Gen 3 to do the B on the downhills I just have to use cruise control. Good info all around.
Thing is, in a front-wheel-drive (or rear-wheel-drive) car, engine braking controls the car speed by resisting motion of two wheels only. The brakes can slow the car as effectively using half the torque per wheel at four wheels instead of two. So when the traction is iffy, relying on engine braking puts you closer to the limit of losing traction and control. In a Prius, you don't really have to think hard about it, because if traction is lost while you use the brake pedal, the car itself will give up on regen and engine braking and switch to the four-wheel brakes and use ABS and traction control. The other thing about lower gears in other cars is they are also more torquey when you move off from a stop, so you are more likely to lose traction right away when moving off. That's why in my stick-shift cars I would usually start off in 2nd instead of 1st in slippery conditions. But the Prius B mode doesn't have any of that effect on acceleration (it only changes the slowing/braking behavior), so that's kind of a non-issue with a Prius.
