Worst doors on a car I've ever had -- are all Prii like this?

I can't speak of noise with windows partially down. We drive 95% of the time with the windows closed, the rest of the time they are open all the way.

The only rattle we had was around the small fixed windows behind the windshield, in front of the front power windows. The plastic around those windows rattles against the small window for the first 10 minutes of driving, then it goes away. We dealt with it by inserting a 1/2" square of folded paper between the small windows and the plastic. No more noise.

Reading through some of the posts it seems like we have a different experience than some other Prius owners. Our 2008 Gen II with 155K miles has been near perfect. 1) The above mentioned rattle. 2) We replaced the soft rubber hatch release because the rubber was deteriorating (well known problem that year and before) 3) At about 152K miles our mpgs dropped from the long standing 45-47 mpg down to 35 mpg. We did a lot of things to try to figure out what was causing this problem. It has slowly crept back up to about 43 mpg. We continue to monitor.

Other than those three things the car has been unbelievably reliable and problem free. My complaints? I hate the gauge design. I want the gauges directly in front of me, not pushed toward the center of the dash. There are things I'd like to have that weren't designed into the car, but for what is there I really can't think of anything else. If I could buy a brand new Gen II my search for a new car would be over.

What do we like about our Gen II. The list is long.
- Great mpg (Synergy drive, regen, engine shut down under 39 mpg, etc.)
- Very reasonable purchase price
- Good cargo space (a key for us)
- It has a spare tire (this is newly appreciated as we recently discovered cars are shipping without them)
- Steering wheel controls
- Large Digital Speeometer
- The multi-function touch screen display
- Front cup holders
- Position of the shift lever
- Comfortable seats
- Good rear seat room
- Car seat tie down points
- 3.5mm audio jack in arm rest
- 12V outlet in arm rest and under dash
- Smart key entry, keep your key in your pocket/purse - such a great feature.
- 5 passenger capacity
- 60/40 Split folding rear seats
- Unbelievable reliability
- Great turning radius
- External temperature
- etc. etc. etc.

I can only speak of our own single experience. It has been a very good run with the Prius. I have some concerns about the Gen IV but we will likely buy one.

 

Tommerdoo, In my experience hitting the mid 40's with hills is more about how long you drive. I may be wrong but I got the sense your drives were short. In most cases I find I can boost the average mpg going down hill, and the regen will help charge the battery. Then when traveling the opposite direction I'll just about match those gains with losses. So the end result is neutral. For short trips it is the warm up cycle that kills the average mpg, so I find I need trips of more than 15 minutes to boost the average mpg. There are lots of hyper-miling techniques that will help. The ones I use is to keep the heat and air conditioning off when the outside temperature allows. I drive 39mph and below, above that the ICE is always on. I try not to use the brakes, instead letting the regenerative braking slow the car while charging the battery. On hills, if there are no cars behind me, I practice roller-coaster driving. Keeping the gas pedal constant and allowing the car to slow as it climbs hills, and speed up going down the hill. If I'm not in a hurry I'm willing to drive 60mph on the freeway, even with a 70mph speed limit.

 

Tommerdoo, It's been my experience that after filling the gas tank if I can hit very high mpg average over the first miles, say 20-30 miles, I'll have a better average mpg for the full tank. If on the other hand my average over those first 20-30 miles sucks it will be very difficult to bring the average for the whole tank up.

If by coasting you mean watching the multi-function display and getting the car into a mode where there are no arrows on the display that is a very good way to increase mpg. I forget the reason but the general advice is not to put the car in neutral while driving.

 

At what pressure do you keep the tires? I keep mine 44 psi front 42 rear. Also Low Rolling Resistance (LRR) tires can make a 2-4 mpg difference.

I doubt if at every tank fill up your MFD and calculated mpg will match like that. Expect +/- 2mpg. The bladder in the gas tank of the Gen II, along with fuel flow metering errors will cause a variation.

 

I'm in the same boat. Both my 2005 Prius's (US and UK) have free swingin' doors that smack into me every time I open them. Annoying.
I bought some used ones on Ebay but they wore out after a few months. The Dorman aftermarket solution is pricey ($48 each) but I'm ready to admit defeat. I was hoping there was a DIY repair of the worn part but haven't seen any.

 

Here is the Door Check Poll Door check fix/replacement (with poll) | PriusChat

 

Where did you get those for $20 a pair?

 

Rock Auto

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