Hey everyone, it says that I already registered here so my guess it was when I was searching for a Prius back in Michigan. I am currently vacationing on the island of Oahu for two months with my friend Stacey and her friends Amy and Eric both own two Prius vehicles one is a 2010 one is a 2012. They agreed to rent the Prius out to me while I was staying on the North Shore until I returned to Kailua. I know this is all background stuff that you guys don’t need to know about but needless to say the 2010 was a hybrid system error and no matter how many times I reset it it kept coming back and they had just had their batteries replaced.. But when we swapped into the other Prius, which I am now, and I am totally totally totally in love with this car. I am not one of those idiots that stomp on the pedal at every stoplight revs my engine maxes out my RPMs to get on a freeway ramp just so that I can complain later at the gas pump and with gas prices in Hawaii being $4.90 a gallon (Yes, you read that right) I have been driving this Prius like I normally drive my Sonic. I come to you guys today because I know you guys are all experts at this stuff with a few photos of the Prius. I’m driving. I do know that it is a 2012 Prius V. It has the hatchback and it does have alloy wheels on it they look like they could be the upgraded wheel package. I have looked for the Vin number and the maintenance records in the glove box, but I cannot determine exactly what car this is, it has 85,000 miles on it and I would love to buy it from them, but the problem is getting it back to the mainland would be prohibitive so I’m going to the mainland for a Prius to buy exactly or close to like this, I submit these photos so you guys can talk back-and-forth about the different things you see in the photos and give me the exact what model is this so I can search for it on the mainland. Before anyone calls me a troll, please realize that I already did a Facebook marketplace search for Prius V models in the 2012 year around Michigan, but every single one of them that I pulled up did not look anything like this car Thank you guys for all your help
It is a Prius v “wagon,” a trim 3 or 5 based on the mfd having a HD radio. With 16” tires it is a Prius v trim 3 while 17” tires it is a Prius v trim 5. A 2012 Prius trim FIVE (not V) is a sedan hatchback and the far more common gen3 Prius. If I told you she had several hybrid STDs that cost $10k to cure, would you still be “totally totally totally in love?” Their shiny streamlined bodies house known oil burners, blow head gaskets if your lucky, an engine if your not, have brake by wire master cylinders (brake boosters) that fail and an inverter that suddenly strands you. Sure her parents would love to get her married off to someone with money, ideally far far away on the mainland. This generation Prii are high maintenance with a sometimes bipolar personality. However she looks good on car Tinder. I would go for the mousy Corolla or her sister Camry for a good long term relationship.
That got dark real quick, I had to wait forever to respond because driving on Oahu is a nightmare. so she has STDS, (the 10k+ type) , I’m actually very surprised that you said that, everyone always tells me “Toyotas are the car to buy, no other car will last longer”, and some of these conversations can get pretty heated. I drive a 2003 GMC Yukon Denali and a 2014 Chevy sonic, the gmc does ok, I don’t have enough years left in my life to tell you the unbelievable issues I’ve had with the sonic. Coincidentally btw I can here before buying the sonic as I had found some left high mileage Prius cars, but the consensus was even those can have hidden problems. im glad you pointed out her flaws, I’ll use protection until I can bring her home to mom and dad in a few days, it man what an interesting piece of older tech, before musk created “everyone’s gonna be driving a Tesla in 2025” and whatever else crazy stuff comes out of his mouth these guys were the first and maybe it wasn’t full electric , but they were on to something. the hilarious part is we still don’t know EXACTLY what she is, she does t have dual cup holders in front, just one, two are in back. Has a cigarette lighter and an aux but ALSO a usb port, two gloveboxes yes, I’ll check the wheels tomorrow,
That is true for almost all Toyotas except the gen3 Prius and some trucks in the rust belt where the frames break in two. Toyota covered the truck frames and have expired tsb coverages on gen3 oil burning (they replaced pistons and rings if it was really bad within 60k miles), replaced the brake boosters for 10 years 150k miles (too long on the 2012), still replace the inverters (thanks to a class action suit) but have never replaced head gaskets which has become the big problem. Does not mean your vin has issues now but I prefer to warn prospective used buyers who are smart enough to ask.
The first 10 years of any Prius' life is a love story. Then it's... variable for a while. Risks grow over time. In the end they turn into legendary money pits. They can be great cars if you time your exit properly. Where the v model is concerned, it's already too late for most of them.
I shipped two cars to Hawaii and then back again. Not that big of a deal really, but Michigan I don’t know about the extra transportation once it gets to port. Mine arrived in Oakland and we went there to get them, not all that far for us. Cars can rust in Hawaii badly, but maybe better than Michigan. If you could stop in Calif or Ariz and get a clean example, then drive it to Mich you could be getting a fresh start.
If this Prius was originally sold in Hawaii, it would have been sold by Servco and could be different from versions sold in the U.S. Vehicles originally sold in Hawaii are sometimes more similar to those sold on other Pacific islands and Taiwan. Our 2012 Prius v Five with the Advanced Technology Package is still like showroom new after 14 years of ownership although it's at only 52,000 miles and has been garaged 99% of the time when not in use. I do have maintenance performed mainly based on time. Maybe it won't turn into an oil burner while we have it since it's driven less than 1,000 miles/year and I doubt that we'll live to 125. It's been a great low speed "city car" but not something I'd want to drive much at Interstate highway speeds. We intended to sell it several years ago but it's been useful for driving to wife's medical appointments since it carries her wheelchair especially well.