Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with Prius

Shall we grab our ankles now?

6:1 — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 21:25:45 -0800

New car buying hell. Are we the only ones being told that the Toyota Prius price is MSRP PLUS expensive add-on premiums to cover their gouging? We have been told that not only do we have to pay MSRP (at one dealership, for example), as well as (they) demanding, no, FORCING us to buy Lo-Jack and Finishing Touch (a paint and fabric/leather conditioning/protectant) for an extra $1800+ bing. Is this happening everywhere? And is it Toyota or the dealers/ dealer co-ops that are controlling the supply, to keep prices artificially inflated? Pardon me, but is this another government boondoggle? Every place we go they seem to say they are out, but then suddenly they have 1 or two that appear a hour or two later or next day. Are there more of us out there, or are we just the mark?

FWIW-looking at a 2010 Prius IV in So. CAL. and do not have a "clunker".

Save on a Prius!

matthelm — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 16:42:49 -0800

So i am in the market to buy a new Prius and I heard someone once say that buying a car online can save you a lot of money. Has anyone done this with a Prius? I want to get this car: http://www.toyota.com/prius-hybrid/trims-prices.html#?view=showroom&vehicle=3

and am just trying to find the best way to get the best deal on it. I had some friends who talked about buying BMWs online and saving thousands of $$$ and I was curious if anyone has done this with the Prius.... I am willing thinking about paying it all off at once in cash also so if there are other ways to get a great deal any help would be great!

thanks

mHelm

Prius Battery Replacement

SLC Mom — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:36:48 -0800

Is there and GOOD and CHEAP way to replace a Prius battery? I have a 2001 Prius with 118K miles on it, and my big battery is going. The dealers is asking for $3100. I am not in the market for a new car, but this is going to be painful. Any suggestions?

iPhone + Prius - Bluetooth

cmoj — Wed, 20 May 2009 12:13:35 -0800

How can I connect my iPhone to my 2005 Prius? I've got a 2005 Prius without bluetooth, and I primarily want to play music through the car stereo, though hands free talking and stuff would be slick I guess. I know aftermarket bluetooth kits exist, but they're expensive and apparently don't work that well with the new iPhones.

I've used the FM transmitters, and the sound quality is not good enough for me. So:

Essential: high quality music through car speakers, charging

Extra: hands free talking

What are the best options?

How do I disconnect a malfunctioning car alarm on a 2002 Prius?

Slinga — Wed, 06 May 2009 11:20:15 -0800

How do I disconnect a malfunctioning car alarm on a 2002 Prius? My mom's Prius has a built-in alarm, and it just randomly turned itself on yesterday and went off for four hours and drained the battery. It has done this in the garage by itself, so I know that it's the alarm's problem, not outside forces. She'd like to disconnect the alarm, but the dealership wants over a hundred dollars to do it. Anyone have any idea how to?

Insight, the big brother, or bigger brother?

7life — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 10:17:10 -0800

BuyingCarFilter: Should I get Honda Insight, Prius, or Prius 3.0? So I test drove the Honda Insight a few days ago. Loved it. It's small, handles well, and cheap. Or so I thought. All the dealerships I went to tacked on 1-3 grand of "market adjusted value"

With the tacked on price, I really see no reason for getting the Insight over the Prius. I would go and get it right now, except for one thing: the 2010 Prius is coming out.

Nobody seems to know the exact date though I'm led to believe it's 6 weeks away. It's a brand new model and even if I don't get it, my reasoning would be that if I wait till it comes out, the 2009 model would drop in price.

So...should I wait? I personally have no problem waiting but my better half is itching to get a new car. Maybe by that time the Honda dealership would finally face reality and price the Insight the way Honda wants it in face of economic conditions and dropping hybrid demands (I'm rather fuming about this right now actually)

Thanks in advance for your input

What kind of car should we get?

arnicae — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 16:23:36 -0800

Used hybrid-filter: With ~10k to spend, in terms of upkeep costs and resale value should we buy a Honda Insight or a first gen Toyota Prius? We're in the market for a new (to us) car and can afford to spend around $10k. We may be able to do a little more for the right car.

We've looked at CR's fuel efficient used car page. CR claims the Insights get 51mpg, the 1st gen Priuses get 41mpg. We've tested a few Echo's but the older ones really have some problems, so they're out.

It looks like we can get a 7-8 y/o Insight/Prius for ~9k. It looks like we might be able to get a second gen Prius ('03, maybe '04) for 14k.

We live in the Bay area so there is a 'California premium' on all of the used hybrids available.

We know the Insights generally need a new battery pack at 150,000 miles which costs 3k, and that 1% of the first gen Priuses have had battery replacements for 2-3k, .3% of second gen Priuses have had battery replacements.

Any opinions on which of the cars will hold their value best and be the cheapest for upkeep? CR seems to give them all similar ratings except it considers the Insight pretty uncomfortable and difficult to get up to highway speeds. Would it be worth stretching outside our comfort zone to try to get a 2nd gen Prius? Thanks!

License to thrill? Personalized plates ideas, please.

cocoagirl — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 14:39:51 -0800

Woohoo, I'm converting my Prius to a plug-in! Now I want a personalized license plate to go with it. Some constraints:
- Must start with two letters
- Maximum six characters (no punctuation), minimum of two
- If numbers are used, they have to come at the end of the plate, and not be sandwiched by letters

It can be geeky, cheeky, electricky, eco-y, or whatever (well, at least some connection to it being a plug in/electric car).

Will an IKEA bedframe fit into a Prius?

puffin — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 06:54:18 -0800

Prius owners: have you successfully brought home a full size IKEA bed frame in your car? Ideally, I would like to fit something like the Aneboda frame and two people into the car. (I don't own a Prius but would have access to one through a car sharing program, or possibly a coworker.) The largest package is 76" x 1.62" x 29.5". Is this possible?

Is my dealer running a Prius scam on me?

lpsguy — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 06:58:55 -0800

Is my dealer running a Prius scam on me? We love our Prius, almost everything about it. The almost is that you generally need to bring it back to your Toyota dealer to service it. So here's the wrinkle.

Every 5,000 miles or so a "maintenance required" light pops up and remains annoyingly on the dashboard. The first time it happened I called the dealer and they said, "Oh, there's nothing wrong. That's just telling you you need to bring it in for scheduled maintenance. We'll switch it off when you get here." So when I go, I ask them to switch it off permanently since I can remember quite nicely when, or when not, to bring my own car somewhere for servicing. They tell me they can't. Gave me some gibberish about it being part of a computer module that would have to be replaced at my expense and yadda yadda.

This smells like I'm being fed a load. (These are the same guys when I called them last week to say I'm bringing the car in for regular service and could they give me a price on snow tires, said, "No. We can't give you a price till you bring the car in." Yeah, right. I bought them somewhere else this weekend.) But since I don't have many alternatives for servicing the unique systems of a Prius, I'm at a loss. I'm taking it in again tomorrow and I'd love to have a better feel for what's going on because I'm going to press them on this again.

Arm me oh hive populus.

Help me "name" our new black Prius

seekingsimplicity — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 14:03:50 -0800

I would like help "naming" our brand new black with tan interior '08 Toyota Prius. I have always loved names for cars that make them seem like part of the family-----my friend's red Subaru was "Ruby" etc. Another friend's caravan was Carrie and so on. What are some suggestions you have for names for our new black Prius? We are a family of 5 with 2 teens and a tween living in the Pacific Northwest. (I do not know if that matters!) Thank you!

crying while driving over spilled milk

buttercup — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 17:22:31 -0800

I just had this unfortunate incident where I was cleaning up from a meeting and someone placed the open quart of half&half in a bag which tipped over in the trunk of a new Prius (which is, of course, rented). I've been soaking it up with towels, lots of water (being careful to avoid the batteries) and even used some "Nature's Miracle" odor remover. What's the best way to continue cleaning up this mess and hopefully be able to preempt any negative effects (i.e. horrible smell).

Should I haggle for a new hybrid?

ontic — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 10:30:58 -0800

I've found a new Prius that I might be able to buy before the tax rebate gets chopped in half. Since it's a new, popular car, am I going to be paying full price no matter what or should I try my meager haggling skills? If the latter, what should I aim for and how should I go about it given the "next guy will pay full price" line I'll inevitably encounter? I can't imagine a question like this hasn't been asked before, but searching didn't turn it up. Perhaps I am an incompetent searcher.

Help me buy a used Prius!

silusGROK — Wed, 07 Jun 2006 15:05:49 -0800

What do I need to know when Purchasing a used Toyota Prius? Besides the standard used car stuff, is there anything special I should know? Is there anything fundementally different between, say, an '03 and an '05?

Diesel that meets CA's "clean air vehicle" requirements?

scarabic — Fri, 12 May 2006 13:35:41 -0800

I would like to purchase a high-mileage / low-emissions vehicle which I can drive (alone) in the carpool lanes around the Bay Area. Hybrids present one option, though I'd rather be in a diesel VW Golf, running biodiesel. I need help figuring out the requirements listed here to see if a diesel Golf meets them. And does anyone know if filling it with biodiesel changes anything? What other vehicle options are there?

Is there electromagnetic field in the Prius?

semmi — Sat, 28 Jan 2006 16:21:33 -0800

Anyone has information on possible electromagnetic field inside the Prius (Toyota Hybrid) from the large battery pack?

Miracle car drives after it runs out of gas...or does it?

clgregor — Thu, 22 Dec 2005 12:30:33 -0800

What happens when a Hybrid car (i.e. Prius) runs out of gas? Can it keep driving on the battery? I see here that "The Asian and European versions of this vehicle provide a button labelled "EV" that maintains electric vehicle mode after startup, under most low-load driving conditions." But I'm in the US and I'm just windering how far I could drive after the tank runs dry.