2023 Toyota Prius - WOW!

[Ecky]

Originally Posted by Isaac Zachary

Let's just hope lower octane doesn't hurt fuel mileage.

It might. With a compression ratio that high, the most affected areas will be low RPM high load, though Atkinson cycle probably largely mitigates this.

[JSH]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

Yeah, hopefully 19" is an option and not standard. Ridiculous how big wheels are getting.

Toyota did the same thing BMW did with the i3 - they had a custom tire made to allow the efficiency of a large outer diameter and narrow tread width in the same tire.

195/50R19 - 2023
195/65R15 - 2022 Eco
215/45R17 - 2022 XLE


The shorter side wall will have less flex for both greater efficiency and performance while keeping the tread width the same.

[hayden55]

Why would the car need premium fuel, is this in writing some where? They have been 13:1 atkinson cycle since the beginning. I will agree that premium fuel is probably going to see a benefit in knock reduction and timing increases, but the cars have been rated for 87 for a long time. I know very few cars that get a mpg increase high enough to warrant the 20% extra fuel cost for premium here in a normal state with normal fuel prices.
Also, if anyone thinks a Chevrolet Bolt will be cheaper to own that a Toyota Prius is not wise. GM is so good at building unreliable cars that you are told not to park the Bolt in your garage for safety. WTF is that lol
Honestly, with the price of electricity and regular gasoline here locally and considering pack replacements on a bolt and prius in the future around 10-12 years on average... I see no roi on a Bolt over a Prius. More than likely the Bolt will be much more expensive to own. I'm convinced the Prius is the cheapest car you can own if you are slightly handy. The $150 difference in registration fees every year already cancels out the fuel saving here locally so its really a non starter just from that.
But Toyota is catching up with them here lately so we will see. I've seen quite a few issues with the new priuses vs the bulletproof gen 2. The gen 3 technically can be made bulletproof as well but it isn't emissions compliant when you do. But you could reverse the mods in 30 minutes and go pass an emissions test and then go back to normal.
Fun fact: GM is the leader in recalls for the last 22 years.

[Isaac Zachary]

I disagree. I've had a 12-year-old Prius that needed a battery, a $2,000 California compliant catalytic convereter, and a new engine block. And after fixing all that the $2,000 brake actuator would have likely been the next to go. So get ready to drop over $10,000 on a 12-year-old Prius.

The point is cars are becoming more and more disposable. I used to think I'd just keep my cars for as long as possible. The radio has gone out twice in the Avalon, and the only way I can figure out how to fix it is take it to the dealer for a $200 repair. I'm not doing that again! I can live without a radio. But once other things start dying then it's time for another car. And with the way used car prices are, and who knows when they'll start going down, you're better off with a brand new car.

I guess the question is if the Bolt or the Prius will bite the dust first. Who knows. BEV's are required to have something like an 8-year warranty on their batteries. I have not seen the aftermarket battery market make anything worthwhile. When you need a battery it's got to be OEM unless you're planning on selling the vehicle before the end of the week. Having recalls could actually be a good thing as you get a new battery years into the life of the vehicle. Oh! And Toyota no longer sells batteries for 13-year-old and older Prii.

It's getting to where you buy a new car and sell it once the warranty is out, even if it is a Toyota. At that rate the main things are the initial cost and fuel and maintenance costs. Under those terms the Bolt will likely win.

[redpoint5]

I've never had anything go bad on a car I've owned. Trucks on the other hand require your constant attention.

I take that back, the Subaru Legacy I had threw a P0420 code and I just ignored it, and drove another 80k miles. It used a quart of oil every 2k miles, but that's fine.

[hayden55]

I will say ive spent about $600 on unscheduled maintenance on my 2010 prius, so a 13 year old prius. Fixed up the pcv/egr issues which took me plenty of free time under the hood. But parts wise all ive had to buy was an egr cooler which was optional, some polk audio neodymium speakers when the stock jbl's went, slightly optional, I could've went cheaper, and I did a bad job keeping up with my lube jobs on my brakes at the beginning and i let the rear brakes lock up and i did new centric rotors and akebono pads lol.
A 60k mile pull jdm prius motor is $1600 if you throw a rod, a head gasket kit is $200 if you blow the gasket and keep the rods inside, and a new oem battery is $1700 every holiday before tax lol. At 50mpg average still seems pretty hard to beat at year 13 when my car is worth $2500 and I only spent $5100 on it 110 thousand miles ago back in 2016 lol
With that said it really depends on owners mechanical experience but it seems like a lot of prius owners are not afraid to tinker.

[redpoint5]

"My" Prius is 2012, so we'll see what issues develop in the coming years. Haven't heard a word from the friend I sold it to, except for that one time she said the car died on her and wouldn't start. I told her it just needed fuel, and she assured me that wasn't the problem because she added fuel. I drove 90 minutes to the car, added fuel, and it started right up. She ran it out and didn't put enough in to get it going again.

I have heard of EGR or PCV issues on the Prius. Guess I'll figure out how to fix those when they arise. I wonder if these parts just need to be part of a maintenance routine?

[hayden55]

no lie the simplest fix is to just unplug the egr valve for free. Wild how that works. I did all that work to get mine working fully again.. and I don't even need to pass emissions. lol
Oh well, when the government takes over more in the coming years and forces emissions testing down our throat at the point i will pass.

TL/DR though: EGR passageways to cylinder clog in order of longest from valve and the car doesn't know. So it eventually pings the head gasket to death in each cylinder. Usually head gasket in cylinder 1 goes first and then you need to do the gasket. Completely avoidable though. My ass felt it 20k miles ago when the car was pinging incessantly and the car had no misfire code.

[redpoint5]

Crazy the car doesn't code. Would way rather address the EGR mess than replace a head gasket, not to mention the other wear on the engine.

Maybe easier to just put premium in? I'd certainly do that if I could get a couple more HP. It's miserable trying to pass someone in a Gen III.

[Isaac Zachary]

Originally Posted by hayden55

A 60k mile pull jdm prius motor is $1600 if you throw a rod, a head gasket kit is $200 if you blow the gasket and keep the rods inside, and a new oem battery is $1700 every holiday before tax lol.

Throw a rod? Or if you just scratch a cylinder from stuck piston rings, which seems to be quite common unless you religiously change your oil every 3,000 to 5,000 miles. You can't hone the cylinders, the iron sleeves are too thin.

$1,600 for an engine plus $1,700 for a battery plus whatever a catalytic converter costs you if your engine starts chuggin oil. Just hope you're not in a California compliant state.

If your Prius were one year older there would be no more OEM batteries for it since Toyota no longer sells Gen 2 batteries.

I could get a Gen 3 battery, swap the cells over to my Gen 2 and then put the Gen 2 cells back in and take that back as the core. I'm still not sure what to do with my Prius. It's been sitting there for the past couple of years as I try to contemplate what to do with it, whether to tackle all its problems or scrap it and forget it. My friends with garages have all left. I can't change the engine out in the parking lot without problems with the landlord. Do I change the HV battery, the FR wheel bearing, the engine, and the catalytic converter or do I haul it off to the dump and use that time and money on something more worthy?

The nice thing about the Gen 2 is there is no EGR valve to deal with.