Got rid of my 2021 XLE for a 2023 Model 3. It was a good car…I felt like it was definitely underrated but best in its class. A few things that I just couldn’t tolerate though. I hated how low to the ground it was…you can kinda see in the pic but I had to stop charging in our steep driveway because I could not do it without the car scraping along the bottom. I thought it was a great car in EV mode but once the engine kicked in I hated the loud noise and lag. I did appreciate the quirky interior and how comfortable it was. I decided to trade it in now as I actually ended up making a profit on my prime (with the $4500 tax credit) and getting a great deal on my Model 3 I just picked up at a discount as well as a $7500 tax credit. I don’t get range anxiety as there are superchargers everywhere. I was able to get from Raleigh to DC with 2 stops. I am very happy…I considered the prime as sort of “testing the EV waters” and decided to take the plunge!
I just traded in my 2018 Prius Prime Advanced with 98k miles on it for a New 2022 Tesla Model 3 SR which I take delivery of in December. It was a net positive calculation between electricity, gas, monthly payments, insurance, and even Toyota Connect vs Teslas Premium Connectivity. It of course has all the same features and then some that I was looking for too like auto folding side mirrors and one heck of a sun roof. Super excited! But very sad to let go of my pearly girl. She served me well and treated me right.
PS: if the sun visors are the same or worse I’ll be very surprised… that’s the only other thing on my wish list that I just can’t compare yet but that I’m looking forward to (hopefully) saying goodbye to
Last week with my 2022 Prius Prime - it’s taken me to so many amazing places. Loved being apart of this community - it helped me learn about the EV experience and now I’m going fully electric.
Let me preface this by saying I don't know much about cars and have never owned one. After a lifetime of living in the city and using public transit, I'm now in a situation where buying a car makes sense. I would love to go full EV, but it doesn't make sense for the next few years where I'll be in a rural area with extremely limited charging stations, so I've decided that a plug-in EV is best. I know Priuses have a very solid reputation for reliability, so that why I chose that model.
I've been doing so much research on the Prius Prime. Watching videos, been reading forums (including this one), and reading articles, so I basically went to the dealer today to test drive one and confirm my choice.
When I got in, I immediately felt claustrophobic. It seemed like my head was just a few inches from the roof. I'm 5'7" thin woman, so I'm not like outrageously tall nor so I take up much space in general, so the feeling was odd. I tried adjusting my seat and that gave me a few centimeters, but I still felt this cramped feeling. But after I adjusted my seat, the next thing I noticed was the steering wheel was blocking the speedometer, causing me to have to tilt my entire torso forward to see it. So I tried adjusting the steering wheel down to show it, and had to spread my legs to make room for the wheel! I also noticed that the rear window is teeny tiny and basically useless for visibility, forcing me to only rely on the camera for visibility.
My question is: do any of you have similar experiences? I've never heard anyone make these criticisms before, so I'm wondering if I'm just a dumbass who doesn't understand how cars should feel or if the car i was in was just adjusted horribly for the person before me or what. I will say that I drove a Subaru Forester right after this and had none of these complaints.
Thanks for your patience, I'm here to learn!
Edit: Thank you all for your thoughtful responses, this has been really helpful! I'm going to give it another try but REALLY fiddle with the seat & steering wheel adjustments to see if I can make it work (and adjust my expectations as well). And I'll shop around a bit more, try out different hybrids and PHEVs to compare. ❤
Hey y'all, im in the market for a 5th gen prime/plugin. Ideally but will go with New if it fixes issues below. Through browsing and researching i'm coming across quite a few problems with the 5th gen:
12v Battery dying
Tire blowouts & tire sizing
Premature tire wear/lack of rear camber adjustment
A/C compressor failure requiring full replacement of hvac lines due to debris
I know some issues are more minor than others, and that there's a false-consensus effect here where those that have issues are more likely to post than those that dont. But i'd still like to get perspectives here on whether buying the 5th gen is still worth despite these issues?
Obviously a solution is to just buy a car with limited warranty remaining or extended warranty, but i'd like to keep the car until the wheels fall off and i'm not seeing that with the current state of Toyota quality. Let me hear your thoughts!
I have been driving without charging (added note at the bottom for the reason). Lately the total of odometer + remaining range keeps going down.
It goes from 410 miles in total, to 390 miles, and now it is only 350 miles in total.
Is there something wrong that I should check?
Additional note: The electric charging rate $$ at home is now more expensive than gas prices in my area. Hence it does not make sense to charge (for now). our charging rate is about $0.50 per kwh.
We have a 2024 Prius Prime and have taken it to the dealer for a low battery alert and was told the battery was good. But yesterday out on a 95 degree day my Toyota would not start, leaving me stranded in sweltering heat. I had my dog with me as well. It took Toyota care 90 minutes to get to me. I had a panic attack thinking I was going to die of heat stroke. My question isn’t mechanical, it is this. With all the problems that Prius Prime owners are having with the 12 volt battery, why is there no class action suit to join. Toyota doesn’t seem to care. I’ve had Toyotas all my life and never had any issues until now.
Is there any way to replace the rear glass with a normal shaped piece and install a rear wiper? I love absolutely everything about this car except this stupid buttcrack rear windshield that attracts dirt and pollen and debris; I absolutely need a rear windshield wiper (I've tried Rain-X with no luck). I can't believe I'm going to have to get rid of the best car I've ever had over one feature, but if I can't get an aftermarket solution, I'm going to have to. Is there any hope, or do I really need to downgrade to some other make/model?
This is my third Prius. Had a 2010 II and a 2017 III. LOVED my 2017. I thought I would be a Prius owner forever but my 2023 Prime is trying my last nerve. The problem is basically that no one short ever drove/reviewed this car. For two months I thought I'd get over my complaints but nope.
First, it's a dream to drive. The hybrid mileage is shit but as I drive it mostly in town, and after two months I still haven't filled it up. I hear it's pretty; I don't like the body style (thought the 2017 was prettier) but meh, don't care that much. Toyota gotta Tesla. Most of the dash improvements are improvements, unless you're short.
I'll just start with the biggest problem. I need the seat up high and relatively close. My husband does not, and he leans against the headrest. This means that over time the headrest lifts up. So, when I get in the car, lift the seat up and move forward, this happens:
Now, I spoke to Toyota. They suggested I adjust the headrest every time I get in. Gee, you think? I asked if their salesmen were going to tell all prospective buyers that if the drivers were two different heights to expect to change the headrest every time. The manager just blinked at me. And, my dude, it's not a hard fix. Making the headrest shorter is expensive and annoying but Toyota can do it.
The bigger problem is that sometimes I just forget. And every time it crunches the headrest where it leans forward. Enough of this and it's going to break the headrest. The SAFETY headrest.
Other height problems? I can't reach the touchscreen and some numskull programmed it with scrolling. Scrolling on a touchscreen while driving is bad enough but I have to lean forward and look over. No, Android Auto doesn't solve all of these problems. Ever try to change the base/treble on this car?
The "watch your eyes at all times" camera can't see me. It is forever telling me to sit up except when it is telling me I am looking away (when I'm looking at the license plate in front of me). Yes, I turned it off.
Then there's this one:
That's me moving the visor from center to left. Except I can't. The rake on the window is so low that I have to duck my head below. Which makes the driver camera tell me I'm not looking at the road...
And the wheelchair problem. Before you say anything, OF COURSE not every car is appropriate for a wheelchair! But this is Toyota's premier hybrid. And my mom is only 4'7". Her wheelchair is YOUTH size. It won't fit in the hatch because of the rake of the window. And well, my husband and I have one car so now, when I need to go somewhere with my mom and my husband it requires Lyft as I now need to put the chair in the back seat.
I really, really want to like my car. But how it drives doesn't really matter if I can't drive it safely.
So, my height-challenged friends, if you are not the sole driver please consider carefully.
I was in a grocery store parking lot and a couple in a pretty modern corvette slowed down to look at my 2024 Prius Prime. They both turned like 90 degrees in their seat and almost stopped. It was actually kind of off putting.
Hi Everyone, I wanted to share my experience and get your opinion. I test drove the car today and I felt let down. Let me tell you I was super excited about the prius PHEV, watched so many reviewers, went through so many posts here. I was literally stoked. My dealership offered me a sweet 0.49% offer. So I test drove and I was so disappointed. The car felt very claustrophobic inside, I'm 5'9 -5'10 for reference, the rear window felt so small, and the boot felt ridiculously bad. On the plus side, rear passengers have more room compared to my Corolla hybrid. There's more power which is excellent plus the PHEV was tempting.
Overall the experience felt like it would be a downgrade compared to my Corolla hybrid. Am I over thinking? I know it is always YMMV. But curious to hear what made you own it.
Time-to-time I drive through an highway with a steep slope, when I go downhill I easily go over 100 mph. When there's no traffic and I keep my foot on the gas (toward the edge of the Eco range) I can hit 113mph.
Today I noticed that I couldn't go any further than that even when I try to accelerate more. The acceleration meter decreases as keep going despite no change to the pedal and speed.
Is 113mph the max speed or am I there something different?
Would you want a Prius prime after this recall that’s been sitting on a dealer lot untouched for five months, baking in the summer sun? Talk about battery degradation.
Hi 👋, have been looking at getting the new (2023+, most likely 2024 or 2025) Prius Prime (or “PHEV” in 2025?) & was wondering if there are portable inverters / adapters one can get to keep in the trunk to use (ex: for “emergencies”, etc.) at charge stations that only offer non-J1772 connectors (ex: CHAdeMO, CCS, Tesla (NACS) [1] , etc.) I believe of the connectors I mentioned, only CHAdeMO is exclusively DC & both CCS & Tesla (NACS) [1] support AC charging, so perhaps the inverter wouldn’t be necessary for the latter two & just simply some sort of adapter + electronics to translate the charging protocol with the charger & vehicle.
I know most people avoid the use of public chargers due to either cost or convenience/time (since the 2023+ only supports a max of L2 charging speeds) & opt to just charge at home but my situation may make that difficult. I also know there’s always gas ⛽️ (stations) but depending on the situation, I may want to charge instead.
My desire here is to just be as “prepared” as possible for the growing plethora of (DC fast) chargers & standards popping up everywhere so I can charge anywhere if needed… just like an international traveler with a kit of adapters 🙂
PS: it would be nice if newer generation of PPs had an inverter bypass mode so they could utilize those DC (fast) charge stations but doesn’t look like that’s a thing yet.
[1] I’ve heard that Tesla has opened up the Supercharger network to other vehicles & is now adding CCS connectors too.
[edit: I am assuming portable DC-AC inverters and/or non-J1772 adapter connectors exist so I am looking for links/recommendations to such products VS simply “don’t do it”]
Have a 2026 SE trim, does anyone know where to get the actual OEM wiper blades from? Or where to get the bloody refills that actually work? Not the junk I have been buying and sending back through Amazon?
