Afraid to Admit I made a mistake with Misty Grey

[MaggieMay]

Originally Posted by fredthepostman

I too made a mistake (settling) for misty gray because the rest of the car was what I wanted. I am in the process of looking for seat covers to replace this awful misty gray interior. The one problem I see is the door panels and other places where the misty gray has been installed. Everything looks dirty and I know it isn't.

Fred!! Where have you been??? Post pics, please! How long have you had the car?? Details, please!!

I am sorry to hear you and dsviv are unhappy with the Misty Grey. I'm a slob and I know it. (Unfortunately "Mud" is not a color choice.) I'm getting the dark grey. I'm sure you can do some interior decorating to make the car more live-able. It's so deflating when you're super-excited about your new car to have that one bug-a-boo staring at you every time you open the door.

[cycledrum]

Perhaps Toyota ought to rename the 'Dark Gray' interior because it is not very dark to me.

I have Dark Gray in my 2009 and it's Gray, not dark.

[dsviv]

DeanFL,

I have leather, so the teflon treatment won't do any good according to your post. Since you are a long term leather owner, do you recommend any particular product(s) for cleaning and/or conditioning leather seats?

I have always scotchgaurded fabric & carpeted surfaces in all my cars, so that will suerly help repel stains, etc. Never had leather before, so am unfamiliar with care & maintenence.

[RoyalBlue]

Originally Posted by greylar

Just out of curiosity what color is your car?
G

If you meant this question for me, I ordered a Royal Blue Prius (Ribbon Blue in the U.S.) . It will take another 3 months before it will be delivered I'm afraid.

[MaggieMay]

There's an amazing thread in the Care and Maintenance forum specifing favorite cleaning, conditioning and polishing products and techniques: My Favorite Detailing Products

I hope you can find something to help you totally love your Prius!

[DeanFL]

Originally Posted by dsviv

DeanFL,

I have leather, so the teflon treatment won't do any good according to your post. Since you are a long term leather owner, do you recommend any particular product(s) for cleaning and/or conditioning leather seats?

I have always scotchgaurded fabric & carpeted surfaces in all my cars, so that will suerly help repel stains, etc. Never had leather before, so am unfamiliar with care & maintenence.

Oh wow. Senior moment...actually year in my case. Forgot that you have a IV; no wonder teflon wasn't suggested - well perhaps carpets if that's a concern. As for leather, I'm not an expert but would suggest using 'search' above, and enter leather treatment or such. There have been many posts by Gurus on this topic, and I plan to take their advice.

It breaks our collective hearts here to see your initial post. Good to have the support and advice from the fine folks here. Sure hope it all works out for you - it will... Remember, "You Are Not Alone". (MJ)

[DianneWhitmire]

Believe it or not, I'll share why I think you should be thankful to have the lighter interior.

The dirt or small scuffs are not an illusion. They are there no matter what color your interior is.
If your interior was black, like charcoal - the dirt and scuffs would STILL be there, but you couldn't SEE them. I'm glad my bisque interior is so light. I can see the dirt or "marks" or small foot scuffage or imperfections and, clean them so the car's REALLY clean, not just LOOKS clean. Capische?

Di

[wvgasguy]

Originally Posted by DianneWhitmire

Believe it or not, I'll share why I think you should be thankful to have the lighter interior.

The dirt or small scuffs are not an illusion. They are there no matter what color your interior is.
If your interior was black, like charcoal - the dirt and scuffs would STILL be there, but you couldn't SEE them. I'm glad my bisque interior is so light. I can see the dirt or "marks" or small foot scuffage or imperfections and, clean them so the car's REALLY clean, not just LOOKS clean. Capische?

Di

Seriously Dianne, you like the light colors because they show dirt and skuffs??? Couldn't you just clean a darker color even iwhenit didn't look bad? That way it always looks good. You gotta have a better reason than that.

Of course in the case of people that are "nuts" (and we've determined she is to some extent_ tugging your chain) and they are driving around wondering if their car is dirty then perhaps they need the visual reminder.

[stream]

Originally Posted by dsviv

I just spent a bundle on the car of my dreams and I'm not at all thrilled.

Why? I, like a lot of you, never got to look at Gen III before purchasing. I love the way it drives. What I REALLY don't like is the interior color. The misty grey is SO light that every ounce of dirt shows up. I have had the car for 4 days and can already see scuff marks.

With only 105 miles on the car I am already wondering how much I'd lose to sell it. What's even sadder is that I have NO idea how to tell my husband.

What would you do if you knew you were going to own a car for several years and within 24 hours after purchasing it you knew you had made a mistake?

I had a similar situation many years ago. I was living in Ft. Lauderdale, and the car I wanted came in either black or linen (almost white) leather, and due to concerns about the sweltering summer heat, I went with linen. I was second guessing myself for a month or so, but once the new car anality (if that's a word) wore off, it was fine.

What I did was get black mats which is a great start. Then I bought a can of scotchguard carpet protector and sprayed the carpets. Applied Lexol leather conditioner on the seats, and Vinylex on the doors. All this made cleaning any dirt pretty easy. The biggest issue was the driver's seat, which I would use Lexol leather cleaner on a few times a year. For scuff marks on the doors from people entering/exiting the car, household cleaning spray worked great.

[XMAN LIVE]

Okay got to put my two cents in on this topic. 2g Prius 2006 is a light gray inter. I had a few issues with it also. I then looked at some used Prius on the car lot with same inter and said Oh my! What have I got myself into? I was thinking this is the best the dealer could do with cleaning up this car, I am in real trouble. I believe I felt many of the same concerns you are having.

So the update on that 2006 three year later is, I did take my warning from seeing the used vehicles and tried to be super net. No food, no junk, left in car that could explode due to heat, and just did normal car wash and vacuum. After about 1 month, I started noticing my first issue, water marks, on the door handle, just rain hitting the door would leave marks on door, by this time I was slipping with my super clean rules, and notice that the sweat from my fast food drinks drips on to console and leaves marks on center console. Clean water again. Very ugly marks! With water making these kinds of marks (stains), I am now scared to even try a cleaner. At the 8 month point my interior not as bad as what I had seen at the dealer but I decided I had to do something or I would have no chance at being able to have a nice car. I purchased a Bissell Little Green Proheat Turbobrush, under $100.00 thinking above $50.00. This cleaner uses water, soap, etc. When I used it, I learned a few things. The cleaner was able to pull dirt out of fabric, and even spilt coke. However while cleaning the machine is dripping on place I had already cleaned, thinking no big deal leave the widow down let the vehicle dry out. So those drips from the Bissell show up as stains. I was bummed the heavy dirt gone but drips. So to shorten the story how you solve this issue and now only steam clean my car once a year is to use a damp Leather Chamois, do not use tones of water no cleaners, just damp leather and wipe. Car is left with new car smell because of leather. The other thing I found amazing is using a short stiff hair brush, it like scrapes dirt off then use Leather Chamois. Chamois can suck up spills don't rub pat, rinse and dry Chamois and repeat. Big stuff go get the Bissell.. it can look good even 3 years old.
Good Luck!

See pics

Prius 2006 2g - a set on Flickr