Another new v 3 owner

Hey! Congratulations on joining the club, and you've certainly come to the right place to learn all you'll ever need to know about your new vehicle. I wouldn't worry too much about the omissions you mentioned, IMNSHO things like auto-dimming rear-view mirrors and headlights which switch themselves off are a waste of time, offer more things to fail, and I prefer having total control of my car (at least all the important things!). Sorry, I've no idea about the hitch! - Wil

 

Regarding the nav system, you may be fine if you live in an area that hasn't had any new roads or developments within the past 4 years. The nav system is usable but I found the maps to be be seriously out of date. I always try to enter my destination before I hit the road. You can't use the navigation while you are moving and it can be a headache if your destination is not in the database and can't be found.
Keep the iPhone handy because you probably will need it.

 

congrats and welcome, all the best!

 

Congrats ocrts. Just joined the forum today myself. Had my 2012 v since April 2013. Got 48,000km (30,000 miles) on the car now. Average fuel consumption to date is 4.9L / 100km (58 imperial MPG) or about 46MPG US. Don't do much in the way of hypermiling but do about 75% highway.
Wife and I are retired and spend winters in Orange Beach, Al. So we know both sides of the border well. Costs us about $60 in gas to travel 1100 miles from Ontario Canada to Alabama!
We love the car and haven't had any issues other than two instances of a nail in a tire. One was repairable, the second needed a replacement tire as it was almost in the sidewall. Both times the tire pressure monitor saved the day. The tires looked fine but one was down to 25 psi. The other down under 20 psi. I'll be checking my tire pressures more often from now on!
New wiper blades at last service. Cabin filter and air filter at 36,000 km. That's it.
I'm always amazed at how much stuff we can cram into the v. It's also very comfortable and quiet on the highway other than climbing hills when the engine revs higher.
Lots of folks stop and ask about the car and most are amazed when I tell them the fuel consumption. I've also noticed that many are sceptical since they don't understand the technology. Funny how that works. They would rather keep pouring huge amounts of gas into a small SUV than learn and understand how a hybrid works.
We had a famous cab driver in Canada who was one of the first to use a Prius as a taxi back in 2000. He drove that one around 350,000 km if I recall. Then bought a 2004 Prius which he ended up driving 1.5 million km without any major component failures!
Looking forward to reading more on this forum.

 

Hi. Got a new 2014 Sea Glass Pearl / Misty Gray a couple of months ago. Would have preferred the dark gray interior, but local dealer stood fast on price. Don't need this car because with our limited driving, payback will be never.

Installed wheel locks, rear bumper protector, OEM EC mirror, and Nav speed lock bypass. Can't get use to the soft Toyota ride, so tire pressures are 43 front and 40 rear on the stock Yokohamas.

If I knew that Toyota engineers could not design a proper navigation system, I would have got a Gentex EC mirror with homelink and compass. It still bothers me that even on our 2000 Ody, the icon will rotate so you know where North is.

During the test drive, power is lacking with the accelerator needing more downward travel to get to speed than any other vehicle we have driven. But with a good balance between this and high fuel economy, this is a wonderful wagon to drive with large cargo capacity.
Jack

 

If you push the PWR button you'll get faster throttle response. I'm not sure how this will affect fuel consumption as I keep mine in ECO all the time

 

I use to pop it into PWR to get onto the freeway, but now I just let the car do its own thing. It's sluggish so I'll never use ECO. I know the wife pushes all the cars we have harder than I do as the average MPG will go down. She will shift our Hyundai Elantra GT 1.8 liter 6 speed stick anywhere from 3.5-4k. I'll shift just before 3k rpm to get better mpg. At least I try to get the car to use battery when possible, but she does not.

 

I find the Nav system is inferior to Google Maps and Waze. Directions can be a bit wonky sometimes, but not bad. It's nice to have when you want a dedicated screen just for Nav. My phone is always running Torque, so if I'm using Navigation, I have to swap back and forth. Using the Bing app to search for POIs allows for use while in motion and is much better at finding stuff than the built-in POI database.

Torklift makes a 2" hitch for the Prius v. ttp://shop.tlcentral.com/store/pc/2012+-Toyota-Prius-V-2-Stealth-Trailer-Hitch-p1058.htm
Pricey, at $250, but it's nice. I've got one on mine. You can search further on the forum to learn more about it.

 

Just ordered a black 2015 Prius v (lowercase v for the Prius v wagon, not an uppercase) with Tech package here in Canada. I can't wait to get it! After driving Sienna's for the past 6 years, I am ready for something smaller. The car looks much better in person than in photos and compared to the 2014, it is definitely quieter.

 

I'm new in the club. Just received my new black 15 Prius v (lowercase v for the Prius v wagon) last week! I'm very impresed with the car especially with the cold temperature. This morning in Montreal it was -20 degres C (-4 degres F) and my wife told me there was plenty of heating. I guess that the exhaust heat recovery system works really well! Me, I was freezing in my 08 Civic hybrid... About the new look, I think that the new front bumper looks good, especialy in black. The only negative point is the radio. The touchscreen stops working 3 times. Power off/on solved the problem every time. I guess it's a software problem.

 

congrats and welcome! all the best.