I am convinced my 2012 has a problem.. Noises all over the place, erratic battery monitor..

Most everything seems normal. It will get smoother after a few more miles on the engine. If you can take it on a highway roadtrip over a weekend it will probably smooth out nicely.

Only driving 8-10 miles each way you might have benefited a bit more from a Plugin Prius, but only if you had a way to charge it overnight.

 

Since you bought it less than 30 days ago, you might be able to swap a car with your dealership? I only suggest that because of others that posted similar suggestion (see link)
@^$!@*% Navigation system | PriusChat

 

the rattling glove compartment, but that might go away once the engine smooths out.

 

1) Define the hum. Approximate pitch/tone? Patterns? Probably the inverter, a high pitched electric whine from the magnetics ringing. It just is. Some people can hear it, some can't. It is definitely more noticeable outside the car.

2) The Prius is never off. You will have sounds of the brake pump priming and a few other circuits running getting things ready for the next time. Even with the car off, when you step on the brake pedal before you READY it, things turn on and start pumping. Some things even wake up after the door is unlocked...

3) Normal. Just like any other car. Except in the other cars you are foot on the brake and cranking the engine which makes movement and noise so it is "masked" No such masking filter here. And when a giant mass starts rotating, you bet you will feel it. The MG's try to counter it so you feel it less, but it is far from perfect.

4) That's not erradic, that is normal.

5) You have a rattle. Some dealers fix that, some don't. Most users fix it with some bubblegum and duct tape approaches of velcro or jamming rubber into the trim pieces. Others take it apart, find the rattle usually because of a looser screw or plastic just too tightly pressed together, and shave/screw/whatever to make it stop. Just make sure the rattle is the glovebox and not the contents inside. People complained about cupholder rattle on earlier models until they realized their coins were in the cupholder and rattling!

6) I know you don't have a #6, but you have another question paragraph. Press the button and once READY, just drive it. It will automatically use more electric motive power than gas in the beginning to let the ICE warmup. If you put it in reverse, sometimes the engine shuts off even if not warm because reverse can only be achieved by spinning one of the 2 electric motors backwards. If the engine is running, it has to counteract the forward movement and make the car go backwards. Instead it shuts off the engine and just goes backwards. Normal.

7) As to the wrong car, depends what you want. A 10 mile drive is great for the Prius. However it could have been done even better with the PiP if you have a place to plug it in. If you are doing frequent 1 mile hops, the regular Prius will not get the best MPGs in all of Prius Land, but it will get you near the top MPGs for all vehicles even with this cycle. All cold engines perform poorly. The Prius moreso by design so it warms up faster and spends less time in the bad zone.

 

HI-
I have been on this site for 6 years an have seen hundreds of posts like yours about the Gen II. And now we see these for the III. Best advice I can give you is RELAX and enjoy your car. Everything you state is normal.
Its a very different car than your used to. Under the hood is alot of pumps. They make noise after you shut the car off. Disregard. Lots going on under the hood.

Because of the type of engine this car uses it requires specific positioning when it shuts off. Sometimes it clunks to meet that position. My 07 has done that since new. Normal. That goes away over time and miles.

If you drive around town alot with many stops its rather hard on the Hybrid battery level state of charge (SOC)
Not a smooth constant charge like highway driving. And lots of stop & go that eat up SOC. Especially if your new and have no hypermile skills. The SOC will look crazy around town. Drive on the highway for 10 miles at constant speed and you'll see how smooth the SOC is. Normal.

Start the car and drive away. Warmup is not necessary and is a waste of gas.

And not unlike alot of others posters after buying the car my dear is not the time to questions its application.
If you don't drive much and stay in town alot a plug in may have served you better but not by much. You still have a great car with extremely low maintenance, world's best reliability, & great resale that will get 45 mpg's around town. Stop worrying and start enjoying your awesome new car.

 

Glove box rattle is not normal. Could it be something you have inside of it? the rest is normal. Did you watch the dvd that came with the car or read tha manual?

 

If the glovebox is still rattling when it's time for your first oil change at 5000 miles mention it to the service tech. If it gets worse, then take it in sooner.

 

Im in the same boat, first hybrid, blah blah blah. I took the instruction manual at its word about sounds that may be different then other cars. Its a laptop vrs a typewriter, I figure. If you stop typing on a typewriter, all noise stops. If you stop typing on a laptop, the HDD still spins, the fans make noise, and occasional windows error messages appear ;D

 

Regarding #5 Glovebox Rattle: My 2012 Prius 2 had this problem. This forum post details out the problem, offending component, and a (very involved) DIY solution:
Cause of lower glove box rattle - REVEALED! | PriusChat

My dealer replaced the lower glovebox under warranty. The replacement part was silent for a few days, then started rattling again just as the original component had.

This is either a design problem, or they have a supplier that isn't consistent in their production.