New owner, Gen2 09 Prius II(Base), all my noobiness in one place!

:welcome:

Because the 12 volt battery only powers the computers when starting up, Toyota sized it very small. In normal use this is fine and they tend to last 4 years, just like all car batteries. If you leave the lights on or play the radio with the car not in READY, you can wear down the small battery rapidly. Try to never use electricity in your Prius unless you are in READY. What throws us owners, is that in 4 years when it is going dead, most of us do not think dead battery because we never hear that slow starter sound. Jump starting a Prius incorrectly can cost thousands of dollars, change out your 12 volt battery at the first sign it is low, do not wait.

Mine gets low if I am in the drive through too long. Why IS the guy in front of me ordering for an entire football team and wouldn't it have been faster to ask them what they wanted before getting to the sign?

 

1. normal...
2. if the 12v battery is new, shouldnt have to worry about it...just make sure your or interior lights are off...and like jimbo said make sure you are always in ready mode if your are just sitting around listening to the radio
3. battery indicator when totally full is 80% and fully depleted is 40% so your state of charge is between 80 and 40%...so half would be at 60%...you will see more "green in the winter than summer...and blue is mostly normal...it will very up and down as you drive , depending on whether you are city driving or blasting down the tri state/eisenhower at 80mph...
4. block heater does tend to get the car warmed up faster and it may help a bit on mpgs
5. welcome to the VSC/anti slip of the prius...whatever you do, dont pull out in front of anybody on an incline with ice/snow it will feel like a stall because it will cut power to the wheels because toyota doesnt want it to spin the wheels excessively to protect the "transmission" as it were...given there is no conventional transmission as you know it...its a power split device...nor do they want to overspin the electric components...what you felt was the brakes doing their thing on a slippery surface or rough surface...potholes will do the same thing...
other than that welcome aboard...

 

hmn...

Can't quite make out what you mean in "5". This was while braking to a stop, correct? Not under acceleration.

And yes, congrats on the car and welcome to PC!

- D

 

My guess is that the discs got a bit rusty sitting in the dealer's lot... try doing this on a deserted street: Get up to about 25 mph, shift the car into neutral by holding the shifter in the n position for a second or so, then brake reasonably firmly to a stop. In neutral the regenerative brakes don't work so it'll all be friction brakes and this will clean them off. Put it back in drive and you're done. When braking in drive the normal braking is by regeneration using the motor/generators until you get down to a few mph then switches to regular friction brakes (discs, pads, drums, shoes).
This means the friction elements last a long time but you may need to clean them off like this from time to time.

 

If I'm braking lightly, I get a bouncy/grabby response from the brakes at low speed on both my Prii (2006 and 2008). I think it's normal, and you learn to live with it.