Newb from almost Pismo Beach CA

Hello all

Looks like a nice forum, so i thought would join in the fun.
We bought our first Toyota, and am shocked to say, it is a Prius! Never dreamed i would own "one of those" cars! We were 19 year 4 time Honda owner / fans until we bought a new 2010 Accord, which we had to sell due to believe it or not, multiple problems. So we made bad, worse, and bought a new 2013 Dodge Dart 1.4L turbo, which after 14 visits to the repair shop, in 15 months of ownership, we lemon lawed it! My wife wanted a "hatch back", and I wanted good MPG as we live in an area that has the highest gasoline prices in the continental USA, San Luis Obispo County, CA., so we bought the Prius! We so far, think the Prius is GREAT, and a big surprise, as it was only about $1500.00 above the Mazda 3 and Hyundai Elantra GT prices that we were looking at. It should not take long to make that extra price up in gas savings. Only hope our Toy holds together as well as the ratings, and as well as so many say they do... On to the posts....

Beachnut

 

Thanks for the welcome JimboPalmer. Do you know if you can have two phones, two people, inputing data / fillups for one Prius on Fuelly??? My wife is primary driver on the Prius, but I get stuck getting gas often as she likes to run it on fumes knowing I will fill it!

bisco, Yes, we had a 1989, 99, 2005, and finally the 2010 Accord. All the Honda's were fantastic, until the 2010 Accord. From the time it was brand new, it used oil. On its initial break in period, I had to take it to the dealer as it was down a quart of oil, at 4000 miles, and they had told us to "leave the break in oil in it for 7500 miles before doing its first oil change". I asked the Honda service department, "so,, what do I put in it, do you have any of the break in oil to top it off with"? They were as surprised as I was that it had gone through a quart, in its first 4K miles, and had never ran into that problem. They had to call corporate, as it IS some type of break in oil, that they did not stock, only the factory had it. They did do a free complete oil change, but the car,, continued to burn a quart, every 3-4K miles, and I always used stock Honda oil. They finally told me "it is within factory spec's, and there is nothing we can do for you". I should have made them fix it, (replace the engine), but just took the lumps, and drove it instead. It had some other problems too, that they gave us the same line on. But when my wife came in one day and said "hey, the car is making a grinding noise some times, and i took it out, went around a corner, and sure enough, grinding noises. I did a DOPE as i slapped my forehead, jumped out, checked the oil, and,, nothing on the dip stick. It was my wife's car, I rarely drove it, but,, MY responsibility to feed it oil ever 3-4K, which had "slipped my mind". I poured 2 quarts in it,, and it finally showed up on the bottom of dip stick, it took almost 3 full quarts to bring it up to the full line, but it NEVER had a low oil pressure light show up on the dash. (I would change the oil usually around 6-7K miles, rather than at the near 10K they suggested). We had purchased the extended warranty, good to like 100K miles and 8 years, but after that "grinding noise",, I sold it, (with the transferred warranty in effect) as i did not want to see what that grinding noise really had done!! I have since heard MANY people have been having problems with the 2010 and newer Honda's. Look at their repair rate standing, and it has fallen quite a bit. They are like 5th or 6th now, not the #1 or 2 that they use to be. It sure taught me a lesson, NEVER let them tell you,, "its within factor specs" without putting up a real fuss as selling that 2010, 3 years later, with 28K miles on it, we took a bath in losses! Taught me a lesson on the Dart though, it hit the Lemon Law. Hopefully this Toyota will be the one that breaks the trend, and we can go back to enjoying a problem free car for 7-10 years!

 

Chris S.
After 12 years living here:
Best Steak around=Tahoe Joes in SLO
Best Mexican food anywhere, (including all of Mexico)=Tapatio in Guadalupe (Across from Rabobank)
Best Fish n chips= 1st place, Macs in Santa Barbara, 2nd place for "American" fish n chips = Pismo Fish n chips on Cypress st, in Pismo.
Best Clam Chowder= Splash Cafe, downtown Pismo (Better than what we had all over in Boston, Cape Cod, and Maine!)
Best thai= Bunn Thai Bistro in "downtown" Grover Beach.

Hope you get to try them all! Bon appetit!