Picking it up today!!

Welcome to Prius Chat. You need not to worry about the car to much.
If the vehicle is a certified Toyota one, be assure to no problems ahead.
Usually it takes about 5 to 8 minutes maximum to reach a comfortable cabin temperature, but comfort levels changes from person to person. I'm in Long Island NY and we had and still have very low temperatures lately early in the morning (5 and 15 degrees are common).
Make sure to warm up the vehicle from stone cold today before picking-it-up and see how well it performs.
Good luck and keep us inform

 

I live in so. Cal so I really am the last Person to ask about cold weather starts lol, Just wanted To to say "welcome"

 

In my opinion, The Prius really demands good snow/ice tires to just be "normal" in the winter.
It's just not going to be the best extreme conditions vehicle.

Also you can start it and Pre-Warm it with all the caveats you would apply to any vehicle.
However even with a Prius, the longer it sits without moving the bigger the impact of MPG for that tank.

 

One of the first things I bought for my Prius was Weathertech digital fit floor liners.

I hate to review them, because they are really well liked by most.

My experience with the Light Gray color is while offering fantastic protection, they visibly show every scratch, scuff and every speck of dirt. Which means to keep them looking good, I'm cleaning them a lot.

I really just have to say, if I had it to do over? I think I'd buy the Husky Mats...or a mat made of a more rubber like substance. My experience with those types of "Mats" as opposed to liners is that they visibly hide dirt better, and don't scuff.

I don't know, perhaps the "Black" weathertech liners would be more visibly resistant to showing scuffs and dirt?

But I would just say, the lighter gray colored "liners" which are made of a plastic/vinyl like substance, show dirt very easily, can become scuffed, which also is visible.

 

Welcome, Amathelia!! Northeast where?

Like mrbigh, it takes anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes to come to full warmth in the cabin of Darth Prudence (my Prius), but usually closer to the 5 minute end of the spectrum…I am usually never that patient, so, I gauge it this way: it takes me 5 minutes to get from my driveway to the I-270/Roberts Rd. interchange, and by the time I get there, more often than not, my car is comfortable in the cabin.

can't. wait. for. spring!!!!!

take pictures of your car and post them when you can!!

 

Oh, and as far as a learning curve, I had to really really really really (REALLY!!) learn how to not put my foot down (at least not so often), so to speak…like anything else subjective, your results may vary

 

oh you poor girl! This has not been the most forgiving winter for all y'all

 

congrats and welcome! if you have to be at work, no matter the storm, get a good set of snow tyres.

 

WeatherTech floor mats are definitely worth the money.

 

The Prius has a system that uses exhaust heat to warm up the engine coolant. This speeds up the warm up cycle. You can start it and let it warm up (it will charge up the battery, get up to an operating temperature and then it will turn the engine off). The best way from both a gas mileage standpoint and impact on the vehicle is to start it, let it run for a minute and drive it.

Within about 5 minutes you will get some useable heat. In 10 minutes you will be toasty. I live in upstate NY not far from the Canadian border and we have our share of cold and Great Lake snow.

 

Welcome to Priuschat. Black weather tech are great in my Prius. I would never let a car warm up 15-20 minutes, due to the hit on fuel economy. You did get the Prius to save gas, didn't you. Get in car, start it up and slowly drive away. It will be warm very soon.Just my opinion. Congrats on a great car and enjoy!

 

Oh geez a true Yankee. Welcome to Prius Chat!

 

I'd put An engine block heater on that new prius and search the site for grille blocking. I'm in Michigan and that's all I need. Car is warm when I start it and the gen3 has nice hot heat.

 

There are two batteries in the Prius, a traditional 12V and a high voltage traction battery used by the drive train. You can run down the 12V by leaving your lights on or radio in accessory mode but you cannot run down the traction battery, the car will maintain the charge. The only way you can run down the traction battery would be to leave the car in neutral (like going through a long automatic car wash with the A/C on).

If you have a dog in the car often, over time you may have a problem with hair getting into the traction battery cooling fan.

 

i think you can get an o/m online. yes, it does make a sound from the inverter or motor generator because you're charging the battery.