Got a 2012 Prius C

Looks Great!

Go easy on yourself and sit back and relax.
Treat her good, and she will treat you good!

I waited and waited in line for the "c" when they first hit the US in 2012.
I got one, and loved it.
We had a 2012 Prius liftback and then had our 3rd kid, and the other half had the stigma of needing a van,
so we traded in the lfitback and got a Sienna, leased it for 1.5 years (first and last lease) and then
I traded my baby 2012 "c" in with the van, and got a 2014 "c" and a 2015 Prius liftback.

I am really loving the "c" and even after 7+ years or driving in the "c" I still absolutely LOVE IT
I still get in every day and feel so good. I just cannot describe it.
It almost feels like a first love type thing and all giddy inside and....

ok, enough of that silly talk. I like it a lot lol.
most recent pic of my love....

 

I know the feeling, I've been totally agonizing over one of our other cars. I've recently resolved to simply get rid of it but it took forever to get there mentally, had that car a long time.

@dig4dirt is that a second set of wheels? I have a set of 14" steel wheels with snow tires for winter duty, so it gets that look 4 months of the year. And this year it's apparently strictly for looks.

Check out @ztanos posts. He's also got the Habanero; easily the best color they did on the c IMO. The tint on his really propels the look.

 

Those are the oem 15'' steelies!
My profile pic shows the hubcaps, I think that was first day or so, but I took the caps off just right after.

After a wash (as in pic above) I spray down the wheels and tires and they both are left with
a very nice clean but matte black. no shine

I love the white on black. never painted them, they just dont have any scratches or marks
I like all colors of the "c"

another one we had just before we switched over to prius, first toyota/scion (was a vw guy before!)
cant find a pic, so here is a stock photo....really miss the look of it 2010 xB release series 7

 

Look into the plastidip spray. they have all diff colors and can be changed anytime
Tons of videos on yt if you dont know what it is.
I want to do my Gen3 wheels with it, possibly metallic white or black

 

I think the OP just has to find peace with their decision.
I sense a whole heap load of buyers remorse...or trade in remorse....
But you've done what you've done, you have the vehicle you have, and there are pluses and minuses to the new situation. IMO nobody can guarantee you X number of years of reliability nor can anyone project exactly what maintenance issues will manifest, when. Take solace that Toyota is a good auto manufacturer, and Prius has the I believe deserved reputation of being a well engineered and built vehicle.

This however....

Is an absolutely ignorant comment for someone to make. He may of never seen one fail, BUT a Hybrid Battery is a BATTERY. No battery lasts forever. Have you ever had a flashlight that either with usage or time, the batteries didn't eventually fail? It's the nature of a chemistry based, energy storage component, at least as they exist today, they will not last forever.

And that's the only reason, people NOT meaning to scare you, usually automatically give the warning on a Prius approaching a decade old, that Hybrid Battery replacement should be budgeted for, if NOT worried about.
IMO...there's general feedback from a community of owners, as to about how long a healthy Hybrid Battery lasts, my feeling was I felt I was pretty safe for a decade, but once reaching that point? Failure was a possibility. Eventually failure is an inevitability.
You read posts of Prius owners getting 12-15+ years....you occasionally read posts of rare "premature" failures, sometimes and hopefully while the battery is still under warranty.

I approached my thinking about the Hybrid Battery as just enjoy it, and drive it...as long as it is working. Budget or think about the possibility of failure once approaching the decade mark. But again...if it's working? Its' working.

Also, and this is just my opinion NOT arguable scientific fact. But I believe it's nearly impossible to really quantify or establish how much life is remaining. I think any "test" or "app" is only showing you how the battery is behaving on that very day, that very moment, but when a battery ages and fails, that can change quickly.
So again, my approach was....if the battery is working...good gas mileage, no codes? I'm good. When it goes bad? I'll know. If you plan to keep the vehicle a significant time....the warning is just put some money back, and/or investigate options, for that nearly unpredictable but inevitable eventuality.

 

Amazon uses a slightly modified form of Android for most of it's devices, so you may be able to install the app on the tablet. The developer of the Dr. Prius app visits this forum on occasion, so you can post that question here and I'm sure he'll reply. Or there may be an email listed at his web site where you can contact him directly. I'm surprised to hear that NAPA offers that test. If it's reasonably priced then go for it. I'm sure the dealer will charge significantly more than $20-$25 it would cost with the app.. I suspect it will be in the triple digits. And unless you know a Toyota dealer you trust implicitly, I would hesitate to go that route.

 

Certainly, they can.
A decade, was simply the time frame I gave myself to NOT worry at all. This was pretty easy since I bought my vehicle new, and it was bought and registered in a CARB state, which gave me 10 years, or 150,000 on warranty.

But 10 years is certainly no magic number. It was just the point where once passed, I figured I had to be aware that I was probably closer to Hybrid Battery Replacement than not.

 

Conveniently, plastidip sells them by the can as well. Usually the stores only stock black and maybe white, but you can order them online.

 

Luckey51, If you like the car and it fits your needs for now, you made the right decision. Take a leap of faith and believe in your decision. When it boils down to it, if you are happy, then enjoy the car!

 

"Kill em with kindness" is another good one. When I worked in retail, I used to love smiling at the angry customers... just made them so much angrier.