Few Questions - About to order a 2022 Prius Prime base

Yes! Like all gasoline engines, its exhaust contains toxic pollutants, if in smaller amounts than many of its contemporaries. It also uses hydrocarbon fuel, lubricants, and coolant that are known health hazards.

More seriously, the ESTEC 2ZR-FXE engine in fourth-generation Prius and Prius Prime cars is effectively the second generation of the design, with several improvements from the 2ZR-FXE engine used on earlier models. Some of these are reviewed in Matsuo, S., et al., “The New Toyota Inline 4 Cylinder 1.8L ESTEC 2ZR-FXE Gasoline Engine for Hybrid Car,” SAE Technical Paper 2016-01-0684, 2016.

To be sure, Toyota has made engines with defects—I still have the letters about the oil gel problem with the 5S-FE (1997–2002), for example—but in this case, I wouldn’t read too much into the comments you found.

 

Welcome, Mark.

I don't remember seeing any complaints here about oil burning on the Gen 4 or the Prime and there are several people reporting well over 100,000 miles on their cars already. None mention unusual oil burning, at least that I have seen.

What you'll see, if most of your driving is in town and in EV, is that at 8,000 km, your oil will come out looking almost like it did going in because the engine will have only run for maybe 1,000 km depending on your HV/EV ratio.

 

The motor is VERY noisy when its using gasoline. It makes a lot of noise but doesn't go that quickly. It feels quick in electric mode off the line to about 25mph, then it doesn't. Actually my #1 gripe with the Prime is loud motor when its using gasoline. You get used to it, but its loud. 28k miles and never an issue with oil consumption for mine.

 

The engine in the Prime is the least scary engine in a Toyota to me.

I have not owned lots of Toyotas, but I do know the Gen3 engine scares me hahaha.

The noise of Prime engine is MUCH quieter than the Gen3 or the Gen2 engine (in my Prius c)
I am not known for using audio in my drives, so I can hear the Prime engine kick on....subtle hum.
If I did use audio, then psssh...wouldnt know other then as Storm mentioned above, the torque/pedal response is much different then EV.

Unless you are wanting to keep it for a million miles, I personally think the Prius Prime is the most
economical car to buy and own. Others would agree, including Prius HATERS
And to further that....for your driving habits and scenario...it fits very well since you can use EV most of the time.
In the winter depending on your heating/temp habits you will lose a bit of EV range, but still most economical auto in HV mode.

At my current 3456 miles since purchase in July of this year, sitting at 79% EV and somewhere well north of 200mpg.

I would like to replace my Prius c with a PP, but no need to atm, would like to see future offerings from Toyota.

All the neg comments about Prius are probably from the Gen3, which is a major flop for toyo.
5k mile oil changes are recommended by many, including myself.

Good Luck!

 

Unless you are planning to drive the PP for a long time over 100K miles (~160K km), I would not worry about the engine. As I understand it, the current generation Prius (Gen4 and PP) did improve upon troublesome early Gen3 engines. I had last year model Gen3 and drove ~40Kmiles without any issue, engine or otherwise. I don't expect to have any engine problem on my PP for the life of the car at my current rate of driving.

That being said, some PP owners preemptively installed the "oil-catch-can" to prevent EGR deposit built-up that plagued Gen3 engines. I for one decided to skip it since my PP is not likely to accumulate more than 30K miles before I switch to my next car.

 

I love my Prius Prime, just the noisy motor (noisy relative to what I am used to) is my gripe. I've never owned one before this. The MPG is incredible and its not a tiny box like a smart car. For the $ can't be beat.

 

I find the engine is only noisy when revved up. Can't hear it when the car is up to speed on the highway. Probably no worse than any other car.

 

Welcome Mark,
Not sure if this was the engine I had in my old 2012 Prius C. Removed from service by an uninsured motorist @ 93K miles. I noticed a half quart loss around the 60K mile oil change; but wrote it off - summer of hard driving through the mountains along with high revs. I experienced about 0.8 quarts oil burn, on 10K mile oil changes using 0w20, at around 80K miles. This was rectified by switching to 5w20 full synthetic. Unfortunately, I only got one oil change w/zero burn under the belt before it was totaled.

I'm just over 10K miles and haven't heard of any oil burn issues on these 4th gen. engines. Perhaps, someone with 100K+ miles on their Prime can chime in; along with ratio of HV vs EV - to get an idea of actual ICE time.

Hope this help in your decision making process.

 

The engine sounds like a lawn mower when you’re pushing it to get on the freeway. That’s my biggest complaint with it.

If you drive the 8km annually in HV mode the entire time and then change the oil (with the specified type) you’ll be fine. That 5k miles would only be half the distance of the oil change interval listed in the maintenance guide.

 

Gen 4 Prius has a little improved but is noisy above the average of its car segment, and not only in HV mode, even in EV mode you hear very well the sound of the tyres rolling in the cockpit.
However, noise issues with Priuses (in general) have all the same root cause: thin glasses and scarce noise insulation. I am not saying that Priuses have cheap insulation, but that in order to save weight, Toyota decided to reduce the insulation at the minimum... if you open the engine compartment and look at the engine hood, you can notice: no sound absorbing carpet... but the hood is in (costly) aluminum, to save weight. And the tailgate is made of even more costly carbon fiber, for the same reason... it's the price to pay for such an efficient car.

 

I have lots of Dyanamat and that cheaper Noico stuff laying arwound from a past car, I was thikning about placing them down under the OEM rubber mats all the car and seeeing if I notice a difference. Weight is only like 10 pounds if it's one layer. Not bad

 

The Prius Prime ICE is extremely reliable. However, avoid short trips (less than 10–15 miles) in the HV mode, as the oil doesn't get to warm up, which could lead to problems if you keep the car for many years. Never exceed 10,000 miles on the oil and always use high-quality synthetic oil, such as TGMO, Mobil 1, Pennzoil Platinum, etc.

 

Mark, with most your drives at 40 km (25 miles) you will seldom run the engine. We have 52,000 miles, 84k km, on ours, and no idea how many of those are engine miles vs. electric miles. Not many gasoline miles. There is no need to change the Prime oil at 8k km (5k miles) unless that is the Canadian requirement. We do 10k miles, and it comes out looking very clean. No noticeable oil consumption. We have a one year max on the oil for no good reason other than, I think, to have a tech look over all the other stuff on the car. Oil ages very slowly in the engine, certainly longer than a year according to the many oil analyses I've drawn. The modified Atkinson cycle in these engines is no problem. It gives up some low end power (made up for with electric power) in exchange for more efficient operation. Here is a good description: What Is the Atkinson Combustion Cycle, and What Are Its Benefits?

Toyota, in their infinite wisdom, gave us no way to track engine operation. They could have used an hour meter, or a separate odometer than runs only when the engine is on, or even tracked gasoline consumption and ordered an oil change after so many gallons or litres. They did none of this. So, we shoot in the dark and change the oil on the combined schedule.

 

Right, 10,000-mile OCI in regular service and 5,000-mile OCI in severe-service conditions listed in the maintenance manual.

 

^^ Make sure you really like the color.
Strong attractive colors can sometimes become cumbersome to the eyes over time. Just a head up.

 

I highly recommend the Blue Magnetism, which is an aqua. I've had it for over a year, and I wouldn't get any other color if got a new Prius Prime. It sticks out of hundreds of cars in any parking lot—it's like no other car color. I also get less tailgating with my 2021 Prius Prime Blue Magnetism than I did with my 2020 Prius Prime Classic Silver Metallic—so, the blue (aqua) gets more respect on the road.

I think black and red don't look good on the Prius Prime, the former because it's a small car and the latter because it looks bad with the red taillights. White, dark gray, silver, and I guess the gold/pink titanium glow as well, are OK. Note that lighter colors (blue (aqua), white, silver, and titanium glow) are better for safety, as opposed to dark colors (black, dark gray, and red). Blue (aqua) would be by far my first choice, followed by white, then silver, and then dark gray.

 

I, too, wish Toyota made it possible to track the miles on the gas engine. But gasoline is a reasonable proxy. Let's see, I last filled the tank in October.

Everybody's situation is different, but most Prime owners seem to need to fill the tank seldom enough that the gas engine is practically unused. It's the back-up, never the first mile or even the 30th.

Blue magnetism is the greatest, by the way.