2012 Prius C and cold weather

I'm in New England also, my first winter with a Prius, (it was -7 this morning) and what I've noticed so far is that the engine immediately starts after the READY indicator comes on rather than waiting a few seconds. But I didn't notice any lag in getting the READY indication.

Instead of being on EV for 30% of my 30 mile commute, today it was barely 10%, as I'm sure the ICE never reached a thermal state in which it would be shut down. I felt the engine running in places where it should have stopped, such as going down a hill, where it normally regen charged the engine increased RPM to provide braking.

I'm wondering that since you have a 2012 if your 12V battery is starting to get weak.

 

Good call. Cold weather does not really hurt batteries but their available capacity drops while cold.
A marginal battery might temporarily cross the failure line.

 

My 2013 C4 is still on original 12v battery (going on 5 years come OCT) and it looks like the 12v battery is still doing good (other than that I do have those portable usb jumpstarters).

I don't have that issue you speak of in cold weather...my C will immediately kick on the ICE after pressing push start (in summer or warmer weather, the C will not kick the ICE on immediately, which is normal so far)

I've always associated the roughness of the ICE and moving mechanics of the vehicle to cold weather affecting the viscosity of the oil/lubrication needed for the moving mechanics of the vehicle and do not think much of it as I am using the right weight oil for the vehicle and temperature range...You just gotta baby the car more in cold weather and/or let it run a little longer before taking off (although I've never really let it warm up much before taking off unless I have too much ice on window to see or need to warm up the inside for my kiddies), since the cold lube does flow slower and take a little more time to get to all the moving components of your ICE.

And WI has been in below 20s with some weeks going in below 0s

 

My wife and I both have 2015 Prius c one models. Both were purchased from Hertz Car Sales in Warminster, PA. We have both owned them over one year. Both have been perfect, and both went through our PA inspection recently, needed nothing. Super happy with our decision to buy the Prius c. Also the price for Hertz, with one year warranty, was about $2000. under the KBB price. Also liked that the price was fixed.

 

But does it actually blow HEAT into the passenger compartment ??

My engine also starts running immediately in cold weather but I have seen it run a minute or two, shut off for several minutes and then run again for a couple of minutes........and not turn on the HVAC blower at all, not matter how high I set the temp.

Now......drive it a few blocks and the heat finally starts coming out.

Mind you, I'm not really too concerned about this because where I live we only need heat in the car for about 10 days a YEAR.......and if you don't go out until after 10 AM, not even then !!

 

Sounds like you might have some issues on your hands (or maybe a new feature in the 2017 models? But my counter-argument would be that most cars I've ever driven would just keep blowing cold air unless a person manually does something).

Normally (or I've not noticed otherwise), my car would immediately kick on the ICE after push start (the colder it is, the rougher the start...cold weather affecting lube). The HVAC would blow air (although cold) depending on where it was last set and just keep on blowing (unless someone changes/turns it off) even if the ICE isn't warmed up yet (and this seems to be the case with all cars I've driven).

 

Mine says on AUTO all the time unless OFF.

It works quite good........for everything except starting the heat.

Once the heat starts, AUTO adjusts it as needed.

 

I have my original battery in my car that I've owned for 5 years, but the battery is 6 years old. I get in, turn the heat on max temp and the lowest setting. When this happens the engine kicks on immediately and air comes out. If the car is still cold, it blows cold air, until the engine warms up a little. But then it blows warm air. I don't use the Auto button.