Returning to Prius. Gen 4 question

16 doesn't have kph/mph button, iirc. safety package became standard in 17?

 

Early 2016 could not switch units on the speedometer. In 2017 they added many safety features as standard. In mid 2017 additional safety features such as blind spot monitoring were added as standard.
Gen 4 Trim one and two have an improved version of the NiMH battery used in the previous generations. Two Eco and above have Li-Ion batteries like the PiP.
Trims Two Three and Three Touring are the only trims with a spare tire instead of a goo kit.

 

Only really minor recalls.
You need to press a button to open the fuel door. This allows up to 30 minutes to fill and you can hit the button again for more time.
Sometimes if the filling nozzle hits the door latch, the car thinks fueling is finished and closes the filler neck. Fuel overflow results. Just hit the door open button to resume.

 

If you are like me, you may consider the NiMH batteries not to be a potential advantage. The "proven" battery package is "stock" on the 2016 Two.

 

I believe the 2017 and 2018 One have that battery too. Toyota says they upgraded it with a better grade of nickel.

 

do you shut the a/c off and turn the fan up about a mile from your destination to clear out the moisture? gen 4 is probably similar.

 

Which part of the world are you? There are wildly different versions of Gen 4 around the world.

 

I cannot be of much help. Neither my son’s 2015 Prius v nor my 2017 Prius suffer from this here in Central Virginia.

 

I think any car is vulnerable to moldy A/C systems. So are homes. My PiP got that soon after purchase. A couple big doses of Febreeze sprayed into the intake while running A/C, heat, and vent and it's been gone for well over a year. With all our rain lately, this will be a good test.

 

Depends very much where he is - if he's in the Amazonian rainforest, or Singapore humidity, it's very different to if he is in the Dubai desert. Till he tells us where he lives, it's just conjecture.

 

Never have the issue in SoCal. Big issue when I lived in Seattle.

 

That’s a good idea; the ac in my gen 4 is getting really smelly. Hondas seem to have obnoxious ac mold too.

But what about the OP question? The gen 4 is superior in so many ways. This has been discussed in detail here. But some of my favorite improvements are the ride quality, improved fuel economy, dashboard layout, visibility, and after getting used to it - the futuristic freshened lines of the gen 4.

The issues I found in my early build 2016 were some dashboard rattling sounds and loose bolts on the rear suspension. There may be issues with the OEM windshields cracking. Still, I suggest you go for the new model!

 

Buy Gen 4 rides and drives much better than gen 3!

 

The early 2016s could not switch between mph & km/h. Early 2017 added some safety features as standard. Mid 2017 they added more standard safety features.
Trims 2, 3, & 3 Touring are the only trims with spare tires. Trim 2 has 1 door SKS, 3 Touring has 17" wheels.
One & Two have NiMh batteries like older Prii. Trims 2 Eco and up have Li-Ion like the plugin Prius.

Our knowledgebase is here. 4G Prius Features & Specifications (2016-?) | PriusChat

 

I live in Florida I got that moldy AC smell during the first couple seconds of kicking on the AC in the past few months on my 2016 and even had the AC treatment done at the dealer. The only real way to ensure the smell doesn't exist is not run the AC at all, which is rough. Im going to attempt to do the service myself and maybe fix it. Ive tried turning off the AC a mile or two before coming home and once it got moldy, it doesn't seem to fix it. As a side note, I work nights so the car doesn't get a chance to dry out at work and its garaged during the day so it might be worse case scenerio but its wierd that I never had the issue with my toyota matrix prior. I also tried the lysol method and even played around with Caristra with setting up the AC not to automatically open the vents when turning off the car and that just made the smell even stronger (for the 2-3 seconds)

As far as the gas issue, never had that one...cross my fingers.

 

I also live in the armpit of North America. I used Febreeze. I sprayed a ton of it in through the intake at the base of the windshield on the passenger side. I ran it on A/C using fresh air for a while. Then I turned on the heat and ran it. I also ran it without heat or A/C. After about a week, the smell came back. I re-ran the exercise and the smell has been gone for well over a year.

Another thing is that I almost always use the air conditioner and, except for when I first start up and the cabin is like 120°, I keep it on recirc so as not to introduce too much moisture in the cabin. Not using the A/C is not an option for me or for the battery. In fact, not using the A/C could make the whole cabin moldy around here.