Buying a 2015 advertised as a 4 but how to access navigation system

did it look like this? if so, i think you press the car or setup button to find the nav screen selection

 

You can sign up for the Toyota owners site and plug in your vin and it should list the trim level and any options it was originally sold with.

Welcome Toyota Owners | Toyota.com

 

You can look at this thread here;

3G Prius (2010-2015) Standard and Optional Equipment (Some Countries) | PriusChat

It looks like the Navigation Package was always an optional package in the Four (spelled IV in earlier years).

The first post in that thread may not have been updated since 2013. The spreadsheet attachments found at the bottom of that post did get updated through 2015, but I might not quite have the hang of how they're organized yet.

 

Only Prius IV has a heads up display onto the windshield and sunroof. If no HUD but sunroof then it’s a III.

 

Pretty sure the Roman numerals I, II, III, IV, V were just used in 2010, and they were One, Two, Three, Four, Five after that. But I don't think you got HUD at all in the US in 2010, so no IV would have had it. (I have a 2010 IV with moonroof and no HUD). But a US Four (with moonroof) or Five (with ATP) could have it, starting in 2012, if I'm reading the old thread right.

 

My IV, which is indubitably a IV, with definite IV stuff and definite lack of V stuff, was advertised as a V, and shown that way in a Toyota web site lookup (so I couldn't be mad at the seller, he probably got the information there).

I don't know how it happens that Toyota's own site gets mixed up, but evidently it does.

 

Sorry to hear that. Dealers will toss in whatever they feel like on ads and if they aren't a Toyota dealership they probably don't know or care about the nuances of models and their different trims and options. They probably copy and paste "Prius Template" for every one they get on the lot and they sell readily enough that it doesn't matter to them the info might not be totally correct. I showed up to test drive a few 2016-2017 "4s" when I was looking for used priuses in 2019 and they ended up being 2s. I ended up scrutinizing the listing photos for giveaways like power drivers seat and heated seat buttons but it even 3s had similar interior and infotainment screens you never really knew for sure until you got in the car.


But even vin lookups can be wonky especially on 10+year old vehicles. My 2017 Tundra used to have more info about it on the Toyota owners site until some site overhaul a few years back and now it's a very generic page with a photo and links to the service history.

 

The Toyota owners site does work well and will show what equipment corresponds to a specific VIN

 

Except that it showed my IV as being a V (and the car is definitely a IV, with the equipment combinations that came with IV and not what came with V).

I checked because the seller had listed it as a V when it clearly wasn't, but when I saw it listed that way on the same site he probably checked, I couldn't blame him.

I don't know how it happens that Toyota's own site gets mixed up, but evidently it does.