Bought a used 90,000 mi 2010 Prius Package 5 with ATP

Hey everyone!

So my boyfriend who had a 2008 Chevy Impala as his first car, averaging a consistent 17 MPG, calculated the savings and bought a 2010 Prius Five with the Advanced Technology Package. So this is a pretty big step up for him. I found it in a farm area in Shippensburg, PA. Overall, it was a pretty good deal. They had it listed as a Three model, which shows they didn't really know anything about the car.

It has 90,000 miles, one owner. No reported accidents. Bought October of 2010 and serviced regularly at the same dealer it's entire life (Guilt Toyota). It's in pretty good shape. The interior is in excellent condition. The exterior has a couple scuffs on the front and rear bumper corners that have been touched up, but surprisingly no door dings, or paint chips on the front. Looking underneath, there is pretty much no rust however, I did see rust starting under the passenger side front door. All other doors look fine.

Also, we didn't notice until that night after we bought it, that the steering was making a "pop" sound when you turn the wheel slightly left to right. It's almost like a loose bolt or something, but when you go over some bumps, like pulling into a parking lot and going over that little curb, there's a clunk sound. All looks fine underneath... I seem to think it may be a tie rod. Luckily, there's a warranty, so we are in the process of getting that taken care of.

It needs new tires. The front has a set from a brand I've never heard of, and the rear is Yokohama I believe. They're kind of loud and rough-riding. MPG is also "eh". Taking the tollroads, where everyone is moving at 80 MPH, we averaged 39 MPG. That's also using A/C and climbing hills. Lots. Locally, with lot's of short trips, hills, and warm-up cycles, he's seeing 40-42 MPG. I think tires are to blame partly. I don't think we've checked the pressure yet. & I'm not sure if they're LRR.

What preventive maintenance measures would you guys suggest for a 90,000 mile 2010? What things to keep MPG up and the car happy? Also, would unplugging the 12v battery be okay? I heard Prius can learn bad driving habits, and that disconnecting the 12v sort of "clears it's brain".

A couple things we plan to do:
New tires. Something low-rolling-resistant, and softer riding, and quiet.
At the same time as the tires, we will have a 4-wheel alignment check. (Though the car doesn't seem to be out of alignment, but doesn't hurt to check.)
Change the oil and switch to Mobile-1 0w-20.
Front brakes seem low, so new brakes.

 

I considered those. Different websites have wildly different prices for the 215/45/R17 tires. I've seen anywhere between $133 a tire (with free shipping) to $180 a tire. So I'm kind of confused.

Tire Rack has some rebates right now. We were looking at spending a max of around $460 for a set of 4.

 

UPDATE! Haha. I read some threads and, it had all the same symptoms. I heard it was a supplier issue, that they used the wrong metal or something.

How hard was it to replace? Cost?

 

Update! We've done a lot of DIY maintenance recently including:
• Replacing the 12v battery
• Cleaned the EGR pipe
• Replaced engine & cabin filters
• Performed throttle body cleaning
• Cleaned the MAF sensor
• Changed oil & filter with Mobile1 0w-20
• Ran a bottle of Chevron Techron complete fuel system cleaner (about two tanks ago.)
• Repaced Intermediate Steering Shaft to solve clunk noise over bumps (covered under the 3 month/3000 mile warranty)
• 4 wheel alignment

Some things we plan to do:
• PCV valve
• Battery fan cleaning
• Spark-plugs
• Fluids drain and refill as recommended by the service book
• New LRR tires

As it is today, his Prius now has almost 93,000 miles, and is averaging between 41-45 mpg.. which I'm not sure is good. Maybe I'm paranoid. It does have two different sets of tires on it. They're loud, rough over bumps... I put them at 38 front / 36 rear. I usually go 42/40 but these tires are too rough for that now. One set is almost going to need replacing soon, while the other set has about half its life left.

I feel like it affects the braking a bit. No warnings, but when demonstrating to him the "brake assist", it doesn't do that hard firm "grab" in an emergency quick tap of the brakes like my old Gen.III did along with my new Gen.IV. I wonder if each tire is spinning at a different RPM and throwing off the system just enough to not issues a warning, but enough to affect the safety systems. Which may be the answer to my "pre-collision seat belt pre-tensioner" question.

The one set with more tread is made by a company I've never even heard of. The brake pads will have to be replaced soon, too. There isn't much depth on the front pads. Around here in Pittsburgh, every other street is a steep hill that needs climbing. Add to that, lots of traffic that's either moving at a crawl, or speeding down the parkway...

Also noticing possible HV battery degradation? When coming up to traffic that I'll be inching in for a while, the battery is usually in it's normal 6-7 bar region on the MID. Lately, the temps outside have been fairly mild, enough for me to usually leave my automatic climate control set to something like 73-74 degrees on an 80 degree day. Not too low as to conserve power.

All is well and normal until the 5th bar disappears. After that, the fourth and third bar disappear within a minute of each other until it reaches two bars and the engine starts a minute later. It then takes a bit to charge until it builds back up to 3 bars and so on. The car still has plenty of performance, and MPG has been "ok" given the terrain and driving style. He's learning all the tricks about inertia, coasting, picking a speed and sticking with it when starting off on a hill from a red light.

I'll post detailed photos of the car soon!

 

Yes, 12v was about two weeks ago with a new Toyota one.

This is the fully loaded model with radar cruise, leather, 17' wheels, etc. which I know is a little less efficient than the rest of the lineup. I think the Gen.III's with 17's were actually rated a little lower than 50, but since Toyota only sold a certain percentage of them, they didn't have to put that on the window sticker.

When we had the intermediate steering shaft fixed, I asked them to check the system for any codes. They said that everything is working as it should, and that the battery was fine.

If it really is the hybrid battery getting ready to tap out, I hope it does it soon. PA luckily I think has the longer coverage for the battery. (10 years / 150,000 miles?)

 

Not in regular driving. It isn't until you drive slowly in traffic or are stopped that when it drops from the 5th bar down to the 4th, the 4th and the 3rd bar are gone within a 1 minute. Whether I am stopped or creeping using little draw. My other Gen.III's I owned I remember could go a good while on its 4th and 3rd SOC bar before dropping to 2 and starting the ICE.