Did I get a lemon?

So, here are the details:

I bought a 2010 Prius IV on August 8th, with about 124, 000 miles on it. It passed a toyota dealership inspection (not the dealership I bought it from) with nothing apparently wrong with it. The interior, exterior, and engine compartment were extremely clean. The Toyota service records showed it to be well maintained until 60,000 miles, when they stopped completely. I assumed that the owners had serviced the car elsewhere - but maybe I'm wrong, and they did nothing.

I thought I got it for about $1,000 - $1,500 under book value - but now I'm starting to think that I was badly ripped-off.

I have since driven about 1,800 miles - and gone through a quart of oil. The oil had been freshly changed at the dealership before I bought it - it was almost crystal clear. Now it's light brown. The oil level looked unchanged at 1,000 miles, so I'm even more worried.

The mileage has dropped from a best of 63.2 mpg to 45, 40 and now 34.2mpg. The pickup seems much more sluggish, and there's a noticeable hesitation/vibration/stumbling when the engine starts up from a stop light, especially before it has warmed up. The engine sounds much louder when accelerating than it did a month ago.

The ac has started making a harsh buzzing noise and doesn't seem to cool as well as it did initially.

My questions are:

1) How badly screwed am I? Are these problems repairable at all? If they are, are we talking a few hundred in repair costs or thousands? What do the folks here think might be wrong?

2) Can I trust the local dealership to give me an accurate diagnosis of what's wrong? Do you think that they'll try to sell me unnecessary repairs? Is there any way to verify that what they say is correct?

3) Should I just try to sell this one before it breaks further and try to find one in better condition instead?

Sorry for so many questions - I'm a bit upset and disappointed - I wanted so much for this car to work out for me.

 

- What fuel economy are you getting and how are you determining fuel economy? (trip computer or manual calculations)
Trip computer
- What fuel economy are you expecting and why?
We were hoping for a 40 -50 mpg range. Computer says that the highest mpg was 63.
- What are the approximate outside air temps?
It's Atlanta in the summertime, so between 85 - 105F
- How long are your trips?
As short as 3 miles, as long as 45. Mostly 5 mile commuting trips
How old is your 12v battery? What is the voltage reading of your 12v battery after sitting over night? (Method Here)
I was told it was the original battery. Voltage reading was 10.8, if I remember correctly. I just bought a new one, but haven't installed it yet.
Have you had your alignment checked? Any pulling or abnormal tire wear?
No and no
- How much of it is city vs. highway? Roughly what's the average speed in overall and and of each segment? Is there a lot of stop and go driving?
Most of it is city driving, 20 - 30 mph average. Commute to work is about 5 miles each way.
- What's the terrain like of your drives? (e.g. flat, gentle hills, steep hills, etc.)
Gentle hills 50%, flat 50%.
- What are your tire pressures?
Haven't checked, but they look fully inflated
- Is your oil overfilled? (i.e. above the full mark on the dipstick)
It was when I got it, now it's a quart low
- Make, model, year, engine and transmission of previous car? (e.g. 08 Honda Civic Si 2.0L 4 cylinder, manual transmission) What did you actually get on the same trips/commute? (Please give us actual numbers, not EPA ratings.)
1998 Volvo V70, 5 cylinder non-turbo, automatic transmission, about 22 mpg
- What region/state are you in? (if you haven't set your location)
Kennesaw, GA, just north of Atlanta
- How are you trying to drive (e.g. trying to stay in electric only?) and how hard are you braking?
She doesn't seem to stay in electric mode over 8 - 10 mph, or for more than a few minutes. Trying to brake gently.
- What modes are you using, if any? "normal", EV, power, eco?
Normal
- Are you "warming up" the ICE (internal combustion engine) by letting it idle after powering on?
Not for more than 15 seconds or so
- Are you driving using D or B mode?
D mode
- HVAC settings? Are you using the heater, AC, auto mode, etc.? If using auto, what temp is it set to?
Using AC, 72F, Auto mode. It's been roasting hot outside, so AC is on constantly.
- Are you using the factory tires and wheels? If not, please indicate tire make, model and size (e.g. Goodyear Assurance Fuel Max 185/65R15).
Factory wheels, as far as I can tell, with factory hubcaps, but Yokohama Avid Ascend 195/65 R15 tires, look nearly new
- If reporting a mileage drop, did anything significant change on your car (e.g. accident, hit a curb or big pothole throwing off alignment, oil change/other maintenance/repairs, changed tires or wheels, etc.) or your commute?
No, nothing has changed

 

-Oil is brown/dirty but transparent, no moisture in it at all (I checked)

-Coolant level is a bit low, but remains unchanged from when I got the car.

-I'm going to try replacing the sparkplugs and the battery this weekend.

 

It's entirely possible I'm over-reacting a bit - I have a tendency to do that. But...this is all coming on top of what at least feel like other deceptions by the dealer.

The headlights have been gradually clouding, and are now moderately oxidized, but were fine the day I picked the car up - which is exactly what I'd expect to see if the oxidation had been covered up by a thick coat of wax. It's extremely unlikely that the headlights could look this bad in a month. The windshield wiper arms are showing the same symptoms.

There's a medium-sized starburst chip on the windshield, that showed up right after a minor rock impact, which seemed too small to cause so much damage - but when I took the car to Safelite, they told me that the chip had already been repaired - badly - and that the small impact had only knocked away about half of the previous repair, so there was nothing that they could do to fix it.

When I went to look at the battery, the spare tire area was unusually filthy, covered in leaves, animal fur, and dried mud was everywhere. It took me hours to get it clean.

I keep finding little things wrong with the car, like rock chips, and dents, and stains, and radio/nav buttons that don't work, and other features that work intermittently, that I missed the first few times I looked over the car.

Lastly, and least, but still pissing me off and adding to my feeling that this dealership is crooked, is that when I picked up the car, the carpet mats were missing, although they had clearly been in the car very recently.

So, my frustration level has been building and building, and it feels like every day, something else goes wrong with the Prius, and it's gotten to the point where I'm really seriously considering selling it while I can still get back most of the money I paid for it.

 

Ray,

Thanks for your helpful questions (and advice)

Oil loss has only been seen on the dipstick. She doesn't seem to be leaking any oil, or any fluids at all.

No codes at all have been seen, and no warning lights.

As far as I know, neither the spark plugs nor the PCV valve have ever been changed, and probably not any of the fluids (except oil) either.

It took a month to put 1,800 miles on the car, with a mix of highway and city driving, but probably more city than highway.