Had my 90,000 mile service today!

Today, I had my annual maintenance service for "The Spaceship".
It was the intermediate service - and the price appears to have gone up from £149 to £180.

Though I replaced my front brake discs in Otober 2013 at approximately 56,000 miles, I was shocked when it was suggested I change them again as they were looking worn. I did change the front brake discs as they were down to between 3mm and 4mm, but refused to change the front discs. My style of driving is not that of a mindless tearaway whizzing around in a sporty coupe.

I hypermile my way was to work and back everyday. I'm extremely light on the brakes, allowing the regenerative braking process to do its job. I actually avoid the traffic every working day by commuting to work between 5.00am and 6.00am - when the roads are completely clear, and I can enjoy a very good economy run. I have recorded 73.9mpg on a commute to work at that time of the morning.

So much for Prius brake discs lasting up to 120,000 miles. I was being invited to change mine after only 34,000 miles - that's not right! I strongly suspect the brake pads were NOT changed in 2013 - even though I was charged for this. Proof? My attention was called to the front pads a year ago, when it was claimed they were so low, they needed changing. I disagreed and refused to do so - as they were supposed to be new pads installed in October 2013! I was being told they were 60% to 70% worn.

Once again, I must stress - I do not drive around at high speed, doing heavy braking at the last second. I don't drive like an inconsiderate dullard. I treat "The Spaceship" like a passenger aircraft - smooth take offs and I land on eggshells without cracking any.....metaphorically speaking. I only drive 36 miles a day (Monday to Friday)......it's not like I'm a mini-cab driver crawling around the city for 12 hours at a time everyday or something.

Anyway, I was also invited to service my AC.....(I consciously did that 12 months ago), invited to change my transmission fluid (again) - it was also done in December 2013 - and I'd personally requested it back then! Then it was suggested I change my Hybrid Systems Coolant......as it had to be done every 10 years, and had never been done before - allegedly. It was pointed out to me that my car was well over 10 years old.

Disturbingly, I had to point out that "The Spaceship" was actually a 2008 vehicle - they genuinely believed it was a 2003 (it has a 2003 private plate!).....and shock horror! I can see why!

I installed the "My Toyota Europe" app a few months ago - I've just taken a look at the details of my vehicle - and believe it or not - it doesn't even specify what year my Prius is. It only shows the registration number! Shock, horror!

Anyway, apart from those niggles, "The Spaceship" has been serviced and is running quite nicely as always.

Overall, I am pleased with the performance of the dealership staff, but I guess the people or person liaising between the vehicle owner and the engineers should study the service histories of relevant vehicles carefully, before trying to point out problems that don't actually exist at all.

I'd like to think of them as a Dealership.....not a "Stealership"!

Here's to another 90,000 miles......unless that dream top of the range "Prius Prime" somehow finds its way to my home in the near future - and "The Spaceship" goes to my daughter

 

I'm afraid you can't be extremely light on the brakes when driving a G2 in London. What I pointing out, is that I'm not extremely heavy on those brakes.

Sure, I've had my emergency braking moments when some mindless moron pulls out on me because "It's an electric Prius an' they're very slow, innit?" (The latter, English yob slang, of course).

My brake pads and discs get a very nice workout everyday, thank you very much! They grip quite nicely and firmly with no anomalous noises - unlike when I took ownership of the vehicle in June 2013, and noticed a slight rumbling when engaging hydraulic braking. Back then, it was still on it's original discs and pads, and yes, the discs were badly corroded back then.

"The Spaceship" is used for commuting 5 days a week, and that's 36 miles per day round trip. It's not all flat surfaces on my commute. Lots of uphill downhill. You cannot avoid using the brakes, especially on the voyage home. The new front discs haven't had a chance to corrode, since they were installed. Neither have the back ones - which were replaced October 2015. They look as new as the day they were installed - because they changed both the PADS and DISCS.

They cheated my in October 2013, by changing only the discs. The original pads with their scored grooves were left in place! (No, I didn't know this at the time - yes, they DID charge me for new pads). That's why barely 2 years later (last year!), they were inviting me to buy new pads again!

If they'd installed my new front brake pads they'd charged me for, I wouldn't be having this problem.

The way I drive, those discs won't succumb easily to corrosion, either way. I don't drive like Miss Daisy; I do use cruise control where convenient and with an eye out for disengaging it when going uphill. Driving home in the afternoons, my brakes get a brilliant enough workout. London motorists are "generally whipped" when it comes to having free flowing major roads. I've spent 2 hours in heavy congestion (because someone bumped into someone else along the way - out come the cones, and 2 lanes out of three get blocked off ) while travelling home. A trip I've done spiritedly in 35 minutes, normally 45 minutes!

p.s. The Spaceship, because of all the out of this world technology on board, THAT Futurama meets Star Trek Shuttlecraft Dashboard, and the way it positively responds to the laws of Pulse and Glide, the same way a spacecraft uses thrust followed by MECO, to travel a planned distance, before another course correction burn is applied.

I like the way I can swing through underpasses in free flowing traffic without burning excess fuel by exploiting the gravity well going down, and momentum to propel myself out of the underpass with 65mpg showing on the way up. This mimics loosely the same way spacecraft can swing around a planet, using it's gravitational pull to increase their velocity.

There's the aircraft style increased linear engine thrust to climb a long hill, and the engines to idle or MECO as you drop down the other side, depending on your speed. Gives me that aviation feeling.

And then, there's that unparalleled 22nd century reliability - as over engineered as a Saturn V booster (but not as noisy). Just keeps rolling!

And it takes a few voice commands too!

That's why I call it "The Spaceship".

p.s. My dealer doesn't know what I call it, despite the name being available in their "My Toyota" database. Indeed, I'm stumped some of them mistook it for a 2003 model.....despite the fact it's a top of the range 2008 with leather seats.
However, their crew do audibly refer to it as "Triple X".....a nod to the last three letters on the registration.


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Thank you, edthefox. I bought my G2 end of June 2013 at 55455 miles. The rotors and pads were already in that state when I bought it.

It had been standing for a while. The seller was a hybrid vehicle reseller, unfortunately, not a Toyota main dealer - or I would have had these imperfections rectified before taking delivery. I did notice light rust on all the rotors when I inspected the vehicle, but it seemed to ride and stop okay. There was light grinding coming to a halt though.

So I embarked on a program to voluntarily replace all the rotors (brake discs) and pads at a Toyota Main Dealer. Except some smart Alec mechanic probably requisitioned my brand new pads from storage BUT didn't install them. There's a more than 85% probability he left the factory originals in place, which HAVE lasted 90,000 miles! The discs were visually scored and I had them all replaced on purpose. Callipers were serviced too.

The UK is damp. It rains a lot. The vehicle was always parked outside. And 2 years prior to my buying it, didn't get much use according to the log history. Salt on the roads in winter don't help either, and it probably never got a regular power wash to remove salt deposits, like it does now.

There was and is nothing wrong with the vehicle, or I suspect I wouldn't have got 66.4mpg out of a tank of fuel (634 miles) after replacing the rotors. And recently I managed 73.9mpg on a one way run to work one morning at 12c. Not possible if the callipers were dragging.

However; there might have been intermittent calliper dragging. Point taken.

I now have new front brake pads. I'm gently wearing them in, but so far, the vehicle stops perfectly and with no noise. Even the odd occasional "gronk" when coming to a full stop in slow moving traffic has disappeared.

Yes, they should last forever, but it sucks to hear a Toyota dealer trying to convince me that some Prii owners have had only 10,000 miles out of their brake pads. Yes, I gave him a much needed lecture on the operations of the HSD and why brakes should last at least 70,000 miles in the UK, and not 36,000 miles.

I reminded him it wasn't used as a mini-cab either - which, by the way, a great many Prii in London are.

Ironically, it's the vehicle of choice for mini cabbing because of its overall reliability and long lived brake components!





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Thank you for your input on this, Britprius.
I'm beginning to strongly suspect that some of the mechanics servicing these vehicles are in cahoots with the maintenance managers. I'm almost absolutely certain the front brake disc pads I paid for in 2013 ended up in the possession of the mechanic who was servicing the car.

I was charged for them, but they never got installed. The logic behind that was simple - I couldn't see them as I wasn't a mechanic with a ramp available, and it was unlikely I'd crawl under the car and start poking around. I trusted them.

Trying to get a Prius owner to part with brake discs with only 0.5mm wear (by fibbing that they're badly worn and need changing), is ultimately a win for the dealership and the mechanic who will doubtlessly walk away with the barely worn discs and either sell them on, or privately install them in another vehicle for a nice fee!

I'm sure not all dealerships do this, but all it takes is a few bad eggs to give a brand a bad reputation.

What I equally found disturbing was the suggestion I have my AC serviced - when I had personally requested and paid for that exact service 12 months prior (there was nothing wrong with it, I was just being preemptive - preventative maintenance). And all that info should be at their fingertips already!

Sometimes, I wonder if they have certain customers on a "mug's list". You'd think they'd be aware that many of us have downloaded the My Toyota App and have direct access to all the work done on their vehicles! I now always take all my maintenance bills with me, to prevent being tricked into purchasing services you do not need - because you already did them and their not due for years.

Then again, maybe I'm hoping for too much.
The maintenance/ sales advisor who was trying to insidiously get me to part with my money, was sure my vehicle was a 2003 G2 Prius - despite the fact many of the options on my Prius were not even available in 2003, and were only introduced in 2006.


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You are absolutely correct John. My Prius Inverter Coolant Pump was replaced under the recall in October 2013. And I was aware the Coolant was also changed at the same time. Yet, the Coolant change was pushed on me, with the excuse that it hadn't ever been changed on my vehicle in over 10 years.

I was quick to point out the Inverter Coolant Pump recall and the Coolant being changed only 3 years ago. I also had to prove to the puzzled Rep that my Prius was actually a 2008 model....which was embarrassing, and didn't exactly inspire confidence.


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