How easy/costly is it to change the interior color to bisque/tan?

I searched google for this, with no real results.

I want a 3rd-gen Prius that's white with the bisque/tan interior and the solar roof option (possibly relocating to AZ), and I have two choices.

Choice 1: 2010, 184k miles, dark gray interior, white exterior, solar roof option, $6,999. (Crappy colors for me, but cheaper)

Choice 2: 2010, 139k miles, bisque interior, white exterior, solar roof option, $8,000. (May still have some CA emissions warranty)

I'm leaning toward choice 2.

 

Of course I would have any used vehicle thoroughly checked over before purchase by a licensed auto mechanic. Any seller that balks would lose the sale. As far as keeping the cabin cool with tint, yes, you are correct that AZ does allow pretty dark tint, but the problem is that tint does nothing to actually keep a vehicle cool, it only slows the heating process down somewhat. Eventually, the interior would get boiling-ly hot in the AZ sun. The solar roof option would constantly turn on the ventilation system fan and vent the hot air out, thus keeping the interior measurably cooler, both reducing startup load on the air conditioning system, and also keeping the HV battery cooler than it would otherwise be. For me, both would be huge benefits in a place like AZ. The ability to remotely trigger the air conditioner to run for 3 minutes (if the HV battery is sufficiently charged) to pre-cool the car is another benefit.

Nothing has happened to bargaining, yet. This is all very preliminary. For example, I also plan to post in the v wagon forum (because I'd rather have a v wagon, but they don't offer the solar roof) and ask about the possibility of adding a solar panel and a remote start, thus replicating the solar roof package features that I want.

Thanks for the look into what an interior swap would take.

 

Yeah, I've experienced similar issues with lightly colored upholstery, but was able to keep up with it with regular detailing, and the occasional steam cleaning and drying. I still greatly prefer a well-kept tan-ish upholstery over dark upholstery in a vehicle. Emphasis on the well-kept part.

I haven't heard of gasket failures, but then I don't know everything Prius. Of course, I probably wouldn't even open the moonroof, as that's not the part of the package that I care about. Like the v wagon, which has a panoramic roof with covers that slide open, but that does not actually open to outside air, that's all I'd really care about anyhow. I'm mostly in it for the superior cooling while parked, which the more I think about it, I might be able to get in a v wagon, if I had one and really wanted to modify it. (For example, I recently read in another thread that the passenger ventilation system fan in a Gen3 consumes 40 watts or less on low speed. If that holds true in a v wagon, in theory, an auxiliary battery tapped off the main one and isolated so as to not drain the main 12v might be able to accomplish the same thing)

Just some back of the envelope math says that if I wanted to run a 40 watt load from a 12v battery for 24 hours, and not to drop the battery below the 50% discharge mark, I'd need about 160 AH of capacity, or about 80 AH of capacity with a Li-Ion battery. That's probably doable with a Li-Ion battery, for a pretty negligible weight penalty. It could even be reduced by half if the fan were only programmed to run for 12 hours out of the day.

A remote starter and having the air conditioning set to the preferred temp before getting out could bring up the other end of the solar roof feature, the 3 minute pre-cool, but with a longer duration, as most remote starters will allow 2 10 minute starts.

Unfortunately, I'd want a 15-17 v wagon, top trim, with the advanced tech package, and those are much pricier, by about double. I'm ok with the reduced mpg for the huge gain on cargo space, and the redesigned front center stack, which has no flying bridge, and really opens up the space for the driver.

Thanks for the input!

 

Thanks for the feedback. As far as the factory advanced tech package stuff being out of date and aftermarket stuff generally being better, in some ways I would agree, but as far as I know, no one has yet retrofitted DRCC, emergency braking, and pre-collision systems, which, while a bit older and somewhat limited (for example 2010-15 Prius and 2012-17 Prius v) DRCC can't operate all the way down to a stop and auto-resume on its own, they're all still quite helpful, especially for me. The most advanced car I've ever owned had one airbag each for the driver and the passenger, anti-lock brakes, plain cruise control, and that was the extent of the safety and driver assists.

You hit on a second reason other than temperature reasons that I want the light colored interior - To make the vehicle feel more spacious. That feeling is just magnified with a light colored interior in the v wagon, which is only a hair less than 6 inches longer than the normal liftback Prius, but seems to somehow have a lot more room than 6 inches of extra length would seem to imply. My best friend owns a black vehicle with black interior, and I don't care for it at all.

 

Yes, I've seen 80's Ford cars with that very, very red interior (I also owned one that had blue for the interior color). Great for hiding wear, not so much for enjoying.