Picked up new 2011 last night. Amy precautions os things I should look out for?

Congrats on your new purchase! I started seeing my best mileage after 5000 miles. Maybe it's a break-in period or maybe I finally learned the optimal way to drive a hybrid.

A couple of things you might be cautious of:
The lower front bumper "lip" is close to the ground so be careful pulling into parking places. If the cement stop-block is high, you can easily guff the lip and the paint chips off easily. Add to that, you really can't see the hood so it's hard to gage.

Be prepared to see other drivers pass you so drive to the right as much as possible if you are "hyper-mileing".

Otherwise welcome to PC!

 

The very first break-in requirement is to sit down and read through all of the sections of the owner's manual that apply to your particular option package. The manual is full of stuff you need to know, more than you can easily get by riffling through threads here.

But yeah, in the first 600 miles don't stomp on the gas or the brake, vary the speed and keep it under 60 MPH. No need for an early oil change.

 

Silver, there's an adjustment period to the "Prius haters" out there - usually driving gas guzzlers. No need to respond to road rage as long as you were going the limit and not impeding traffic (again, you will find staying to the right avoids most trouble).
Don't worry about hard stops, but yes if you "baby" the throttle for the first several hundred miles and vary your speeds a bit, you can't do any harm to the engine. This will also help you learn how to get the best mileage too.

My dealer didn't press me for an oil change - even on my 1 year visit as I'm still under 10k on the car. Once it hits 10k, I will do the oil change. Oddly, the oil still looks good. My prior car's oil would get "dark" after 4k miles.

 

Congrats--enjoy.

Agreed on investing a little time reading the owners manual--lots of useful info there.

 

Yes, prepare to fill your tank for under $40 and drive 450-500 miles

 

If you have auto headlights, it must be new for 2011 in the US, because the US 2010 Prius doesn't have them. From memory, in the owners manual it's one of the "if equipped" items. The headlights do turn off automatically after the car is powered down, but they are not auto on, meaning they don't turn on automatically based on lighting conditions.

 

Just thinking of things that were wonky on ours, that you might check:

1. Verify the one-touch up or down of both front side windows is working. A single touch up or down should send the window all the way up or down. If it's not working there is a re-learn procedure floating around. I found it but neglected to document.

2. Check your spare tire pressure. Ours at delivery was 40 psi, should be 60.

3. Get it waxed.

4. Check your (regular) tire pressures. They should be at least per the drivers door placard, but a lot of mileage concious owners like to push them higher, say 42/40 front/rear, for starters.

 

A few pointers . fortunately, I am not speaking from experience.

1 - Do not let it run out of gas. It is significantly easier and saves a lot of problems to just buy gas when it gets low.
2 - Do not leave it parked for extended periods of time. If I am away, I have someone drive it after two weeks.
3 - Do not attempt to wade through deep water.
4 - Do not attempt to tow a trailer.

The comment about the low front bumper is valid, as I bet you have already discovered.

It is a great vehicle and I believe/expect it to provide dependable/economical/ comfortable driving for years to come and many, many miles.

Bask in the delight that you able to drive to visit family and friends; that you can enjoy a pleasure ride without taking out a bank loan, and you can take a driving vacation. Relish the thouight that you are indeed, a very savvy shopper.

 

:welcome:

Please, please, please - DO read the manual. 90% of your initial questions have answers in it.

This is one car where reading the manual is actually helpful (once you manage to identify and skip all the various CYA legal disclaimers and warnings - about 50% of the manual - but the rest is really helpful).

I don't understand why Toyota dealers are pushing US customers to change the oil at 5k miles (what's all this ripping off??? - like as if customers cannot read the Toyota official documentation about the planned checks of the car - not to mention that the MFD displays when you have to change oil...not in EU version though... )- in EU first change is after 15K km or about 8k mi - I know in the US is 10k mi.
Use 0w-20 synth oil. The manual says that other types of oil can be used (for example 5w-30) but only every other time. Once you use 5w-30, the next time you *have* to use 0w-20.

 

Be careful with carrying stuff in the front seat, and have your passengers put cargo in the back. The glove box (and dash) scuffs easily, and if you have the darker interior it's an eye-sore - but you get over it after a bit.

 

Regarding the oil change interval:

Being in Canada, I went with the Toyota Canada 8000km or 6 month requirement, doing it myself yesterday afternoon. In my case, it was 6 months that governed, and the odometer was at 7022km. I know detergent motor oils are designed to keep contaminants in suspension, and that a dark oil is just doing it's job. That said:

The oil I drained at 7022 km was very dark, the oil filter also pretty dark/grungy.

Listen to the debate, consider all the directions, but make up your own mind on this. Personally I'd rather err on the cautious side.

 

Take the time to read the owners manual.......then read it again. !!!!!!

Enjoy your new car........it's a real jewel !!!!