Prius service at the dealer

New Prius V owner with 6,000 miles to date and I am no way satisfied with mileage and a bit puzzled as to Toyota's claims. For the V, they document 44mpg in city and 40 on the hwy. My experience so far vastly different; 34-38 in city and amazingly 48-50 on the hwy. You might say, "quit yur bitching, you gotta good one." True except I live in Asheville and paid the surcharge for this hybrid because most of my driving is in city. Yeah, it is hilly, but I do down hill just as much as I go uphill so I expect that to balance out and give me 44mpg in city.
Another issue: how do you turn off the cruise control? At my 5,000 mile checkup, the dealer said it cannot be done when I told him on my drive from New Orleans Dallas, every 3 minutes the GPS told me to make a U-turn at the next intersection. Help!

 

$200 is egregious. I cannot believe many pay for it, and no there is no reason to pay more than normal, or that fee. Going rate these days is generally around $100/hour. Go to another dealer...

 

That is a total rip off. And I'd tell the dealer that and then find another dealer to go to. Or better yet, don't go to the dealer at all. I've got 120,000 miles on my '07 and its never been back to the dealer since the day it was purchased.
All it has required is simple oil and filter (air/cabin) changes.
I've done it myself and it's cost practically nothing.
I understand you may not want to change your own oil, so have them do it, but only an oil change. The filters are so easy a child could do it.
Don't go into the dealer asking for a "service". They will charge you for lots of unnecessary work. When you go in there tell them what you want done.
Oil change. Airfilter. Period.
A Prius is actually simpler to service than most cars, there is no reason for the dealer to charge a service "premium".
It absolutely astounds me that people have been brainwashed into thinking that these Toyotas need a "service" package. And that people actually go for it. The hundreds of dollars being spend it such a waste of hard earned cash.

 

Every cruise control I've encountered disengages when the brake is pressed.

The GPS bedeviled me until I realized that the physical location was not in synch with the unit. At the end of EVERY trip go through the DEST button & delete the destination. This stops the tracking. A Garmin unit has a red STOP button on the map display for the same purpose.

Every pilot will tell you that a tailwind never recovers everything you lost in the headwind. The downhill is great but you won't recover the entire uphill. You should be able to get close though. If you want to hit the EPA numbers (they aren't Toyota's) then drive like the EPA test. Your route & climate differ from the test cycle. Your fuel economy will be different. For better fuel economy inflate your tires to max sidewall (free), adjust your driving style (free) & block the grill (cheap) if you can monitor inverter temp.

 

the toyota dealers i have been to charge the same rate for all vehicles. try some other toyota dealers. the dealer is not ripping anyone off and there is nothing you can do about it. it's your choice to use them or not. i vote 'not'.

 

Most of the Toyota dealers I have been to range between $120 to $145/hr for all models for open-ended repair work. Maintenance work is usually on a menu style pricing that is probably based off of a discounted labor rate.

There is one dealer near my parents house that automatically charges 2 hrs @ $120/hr for any diagnostic work on a hybrid, which is pretty ridiculous IMO.