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Really missing my Prius

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Main Forum' started by 9519510951, Aug 17, 2019.

  1. 9519510951

    9519510951 New Member

    Joined:
    Aug 17, 2019
    1
    2
    0
    Location:
    Southern California
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    Three
    I bought a 2010 Prius 3 with 69k miles a salvage title in late 2014, bought salvage because I really wanted a sunroof and you couldn't *touch* a Prius without a sunroof for under $20 grand at the time.

    Well now, 147k miles later, I have to let it go. (If you're interested in why, see below**).

    Even though the salvage condition was a bargain upfront and I ultimately got my money's worth, I didn't want to mess with that BS again, so I began searching for a Certified Pre-Owned Prius. Still next to impossible to touch one under 20k with a sunroof, let alone with leather and the JBL audio, heated seats, push button start and navigation (which I never used, but it's nice to have I guess) that mine has...so I began looking at Corollas, which seemed fine, but I allowed myself to be swayed by all the industry reviews saying the Corolla (2016+) is a perfectly reasonable, safe & affordable snooze to drive...

    So I started looking at Civics, which all the industry mags praised as having , and to my surprise, it was much easier to find a Civic in my price range (<20k, sunroof, leather, etc) than Corollas. I ended up buying a Certified Pre-Owned 2016 Civic Touring. Totally loaded: sunroof, leather, push to start, "premium audio package", heated front (and rear!) seats, Reverse cam & Nav, plus a bunch of other tech).

    And I hate it. I kid you not, I feel like a spoiled donkey. It's a beautiful looking car, with all the window features I really insisted on (sunroof, leather, push-start), in my budget and <40k miles...and I HATE it.

    The Prius, for all the shit people like to give it (and their drives), is a much better drive. More comfortable, more responsive. I didn't notice how bumpy the Civic was (despite 4 of them at different lots) until I was driving mine home, singing along to the stereo and noticing that my voice was vibrating...from feeling every bump in the road. The Prius was fun to drive and felt good!

    Oh, speaking of the stereo...it sounds TERRIBLE. The Civic Touring is differentiated from it's lowly siblings by boasting it's 450W 10 speakers, which includes a sub woofer. My friend has an '09 Yaris and I sincerely think the audio in that car is better. I LOVED the sound in the Prius, it never disappointed me. Also, the Bluetooth connection sucks, music hiccups and stutters every 10-60 seconds. Additionally, no AUX chord.

    I really regret buying the Civic, I derive no joy from driving it. To make matters worse, yesterday (12 hours after buying the Civic) a certified 2015 Prius with everything I want, which I'd had my eyes on but was out of my price range, came down $1500 and now is the same price as a I paid for the freakin Civic, FML.

    I wonder how upside down I'd be if I tried to trade it in with the Toyota dealership offering the Prius.

    -----
    **Hybrid battery warning came on about 45k miles ago (but still drove, just depended entirely on the gas engine), and I couldn't afford taking it to the dealer for the full 2-3 (though in retrospect, I still should have) so I chose to have it re-manufactured by an independent sole proprietor with 30+ 5 start reviews (and nothing less than 4 stars).

    He said it'd be a couple hundred bucks to replace a few bad cells, or $1000 to replace all of them. We ended up having to do all of them, because, as he demonstrated, his diagnostic tools which would normally indicate which cells are bad, didn't. For whatever reason, he shared, this year (or this gen) Prius wouldn't indicate which cells were bad and which were good. Since he offered a 12 month warranty, I went for it. I asked him how often he's had to make good on his warranty, and he said he never got a call back after a job except for a customer referring him to a new customer. His Yelp page seemed to corroborate this.

    Well, 2 months later, the light came back on. Strange. I called him, he showed up the next day to test it, and sure enough he said cells were bad, had to replace. Not a problem, that's why he offers the warranty. Said he'd be back the next week to replace them. Long story short, after a series of missed appointments and phone tag, he finally leveled with me. He was involved in a domestic dispute, had been arrested and was strapped for cash. Said he just needed a few months to get ahead of the legal expenses so he could afford to buy another set of cells to replace for me, and offered to come by periodically to reset the codes so the car wouldn't drive as rough.

    He came by twice to do so, and then he disappeared, phone number was disconnected. Seemed alright though, despite the reduced power, the car actually still drove pretty well. Well, stupid me, the additional strain apparently took it's toll on the engine now it sounds like a diesel. Mechanic said during the last oil change that there's metal in the oil. Over the last 3 weeks I've only driven the car within a 10min radius from home: to work and to grocery store, and the drive has become considerably worse. I've officially submitted the paperwork for CashForClunkers to pick it up :(
     
    #1 9519510951, Aug 17, 2019
    Last edited: Aug 17, 2019
    RMB and Johnny Cakes like this.
  2. dubit

    dubit Senior Member

    Joined:
    Dec 3, 2016
    850
    538
    23
    Location:
    Indiana
    Vehicle:
    2016 Prius c
    Model:
    Two
    Too bad we're not closer. We could swap cars. I'd love to have that Civic and you could have my Prius. :)
     
    9519510951 likes this.
  3. dig4dirt

    dig4dirt MoonGlow

    Joined:
    Apr 6, 2012
    1,150
    741
    0
    Location:
    Lancaster Co PA
    Vehicle:
    2014 Prius c
    Model:
    Two
    I am in the northeast and dont have heated seats lol, but southern california? nice.

    Perhaps a trade in would be possible. inquire about it. Who knows you could work them,
    as maybe they would rather resell the civic then a prius.

    Or, are the springs adjustable? could they be loosened up a bit?
     
    9519510951 likes this.
  4. jb in NE

    jb in NE Senior Member

    Joined:
    Apr 13, 2018
    2,233
    1,595
    0
    Location:
    Nebraska
    Vehicle:
    2018 Prius Prime
    Model:
    Prime Premium
    That's an interesting purchasing strategy. You focused on the fluff and not the basics.
     
  5. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

    Joined:
    Oct 17, 2010
    54,480
    38,108
    80
    Location:
    Greater Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    Touring
    We came from an 06 Civic (hybrid), to a 2010 Prius. The Civic remained in the family, and once in a while I would need to drive it. The difference I recall the most, is the Prius ride and gas pedal response, so much smoother and linear. The Civic gas pedal is very touchy, I really had to be careful applying it, to avoid jumpy starts.
     
    9519510951 likes this.
  6. RMB

    RMB Senior Member

    Joined:
    Jun 21, 2016
    406
    642
    0
    Location:
    Oakland, CA
    Vehicle:
    2014 Prius
    Model:
    Three
    Wouldn't hurt to ask, if their offer is something ridiculous, all you have to say is no and walk away.(y)
     
    9519510951 and Raytheeagle like this.