# New-to-me car. And I can't believe I went thru a dealer! **URL:** \ **Category:** General Discussion\ **Created:** [June 19, 2025, 12:57am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/new-to-me-car-and-i-cant-believe-i-went-thru-a-dealer/200718 "2025-06-19T00:57:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Nevada\_545](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/nevada_545/32/41232_2.png) [@Nevada\_545](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Nevada_545)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2025, 1:45am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/new-to-me-car-and-i-cant-believe-i-went-thru-a-dealer/200718/41 "2025-06-28T01:45:31Z")
That car is too old to qualify for Toyota CPO status or CPO warranty. It may meet that dealers pre-owned inspection standards but for Toyota, vehicles up to 10 years/125,000 miles are eligible for silver CPO certification. That dealer might offer an equivalate powertrain warranty and roadside assistance, but will the warranty be honored at all Toyota dealers? ---
**Author:** ![cigroller](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c68b51/32.png) [@cigroller](https://community.cartalk.com/u/cigroller)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2025, 3:04am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/new-to-me-car-and-i-cant-believe-i-went-thru-a-dealer/200718/42 "2025-06-28T03:04:50Z")
> [@Nevada\_545](#): > > will the warranty be honored at all Toyota dealers? I get what you’re saying. Don’t really know and wasn’t worried about it. I have it in writing from them, and if disaster strikes, they’re the ones I’m dealing with. It’s just a basic powertrain warranty in any case, and the basic powertrain is the least of my worries. But that’s all beside the point. The discussion wasn’t about the warranty. I was just saying that I had confidence that they delivered to me, in good faith, a car that was thoroughly inspected and turned over to me in good shape, including evidence that they were serious about it. I have no illusions about the fact that I’m talking about a 13yr old car on which all sorts of things could go wrong. Just like a zero yr old car. But in my case, 90% of “X goes wrong” is my problem. For 40 years, that’s been 100% my problem. Not worried. I’ve got tools. ---
**Author:** ![TwinTurbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8baadc/32.png) [@TwinTurbo](https://community.cartalk.com/u/TwinTurbo)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2025, 12:48pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/new-to-me-car-and-i-cant-believe-i-went-thru-a-dealer/200718/43 "2025-06-28T12:48:17Z")
> [@cigroller](#): > > Not worried. I’ve got tools That saying needs to be on a T shirt 😃 ---
**Author:** ![jtsanders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c2a13f/32.png) [@jtsanders](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jtsanders)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2025, 1:37pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/new-to-me-car-and-i-cant-believe-i-went-thru-a-dealer/200718/44 "2025-06-28T13:37:42Z")
> [@cigroller](#): > > It means a lot more than that on a Toyota lot. It may mean a lot at this dealership’s lot, but not necessarily all Toyota stores. It’s really the owner that determines whether the CPO requirements are met. The checklist can be falsified. Consumer Reoprts says the same thing @VOLVO-V70 does about CPO vehicles. That doesn’t mean your dealer cheats, but there are apparently enough that do to make the CPO designation suspect. This is a general comment since 2013 cars can’t be CPO. ---
**Author:** ![davesmopar](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/davesmopar/32/41750_2.png) [@davesmopar](https://community.cartalk.com/u/davesmopar)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2025, 2:21pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/new-to-me-car-and-i-cant-believe-i-went-thru-a-dealer/200718/45 "2025-06-28T14:21:16Z")
Over on TW, of course it is mainly a Tacoma forum, so lots of story’s about how bad Toyota dealers are as well as lots of story’s about how good Toyota dealers are, and it seems to be the same ones members complain about, it is like most any other retail(ish) business, it all depends on the people that work there, and of course management… The little sister city (but still bigger than the current one) next to me has 3 Mickey D’s, when I stilled lived there I mainly almost only went to one cause the other 2 messed up the order often and the employees just didn’t give a crap, but the smaller one closest to my house was awesome, always got it right… (drive through only, haven’t been inside one in 15 years) ---
**Author:** ![db4690](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/db4690/32/2583_2.png) [@db4690](https://community.cartalk.com/u/db4690)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2025, 3:14pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/new-to-me-car-and-i-cant-believe-i-went-thru-a-dealer/200718/46 "2025-06-28T15:14:44Z")
Here’s my opinion . . . ANY vehicle will get very expensive to maintain and repair after a certain point, even a Prius As for CPO status . . . I worked at a dealer for a long time. In the beginning, CPO inspections were “gravy” . . . meaning it paid well enough for the mechanic to actually perform a thorough inspection after awhile, the times were lowered and management just wanted everything without a broken windshield or obvious wreck damage to just get “pushed through” Every time I noted a car needed something, such as tires or brakes, I was treated with contempt and spoken to as if I was the one who committed an egregious error The despicable way employees were treated is just one of many reasons I left ---
**Author:** ![Purebred](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/purebred/32/46796_2.png) [@Purebred](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Purebred)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2025, 5:31pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/new-to-me-car-and-i-cant-believe-i-went-thru-a-dealer/200718/47 "2025-06-28T17:31:02Z")
> [@davesmopar](#): > > drive through only You remember what Joe Pesci said about drive throughs, right? ---
**Author:** ![davesmopar](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/davesmopar/32/41750_2.png) [@davesmopar](https://community.cartalk.com/u/davesmopar)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2025, 2:37am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/new-to-me-car-and-i-cant-believe-i-went-thru-a-dealer/200718/48 "2025-06-29T02:37:39Z")
Yeah, I have learned to check my order before leaving the lot, sometimes the window… lol A lot of the various drive throughs I go to know me cause I normally have one or both of my pitties with me and they love talking to them, at my old Mickey D’s they called me the Pit Bull guy… ---
**Author:** ![Clueless33](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dbc845/32.png) [@Clueless33](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Clueless33)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2025, 3:49am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/new-to-me-car-and-i-cant-believe-i-went-thru-a-dealer/200718/49 "2025-06-29T03:49:53Z")
Congrats on your new ride, Cigroller. I did buy a 2010 Toyota Camry with 86k miles in 2012. It had 4 cylinders and was fully loaded for $16,000 The previous owner averaged 40,000 miles per year ! The interior smelled like new and there was no blemish. I don’t know why the car was listed for so cheap except the high mileage. It gave me zero issues while I owned it. It was the SE model, too, so it came with my favorite feature ( moonroof). Curious: how much does the battery cost ? I heard they’re relatively expensive. The car looks nice. Love the wheels and the body design 👍 ---
**Author:** ![cigroller](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c68b51/32.png) [@cigroller](https://community.cartalk.com/u/cigroller)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2025, 5:25am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/new-to-me-car-and-i-cant-believe-i-went-thru-a-dealer/200718/50 "2025-06-29T05:25:35Z")
> [@Clueless33](#): > > Curious: how much does the battery cost ? I heard they’re relatively expensive. I haven’t researched it yet in depth, but the range will be wide. The original cells were MiMH, but I think there are also “upgrades” to L-ion which are more powerful and would do good things for fuel economy (the biggest reason I bought another Prius - 46 mpg is addictive). Then there’s “new” vs remanned. Without having really looked around too much, all I can say is that it’s somewhere between about $1-3.5K for the battery pack. (That’s excluding any labor which I’d do myself). ---
**Author:** ![db4690](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/db4690/32/2583_2.png) [@db4690](https://community.cartalk.com/u/db4690)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2025, 7:40am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/new-to-me-car-and-i-cant-believe-i-went-thru-a-dealer/200718/51 "2025-06-29T07:40:00Z")
You only get 46mpg with your Prius? I would have figured you get in the low 50s ---
**Author:** ![asemaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@asemaster](https://community.cartalk.com/u/asemaster)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2025, 3:27pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/new-to-me-car-and-i-cant-believe-i-went-thru-a-dealer/200718/52 "2025-06-29T15:27:54Z")
> [@db4690](#): > > I would have figured you get in the low 50s I think the part of the country where he lives has a lot of hills and they are quite steep. ---
**Author:** ![davesmopar](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/davesmopar/32/41750_2.png) [@davesmopar](https://community.cartalk.com/u/davesmopar)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2025, 4:19pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/new-to-me-car-and-i-cant-believe-i-went-thru-a-dealer/200718/53 "2025-06-29T16:19:14Z")
Ha, my sons recently departed 1992 Civic manual was getting 40-42mpg after doing a simple D16Y8 (OBD2) engine swap while using a P28 (OBD1) ECU and wiring harness, and had more power than stock, and yes what sensors that didn’t plug up were simply not used, turns out you don’t need all those sensors and it worked great… The VVT was on a toggle switch, hadn’t gone into the ECU to hook up the wire and run it to the VVT solenoid yet (something like that, it was his thing)… We have hills here also… lol He is not happy with the 09 Cobalt’s 25ish MPG though… ---
**Author:** ![cigroller](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c68b51/32.png) [@cigroller](https://community.cartalk.com/u/cigroller)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2025, 5:12pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/new-to-me-car-and-i-cant-believe-i-went-thru-a-dealer/200718/54 "2025-06-29T17:12:15Z")
> [@db4690](#): > > You only get 46mpg with your Prius? > > I would have figured you get in the low 50s The first gens, which is the one I had for years, were EPA rated for 41. Fuelly reports put the average at 42. I always averaged 46 overall - but I worked at it. During COVID when I didn’t need to commute on an interstate I experimented. Basically, if I stayed on rural backroads (think 45mph or less roads) I got in the area of 53-54. If I included rural highway (55mph) in the mix, it came out to about 50. > [@asemaster](#): > > I think the part of the country where he lives has a lot of hills and they are quite steep. And some of that. Mostly like rolling hills, but my normal interstate commute involves a small mountain. That’s an east coast “mountain” tho,’ so we’re talking all of ~1400ft The 2013 is EPA rated at 49mpg, with a reported fuelly average of 44.5. I don’t have enough miles in it yet to say, but right now the computer calculated figure is 46 and that’s mixed interstate/rural roads/city. I can say that there is nothing at all automatic about getting high mpgs. As with every car, one of the biggest variables is the nut behind the wheel. In the old 2003, I got high 40s. My wife got high 30s-low 40s, for example. She’s a bit whippy on the throttle and whatnot. I specifically drive it for max mpgs. Still learning on the new one how to coax the most out of the hybrid system. The old one, e.g.,was easier to keep in EV mode than this new one. ---
**Author:** ![oldtimer-11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e79b87/32.png) [@oldtimer-11](https://community.cartalk.com/u/oldtimer-11)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2025, 6:39pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/new-to-me-car-and-i-cant-believe-i-went-thru-a-dealer/200718/55 "2025-06-29T18:39:51Z")
When I bought my new 2012Camry, I noticed the same language in my owners manual. Inspect transmission fluid every 30,000 miles. I emailed Toyota US and asked how I was supposed to do that when there was no transmission dipstick. They replied that it was a visual inspection for fluid leaks only and the transmission needed no service ever unless it leaked unless the transmission temp got too high which would turn on a light on the dash. ---
**Author:** ![cigroller](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c68b51/32.png) [@cigroller](https://community.cartalk.com/u/cigroller)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2025, 1:34am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/new-to-me-car-and-i-cant-believe-i-went-thru-a-dealer/200718/56 "2025-06-30T01:34:32Z")
> [@oldtimer-11](#): > > They replied that it was a visual inspection for fluid leaks only I went and double checked the exact text in the maintenance schedule, and it does say to inspect the _fluid_. It also says to “inspect” the differential fluid. But I suspect that if I asked, I’d be told exactly the same thing that you were. No matter, I’ll just change them - and I’ll be “inspecting” what 13 yr old / 140-somthing K trans fluid looks like on a Prius. I won’t be nuts enough to send it out for an oil analysis tho. I’ll post pics whenever I get around to it. It’s not high on my list right now. (Trying to finish a kitchen floor and still have to fix some leaky plumbing…and stuff). ---
**Author:** ![cigroller](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c68b51/32.png) [@cigroller](https://community.cartalk.com/u/cigroller)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2025, 4:40pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/new-to-me-car-and-i-cant-believe-i-went-thru-a-dealer/200718/57 "2025-07-24T16:40:33Z")
On the subject of gas mileage, if anyone is curious, we just did our first road trip in this car (around 1200 miles). I can report that under the right conditions it can get around 50mpg highway, and that even if the terrain includes rolling hills. But that is easily disrupted by factors that are not at all surprising. Traffic - especially the “slinky” stuff where you need to keep slowing, often quickly, and then ramping back up to speed knocks it down, of course. And steeper/longer grades such as found in mountainous areas. Part of the trip was Appalachian foothills - rolling foothill-ish. But then some of it was up into the finger lakes region of New York, so more mountain climbing and the like. (Small mountains). Most of this would affect and ICE car the same way, of course. But in mountainous areas on the downgrades, it can sometimes maintain speed by coasting, so the wheels are sending power to the HV battery charge. So, you do get some energy back that you wouldn’t in an ICE. This is all going by computer readout. I’m in the process of keeping a log to check it with my own math. But my Gen 1 was pretty accurate, and most reports I’ve seen from other Prius owners say the same thing. ---
**Author:** ![VDCdriver](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/vdcdriver/32/30_2.png) [@VDCdriver](https://community.cartalk.com/u/VDCdriver)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2025, 4:44pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/new-to-me-car-and-i-cant-believe-i-went-thru-a-dealer/200718/58 "2025-07-24T16:44:12Z")
> [@cigroller](#): > > But in mountainous areas on the downgrades, it can sometimes maintain speed by coasting, so the wheels are sending power to the HV battery charge. +1 On long downgrades, I’ve been able to add 2 miles of battery range by putting it in Sport Mode. The regenerative braking effect is more pronounced in Sport Mode, and I rarely need to use the brake pedal. ---
**Author:** ![TwinTurbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8baadc/32.png) [@TwinTurbo](https://community.cartalk.com/u/TwinTurbo)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2025, 5:01pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/new-to-me-car-and-i-cant-believe-i-went-thru-a-dealer/200718/59 "2025-07-24T17:01:23Z")
I’m still running a 46.1 mpg average over the first 1600 miles or so in the RAV4. Estimated 60/40 split on expressway/city driving but the expressway is often a parking lot and lots of slinky activity. I’ve adopted the big rig mentality there and roll along at a steady 35 mph versus the guys doing 60, 0, 60, 0… The really nice thing is, when we’re completely stopped and sitting, my A/C is still pumping out cold air and the engine is not running… ---
**Author:** ![cigroller](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c68b51/32.png) [@cigroller](https://community.cartalk.com/u/cigroller)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2025, 5:20pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/new-to-me-car-and-i-cant-believe-i-went-thru-a-dealer/200718/60 "2025-07-24T17:20:36Z")
> [@TwinTurbo](#): > > The really nice thing is, when we’re completely stopped and sitting, my A/C is still pumping out cold air and the engine is not running… That is nice. Love the electric compressors (the Gen 1s still had a belt). But one of the things that it does is pull charge out of the HV battery. It’s likely much better with newer vehicles/batteries in terms of efficiency and capacity. But mine is an old 2013. We got stuck in an extended bumper to bumper 0-10mph crawl at one point, and between the EV mode creep-along and the running AC, the engine kept needing to start up. [Previous page](https://community.cartalk.com/t/new-to-me-car-and-i-cant-believe-i-went-thru-a-dealer/200718.md?page=2)