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Originally Posted by Cd
Hello everyone ! It's been ages since I last was on Ecomodder.
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Nice to see you again.
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> The trip home driving at 70 - 75 mph gave 51 MPG. I thought city MPG was supposed to be better. ( 120 + miles )
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City MPG
CAN be better (because the engine typically shuts off and it coasts whenever you release the accelerator -- that's the main city MPG advantage), but it depends on the specific traffic situation how the numbers will work out. Can't determine anything from that sample of one drive.
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The car has over 150,000 miles on the engine... 2008 Prius from AutoNation for around $9,000 - maybe more. Based on this info. , how badly did my parents get ripped off?
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That's A LOT (!!) of money for one with that many miles. Around here, I'd expect to see similar odometer and year for no more than $4.5k - $5.5k, with a mechanical safety certificate. (+ tax extra)
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> So a prius is dead in the water when the battery runs out. Even if my parents kept this thing in a garage and never drove it again, they are still looking at a several thousand dollar battery bill on top of the cost of the car when the battery dies, correct ?
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Correct on dead in the water if the battery dies completely. But the odds of the battery failing in their car are spectacularly low. Don't worry about it.
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> One thing that puzzled me was that I noticed that the gasoline engine was going when the car was backed out of the driveway. Is this normal ?
I thought the car ran on battery alone up to like 30 - 40 mph.
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The engine ALWAYS starts (after a delay of ~7 seconds) if the coolant temperature is below a certain level, and it will continue running until that point is reached, regardless of how much you feather-foot the accelerator.
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I had them stop while I listened, and sure enough it was the engine going. I had them put it in park, and then they drove off.
I noticed it then drove in EV.
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Normal. It passed the temp threshold and the ICE shut down. It will re-start when they pass ~40 mph, or when the battery state of charge drops below a certain level. Or if they demand lots of power for acceleration.
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(* Meaning it went something like this -> Walks to car ..looks at battery ...yep - almost dead. Repeats again. Yep ...almost dead )
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Not a valid way to check the "health" of a hybrid battery. That dashboard gauge only shows you the battery's estimated state of charge.
IF (unlikely) the battery is in poor condition, the dashboard screen is going to light up like a Christmas tree with check engine lights, Red Triangle of Death (icon) warnings, and related messages.
Aside from paying too much money for the car, it's probably fine. Enjoy driving it - they're fantastically fun to operate if you're a fuel economy nerd.