2009 Prius Base - $19k

[Matt Herring]

Originally Posted by Daox

Any worries about overheating your inverters with your grill block?

I have been monitoring my engine temps every time I'm in my Prius and I have yet to crest 195 degrees on any day. I realize this does not matter when talking about inverter temps but the weather has been well under 70 degrees most days and my driving distances have generally been 15 miles or less. Not to mention, my lower grill block (where the Prius inverter is located on the 2009 model) is not fully blocked so there is air flow directly on the inverter.

But, to answer your question Daox, I'm always worried about overheating the inverter so I'm looking forward to warmer temps so I can pull the grill block! The more veteran Prius drivers at priuschat.com have recommended not using a full block in 70+ degree temps so I'm working off that advice.

Today is a great example, 55 degrees when I drove to work today. My commutes to work (especially in the morning around 8am) have not been in temps above 60 degrees for a couple weeks now...welcome to New England!

[Matt Herring]

Next Thursday morning I'm scheduled to meet the writer to discuss hybrids and hypermiling. We have a meeting point and I mapped a 5.8 mile course with a good mix of city and highway. Plan to hook my SGII to her car to compare our driving.

FYI - The first 2010 Gen III Prius is on ecomodder.com under the name JayC! Good to see some of these new releases on the road...and on ecomodder! Wonder if the guy is going to ecomod it to push it's limits?

[Matt Herring]

Update on my Prius driving technique ...

My father was in town yesterday for a visit and this allowed me to do some highway driving...things went pretty well for the Prius. He was very interested in hypermiling so it was a bonus driving around the area with him while also teaching him what I was doing. I thought I would be doing some non-hypermiling while he was here so I didn't drive him crazy not driving "normally."

On Tuesday morning I had to pick him up at the train station and I drove into the city at 7am (moderate traffic). 40 miles roundtrip at 55-65 mph (with some stop and go for a couple miles) I was able to post approx. 60 mpg for that jaunt. The stop and go traffic allowed me to use EV mode for a few miles...I love traffic jams now!

Later that day I drove into Boston to see the Sox and for that 40 mile roundtrip I was able to get 58 mpg.

Today, I dropped him off at the train station and the 40 mile round trip was 58 mpg again.

Moral of the story, my higher speed driving is improved. I was able to figure out and use the "Super Highway" mode alot of the trips and was pleased to see my SGII reporting 80-100 mpg for several 1 mile stretches. In cases where the road was a slight downhill I was able to push the 80-100 mpg for up to 2 miles.

While the highway driving does lower my tank mpg because I'm typically in the 63-66 mpg range for city driving it was good to "limit" the pain of driving on the highway. Over 350 miles on this tank I'm at 61.2 mpg with 4 pips remaining on the tank (approx. 200 city miles/150 highway miles). I won't be posting an all-time best tank this time around but I've improved my highway technique which I think is a good trade-off for the lower tank mpg.

FYI - I'll be going driving with the "green" writer tomorrow morning at 930am...should be fun!

[slurp812]

Originally Posted by Matt Herring

I only drive about 12-15k miles a year so the fuel savings between a 4runner and Prius are not going to be that much over the course of a year (even if gas is at $4 a gallon). We're talking $1000-1800 saved in fuel over a year (although that does equal 3 or 4 car payments).

I don't get it when people say that $1500 isn't that much. That is 28 bucks per week. or over $100 per month. I was considering trading my Civic Si in on a Prius, but I drive more like 25,000 per year...

[Matt Herring]

I did say "although that does equal 3 or 4 car payments" so I am aware that the savings do add up. In 3 months in the Prius I have spent about $300 less in gas than I did over that same span with the 4runner (adjusted to current gas prices vs. last year gas prices it's about $175 saved over 3 months).

With gas prices rising...I'm saving more and more with every fill up. I'll probably end up in the $1200-1500 range in savings over the course of a year based on the results I'm seeing right now with the Prius. For the life of my loan on the Prius it's in the $6000-7500 savings range for gas...I'll take it!

[Matt Herring]

Check out the pic in this link of the underside of the new 2010 Prius. The new model has "air flow channels" built into the undercarriage...cool!

Picasa Web Albums - Jon - Prius

And the rear of the car has pretty close to a full pan up to the middle of the car...

Picasa Web Albums - Jon - Prius

[Daox]

Wooo. Nice pics Matt! Thanks for sharing. Wish I could afford a 10...

[Matt Herring]

Originally Posted by Daox

Wooo. Nice pics Matt! Thanks for sharing. Wish I could afford a 10...

Honestly...I wouldn't trade my 2009 for a 2010 if someone asked me to do it right now. I know I could get better mpg with a 2010 but I really don't like the new model. That being said, I haven't test driven one yet and if I did I might change my mind but I love the setup in my 2009.

I don't like the way they moved the MFD screen from the large display to the very small, virtually colorless display. I've read alot of comments that the new MID display is difficult to use in terms of FE. I'm sure it takes some getting used to but I'm not a fan.

I also don't like all the bells and whistles they added to the car. I think they jumped the shark on the 2010 to make it more mainstream. Granted, they had not updated the design in several years and it was time to refresh but for me I don't need or want to pay for all the extras.

My 2009 is really a Prius shell on wheels...it doesn't even have cruise...and I love it! If you price out the extras on the 2010 it's insane...sun roof is like $3k more...I know the sun is there...no thanks! They came out with 6 different models for the 2010...I understand the concept...just 5 more models than I need. I have a Prius and a SGII...all I need!

[Matt Herring]

And from the snake oil salesman on Ebay...for your Prius...a carbon fibre vortex wind generator that claims to reduce drag...carbon fibre vortex sounds so fancy!!!

2001-2010 PRIUS Carbon Fiber*ROOF VORTEX WIND GENERATOR:eBay Motors (item 250441191228 end time Jul-09-09 11:44:40 PDT)

[cfg83]

Matt -

I'm back and forth on the 3rd gen. I don't like the nose because it looks less Prius and more Corolla/Yaris, but I like the rest of it, from what I can see.

CarloSW2