Looking at a "reconstructed title" Plug In Prius

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by Cobb

You know when you deposit or withdraw more than 10 g's the bank sends a note to the secret service. Some bankers will make you split the transaction so avoid that limit and paper work.

Hope it goes ok.

Yeah, I asked if it would be easier to withdraw half from 2 different accounts and the teller said no. It annoys me that the govt tracks something that is none of their business

The teller asked if I was purchasing a car, and I was half tempted to tell her that there was a sale on heroin.

Originally Posted by War_Wagon

The car was declared a total loss in Oregon, Sept.10 2014. Lots of Russians here buy salvage cars from the salvage auctions and put them back together as well, there is good money in it if you do it right. I've done it myself a few times, but always found it was way more work than just buying a non-write off for a good price and doing a decent job making it a nice car to resell. But none of that matters now as you own it!

There is good profit in fixing up cars for people, not just Russians. That's the mystery to me. If the profit motive exists for all people, and Russians account for less than 1% of Americans, then why is it only Russians I see selling branded Prii? They don't even seem to have any particular in depth knowledge of the vehicle in my experience.

Well, I made it to Bend without a hitch. It was raining cats and dogs sideways all day and I havent found a single problem yet. I did vacuum safety glass out of the glove box this morning though. Can't wait to plug it in!

[user removed]

Glad to hear everything seems OK.

Watch out for glass blowing out of the defroster ducts!!!!!!!!

I usually turn the defroster on max and use a vacuum cleaner to try to get most of it so I don't have small glass shards bowing up in my face.

regards
mech

[Baltothewolf]

Originally Posted by Old Mechanic

Glad to hear everything seems OK.

Watch out for glass blowing out of the defroster ducts!!!!!!!!

I usually turn the defroster on max and use a vacuum cleaner to try to get most of it so I don't have small glass shards bowing up in my face.

regards
mech

You used to rebuild salvaged cars right?

[user removed]

Yep, a couple hundred.

regards
mech

[Xist]

So, a small child could carry around my net worth, a beetle, chewing gum, and Matchbox car in one pocket. Sweet.

[redpoint5]

I've had the car for a week now, and no problems found except for a slight misalignment in where the lower passenger side windshield seals. There is a very faint wind noise coming from that area, but no water intrusion. I'll fix that with some silicone sealant.

I purchased a Leaf charger from CL for $200, and it works great. The car says I have 13.5 miles of range after charging with 3.15 kWh. A full charge takes about 2.5 hours.

I'm only averaging 50 mpg in hybrid mode, which isn't nearly good enough. I'm wondering if the Federal Super Steel 657 tires have higher rolling resistance than the OE tires? They are M+S rated.

My current tire


I'm wondering if I should keep the current tires for rain and snow season, and purchase some LRR 3-season tires. I would think I could make back the expense over the course of the 70k miles I'd put on them, assuming a decent improvement in FE.

[vskid3]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

Federal Super Steel 657

That just sounds bad, I'm sure they're more like HRR tires if anything. I would probably just sell them if you replace them, I doubt they would be better in the wet/cold than decent LRR tires.

[Daox]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

I'm only averaging 50 mpg in hybrid mode, which isn't nearly good enough.

Can you describe your daily commute?

Its much harder to beat the EPA with hybrids, especially at highway speeds IMO. The slower you go, the easier it is to beat EPA.

[redpoint5]

Originally Posted by Daox

Can you describe your daily commute?

Its much harder to beat the EPA with hybrids, especially at highway speeds IMO. The slower you go, the easier it is to beat EPA.

I don't have any commuting data yet, as the only tank of fuel I've gone through was on a trip to Bend and back. On the highway, I set the cruise to 60-65 mph. I drive in "Eco mode" and try to keep the HSI in the eco range. It's basically impossible to do that when accelerating from a stoplight. There was some hard driving rain and headwind on the drive to Bend, but I still think the fuel economy should be a little over 50.

Paying great care to my driving and route while speeds below 40 mph, I'm getting only 11 miles in EV mode. I was hoping for 13, as this gets me round-trip to work and back.

I'll be completing the lower grill block this week, and I might keep an eye out on CL for some stock wheels to mount some LRR tires to. That way I'll have winter tires and efficient 3-season tires.