Shopping for Prius, any trouble to watch for?

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by Xist

A friend posted "Love my new car, didn't use any gas this morning coming to work, my old car I would have used a quarter of a tank of gas!"

Cool!! The MPGiata must have the same fuel-saving technology as your friend's!! I can drive it ~140 km before the fuel gauge needle moves away from the "F" mark! Free miles!

It's not very efficient at all past the 1/2 mark though.

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by elhigh

This is what followed me home:

Congrats, elhigh.

Have you spent much time behind the wheel of a Toyota hybrid system before this car? I got a huge kick out of driving my 2004 Prius. Very enter-nerd-taining.

Did you get a good price? Mind sharing?

[elhigh]

After subtracting the change I found in the damn-near-invisible console drawer, my price was about $4700. I don't know if that was a good price but I went looking for cars willing to spend up to $8500 or so, so getting to keep so much of my money felt like a win.

My experience with Prii is limited, being only in the one we have here at work and that almost exclusively on city streets. Never get much speed up, never get much distance on. And the thing is absolutely festooned with air fresheners, I hate it so hard when I have to get into that car, knowing when I come out I'm going to smell like the detergent aisle at the grocery store when I can stagger away from it.

It has some bad scuffs on the front bumper skin but I discovered over the weekend, while replacing the headlight bulbs, that removing the bumper skin is the work of just a few minutes. A new, painted bumper skin from Amazon is just $200, which will radically improve the front end's appearance.

I also noticed that the pans under the front are in rough shape, rough like as in "not helping much, you can tell by how they flap" and in dire need of reinforcement or replacement. No worries there, I still have plenty of coroplast and trim buttons.

This thing is going to wind up the daily driver for my kids, as one of them doesn't like driving a manual (he can but he calls it "too much to think about and still be safe") and the other doesn't currently have an income, so doubling their fuel economy is an easy win in my book.

For this first week at least, Sweetie, one boy and I are carpooling in it for a shakedown while we learn its nuances. And to help eliminate tester bias, I'm forcing myself to use the cruise control when on the highway. Locked in at 59 mph and in this no-AC/no-heat weather we have right now, that should provide a pretty good baseline for what we can expect from this car in a neutral setting. Since gassing up over the weekend, this morning when I handed the car over to Sweetie it was sitting at 47.3mpg.

And on the basis of the change found in that console drawer, I'm changing its name: Felicia.

[S Keith]

I don't see where you posted miles on the clock.

Concerning A/C use - even in mild climates, the Prius battery will get very hot - 120°F+
Sparing the A/C is usually a false economy in that the improved mileage you're getting means you'll replace your battery sooner. If it's under 80-85°F, it probably doesn't matter.

In case you weren't aware, the Prius compressor is all electric, and it varies its speed based on demand, so rather than cycling on and off like a traditional system, it dials back power usage to what it needs. Treat it like the house - Auto mode, recirc always on and control driver comfort with the temperature setting.

A good rule of thumb is - if a hot-flash prone lady isn't comfortable, the battery is too hot.

[elhigh]

Originally Posted by S Keith

I don't see where you posted miles on the clock.

Concerning A/C use - even in mild climates, the Prius battery will get very hot - 120°F+
Sparing the A/C is usually a false economy in that the improved mileage you're getting means you'll replace your battery sooner. If it's under 80-85°F, it probably doesn't matter.

In case you weren't aware, the Prius compressor is all electric, and it varies its speed based on demand, so rather than cycling on and off like a traditional system, it dials back power usage to what it needs. Treat it like the house - Auto mode, recirc always on and control driver comfort with the temperature setting.

A good rule of thumb is - if a hot-flash prone lady isn't comfortable, the battery is too hot.

There are no miles to post since I just got it this past Saturday. I haven't even burned half a tank of fuel yet. It racks up about 50 miles per day on the commute, plus whatever Sweetie racks up during the day.

I'm aware of the AC, its serving both the battery and the passenger compartment, and the compressor being electric. High temps here are about 73-75 right now. We're good.

If I treat it like my house then I'm going to run with the windows open all night, get it down to about 60 degrees and then coast on that "coolth" for the rest of the day. Not a good analogy.

[Xist]

What is the odometer reading?

[elhigh]

About 187,000 miles.

[S Keith]

Originally Posted by elhigh

There are no miles to post since I just got it this past Saturday. I haven't even burned half a tank of fuel yet. It racks up about 50 miles per day on the commute, plus whatever Sweetie racks up during the day.

I'm aware of the AC, its serving both the battery and the passenger compartment, and the compressor being electric. High temps here are about 73-75 right now. We're good.

If I treat it like my house then I'm going to run with the windows open all night, get it down to about 60 degrees and then coast on that "coolth" for the rest of the day. Not a good analogy.

LOL... "clock" was ODO

187K for that price is fine. You overpaid a little, but not enough to matter.

As an AZ resident, my perspective is skewed. If you could do that with your car climate, I would support it.. .

I'm sure someone has mentioned it in one form or another, but it bears repeating... check your oil every fill-up. Both of mine burn a fair amount of oil (150K and 202K).

If the red triangle light comes on while driving, and you get a tone (exactly like when you have it in drive and open the door), that's low oil. Pull over ASAP and add oil. It usually starts with "sloshing" as you come to a stop, as you pull away or in a long and sustained turn with moderate side forces.

Enjoy!

[elhigh]

^^
That's worth knowing. I hadn't heard that about these. Neither my HCH nor my geriatric Toyota Truck burn any oil, that's a bit of a letdown. I'll keep an eye on that. Getting away from an oil user was one of the reasons for letting the Forester go.

Spending some time under it (bumper skin, headlight replacement) I also looked at the underside of the engine and transaxle. Bone dry. No evidence of any oil leaks recently or old, so that's something. If the oil goes anywhere, it'll have to be out the tailpipe.

Makes a Bolt look that much more attractive.

[S Keith]

Originally Posted by elhigh

^^
That's worth knowing. I hadn't heard that about these. Neither my HCH nor my geriatric Toyota Truck burn any oil, that's a bit of a letdown. I'll keep an eye on that. Getting away from an oil user was one of the reasons for letting the Forester go.

Spending some time under it (bumper skin, headlight replacement) I also looked at the underside of the engine and transaxle. Bone dry. No evidence of any oil leaks recently or old, so that's something. If the oil goes anywhere, it'll have to be out the tailpipe.

Makes a Bolt look that much more attractive.

They're notorious for consumption particularly as they approach 200K. They'll never smoke. It has more to do with the Atkinson cycle engine than anything else. It's one of the reasons that they have a 5000 mile oil change - they don't want to extend it like many manufacturers do.