Curtis Bratcher

curtisbeme · 04-05-2008, 06:42 AM

Hi Everyone,
I'm the new owner, for one month, of a Magnetic Gray 2008 Pkg 6 Prius.
I have been getting around 40 to 45 mpg just doing normal driving, haven't touched the tire pressure yet.
On the way home from work yesterday, I reset the consumption screen and drove home 5 miles interstate and then 3 miles city street with 5 stop lights. During the 3 miles I usually run 35 to 40 mph and almost 100% electric. On the ride home yesterday, my mpg was 51.7. I assume that this was due to the interstate driving fully charging the battery, so that I was able to run 3 miles on electric, yielding a higher that normal mpg. Also, I try to hang back from the other drivers and slowly coast to the traffic lights and thereby charge my battery for additional electric driving.
On the voice activated navigation. It doesn't work very well for me. I have a southern accent, so I assume the it doesn't hear my voice correctly. Is there a way to "train" the system to hear my voice?
One other question. Does anyone know what the cost of replacing the hybrid battery is? I don't worry about it since it is warranted for 8 years, but people ask me and I want to know. My dealer didn't know because they haven't had to replace one yet. One friend had a ford hybrid and it cost $4000 because it was out of warrantee. I would guess that in 8 years, a better and more efficient battery will come along anyway.

JimN · 04-05-2008, 11:17 PM

Welcome to the club. It sounds reasonable that a dealer would charge $4000 to replace the battery but I really don't know as I don't expect to replace the battery.

Bill Merchant · 04-06-2008, 02:23 AM

Welcome to PriusChat, Curtis. There are several posts here on how to get better MPG, but it sounds like you're doing pretty good. The voice recognition system can't be trained. I don't have a southern accent and it only understands some of my commands. Just try to be amused when you say Screen Off and SHE responds Showing Ski Resort Icons. SHE's pretty good about understanding Hide All Icons for me.

MSRP is $2,985.13 for the HV Battery, but available for under $2400. There are Prius taxis in Vancouver BC with over 300K miles and the batteries are in great shape. I think the HV battery is good for the life of the car.

04-05-2008, 06:42 AM	#1
curtisbeme Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Virginia Beach, Posts: 12 My Car: 2008 Prius Package: #8 Nominated 0 Times in 0 Posts TOTM Awards: 0 Friends: 0	Curtis Bratcher Hi Everyone, I'm the new owner, for one month, of a Magnetic Gray 2008 Pkg 6 Prius. I have been getting around 40 to 45 mpg just doing normal driving, haven't touched the tire pressure yet. On the way home from work yesterday, I reset the consumption screen and drove home 5 miles interstate and then 3 miles city street with 5 stop lights. During the 3 miles I usually run 35 to 40 mph and almost 100% electric. On the ride home yesterday, my mpg was 51.7. I assume that this was due to the interstate driving fully charging the battery, so that I was able to run 3 miles on electric, yielding a higher that normal mpg. Also, I try to hang back from the other drivers and slowly coast to the traffic lights and thereby charge my battery for additional electric driving. On the voice activated navigation. It doesn't work very well for me. I have a southern accent, so I assume the it doesn't hear my voice correctly. Is there a way to "train" the system to hear my voice? One other question. Does anyone know what the cost of replacing the hybrid battery is? I don't worry about it since it is warranted for 8 years, but people ask me and I want to know. My dealer didn't know because they haven't had to replace one yet. One friend had a ford hybrid and it cost $4000 because it was out of warrantee. I would guess that in 8 years, a better and more efficient battery will come along anyway.

04-05-2008, 11:17 PM	#2
JimN Certified Prius Advisor Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: South Jersey Posts: 2,055 My Car: 2006 Prius Package: #3 Nominated 0 Times in 0 Posts TOTM Awards: 0 Friends: 0	Re: Curtis Bratcher Welcome to the club. It sounds reasonable that a dealer would charge $4000 to replace the battery but I really don't know as I don't expect to replace the battery.

04-06-2008, 02:23 AM	#3
Bill Merchant absit invidia Join Date: May 2005 Location: USA \| Oregon \| Portland area \| 97004 \| Posts: 3,925 My Car: 2007 Prius Package: #5 Nominated 6 Times in 1 Post TOTM Awards: 1 Friends: 47	Re: Curtis Bratcher Welcome to PriusChat, Curtis. There are several posts here on how to get better MPG, but it sounds like you're doing pretty good. The voice recognition system can't be trained. I don't have a southern accent and it only understands some of my commands. Just try to be amused when you say Screen Off and SHE responds Showing Ski Resort Icons. SHE's pretty good about understanding Hide All Icons for me. MSRP is $2,985.13 for the HV Battery, but available for under $2400. There are Prius taxis in Vancouver BC with over 300K miles and the batteries are in great shape. I think the HV battery is good for the life of the car. __________________ Bill Bill.Merchant@PortlandHSD.info 2007 NL 5 Silver Wraith 2005 BC 6 Silver Cloud Portland Area HSD Meetup Group: PortlandHSD.info Become carbon neutral: Carbonfund.org or TerraPass.com