What every newb should know

[Happy_2008_PriusPkg2Owner]

Hi, dwreed3rd... Bill down south of you in Macon. Yep, drive all over your part of Atl frequently - great hills. I've had my 2008 pkg 2 since Oct./Nov. last year - and found that B does not recharge the battery pack - well, not like using the brake pedal does. The regen display shows icons of cars in the yellow bar graph "5-minute increment" MPG averaging display... with each "car" being a certain amt (can't remember at the moment) of recharge/regen having been produced by using the disc brakes.

Therefore I assume that the nMh battery pack must still need to be recharged - therefore the ICE must do it in lieu of you/me having avoided the brake pedal in favor of using B to induce engine braking.

I looked back through the owner's manual and didn't find any cautionary working about this very topic - so others (than me, a raw newbie) jump in and save me with the real info here.

Thanks - hope you see your car soon. I'm down for two new 2009 Prius here at my local Toyota dealership in Macon (me and the wife) so I need to find a buyer for my current 2008 Pkg 2 red Prius with 25K miles as well as my wife's 2006 Accord EX-L 4-cyl Automatic with 46,000K... both like new - but we sure don't need 4 cars. Only two people live here !!! : )

[dwreed3rd]

Thank for the info! Good luck!

[bryanlcar]

Sorry if this is a repeat post. I did not see the question/answer when I performed a search.

I have an 08 pkg 2. Anyway to display how many miles to empty?

[richard schumacher]

No. There is no accurate way to calculate distance-to-empty: the fuel tank has variable capacity, which makes the fuel gauge not very repeatable and variable between cars (*), and fuel economy can vary significantly depending on driving conditions. An estimate of distance-to-empty would be worse than useless because it would give the driver a false sense of certainty.

(*) I originally wrote "non-linear", but that by itself would not be a problem if each fuel bladder/gauge combination were repeatable and consistent across all Prius.

[bryanlcar]

Thanks Richard!

I think you also answered another question that I had. I am still on my first tank of gas. I went 150 miles on the first PIP. The next 50 miles depleted 2 PIPs. I am assuming this is due to the variable gas tank bladder.

BTW - thanks to all that are willing to help us newbies out.

[Jack66]

Originally Posted by richard schumacher

No. There is no accurate way to calculate distance-to-empty: the fuel tank has variable capacity, the fuel gauge is non-linear, and fuel economy can vary significantly depending on driving conditions. An estimate of distance-to-empty would be worse than useless because it would give the driver a false sense of certainty.

That is why we call it the "guess gauge."

[jg1913]

I'm sorry to seem like a newb but what exactly is a "pip"? Any other helpful advice?

[dogfriend]

The gas gauge is digital with small rectangular bars to indicate the fuel level (10 bars = full). Most people call each bar a "pip". You would think that each bar would represent 1/10 of the capacity of the tank. You would be wrong.

[Oxo]

Oxo is back after a long absence!

Another thing every newbie should know is that you should make sure the doors are locked every night before you go to bed. This is because locking your doors will ensure that you haven't left a door slightly open and left interior light(s) on to run down your 12V battery.
If you click the key to lock the car the external lights will flash to confirm the car is locked.
In the first couple of weeks I had my Prius I not only left a door slightly open one night but also left the parking lights on. Result was a dead 12V battery in the morning and I couldn't start the car. The 12V battery is in the back of the car so I thought I would have to open the back door to get at it for a jump start. Couldn't open the back door without power. It was only later I found out that you can jump start from the front and I suggest newbs find out how to do this before your 12V battery lets you down.

[eestlane]

I'm finding it quite odd than nobody in this forum has said anything about the interior lights automatically turning themselves off after about 25 minutes. I have tested my 08 several times and it works every time! So, just leaving a door ajar shouldn't run down your 12v battery. What WILL run down your battery is if you have your trunk light switch in the ON position and leave the trunk lid ajar. It is not part of the auto-off function. Neither are the front overhead map lights. Leave them on and your battery will surely die.

By the way, I found this feature by accident, working on the car's interior with the doors open and after a while the dome lights went out. So I tried it on purpose and, sure enough, Toyota had thought of another way to protect the 12v battery. I just wish they had included the trunk light in that feature.