in the spirit of sharing - 2006 Prius

[robochimp]

Hello All,

first post here, but wanted to pass on a few tidbits on the 06 I have learned that may help others:

love this car - paid a bit more than I wanted (pkg8)...but well worth the premium.

Average Mileage is about 43 MPG... mainly on the 110 and 105 freeways in CA.
spend about $20 currently to fill the take about every 8-9 days... used to spend $36
every 7 days for my altima so that's just sweet...

Also some of you may want to enquire with your employer - some offer up to a buck a day
if you are driving a Hybrid (maybe more) that's one weeks worth of gas for me ;]

Voice Nav doesn't hardly work - I just don't use it as half the time it takes the Navsystem
to the wrong place...and is totally unpredictable

A black car is freakin hard to keep clean! plan on washing once a week - wax once a month.
have to be super careful about small scratches..

HOV stickers (2 weeks ago 43,000 issued mine was 43 something...)
took 1 month to get the stickers.

Magnets do work with these - you just have to get creative...

Get some magnet sheets -sticky on one side - about $10 at an art store...
cut out to shape of sticker and stick one side (stickyside) to the stickyside of the peeled off stickers...

since it is impossible to stick on the little sickers with magnets (to the bumpers)
my solution was to put another magnet stuck to the bumper as the connection to the magnetic
sticker - and walla! the 2 magnets stick together well enough to keep them on the car at 70MPH.
I then cover the bumper magnet with black tape (luckily by prius is black so it blends in
very well) you may be able to find a close tape match at a hobby store ... or
just buy some of the car paint from your dealer that matches your color and paint
the bumper magnet.

For the big "ugly" stickers I just place them on the metal portion of the rear quarter panels...no problems at all. Have had multiple cops pass by without questioning the placement.


Robochimp
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[kinged]

[
I have mine 06 now for 6 wks, I seem to be getting 49 MPG, I believe it is because I inflate my tires to 42/40 and leave the air conditioning off as much as possible. My regular commute is 405, 105. The HOV lane actually hurt my MPG.

I agree totally that voice navigation is terrible. It is impossible to have the computer recognize the street names here in Los Angeles.

Did you try voice command "AM"? It would acknowledge "AM radio", but it does not switch to it. I hope Toyota can fix that.

[robochimp]

Yeah - I just don't even bother with the voic rec (it is that bad!) but everything else more than makes up for it...

I was in Japan a couple months back and you'd be amazed how much more advanced their GPS
is - of course this car I was in was a "Windom" (aka Lexus) - but the GPS displays
a 3D layout of your drive - much nicer than top down, IMO

Their GPS can also show TV (when the parking break is set, of course ;])

I did inflate to 42... not seeimg much difference...

I drive from LAX to Burbank everyday (maybe that is the difference) the HOV works
great in the morning (105 to 110 to 5 to 134) but really doesn't work
in the evening going home 'cause the 110 has no HOV through downtown!! go figure...

I do hear the 405 is scheduled to soon have HOV (both lanes) which may be nice, but it's
a bit scary doing 70 and zipping past cars barely moving when anyone of them
to try to swerve into you lane for any reason... 2 HOV lanes is waaaay safer... or elevated
HOV lanes (ala 110) the best!

-robochimp

Originally posted by kinged@Jan 12 2006, 06:03 PM
[
I have mine 06 now for 6 wks, I seem to be getting 49 MPG, I believe it is because I inflate my tires to 42/40 and leave the air conditioning off as much as possible.  My regular commute is 405, 105.  The HOV lane actually hurt my MPG.

I agree totally that voice navigation is terrible.  It is impossible to have the computer recognize the street names here  in Los Angeles.

Did you try voice command "AM"?  It would acknowledge "AM radio", but it does not switch to it.  I hope Toyota can fix that.

[snapback]188750[/snapback]

[robochimp]

BTW - is the 49 MPG based on the running total, or just what you see in the graph???

on the 5 minute graph, I *sometimes* 50-100MPG....

-robochimp

Originally posted by robochimp@Jan 12 2006, 06:35 PM
Yeah - I just don't even bother with the voic rec (it is that bad!) but everything else more than makes up for it...

I was in Japan a couple months back and you'd be amazed how much more advanced their GPS
is - of course this car I was in was a "Windom" (aka Lexus) - but the GPS displays
a 3D layout of your drive - much nicer than top down,  IMO

Their GPS can also show TV (when the parking break is set,  of course ;])

I did inflate to 42... not seeimg much difference...

I drive from LAX to Burbank everyday (maybe that is the difference) the HOV works
great in the morning (105 to 110 to 5 to 134) but really doesn't work
in the evening going home 'cause the 110 has no HOV through downtown!! go figure...

I do hear the 405 is scheduled to soon have HOV (both lanes) which may be nice,  but it's
a bit scary doing 70 and zipping past cars barely moving when anyone of them
to try to swerve into you lane for any reason... 2 HOV lanes is waaaay safer... or elevated
HOV lanes (ala 110) the best!

-robochimp

[snapback]188767[/snapback]

[pfile]

what? you are putting your HOV stickers on with a magnet?

expect them to be stolen...

[robochimp]

Nope... put'em on, take em off when at work.... I get a sticker free car
for the weekend.... it's work the little extra work - 'specially if this whole deal ends in 08 - get to keep the paint nice.

-robochimp

Originally posted by pfile@Jan 13 2006, 01:25 AM
what? you are putting your HOV stickers on with a magnet?

expect them to be stolen...

[snapback]189069[/snapback]

[Sho-Bud]

A black car is freakin hard to keep clean! plan on washing once a week - wax once a month.
have to be super careful about small scratches..

That's what the dealer told me as well: don't buy a black one!
You can see anything on it.

[pfile]

Originally posted by robochimp@Jan 12 2006, 10:29 PM
Nope...  put'em on,  take em off when at work....  I get a sticker free car
for the weekend.... it's work the little extra work - 'specially if this whole deal ends in 08 - get to keep the paint nice.

-robochimp

[snapback]189070[/snapback]

phew.

i'm too lazy, i'd forget to take them off.

[maggieddd]

Originally posted by robochimp@Jan 12 2006, 06:35 PM
Yeah - I just don't even bother with the voic rec (it is that bad!) but everything else more than makes up for it...

I was in Japan a couple months back and you'd be amazed how much more advanced their GPS
is - of course this car I was in was a "Windom" (aka Lexus) - but the GPS displays
a 3D layout of your drive - much nicer than top down,  IMO

Their GPS can also show TV (when the parking break is set,  of course ;])

I did inflate to 42... not seeimg much difference...

I drive from LAX to Burbank everyday (maybe that is the difference) the HOV works
great in the morning (105 to 110 to 5 to 134) but really doesn't work
in the evening going home 'cause the 110 has no HOV through downtown!! go figure...

I do hear the 405 is scheduled to soon have HOV (both lanes) which may be nice,  but it's
a bit scary doing 70 and zipping past cars barely moving when anyone of them
to try to swerve into you lane for any reason... 2 HOV lanes is waaaay safer... or elevated
HOV lanes (ala 110) the best!

-robochimp

[snapback]188767[/snapback]

Yeah, I've seen the GPS system in Japan and it is amazing, made me feel like we are still in dark ages The 3D dispaly was awesome, and TV too. Have you seen thier cell phone system? WOW
Sorry didn't mean to hijack your thread.

[tracysbeans]

Originally posted by robochimp@Jan 12 2006, 05:28 PM
Voice Nav doesn't hardly work - I just don't use it as half the time it takes the Navsystem
to the wrong place...and is totally unpredictable

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[snapback]188720[/snapback]

Oh Darn, That was one feature of the Nav I was hoping to be able to use.