Prius beats Jeep worth the extra new car cost

[itsme]

Well we just got in from an allday car trip and had to put gas in the new Prius odo showed 461 miles when last pip sarted to blink so we filled up then. it took 8.921 gals. for a fulltank so with my calculation we got 51.67 mpg for our first tank. We traded in our trusty 4x4 Jeep Grand Cherokee which on its good days down hill with a good tail wind pushing got gave us 13.8 miles per gallon.

You would have thought we had won the Prius Lottery or something if you were to have seen us at the gas pump calculator in hand. It was fantastic and drives very well, a very satisfied customer and If the wife and I both agree thats another sight to see, It happened too. 2 for 2 we both love it. Got it for her on our 11th aniversary last Saturday. I told her next year or 2 i want the Next Gen Plug in!!!!! she agreed tonights the lucky night

BTW Great site here Guys and Gals


oh 1 more thing is though it never did go green to 8 bars on the soc- traction battery, will call service in AM

Craig & Linda

[jeneric]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(regenme @ Mar 11 2007, 07:30 PM) [snapback]404005[/snapback]</div>

oh 1 more thing is though it never did go green to 8 bars on the soc- traction battery, will call service in AM
[/b]

Don't call service. It's right where it wants to be. It prefers like a 60% charge, that's what's best for the battery.

[Betelgeuse]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(regenme @ Mar 11 2007, 09:30 PM) [snapback]404005[/snapback]</div>

Well we just got in from an allday car trip and had to put gas in the new Prius odo showed 461 miles when last pip sarted to blink so we filled up then. it took 8.921 gals. for a fulltank so with my calculation we got 51.67 mpg for our first tank.
[/b]

Just a word of warning: because of the bladder nature of the Prius fuel tank, it is highly unlikely that you will ever fill up the tank to the full 11.9 gallons that the tank is quoted for. Especially when the car is new and it's cold out, I'd be surprised if you get more than 10 gallons in at any one time. This is important because some people here have ran out of gas after doing the calculation, "OK. I have 11.9 gallons in my tank, and I'm averaging 50 miles/gallon, which means I can drive 575 miles before thinking about filling up."

As long as you trust the gas ("guess") gauge and fill up before it gets too low (I like to fill up by 2 bars), you should be fine.

Enjoy the car! It's a lot of fun!

[LaughingMan]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Betelgeuse @ Mar 12 2007, 12:17 AM) [snapback]404030[/snapback]</div>

Just a word of warning: because of the bladder nature of the Prius fuel tank, it is highly unlikely that you will ever fill up the tank to the full 11.9 gallons that the tank is quoted for. Especially when the car is new and it's cold out, I'd be surprised if you get more than 10 gallons in at any one time. This is important because some people here have ran out of gas after doing the calculation, "OK. I have 11.9 gallons in my tank, and I'm averaging 50 miles/gallon, which means I can drive 575 miles before thinking about filling up."


[/b]

The most I've ever put into my Prius at a fillup was 11.5 gallons. I think I was REALLY driving on fumes that time, and the pump I chose must have had a very high cut off.

[Godiva]

No need to take it in for service. Your battery is normal.

And I'd use the consumption screen rather than the pump and a calculator to compute mileage. Because of the bladder how much you put in is going to vary with the temperature, the pump, phases of the moon....

[itsme]

Thanks for the advice, I wont call service about the battery charge. I just didn't want to wait to long if it was a problem. again gotta say we love the Prius.

[Ichabod]

You've come to the right place. We ALL love the Prius!

You'll see your battery SOC go up and down, but don't be alarmed by anything you see on that screen (even purple 1-2 bars). I routinely get green bars because of some long downhill sections in my commute, but you really don't need to give it a second thought.

I've never, in 8 months of owning the Prius, put 10+gallons of gas in the tank at once. Usually it's 8.x and about 400 miles. I still find it amusing how quickly the tank fills up while other drivers sit around and wait!

And for minute-to-minute calculations, the car's computer is fine, but keep a spreadsheet of fuel use if you want accuracy because the calculations take a few tanks to average out to "correct."

[qbee42]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(regenme @ Mar 12 2007, 06:44 AM) [snapback]404132[/snapback]</div>

Thanks for the advice, I wont call service about the battery charge. I just didn't want to wait to long if it was a problem. again gotta say we love the Prius.
[/b]

Search around this forum and you will find many good threads on the state of battery charge (SOC). In short, the Prius tries to keep it's battery part way charged so there is always power available, but always room to store regenerated energy from braking.

Tom

[dmckinstry]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(qbee42 @ Mar 12 2007, 06:10 AM) [snapback]404161[/snapback]</div>

Search around this forum and you will find many good threads on the state of battery charge (SOC). In short, the Prius tries to keep it's battery part way charged so there is always power available, but always room to store regenerated energy from braking.

Tom
[/b]

Yep. About the only time that won't happen is a long downhill. On those rare occasions when it really gets charged, even although all other conditions are met, it won't go into EV mode. For that reason, I wouldn't mind having a larger (greater capacity) battery pack. Then you could take advantage of going down long mountain passes to recover more of what's lost on the way up.

Dave M.

[hill]

Welcome! Yes, for more info on the guess gauge, the bladder, etc, the search tool is a wonderful, and under-used thing ... as evidenced by the fact that many of the same topics gets re-written & redone up the wazoo!