Wrong things the dealer told you before you bought your Prius

[galaxee]

i couldn't drive it before we bought it. that was stupid, but back when there was a months-long backlog they didn't give you a choice. DH had driven them and knew i would love it, so i trusted him. he was right

[excuseMeButt]

One of the dealers told me that the Prius was so pollution free and such little carbon monoxide was emitted, that even if you left the car on in the garage, you couldn't kill yourself no matter how hard you tried.

~S

[gotroot801]

My dealer told me he drove a Prius from Long Island to Florida on one tank. I supposed it's theoretically possible to get 950+ miles on one tank, but that wouldn't take you too far into Florida...

[Soylent]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ez2bgreen @ Apr 30 2007, 10:13 AM) [snapback]432506[/snapback]</div>

I live in Glenwood Springs (moved from Denver metro area in 2005). I've been told by locals that the Prius CAN legally drive in the HOV lane on Hwy 82 between Basalt and Aspen (6-9 AM eastbound, 3-6 pm westbound). I've been doing just that, and have not been pulled over. But, then, enforcement seems to be a joke. Some have suggested that the only reason for the HOV lane on 82 is so CO can get federal funds.
[/b]

Just FYI, only ILEV vehicles qualify for HOV in Colorado, and they explicitly say that hybrids don't qualify:
http://www.eere.energy.gov/afdc/progs/view...cgi?in/HOV/CO/0

However, some places consider the Prius an ILEV:
http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:jniw3...lient=firefox-a

So I suppose you could argue this and win in traffic court if you get ticketed.

[bulek]

My dealer wanted to throw the plastic plate that divides upper glove box to trash (he said it has been left by mistake and it is from some other car model).

He told me that Prius does not have smart key system because it is available only in Lexus models. I proved him wrong in one second

I bought the car over one month ago and have not received my Owners Manual so far because of "temporary problems". I have never had a car with auto transmission so without studying PC and other materials on the web I would stuck for a long time.

- Piotr

[jewelerdave]

My sales rep actually told me after a few min of talking that I probably knew more about the car than he did as he had found most Prius buyers did that he had encountered.

Very few sales people really know anything about there product.

Most sales people are used for congeniality rather than technical knowledge.

Also, if you go up to a sales man trying to sell you something and you inform them that you are a salesman in a different field and know how it works, you will find that a lot of the cheese and BS goes away and you can get to the point.

For technical knowledge...thats what books are for and experience from people in places like this chat room.

[Fibb222]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ez2bgreen @ Apr 30 2007, 07:26 AM) [snapback]432514[/snapback]</div>

That makes the non-linearity of the gas gauge all the more frustrating. I've never gotten much more than 400 miles on a tank, even though 600 should be achievable. Nor have I gone more than 40 miles after the fuel warning for fear of running out of gas.
[/b]

I always fill up before I get to the last pip on the gas gauge but even if I pushed it to the limit I would never expect to get 600 km, nevermind 600 miles! Why do so many people think 600 miles is suppoed to be do-able? I've seen that numerous times on priuschat. Are the American bladders bigger than the Canadian ones?

Thanks

[morpheusx]

[quote=Fibb222 @ Apr 30 2007, 03:10 PM) [snapback]432697[/snapback]</div>

I always fill up before I get to the last pip on the gas gauge but even if I pushed it to the limit I would never expect to get 600 km, nevermind 600 miles! Why do so many people think 600 miles is suppoed to be do-able? I've seen that numerous times on priuschat. Are the American bladders bigger than the Canadian ones?

Thanks
[/b]

I think alot of people look at the book and say the tank is 11.9 US Gallons and just round it to 12 then multiply it by 50 MPG and go hey you can go 600 miles on the tank.

I learned my lesson after only having the prius for less than a week, topped it off before going on a short cross country trip and was averaging 50 MPG and the last PIP started blinking around 525 miles and I like an idiot go well there is still enough gas in there to go another 75 miles based on my current MPG and I ran out around 535 - 540, after being able to add about a 1/2 gallon of gas to get to the gas station, I was only able to add 9.9 gallons. Funny thing is that adds up to about 10.5 gallons / or about 525 miles] 50 MPG.

Back to the main question
Not the salesman but even the lady that did the paperwork she had told me that the other girl in the office drives a prius and said that that the gas light doesn't even come on until about 550 miles and she usually ends up putting gas in at 600.

[dmckinstry]

[quote=morpheusx @ May 1 2007, 08:38 AM) [snapback]433289[/snapback]</div>

I think alot of people look at the book and say the tank is 11.9 US Gallons and just round it to 12 then multiply it by 50 MPG and go hey you can go 600 miles on the tank.

I learned my lesson after only having the prius for less than a week, topped it off before going on a short cross country trip and was averaging 50 MPG and the last PIP started blinking around 525 miles and I like an idiot go well there is still enough gas in there to go another 75 miles based on my current MPG and I ran out around 535 - 540, after being able to add about a 1/2 gallon of gas to get to the gas station, I was only able to add 9.9 gallons. Funny thing is that adds up to about 10.5 gallons / or about 525 miles] 50 MPG.

Back to the main question
Not the salesman but even the lady that did the paperwork she had told me that the other girl in the office drives a prius and said that that the gas light doesn't even come on until about 550 miles and she usually ends up putting gas in at 600.
[/b]

Ha! 525 miles with 10.5 gallons is exactly what I got the one time I ran out of gas. On a previous time I had gone at least 30 miles after it started flashing. It didn't run out. When it did run it, it had gone less than 15 miles after the last pip started flashing. I haven't trusted the low end of the gas gauge since then.

Dave M.

[daniel]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(galaxee @ Apr 30 2007, 10:20 AM) [snapback]432604[/snapback]</div>

i couldn't drive it before we bought it. that was stupid, but back when there was a months-long backlog they didn't give you a choice. DH had driven them and knew i would love it, so i trusted him. he was right
[/b]

I actually got to take the demo Prius home with me from Saturday night to Monday morning. This was in November of 2003. I think later they sold the demo. I got in before the crunch got really bad, because I only waited 2 months, and half a year later they told me the waiting list was a year.