She has been with me since January 31st. So far we have covered 400 enjoyable miles, averaging 48 mpg (4.9 l/100km), about what I expected. I try to maximize efficiency, but I do have rather short commute trips, around 6 miles. I picked the silver colour because I plan to keep her for a long time. She came on Michelin Primergy tires. Looks just right with the 16 inch wheels. The manual I have, specifies (research) octane 95 gasoline. I wonder if there is technical reasons why they don't recommend octane 92. I seem to have read on PC that regular gas (~92 (research) octane) should be perfectly OK, but what does the US manual say? There seems to be a conservatism, like when Toyota US requires oil changes every 5000 miles, while in Denmark, it's perfectly OK for the Prius to go 15000 km or one year between oil changes.
Australia is RON91. I use RON94 E10 Welcome to the Prius owners club and PriusChat. Best colour Prius too, well done!!
As Doc Willie said, the US manual has low octane recommended as compared to yours and recommends no higher octane be used. I read a thread on PC that says that US oil standards aren't near as good as EU oil standards so maybe thats the difference in oil change mileage. Nice color BTW
Welcome PoulStaugaard to the forum. Please say hi to Tanya for me. Very nice looking Prius you have. Thanks for the pics.
I wonder if there are differences in the engine or any other reason why I should not use RON 92 gasoline. As an aside, I'm in doubt whether it has the gas tank bladder and the coolant flask. I seem to have read that the european version does not have these, but it would seem that it does: There's a rubber hose inside the gas filling pipe, and I have heard a brief motor sound from the engine compartment a little while after switching off.
I still don't know what that "brief motor sound" is either. It happens about a minute after I turn off the Power button.
I've read that this is the coolant being pumped into a thermos to help keep it warm for the next trip.
I think the noise is the brake booster pump. I hear it in Australia too. If you pump the brake it does it again. Try it.
I have a 2008 Prius bought in NW USA. The manual says: "Use premium unleaded gasoline. (87 Octane Rating [Research Octane Number 91] or higher)." Where I am 87 Octane is regular.
As to the octane recommended, open this PDF and pay particular attention to section 3. http://www.autoshop101.com/forms/Hybrid13.pdf I copied and pasted this link from another thread about "Why not to overfill your tank".
