This post took awhile, but please read. :)

Is it April 1st already? My head is spinning...

 

Sound like a great roadtrip! Fear and loathing in a Prius.

Go with whichever can outrun a truck.

 

Your NHW11 Prius can teach lessons that will lead to solid skills and insights or it can be a 'clue by four' of painful, expensive lessons leading to bitterness and disappointment. The choice is yours.

LEARNING EXPERIENCE - Buy a set of the maintenance manuals, the Toyota shop manuals including the wiring diagram; buy a quality diagnostic scanner (Autoenginuity is excellent); get a good set of metric tools; and a volt ohm meter. Start reading the messages in the YahooGroup, "Prius Technical Stuff." Introduce yourself to the group and ask, "How should I begin?" Also, join Ecomodder and start reading about how to make aerodynamic parts from coroplast.

BITTER DISAPPOINTMENT - Drive the car without regard for the limitations of the 1.5L liter engine and systems. Ignore the car maintenance and health and wait for the error messages. Then complain about it and tow the car to a Toyota Service center with big bags of cash.

If you are planning for the second approach, sell or trade the car for a gas-only vehicle, better still, a diesel, and never look back. The first approach is a lot harder and takes patience but it will give you a first rate education in physics, chemistry, electronics, and systems. But it is not the path of someone who just wants "to drive."

Bob Wilson

 

There's also the not-so-remote possibility that the car will somehow break down in the middle of nowhere with no cellular coverage and leave you stranded. This will likely result in you disavowing hybrids forever - it'll be a learning experience, you'll learn how much you hate the added complexity of the car (because nobody in the middle of whatever,[flyover country state] has any idea how to fix the car).

 

If you borrow the Mom's car, you will probably drive it more carefully, and thus get better MPG.

If you take your Gen 1, you won't have as much room for stuff, thus cutting down on weight, which will help your MPGs.

You probably won't have opportunity to plug in the plug-in Prius, so don't bother with it. The extra weight of the batteries will pull down the MPG if you can't plug it in every hundred miles.

See how easy that was?

 

Just shut up, we'll get another car. Cute little sh**.

 

Which is worse, you worried about driving her car or her worried about you driving your car?

Take The Mom's Car because you know she'll love you for always and forever no matter what happens to her Prius Baby.

-Advice from a mom

 

LOL I try telling him, but he's too proud and a scaredy cat! I told him his girlfriends could take a knife to my seat or something and I could just have it replaced. It's the "irreplaceable" things I'm most worried about.

 

In engineering, we talk about 'managing user expectations' but this only works if the goals and objectives are the same.

GOAL: Drive 2001 Prius without major repair and high mileage

• 65 mph maximum cruise speed - it can go faster but it puts an exponetially increasing load on the vehicle and reduction in mileage.
• 55-60 mph hill climb speed - it can go faster but it puts the traction battery in energy deficit mode and can run out of energy before the crest of large hills
• "B" on hill descents - if car exceeds 65 mph in "D" on a descent, using "B" will cut the traction battery heating ~50%
• 38 mph city street speed - maximizes urban mileage, you can go faster but you'll pay at the pump

If this driving style does not match your expectations, then consider getting a different car. Using these driving rules, the NHW11 with 50,000 miles should(*) easily last through college and even graduate school. You won't be getting there fastest but cheapest and with a lot less stress. Use the money saved for other expenses ... say an iPod and quality tunes ... to enjoy the trip.

These driving guidelines are a lot easier to follow if the car has cruise control. If it doesn't, there is a fairly simple hack to add it.

Bob Wilson

* - we don't know how the previous owner drove.

 

It's true, I live in one of these states. BTW - I would not drive a 2001 with 100,000+ miles anything across country. Good cars can last a long time, but everything has it's limits.

 

I've been driving my 2003 Prius that way since about two months after I got it. In fact, the 800 mile trip from Ft. Worth TX to Huntsville AL taught me the 65 mph rule. The others were developed in the following months.

MAINTENANCE - Low mileage, best performance

1. Tires at maximum sidewall pressure - front 2 psi higher because of the higher weight.
2. Check tread depth, all four tires, all treads - you want to find out about an alignment problem before the tires have to be replaced. Note carefully any edge wear patterns that might be unique to one or the other tires.
3. Lubricant change - make sure the engine oil is below "F" ... about 3/4 between "E" and "F" works best. Overfilled oil leads to other problems including lower mileage and potential, future oil burning.
4. Transaxle oil change - include a gasket and drop the pan to wipe it clean. This is a nice if somewhat dirty "Do-It-Yourself" job.
5. Inverter coolant change - a pain-in-the-*ss, bleeding out the air is tricky but can done along with the transaxle oil change.
6. Southern parking habit - in summer, park in shade. In winter, park in sun. Avoid backing in parking, I didn't and it has cause two 'grief' incidents. Pull through parking is OK and back in w/o any other cars about or suicidal poles is OK.

There are some other nice things that improve the quality of life in the car. I like using an iPod with an FM encoder ... quality tunes and honest news reports. Cruise control, a very good thing. RPM gauge, great driving tool, pretty much the only one needed. Block heater, a pain to install but helps when temperatures fall below 40F. "Loose" rear seat back, so you can fold it down and put long objects (aka., skis, fishin' poles, 2x4s) in car.

Enjoy the ride, treat it with respect for its limits, and you'll get solid, dependable service for years.

Bob Wilson

ps. You might consider signing up for one of the mileage databases. Fuelly seems OK. There is the EPA web site and of course I like "myhybridcar.com." I also use "ecomodder.com" but more as a courtesy. Having a record makes it easy to spot problems early.