Just picked up a Prius...now need to learn about it

Welcome aboard! No way, you did just fine. That battery has 100/150K mile warranty on it and should provide service beyond that. If not, rebuilt ones are fairly reasonable.

 

Congrats on the new Prius and welcome to the family :rockon:

 

I think the car has to be purchased and registered in California or another "Carb State" in order to get the 10 year / 150k miles.

 

While the Big HV Battery is still under warranty and should last years beyond the warranty, the small 12 volt 'starter' battery may be near it's last legs. Since it never starts the engine, just the computers, it is hard to notice it until it fails.

A good alternative owners manual is here: John's Stuff - Toyota Prius User-Guide

 

Nothing to see here- move along.​

 

Welcome to PC a good place to learn about your new to you Prius is your owners manual. Hunker down with your manual and then bring us your questions. Good luck!

 

:welcome:
:eyebrows:
My carpool rider was so impressed with riding in our 2004 that in 2008, he replaced his Jeep SUV with a brand new Prius. He wants to learn all about it. Now it's 3 years later, and he's STILL wishing he can learn all about it. Moral of the story? do not procrastinate like sweet john (my carpool rider's nickname, because he's so sour about life ) has been doing for 3 years now ...
Sweet john is still asking me;
"how do I get rid of the gas station icons on my map"
"what's the best tire pressure for mileage"
"how do I get rid of waypoints"
"how do I turn on defrost with no AC compressor"
"how do I find voice activated functions"
etc etc.
It keeps me on my toes.

 

I sold my 14mpg GMC for the Prius and I've saved over $20,000 in fuel over the last 5 years.

 

How many miles are you mowing through, yearly?

Actually, that's a pretty good algerbra question.

50000~ miles per year?

(assuming 50 mpg with the Prius, and gas roughly equiv. to Canadian's $1.30 per liter)

 

I was running about 24k or so per year. Now that my commute has changed so drastically I think I will end up higher. My commute alone equals about 1,600 miles a month.

I'm currently at 140,000 miles with no repairs. I just performed simple math and said if I had driven those miles on my truck at 14mpg then it would have cost $28,000 in fuel. I have not done the calculation at my current mileage though. So here is the current savings calculation.

Turbocharged truck: 140,000 / 14mpg = 10,000ga * $3.00/ga = $30,000

Prius: 140,000 / 47mpg = 2,979ga * $3.00 = $8,936

I had purchased the truck for $34,000. Add in all the fuel costs and that truck at 10yrs old would have cost me a total of $82,428 ($42,428 in fuel) assuming no repairs, oil changes etc. and including the 86,000 miles I already had on it for a total of 226,000 miles. If I had driven the same number of miles in the truck then the total price of the truck would have been $94,000.

The Prius ($28,000) at 10yrs old may cost me a total of $45,872 ($17,872 in fuel) assuming no major repairs, oil changes, etc. this is assuming a doubling of my current mileage over the next 5yrs (280,000miles)

Obviously these are rough estimates but it's fun to see the difference between the two vehicles.

 

I've been appending my previous post: I tried to reverse engineer the numbers and arrived at 50000 miles per year, with a few assumptions. Interesting algerbra exercise (never thought I'd say that, LOL).

We go through around 16000 km yearly, around 10000 miles, fwiw. Maybe that's why I'm taken aback.

 

I bet. 10,000 miles is pretty low. It's rather nice saving all that extra cash I bet.

I purchased my car in late 2005. I used to commute 152miles a day for awhile. EEK!

 

Congrats on the car. You'll love it, and if you have any problems there is a wealth of information and great people to help you out!

You'll love getting around 50mpg and only paying 30ish to fill up.

 

Check out the ownership experience in the 300k miles club thread.

 

That's my problem as well. With a 100mile commute I'd be pushing the limits of the car and long trips would just be annoying until the range is extended.

You did well purchasing the Prius. Read up and learn all you can and you'll save more money in the long run.

 

You'll be fine, but do start by reading the Owner's Manual. If one didn't come with the car, buy a copy from a dealer. It's full of stuff you need to know.