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New Prius enthusiast from London UK says HI!!!

Discussion in 'Newbie Forum' started by tomlondon, Mar 17, 2013.

  1. tomlondon

    tomlondon New Member

    Joined:
    Mar 17, 2013
    15
    8
    0
    Location:
    London
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    Hi folks - I have been reading the forum for quite a while and last week I took the plunge and traded in my 10 year old BMW 325i for a 2010 model Prius. Main reasons: sick of paying £1.39 a litre of petrol, sick of getting 20-22 mpg(imp) city mileage, sick of paying £270 a year road tax, sick of overpaying for insurance and sick of paying £10 every time I drive into central London. After the part-ex (trade-in) I paid £10,500 for a car with 47k miles on the clock from a franchised Toyota dealer. My choice was a 59 reg Prius T-Spirit with leather seats and usual T-Spirit gizmos: park assist, reversing camera, sat nav, HDD music drive, HUD display etc... I really wanted leather seats, but for some reason in UK they are few and far between - when looking for cars I found that maybe 1 in 30 used Prii had leather. I also wanted the sunroof, but that is as rare as hen's teeth - maybe 1 in 30 cars with leather had sunroof (and solar panels). Consequently, at any given time there are maybe 1-2 cars for sale with both leather and solar panel sunroof in the whole of United Kingdom, so I settled for leather seats only. So far I only had a chance to fill in the car once, so no real meaningful MPG numbers to report. I do get about 57 mpg (imp) on trips around town which is probably below average, but I expect it to improve as I get a better idea on how to drive it efficiently. I checked the tyre pressure and filled them to 38psi front and 36psi rear, they were a bit low. I am yet to test the 12v battery - the car had to be jumpstarted when we went to see at the dealership, but the dealer then tested the battery and said it was fine (I am not sure if you can trust a car salesman though).
    Stuff I love so far:
    • the mileage - it is insane compared to my BMW, I love the real time display
    • the gizmos - guys at work went crazy and moved their cars around to simulate parallel parking and watched with their mouths open as the Prius reversed into the parking space - inch perfect!
    • silence - BMW was quite noisy!
    • performance - I expected it to be dead slow, but it isn't - if you need to accelerate, you can easily be the first off the lights
    Stuff I am not too fond of:
    • dashboard plastics are not really BMW quality - it rained yesterday, I had front door open and the rain drops left stains on the dash and door inside
    • the bottom part of the rear window (below the spoiler) gets quite dirty after a while, as the rear windshield wiper doesn't go there
    • beeping in reverse - horrible
    • beeping when no seatbelt - very annoying
    Overall, I am very happy with the car so far. I am keen to learn more tricks to squeeze every bit of mpg out of this car. It does feel like a 21st century car and with the fuel prices going only in one direction, this is probably what the future of motoring looks like. Anyway - fellow Priuschat members - greetings from London!
     
    harrynailz and ftl like this.
  2. nascrlvr

    nascrlvr nascrlvr

    Joined:
    Jan 10, 2009
    1,200
    25
    7
    Location:
    Pacific Northwest
    Vehicle:
    2021 Prius Prime
    Model:
    Limited
    Greetings and good morning!! Congratulations on buying an absolutely wonderful car. The longer you drive it, the more you will love it. I am on my second and I promise you they would have a tough time pulling it from my grimy little hands!!

    Congrats again!!
     
    tomlondon likes this.
  3. stream

    stream Senior Member

    Joined:
    May 12, 2008
    2,977
    452
    14
    Location:
    Long Island, NY
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    V
    Congrats--enjoy.
     
  4. Les_PL

    Les_PL Active Member

    Joined:
    Nov 11, 2012
    317
    248
    0
    Location:
    Gdynia, PL
    Vehicle:
    2009 Prius
    Model:
    III
    Hi! Nice to see another European Priuschatter. Only with the steering wheel in wrong place ;)
     
    tomlondon likes this.
  5. GrumpyCabbie

    GrumpyCabbie Senior Member

    Joined:
    Dec 14, 2009
    6,722
    2,120
    45
    Location:
    North Yorkshire, UK
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    III
    You can get the dealer adjust the car so it only beeps once when you enter reverse. If you speak to them really nice you might convince them to switch off the seatbelt beep on the rear seats. You can't turn off the driver or front passenger seatbelt alarms.

    You'll grow to love the economy of the car as well as the free road tax. When you get the car serviced insist they use 0w20 oil as this will ensure you get amazing mpg's of over 75 mpg on the flat. Also try to use LLR tyres too and ensure the psi's are correct as again these make a big difference.

    Welcome to the club. Any questions, fire away.
     
    tomlondon likes this.