Can I get high MPG with a Pre-owned Prius??

Yes you can get high efficiency.

The previous owner's habits are not really an issue. The car does "learn" your habits and adjust the fuel mixture and other various settings based on that. But a simple reset puts the car back to Toyota defaults ready to learn your style with no previous bias.

 

forget miles per tank and concentrate on mpg's. welcome to priuschat!

 

Pull the 12V and reconnect.

 

But do NOT fall into the trap of driving a longer route because it is more efficient and burn more gallons. It is better to get 40mpg and burn 0.1 gallons than get 60mpg and burn 0.2 gallons driving around some crazy flat loop.

It needs to be disconnected for a good amount of time, 5 minutes or so... Also keep in mind that you will have to reset your windows, radio presets, trip odometer, etc. If the beeping and chimes have been changed from defaults, they may also be reset. (GenII they are reset, GenIII, I am not sure).

 

Those folks are ill advised and you would be ill advised to emulate them. The Prius hates to run out of gas. Do not go there.

Besides the issues that affect all fuel injected cars, (The fuel pump is cooled by gasoline in the tank) the Prius is unable to balance motor propulsion versus engine propulsion once you are out of gas, so the HV battery may overheat and/or discharge below the point where it can restart the engine. If the HV Battery is too low to restart the car, you need a specialized battery charger the dealer does not stock, Toyota Regional loans it to them. (eventually) The computers will immobilize the car if you try to restart without first getting several gallons of fuel (3 in the Gen 2)

If you run out of gas, stop immediately and do not try to restart until you have 3 gallons of gas in it.

If your mother in law is in the car, never go below 3 pips. (Nothing in life could be worse than stranding your MIL in the car and her living through it)
If your spouse is in the car, get gas at two pips. (You will never quit hearing about the day you ran out of gas)
If you are alone in the car, you can go to 1 pip.
If you are alone in the car, and have a 3 gallon can and good walking shoes with you, you can go to 0 pips.

 

He is calling the bars on the gas gauge, pips

 

Is this really necessary? I'm not so sure. It has to adjust to changes in fuel blend fairly quickly. If there is any problem with 'learning' about bad driver style that doesn't age out quickly with a new driver, we haven't heard about it.

 

It is not an analog gauge that moves, there are 10 lighted marks, they disappear one by one. They are commonly called pips.

Gen 2 (one pip is gone)

Prius v (full)

 

Congrats on the purchase of a prius . The previous owner should have minimal effect on your mileage & your driving record as long as proper maintenance has been performed on your car. Since your car has fairly low mileage main concern would be adequate level of oil(somewhere between the min. & max. level) & properly inflated tires(somewhere between 35 psi to 40 psi, where higher will net u better mpg but will be less cushioned/comfortable ride).

 

2010 is a Gen III

 

Another question which you will want to know (regarding the fuel gauge) is "when will I run out of gas"? For the 2010 and beyond (Gen III), there is a distance to empty (DTE) that you can access on your dashboard. Even when it reads "DTE = 0" you still will have plenty of gasoline in the car, so don't break into a cold sweat if you hit that number.

A good rule to follow is to fill up at or before your mileage equals the displayed MPG x 10.

In other words, let's say you are driving along and your displayed MPG is 53.7 miles per gallon. You should fill up at or before 537 miles. If you filled up exactly at 537 miles, you would find that you would put about ~10.5 gallons (+/- 0.2 gallons) into the tank (capacity is 11.9 gallons).

If you were going to try for a 600 mile tank, you should try to target an average MPG reading of 60.0 or greater.

If you were going for a 700 mile tank, you should try to target an average MPG reading of 70.0 or greater.

Hope this helps.

 

Use the steering wheel Trip button to cycle through the number displays at the bottom of the screen. It includes total Odometer, TripA, TripB, DTE, and a blank. Also use Display to cycle through several screens. Many of us find the HSI screen as most useful. The Energy Flow screen is less useful on the Gen3 than on the Gen2.

 

I should amend what I said about DTE = 0 and you having plenty of gas. When it first reaches DTE = 0, you may have about 2 gallons of gas in the tank. However, the DTE value doesn't change, thus you don't know how much gas is left in the tank as you continue to drive. The displayed x 10 takes this into account and gives you an easy way to determine if you absolutely should fill up now or later.

 

At 28K your Prius likely still has the tires that came with the car when it was new (OE tires).

Make sure your tire pressure is at least 35 psi front and 33 psi rear.

If your Prius has *new* tires (non OE tires) and these *new* tires are not low rolling resistant (LRR) tires - this will have a a negative affect your Prius' fuel efficiency.

When the Prius makes the first beep *near empty* warning from the fuel gauge and the last bar on the fuel gauge starts to blink - the Miles to Empty Odometer reading will be about 20 miles (left) and there should be about 2 gallons left in the gas tank. Whatever "X" mpg the Prius on board computer has estimated it has achieve - you have about Y miles to go before you run out of gas where Y miles = (X -10)miles/gallon * 2 gallons

If a Prius runs out of gas, drains the HV battery dead, then you'll need a a Toyota dealer can recharge the HV battery AND restart/reboot your car's onboard computer. You won't be able to jump start a Prius with a dead HV traction battery. The last gallon or so of fuel in the gas tank acts to cool and lubricate the gas tank pump.