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NJ 2014 Prius Three

Discussion in 'Newbie Forum' started by RootBreaker, Jul 5, 2014.

  1. RootBreaker

    RootBreaker Member

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    Well first post so guess Howdy...

    I am picking up a 2014 Prius Three Monday only because our insurance company closed after we were there thus no insurance... and they are closed Sunday... ughhh..

    so 1yr and 3 months ago i bought a 2013 GMC Sierra 1500 Z-92. Z-92 is a package from American Luxury Coach consisting of a lot of chrome, 6" fabtech lift and 35" mickey thompson baja atz tires on 20" rims. Love the truck.. however... Total Cost of Ownership is ummm WOW.. im up at $600 a month in gas.. 125 mile round trip from work.. ALL highway.. not sure if the prius will be the best fit for total mpg but we will see...

    I was looking at the different driving ways. Umm no I wont be doing that... cruise control it will be....
    It was a mistake buying the truck knowing I drive so much. Love the truck and sad to see it go but it has too. Wife is going to miss it too.. something nice about a big truck...

    My goal is to set extra money from car payment savings ($150) plus gas savings ($???) into a savings account... Wife will need to get a new vehicle in a few years so hoping to have a good down payment on whatever she wants.

    Interesting reads up here.. This all stemmed from a guy at work that got a deal on a vw jetta hybrid. He is getting 48mpg @ 80mph... so he says... only had it 1 week.
    Another guy at work has 2 prius.. 1c and 1 regular.
    Talking to him and seeing the 50mpg.. he laughed and said he is getting 68.8 on the Prius and 70mpg on the C. He even sent me over screenshots of his screens... and yes he is... not sure his driving style, highway vs local commute..... but I will see what I get which will be better than my 16mpg. I can get 20-22mpg in my truck which is very good but that is just back and forth to work. What kills it is the local driving kids to soccer, street hockey or MMA. We will see how this goes and how I can best achieve my mpg with minimal thought from me. I drive @ 5:30am so sometimes barely awake... not going to think well of the different driving types....

    Will post more when the time comes..

    also I still have my high school truck (bought it in 1988) well built from junkyards and has seen many revisions... 6" lift, 40" tires, manual trans, snorkel, winch, 350 sbc worked.... so the prius is going to be my good afford gas to work....

    so while test driving one prius as we are buying from a different dealership on a 2nd one were looking at.. got behind a dodge durango with words... F your Prius.... hmmm ok so I see you guys get a lot of flack.. hopefully I dont get that but guessing it is expected....

    well more later...
     
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  2. BluetoothEdsel

    Joined:
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    Heh... Was the salesman in the car? What did s/he say? When I was test driving, I always thought it was funny to hear the salespeople feign enthusiasm for the Prius whether they liked them or not. ("You turn it on with this power button - isn't that cool? Hear how quiet it is!")

    Anyway... welcome! I'm not a mega miles driver so I'm sure others will have more input on the MPG questions. In general though, I think you'll find that you'll get much better mileage than your old car without doing anything special. My hunch is that it's all those addictive little MPG/Consumption graphics on the screen that create most of the motivation to "win" the mileage game against yourself by learning various tricks - but you don't really *need* to do anything to get very good mileage, assuming your tire pressure is good, your batteries are OK, etc. The only thing I do a little different in the Prius is take my foot off the accelerator earlier / more often because the LRR tires rollllll on their own... but this was almost an automatic adjustment for me as I got used to the way the car drives.

    You'll discover that faster you drive on the freeway, the worse your mileage will get - but unless you drive at "running from the law" speeds, it still will be good. The short trips still "kill" the mileage, but this is relative - they'll still be much better than in a gas car (never thought I'd be distraught at seeing only 34 MPG on a run to the mall....) If you combine your short trips it reduces the MPG loss since the car will be warmed up, but obviously you only have so much control over when you drive. So I'd say, don't worry much about optimizing MPG at first, and have fun laughing at people with "F your Prius" bumper stickers and very high gas bills. :)
     
  3. JimN

    JimN Let the games begin!

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    RootBreaker, welcome.

    Fuel economy is going to depend on your route & speed but you should be able to get at least mid 40's without doing anything special or different.

    As for decals, there's Calvin pissing on (insert competitor's emblem here), "If you can't Dodge it, Ram it", and "I'd rather push a (insert my brand here) than drive a (insert competitor here). Glad to see the Prius got enough attention to warrant a decal.

    Enjoy the FE office banter with the other guys. The real competition isn't one upping your co-worker (although that's fun). The real competition is in improving your own game.

    The important thing is to habitually sock away the savings. Ally Bank has the highest interest rates around.
     
  4. RootBreaker

    RootBreaker Member

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    I think the real benefit is wife will miss the sierra knowing she needs a vehicle in a year. We are now going to trade her trailblazer in and she will drive the beast.... more to come...

    Samsung Galaxy Note 3
     
  5. Munpot42

    Munpot42 Senior Member

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    After one month's ownership of the Prius my guess is your fuel cost will be about $225. That's a lot of savings, and you have the right idea in saving the money for later purchases. Heck,, you might be saving enough fuel to drive the price of gas down in your area. If you remember in high school it's all about supply and demand. Good Luck
     
  6. KennyGS

    KennyGS Senior Member

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    Congratulations & welcome to you and your f'n prius.
     
  7. primuspaul

    primuspaul Member

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    If it's a long trip of just highway (without traffic), then you won't get too great a benefit from using a hybrid. Hybrids shine when driving in stop and go traffic, or waiting in stopped traffic. The gas engine shuts off and does not restart until the battery is drained or you start going fast. It is not particularly hard to get significantly more MPG than the MPG rating of the car, but it depends on driving habits and conditions. If you're driving 65 on a highway, the hybrid system won't help much with MPG. You'll just be using the gas engine to propel the car and the hybrid system will be little more than added weight. If this is the case, and you want a new car, perhaps you should look at the Nissan Versa. I doubt you will save enough in gas to make it worthwhile to get a new Prius.

    125 miles x 5 days x 52 weeks = 32,500 per year. Let's round up to 35,000 / year, which is 280,000 miles for 8 years.

    Prius is rated for 50 mpg, but let's assume 60 which can be gotten easily.

    At $3.5 a gallon and 60 MPG, that's $16,333.33 fuel cost.
    Versa gets 40 MPG highway, so let's say $24,500 fuel cost.

    That's only savings of $8,166.67 in an 8-year period. Prius retails for $34,720 (starting MSRP) and Versa retails for about $15,000 (CVT).

    That's about a $20,000 difference! So you can either save $20,000 now or $8,000 later. In other words, Versa is $12,000 cheaper. Don't forget sales tax, insurance and financing costs: all are worse for the Prius.

    Also, don't assume you can get the entire tax credit just because they advertise it. Ask your accountant if your tax situation will allow you to utilize all of it.
     
  8. RootBreaker

    RootBreaker Member

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    Thanks for the explanation. Few notes for you...

    1. Gonna still drive at 56-low60ish mph
    2. In addition to 62mile work commute... i am also putting 20 mi round commute in less than 50mph for street hockey
    3. MMA is local round trip of 10 miles.
    4. Travel soccer - currently done for the season...

    But the biggest.. your saying car is $34k... were getting it for $23k for a prius 3..... that will help.i will eventually play the eco game.

    I originally was going to look at the vw hybrid. I like real world scenarios. Guy at work bought one and supposedly getting 48mpg @80 mhp.... it is new and i think he is believing the on car calculations which will settle w time....

    We will see how this goes. Going to pickup the p3 in 7hrs.....

    Also as long as the car lasts that will be the benefit. Right now my wife agrees we liww be giving up a $20kish margin on the gmc. She will need a new vehicle in a year or 2 so now she is going to drive the gmc and im going to save on gas. Her commute is 7mi each way and off for summer as she is a teacher...

    Plus her trade in is paid off so will knock more off and were going to put cash down making the payment way lower allowing high cost gmc payment....
    Hope you followed me on that....

    Samsung Galaxy Note 3
     
  9. -1-

    -1- Don

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    :)While I'm not sure how insurance works in NJ, here in VA, if you have current insurance, a new car is automatically added and covered by law. Dealer will contact your insurance company by the next business day.

    Congratulations on a wise decision and your new Prius purchase. You'll realize just how much starting today. I couldn't imagine a more extreme change in transportation.
     
  10. Tony D

    Tony D Active Member

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    Welcome to PriusChat and enjoy the big savings associated with Prius ownership, your MPG will double at the very least, possibly triple depending on your driving style!
     
  11. RootBreaker

    RootBreaker Member

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    we will see how this goes tomorrow.. will be my first day out..

    here she is..

    [​IMG]20140707_163850 by TeleFragger / RootBreaker, on Flickr

    [​IMG]20140707_163255 by TeleFragger / RootBreaker, on Flickr

    oh and that screen... was 600 miles cruizing range from dealership. not knowing how to drive it yet.. with AC on.. Dealer is 18 miles away...
    I will have to read up later on what all that crap is... E, Non E, whatever that has one is...plus screwin around from my house to shoprite (not in this screen) drove on Ev mode (??? all battery ???) as it is bout half a mile to show my oldest son... and think that was light blue... ughhhh
     
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  12. primuspaul

    primuspaul Member

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    Well that's certainly a better deal. At 23k you'll probably break even on the gas/price after 8 years as compared to a CVT Versa with a traditional gas engine. I guess I'm not convinced since the taxes, insurance, and financing will still make the Versa more economical.

    Just curious, but why didn't you go with a Prius C? Cheaper and better MPG. Might even be more economical than the Versa (maybe).
     
  13. RootBreaker

    RootBreaker Member

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    my wife is funny.. she haggles at everything... the $1898 extended warranty.. 5yr/125k (think it was 5yr) bumper to bumper... she got him to $1195 so that added back...

    so didnt know how to reset the trip so didnt do it until almost half way through my commute... not too shabby..
    this was with cruise control on @ 56mph. Once I get to work the roads are really hilly and I see it killed part of it...but still not bad...

    on the C... yeah I was looking at a C originally but the wife nixed that really quick once she saw it. She didnt want me driving it as it was too small. Even though only for me there will be times the kids will be in it.
    Now we have to see if I am going to drive it to North Carolina Corolla which makes sense. Pack Light and take the family and save gas... however... the Prius isnt going on the beach and the GMC would do just fine. I love taking pics on the beach (sunset, sunrise) so not sure what were gonna do now....


    first run.... not doing anything special... on way home I will get the full 60+ mile trip...


    [​IMG]20140708_064434-1 by TeleFragger / RootBreaker, on Flickr

    [​IMG]20140708_064447 by TeleFragger / RootBreaker, on Flickr
     
  14. RootBreaker

    RootBreaker Member

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    Wow....

    Usually $25 and up.... this was nice....

    Samsung Galaxyh Note 3
     

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  15. primuspaul

    primuspaul Member

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    That's good. I have to go on a trip of over 100 miles to get that.
     
  16. RootBreaker

    RootBreaker Member

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    Im new so confused.... drove locally and got 35mpg tonight.... sigh.. such a learning curve

    Still save $19 a day for commute ill take bad local... not far

    Samsung Galaxy Note 3
     
  17. primuspaul

    primuspaul Member

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    Short trips will almost always result in lower MPGs. The car's engine and components are colder and not as efficient. You get most of the efficient driving after a few minutes of driving.

    To drive efficiently:

    1. Don't overapply the gas. If you have to brake, you likely overapplied the gas. Energy used up not by traveling but by braking is energy converted into heat, not motion. Hurts MPG. Applies to just about every car and truck out there. This is not always possible, however, so in some cases it is just an inescapable reality.

    2. Pulse and Glide. Do a quick gas engine boost to a high speed, then glide (no gas engine, no battery power usage, no regen-braking) to a lower speed. Gas engines tend to work more efficiently when used at the high end of their capacity. I noticed this first when researching gasoline power generators. In general, if you need 900 watts of power, you'll want a 1,000 watt rated generator. A 2,000 watt rated generator working at half capacity (even a good generator with scaling capability) to generate 900 watts will use more gasoline per watt hour generated.

    3. Try to avoid using the battery (electrical motor) to accelerate. This avoids unnecessary gasoline -> kinetic -> stored electrical -> kinetic conversion. Gasoline -> kinetic tends to be more efficient.

    4. Be decisive. Either decide you cannot make the light/beat the car turning and stop, or keep going without braking if you can make it. Slowing down for no reason or pressing on the gas when you can't make the light, and then braking to a stop, are not efficient. Also avoid bad habits like stopping at a stop light right before the top of a hill, letting your car roll backwards 2 feet, accelerating up 2 feet, and repeating. Just coast to a stop at or near the light and brake to a stop until it turns green.

    5. Use electrical components like A/C sparingly.

    6. Keep tires inflated. I recommend inflating to max cold PSI of tires.

    7. Roll windows up at highway speeds to reduce air resistance. Also, avoid driving at speeds above 55 MPH, EXCEPT when you reach them due to rolling downhill. If you're on a 65 MPH limit highway and your car gets to 65 MPH coasting downhill, just let the speed come off as you coast. Don't brake to lose it unless necessary for some other reason (laws, collision avoidance, etc...).
     
  18. RootBreaker

    RootBreaker Member

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    so weird..
    drove in tues @ 56mph (sucks i know) and got 61mpg round trip
    drove in wed @ 60mph (still sucks ) and got 47mpg round trip - WTH!!!!!

    Today 65mph and computer saying 58.4mpg.....

    and my fuelly added below is current to my life miles so far.. it is right on...
     
  19. Munpot42

    Munpot42 Senior Member

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    Headwinds and tailwinds could be a factor....
     
  20. Prius 2014

    Prius 2014 New Member

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    My average mpg 54.3