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something's not right

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Fuel Economy' started by mfarmer1, Aug 14, 2008.

  1. lwnboy

    lwnboy New Member

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  2. McShemp

    McShemp New Member

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    Let's see ... you're:
    • Used to driving 70-80 mph routinely on the freeway
    • Using either full gas or full brake much of the time
    • An aggressive driver
    • Impatient
    • Driving in the HOV lane a lot
    I threw the HOV one in there because I heard that they've been out of HOV stickers for a while.

    I really do think you should just sell the Prius now (why wait?) and move on. A nearly new 2008 Prius with low miles should recoup most, if not all of, your purchase price. Especially if you do have HOV stickers on it.
     
  3. mfarmer1

    mfarmer1 New Member

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    I lived through the 70's- we're all going to be forced underground as the polar ice caps move over the continent.

    80's- half the planet is going to die form AIDS, acid rain is going to ruin the farmlands and we will all starve

    90's- More AIDS nonsense, start of global warming hype

    00's- bird flu will wipe out mankind, coastal cities will be underwater in 20 years

    70's 80's 90's 00's- The Earth can't support 4 Billion...5 billion...six billion...7 billion.

    Well, here we are, fatter than ever with no rain making holes in our umbrellas, drugs preventing people from dying from HIV, almost 7 billion people, getting struck by lightning while playing Frisbee with your dog on Thursday afternoons west of the Mississippi after eating fish tacos has killed more people than bird flu, and beach houses are doing just as well or not so well as they always have.

    You can't be serious about big oil not wanting to build new refineries??? There has not been a new refinery built on US soil in over 33 years. Now who do you think was behind that really? It probably takes over 10 years just to go through governmental nonsense and bureaucrats not fit to work at a 7-11 on the night shift to get the permits and studies alone done. Congress should remove all taxes and regulations from big oil right now in exchange for that money to be dedicated to a number of refineries within a specified time frame. No problem here, but I can just hear people screaming when you talk about such things. You want energy independence, that's what you need to do, not telling people to ride their bikes or fill up their tires.

    I would love to see three nuclear power plants come on line every year for the next 100 years. That's at LEAST what it would take to keep pace with demand and retire others. But nooooooo...can't have Yucca Valley can we? Who do you think is stopping that? Big Nuclear?

    I really don't care how we do it, but it needs to be done, most likely from a combination of all sorts of these things combined. I've got the stomach for it, you do, but obviously many do not and truly think we can live pre-industrial revolution lifestyles. Somehow, someway, they have gained traction with government, or are government themselves as people inclined with that type of mindset tend to go that direction. They must be stopped or we will all end up living like the Unibomber.
     
  4. mfarmer1

    mfarmer1 New Member

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    1) Yes
    2) Where do you get that? I gas when I need to go faster or go at all and brake when needed.
    3) According to many here yes. Comparitively speaking for what I see on the road, hardly.
    4) Guilty as charged.
    5) I use Fastrak and pay for it. "They" haven't been out of them for awhile, "they" want to drain every cent out of productive citizens for their failed government programs, "they" stopped issuing them once too many people started to use the program "they" encouraged. Typical.

    You want to buy it?
     
  5. SZ92

    SZ92 Junior Member

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    My dad and I go faster than that and get better mpg, but you have to use the cruise controll or else it suffers.
     
  6. SZ92

    SZ92 Junior Member

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    LMAO thats funny as hell.
     
  7. Fraser

    Fraser New Member

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    I agree with your anti-envirowacko sentiments. And we bought our Prius for exactly the same reason -- to save money. That said, I don't think any Prius will get even CAFE level average if it's pedal to the metal. It does take some getting used to. We just finished a 2,900-mile round trip and got 51 mpg. Our last leg of 330 miles averaged 56. We didn't play Prius games with pulse and glide (well, not much) but we tried to stay a few miles under the posted limit, on the theory that we woudn't be that much slower getting to our destinations. And we weren't. We used cruise control most of the way, mainly in rolling hills and in some mountainous areas. Didn't seem to affect mpg either way. Plus, we enjoyed our trip. I'm thinking we're about at the broken-in stage, and we'll find that out over the next couple of weeks when instead of one tank a day, we're filling up every 10 days. Maybe the Prius isn't for you; that's cool. I literally had never touched a Prius until I took possession of ours; had to learn on the fly, but it was actually fun. And my wife, who is not a car gal, loves to drive it. Enjoy yours as much as possible while you have it.
     
  8. robbyr2

    robbyr2 New Member

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    Actually, it was in Business Week awhile back, that noted that instead of building new refineries, Big Oil has been buying them and closing them. We have less oil refining capacity than we did 10 years ago. They control the supply. For some reason, they think that if they make more gasoline the price might go down. Why on earth would they want to do that? Counting on Big Oil to drill, refine or otherwise get us out of this mess is like inviting the fox into the hen house to increase egg production. Letting them keep more of the eggs they produce isn't really going to help much IMO.

    Hyperion's refinery construction is a 10-year process... the lenders and insurers and customers kind of expect them to make it a good, clean, efficient, and safe refinery. It is not environmental regulation or government bureaucrats holding up the process.

    The only thing we the people can do is reduce demand. They've obviously been helping with $4 plus per gallon, but we are driving less (and slower at least around here). And prices are down- although apparently not as much here as other places (25 cents or so a gallon).

    I will have to look up Yucca Valley. It hasn't made the news here. Is there a lot of water around there to deal with the heat issues of a nuclear power plant? That's the biggest issue here with nuclear power (it's also our big problem right now with oil shale). If it can be built safely, then it should happen. And it probably will. Even Sen. McCain knows it takes a long time to build a nuclear power plant just on a business side.
     
  9. a priori

    a priori Canonus Curiosus

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    I don't get it. I thought you were really looking for assistance.

    Is this a passive-aggressive response now, or am I missing something?

    I thought I would attempt to offer some explanations, assistance, perhaps even useful advice. I also thought I was doing this without being offensively "preachy." I guess I am so self-absorbed I can't do this.

    Forgive me? Dismiss me? Consecrate me? Humor me?

    Look, I hope things work out for you. I really hope you find a way to justify, if not even enjoy, your Prius.
     
  10. mfarmer1

    mfarmer1 New Member

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    Fraser,

    Thanks so much for that. Watch out however in here or you might be accused of ignorance for not memorizing the owner's manual and worse for scratching your hemorrhoids while driving!

    That's a long way to go on a trip in that car in my opinion, but I'm glad you enjoyed it.
     
  11. RonH

    RonH Member

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    Well, either you got a lemon or you're lying or you're a troll. Whatever, sell it for a premium and give us a rest. I'm outahere.
     
  12. F8L

    F8L Protecting Habitat & AG Lands

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    Let it go my friend. The guy is obviously clueless and antagonistic much like the other ignorant trolls. Notice how quickly he resorts to politics and environmentalism bashing. It's a sure sign of stupidity and trollish behavior. :rolleyes:
     
  13. mfarmer1

    mfarmer1 New Member

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    You've got to be kidding if you think an oil company could just buy some land and build a refinery without years of litigation, permits, fees, and studies.

    The old (very old) refineries are closing because they are no longer worth keeping open given their age even with the increased cost of petroleum. Moreover, every attempt at building new ones for the last thirty years has run into insane hurdles leading to our dependence overseas where they have no such issues and are now reaping the rewards. How many refineries are there in the US? 50? 75? 100? I don't know, but they were all built prior to 1975 and most likely after WWII. If the number is 50, that's over one per year. If it's 100, that's over three per year. And now we put ourselves in a position where we haven't built one in 33 years...and it's no coincidence that this time frame falls into the same space as when crazy extreme environmental claptrap became commonplace and part of the government lexicon. Fine, I'm for having a new clean eco-friendly one built every year? You?

    You're making my point however...less capacity equals higher prices. If you really want to get cynical...as we get better and better at conservation, prices have done nothing but skyrocket. I'm of the opinion that if every car got only 15 miles per gallon, there would be tons of gas at cheap prices because there would have to be. There's enough oil on US soil alone and in our coastal waters to supply us at current rates for centuries.

    Yucca Valley is the proposed storage area for nuclear waste. Forget real nuclear power plants, even the storage facilities are being debated for decades. It's insane. The EPA is a terrorist organization as far as I'm concerned. It does far more damage every day to the future and stability of this nation under the premise of environmental concerns than Al-Qaeda has brought to this nation.

    This argument that it takes so long to build these things as an excuse not to build them period is one of the reasons there aren't any new ones and that's why we're in such deep you know what. We cannot conserve our way out of this. It's going to be a combination of more energy production and innovation that solves the issue.

    The answer is not slowing down, driving less, etc. We might as well shut down all industries since that too will lessen demand. Geesh, this is the USA, not some 3rd world hellhole.
     
  14. mfarmer1

    mfarmer1 New Member

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    Hasta luego. See you on the 15.
     
  15. mfarmer1

    mfarmer1 New Member

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    4000 posts about a Prius and you think there's something trollish or stupid about me? Try again.
     
  16. dwreed3rd

    dwreed3rd New Member

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    mfarmer1:

    ignorance

    The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English | Date: 2008

    ig·no·rance / ˈignərəns/ • n. lack of knowledge or information: he acted in ignorance of basic procedures.

    I thought you did a good job of making excuses for your lack of knowledge and information regarding driving a Prius.
    And, I did not accuse you of scratching your hemoriods.
     
  17. Celtic Blue

    Celtic Blue New Member

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    Nah, he's trolling.

    Only mfarmer1 is allowed to be "offensively 'preachy.'" He came to make a political statement, not to figure out what is really going on with his car or his driving style.

    I hope he hangs onto it and hates every minute of it. :D Isn't that what West Coast folks call "Karma?" He's had it this long and didn't even know what B transmission setting was? Classic.

    p.s. Gotta wonder how somebody claiming 500 dives hasn't noticed the bleaching of the coral and higher water temps over the past few decades. I only have to look at my logbook from repeat visits to the same destinations. I don't have to rely on satellites or studies to see the changes.

    At any rate, I'll back out of this one now rather than feeding the troll further.
     
  18. JamesWyatt

    JamesWyatt Señior Member

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    Mitch, I completely understand where you're coming from on this. I for one will never deprive myself of a/c just to break 60 mpg. Some things I just won't do. I've only done what I felt was fun. I never want to feel stress or distraction trying to get high mpg.

    Like others have said, 1200 miles is barely enough to wear the crust off your tires and start getting better mpg. I recently put on a new set of Goodyear Comfortreads and lost 8 mpg. It's taken me a couple thousand miles to get back to 50.
     
  19. mfarmer1

    mfarmer1 New Member

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    Hi James,

    Thanks for that. Seems that I have ticked some people off here. Yeah, I enjoy some fun debate about serious subjects, but I really did come here trying to get some advice on the car. I will go soon once I have the answers I need much to everyone's joy I'm sure. A sensitive bunch it seems.

    Anyway, the car came with Goodyear tires on it. Back in the day, Toyotas usually came with Toyo tires. I don't know what size they are yet (damn, there I go again with my complete lack of forethought and due diligence with my impulse buying and not fully studying the tread-ware patterns and carving out the rubber where needed to get an extra mile per tankful), but it's probably not worth changing them yet even though they're probably not very expensive.

    I'll give it some more time and see how it goes. It's a pleasant enough car, and an interesting piece of engineering, but I'm not going to go bonkers over every single moment I'm driving it, lose sleep over it, or like you, sweat inside when it's 85+ outside with an AC at my disposal at the touch of a button for Pete's sake. There are lots of great cars out there, this is one of them, maybe just not the right one for me, that's all.

    Thanks for your help!
     
  20. mfarmer1

    mfarmer1 New Member

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    I was honestly thanking you for the tips and trying to inject a bit of humor. Sorry if I failed on both counts.