Finally joined the ranks!

Well I've been looking since about May for a Prius, and finally I found exactly what I wanted within my budget.

Monday, I bought a 2008 Prius Touring pkg #6 with 27,000 miles on it. So far I'm loving it! Delivering pizzas has my indicated mileage at around 51-54 MPG US, and I hate seeing it drop down on my days off when I'm on highways visiting friends, but it's still twice what I was getting before even then.

My biggest complaint is the tires that are on it currently-- they seem excessively loud, but since they're new I'll just suffer with the noise until they're worn out. I also don't care for the way they handle wet roads with puddles. I forgot what they are, some kind of Michelin Energy or something like that, but I might switch to Michelin Primacy MXV4 for my next set because those were awesome handling in all conditions and quiet as heck in my old car. Either that or pick up some cheap 15" rims and put some snow and ice tires on them for winter, and maybe keep using the 15" rims throughout the year for the better mileage.

I thought the digital dash (particularly speedo) and center location would bother me more than they do, but I actually find it's just fine and doesn't bother me at all. That was a surprise.

I do wish the steering wheel controls were a bit more functional. Town Cars have a lot better controls on the wheel because you can adjust fan speed and temp both on the controls. I'd love to have that ability! I may have to dig into my manual and see about using the voice controls.

The bluetooth works very nicely, and I was surprised that I can hit the dial button on the wheel and get a dialpad on the touch screen to dial with. Pleasant surprise!

One thing I don't like is that I can't have the fuel consumption information displayed alongside the navigation map, and that I don't have full access to the climate control or radio while the map or trip information is on the screen. I find having the whole radio right there visible on the dash with almost no actual controls or displays on it kind of bugs me, but it doesn't bug me enough to not live with it.

I agree with what others have said about the JBL premium audio system. It's not bad but it's not great by any stretch. I'll have to put some "reference" music on there and see if adjusting the levels a bit makes it more pleasing to my ears. In its all default settings, it just feels a bit lifeless and dull to me. But I'm used to listening through professional studio monitors or THX-certified equipment too, so I have a strong bias.

Next up is to get a scangauge (or is there something better now?) and learning how to properly maximize my mileage. I think it should be possible for me to crack 60 MPG or so at work delivering pizza with a little more data, information, and practice. Then maybe a backup camera hack so I can turn it on with a switch when I want to. I'm thinking about the EV switch too, but it's not a high priority because I don't think it would actually be all that useful for me-- more of a "show off" mod when I want to show people how quiet a Prius can be.

Another near shock to me was how LOUD other traffic is at stop lights! I never noticed it in my Subaru, I guess because I was a part of that noise, but when you're sitting in a silent car with the windows down at a busy red light on a work day, other cars are friggin loud! But the awesome side of that is when I'm trying to pull out of a blind drive, it's quiet enough that I can hear an approaching bicycle(!), much less approaching cars in the blind spot. That is a HUGE safety feature if you ask me!

I'm very happy, but I'm also a bit nervous because this is by far my most expensive purchase ever. Please don't let the economy crash for the next 5 years! LOL

 

Oh, and I forgot to mention, I found it in my top color choice, magnetic gray! I was sure I'd have to settle for my least favorite color to get the price and options I wanted. So yay for that too!

 

They may be quieter than I give them credit for considering the difference in noise impression coming from my Subaru sitting at traffic lights. They might be quieter than the Primacy MXV4 but seem louder due to less noise they're competing with.

I'm pleased with their ride and handling on dry roads, but when I hit puddles they're not even close to the performance of my Primacy MXV4 in my Subaru, and it doesn't feel like it's a difference due to AWD to me. These just "skim" the water a lot more readily when I hit puddles on the road than the Primacy does-- the Primacy just hunkers right in like nothing happened.

The pressures were set low the first two days I had it, about 31.5 on the rear and 32.5 on the front. They're rated for a maximum of 51, so I bumped them to 47 front, 45 rear to see how my mileage was affected. Not a huge difference, but I should run it both ways for a couple tanks to be fair, and I haven't even finished the first tank yet. With the higher pressure, the ride is noticeably more firm, and the steering response is very quick and crisp (probably too crisp for some drivers), but it feels very solid and sure-footed on dry roads so I'll probably leave them as is for the time being. They're not a bad tire, I'm just not as impressed with them as I was with the Primacy MXV4 on my last car-- those were head and shoulders above anything else I'd had on the car.

I actually thought the price of the ScanGauge is fairly cheap considering all it can do. A few years back I bought an ODBII scanner and paid $200 for that, whereas the SG is listed for $159 in the PC store. Being that I was spending around $5,000 a year on gas in my last car, the $159 investment just seems like a smart use of money for my pizza delivering. It could pay for itself within a year or two with the savings.

I'm also a bit of a geek, so being able to poke around and see everything going on in the black boxes is something that interests me. It's helpful for diagnosing maintenance problems. In my old Subaru, the ODBII scanner saved me several hundred dollars in diagnostic and repair expenses when various things would crop up, because it was a lot easier to track down the source of the problems. Well worth the investment if you work on your own cars at all IMHO.

Now a TechStream, that I would consider expensive!

 

Thanks guys! It's gonna be a lot more fun here with a Prius than without! LOL

 

Eventually I'll probably do that, like when the weather gets cold enough to need to use the heater. But for now I've been mostly driving with all the accessories turned off to get a feel for what my upper limits will be for mileage and to learn how best to adjust my driving to improve it. All my driver co-workers are getting really jealous when I tell them what I'm getting and how little gas I'm using. It's awesome being able to work a busy day and make $150 in cash and only have to spend about $6-7 of that on gas for a change! I used to be spending $14-18 for gas on those days.

Still though, the Town Car has the auto mode where you can adjust the temperature like the Prius, but it's really nice to have the extra two buttons for fan speed too for when you want to override it. I spent so many hours behind the wheel of those that I just miss the feature now. But I still have more controls now than I did in my Scoobie. And the auto is awesome since it's smart enough to wait until it can blow hot or cold air before it blasts you with it. I think I'm going to love this car even more come winter. If money works out, I might even try getting some snow and ice tires and foregoing the Subaru in the snow storms... but we'll see how that first storm handles. I'd hate to wreck it when I have a perfectly awesome snow beater I can drive.

And MJFrog, you're right. From what I've read the Prius doesn't break down. But if it ever DOES do anything weird, at least I'll be able to narrow down what it is! The mileage and the geek factor are what will make the SG worthwhile to me more than anything. The rest is just icing on the cake.