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Prius owner again!

Discussion in 'Newbie Forum' started by Nirmalanow, Dec 9, 2011.

  1. Nirmalanow

    Nirmalanow New Member

    Joined:
    Nov 7, 2009
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    Location:
    Arizona
    Vehicle:
    2011 Prius
    Model:
    IV
    #1 Nirmalanow, Dec 9, 2011
  2. mmcdonal

    mmcdonal Active Member

    Joined:
    Feb 28, 2010
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    Location:
    Columbia MD
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    IV
    Awesome. That is a nice set up. I have the 2010 with the same configuration and color.
     
    #2 mmcdonal, Dec 9, 2011
  3. spiderman

    spiderman wretched

    Joined:
    Jul 5, 2009
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    Location:
    Alaska
    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    II
    Great color choice! Be sure to sign up for the BP brigade. Enjoy the ride!
     
    #3 spiderman, Dec 9, 2011
  4. Nirmalanow

    Nirmalanow New Member

    Joined:
    Nov 7, 2009
    23
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    Location:
    Arizona
    Vehicle:
    2011 Prius
    Model:
    IV
    I just tried out something the dealer suggested and loaded a bunch of mp3s onto a 16GB usb flash drive. Plugged it in the usb port and it works just like any mp3 player with random playback which I prefer. So for $18 I got an mp3 player for my car that never needs charging!

    So far I am enjoying discovering the capabilities of my new car. :p

    I am a little concerned that I may not get such great mileage as we live near everything and so make a lot of shorter trips which does not take full advantage of the hybrid system. I have increased the tire pressure to 44/42 and am trying to educate myself about the best way to drive the car. Seems to be a lot of contradictory advice out there :confused:
     
    #4 Nirmalanow, Dec 9, 2011
  5. cycledrum

    cycledrum PSOCSOASP

    Joined:
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    Location:
    NorCal
    Vehicle:
    Other Non-Hybrid
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    N/A
    Congrats! I'm a 2nd time Prius owner. First time was not good for me either, but this time around is great.

    We're getting a lot of 50 F temps now. The ICE will come on when starting cold, no way around that. I've noticed it stays on a little longer since the temps have dropped over 10 F or so.

    I'm really into the 1 minute consumption gage. Go to the 5 minute screen and hold trip button for several seconds. You will see MPG bar for each minute. The first several minutes are pretty low, like 30 or 40 MPGs. I've been holding on to 53 MPG on the gage, but shorter trips like less than 10 minutes drag into 52, but it recovers as I get home.

    If driven only a couple miles, then back home, yeah, the mpgs will be low, but Prius' aren't built for that. They like to get out and go far :)
     
    #5 cycledrum, Dec 9, 2011
    1 person likes this.
  6. Nirmalanow

    Nirmalanow New Member

    Joined:
    Nov 7, 2009
    23
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    Location:
    Arizona
    Vehicle:
    2011 Prius
    Model:
    IV
    I am pretty sure my around town mileage will still beat the Subaru Forrester I traded in.....and driving further just to save fuel doesn't quite work either! :rolleyes:
    And we live in Arizona so the engine will not be so cold starting out for most of the year.

    I will try out the 1 minute screen as you suggest.

    Edit added: Just took a 18 mile trip to go for a hike and I averaged 67mpg on the display. (I was driving pretty mellowly.) But a few trips a week like that will hopefully help balance out the 2 mile trips to the grocery store.
     
    #6 Nirmalanow, Dec 9, 2011
  7. Nirmalanow

    Nirmalanow New Member

    Joined:
    Nov 7, 2009
    23
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    0
    Location:
    Arizona
    Vehicle:
    2011 Prius
    Model:
    IV
    I looked at a Chevy Volt to do better around town, but the emissions are actually higher for electric miles if you calculate using the average emissions for electricity in the US. And then when you do go on longer trips the Volt does worse in both mileage and emissions. Plus it would have cost much more even with the tax credit which I also may not have enough income this year to have fully used the credit. So I went with the Prius.

    http://priuschat.com/forums/chevrolet-volt/93350-co2-emissions-using-volt.html

    The plug-in Prius will still probably not do much better for CO2 emissions when using electricity, but of course will pretty much equal a regular Prius once the plug-in battery is depleted. Maybe if we ever have a house with solar electric, I will add a plug-in system to our car.

    The good news is we only drive about 10K a year, so that by itself saves a lot of gas and CO2
     
    #7 Nirmalanow, Dec 9, 2011
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