I'm not sure what model my Prius (v?) (lowercase v for the Prius v wagon, not uppercase) is

Welcome to PriusChat! I hope you enjoy your Prius as much as I have mine.

The v is a station wagon, pretty flat back with one rear window, the Liftback has a split rear window.

The v gets worse MPG, it is bigger, heavier, and has shorter gearing. (top speed is 103 vs 115) It hold more cargo and the people have slightly more room.

Mileage advice for any Prius (except the plug-ins) applies to the v as well.

There are are a great many ways to alter MPG, It prefers warm weather to cold, up tp 85 degrees F. Thin oil (0-W20 is recomended)
Low Rolling Resistance tires come stock. It prefers long trips to short ones, so combine trips if possible. But the biggest effect of MPG is speed. This graph is for a liftback so your MPG would be lower and slower, but you get the idea.

 

The people here are very nice and very helpful! So, tell us what exactly your questions are about the computer, and I'm sure you'll get answers. I'm happy to help.

As for gas mileage:
The the terrific news is that you will save a ton of money driving a Prius. Between gas mileage savings and fewer repairs, your Prius will probably pay for itself over time! With all the savings. It's truly amazing. That said, you will only save a modest amount that said, you will only save a modest amount per year trying to increase your gas mileage. Not to be a party pooper, but its really up to you whether additional techniques and tricks are worth bothering with. A lot of people here are big fans, but that said, you will only save a modest amount per year trying to increase your gas mileage. Not to be a party pooper, but its really up to you whether additional techniques and tricks are worth bothering with. A lot of people here are big fans, but I only make a modest effort because you really don't save much money. if you're interested, I have a thread entitled you won't save much money hypermiling, which explains why when miles per gallons are high, that changing it by 5 or even 10 miles per gallon doesn't change the dollars much. It's been awhile since I've looked at it, but I think if you try real hard you can save like $60 per year if you change miles per gallon by 5.

Feel free to usesearch bar on the basics, which are:

- Hypermiling: focus on and off throughout your drive on alternating gas and coat, stuff like that, save like 5 or maybe 10 mpg. (i guess that's like $60-120/year). I dont hypermile, not worth the game to me (some love it), but I do coast into traffic lights when it's safe to do so. Helps a bit.
Feel free to search for my mildly unpopular thread "you won't sane much money hypermiling" . Or the many other threads endorsing and explaining hypermiling!

Grille Blocking - pretty awesome actually. Put foam in the grille, weather and trip length dependent, to help engine warm up. Save like 5-10 mpg, more like10. But don't overheat that engine! Above 38 degrees Fahrenheit, I'm not doing it until I get a cheap gauge to insure I dont F the engine. Really.

BP Invigorate gas. Purported to save like 3-5 mpg. Reading and personal experience digest it's 3. But I think the gas is the same price (?), so I'm using it and I'm happy.

Slow down: 20-40 mpg is much better than the extremes. But dont be a a dangerous slowpoke on the roads! Not worth it.

Pump up those tires. I'm doing 44 or 42 front, and 42,or 40 rear. Need a 2 psi difference. Cold measured, dont exceed max Cold pressure listed on tire side wall!! Saves money. May be harder on components a bit. A marginally harder ride for you, but no biggie, imo. Worth it for me.

So, read up on these, there's more to know, but this will give you a taste of which are worth investigating.

Disclaimer: I'm not responsible for anything you do - just my research and personal experience of course!yada yada.

Best to you, and welcome,
PNB

Ah, cool, JimboPalmer's here. He knows tons (no kidding), and much more than me (no kidding). Though I stand by my comments.

 

Well congratulations.
My advice...take it slow.
Don't obsess too much over what you may not know at any given moment. The Prius can just be started and driven.

Continue your research here, and hopefully with your owners manual.
There's also tons of helpful videos on youtube.

PS.
I use to be helpful and friendly....but now I'm just intrusive and annoying.
Somebody has to maintain a balance around here.

 

Congratulations and welcome to PriusChat.

I think the best advice is to just drive the Prius like any other car and enjoy the fuel savings.
If traffic permits, braking gently saves fuel. In a conventional car, braking turns the car motion into heated friction brakes. On the Prius, much of the energy is reclaimed by charging the large traction battery, There are also friction brakes, mainly used at low speeds. Some people find they grab a little, so a gentle touch helps.

 

Does your car look like these photos? If so it's a Prius v...

2015 Prius v photos - Google Search

Welcome...

The Prius v forums...

Toyota Prius v Forums | PriusChat

 

You car looks more like this?

Used 2015 Toyota Prius Pictures - 186 Photos | Edmunds

If so, it is what we call a Generation 3 Prius.
Gen 3 (2010-2015) Toyota Prius Forums | PriusChat

 

Toyota in America has committed an idiocy with Prius names.

Before 2011, Prius used Roman Numerals for trim levels; a Prius V would be an upscale trim.

In 2012, North America and Australia got a Prius v station wagon. (In Japan and Europe it has other names like Prius Alpha and Prius +, so they did not NEED to confuse America, they chose to)

So a 2010 Prius V is a top of the line Liftback, while a 2012 Prius Five fill that role, and a 2012 Prius v Five is a top of the line station wagon.

If you think it is stupid and confusing, imagine working at a Toyota Dealer's parts counter.

 

According to stats on Fuelly (a great way to keep track of ongoing fuel economy), the average 2015 Prius V wagon gets 40.6 mpg and average 2015 Prius liftback gets 44.5 mpg, so you're either close to average or a bit better!

 

So it sounds like you have 2015 Prius Liftback (regular Gen3 Prius).
Very nice car with huge cargo space for a smaller size car.
You should get 50 MPG in summer, winter is bad news for MPG.

 

As an example of winter MPG, I got my 2nd generation Prius in mid December and my overall fuel economy so far is 42 mpg in Minnesota from mid December to mid March.

 

Try this for photos of 2015 Prius autos...

2015 prius photos - Google Search

FWIW the Edmonds links were troublesome. I had to change the link in my original post to reflect that...:-(

 

A 'rear window split into two sections' suggests you have a Prius fastback, submodel FIVE, not a Prius v wagon.

 

You can look up the VIN at Toyota.com

 

Standard Prius has console connected to dash v (lowercase v for the Prius v wagon, not an uppercase v. uppercase v's were only used for model year 2010 Prius for model designation) Wagon does not.

 

Again: Go to Toyota.com, open the owner's area and register. Add your Prius as "your car" using the VIN. It will register the car and tell you the model and trim line as well as any service bulletins or recalls.