strange question...regarding camping in car

Walmarts are always easy and usually right next to an exit. Free and safe.

Campgrounds, never = $$$.

Rest areas, sometimes. Most have signs saying "no overnight camping" but there's no definition of what is "overnight" or what is "camping." Mostly, I think they want to keep out RVs and people pitching a tent. Never had a problem.

Any 24-hour store. Hospitals can be good but often have security roaming which cuts both ways.

But the beauty of stealth camping is that you can do it ANYWHERE. No one notices a Prius. Custom fitted black sunshades all around and it just looks like the windows are heavily tinted. No one can see in. Any neighborhood street. Any city street. I usually can park within walking distance of the sports stadium, concert venue, festival, or whatever event I am attending.

It's basically a house on wheels that no one notices.

 

Wow. Absolute rock bottom over here is € 1,624 per liter. That's about $ 6.92 per gallon.

 

My wife will not entertain any idea of camping, a hotel or we don't go.
I wear the pants in my family and she tells me which ones to wear.

 

You joke but my youngest brother had a girlfriend who told him what to wear when they went out . He ended up marrying her and they are still married.

 

I'd be riding my bicycle! Or stay home.

 

Prius camping wont fly for my wife. We either take the Prius and use a hotel or take the suburban and pull our travel trailer. When I am by myself the Prius is perfect for me. Not only is the actual travel cheap because of good gas mileage, I can spend the night free staying at free campgrounds (Freecampsites.net) or rest areas and even a Walmart or 2 (not my favorite).
I am doing a 2+ week trip starting in a little over a week from now. I plan experimenting some with parking hard against the curbstops and anything else I can think of to see if makes any difference.

 

Someday, I'd like to try out a 4th Gen Prius and see whether it feels significantly smaller for camping.

I'd love to have the full ACC of the Gen 4 since I seem to hit a lot of stop and go traffic.

 

Actually, without a maintained Oil Catch Can, the 3rd Gens have had blown head gaskets.
I think you would find the 4th Gen even smoother on engine start but steeper on the checkbook.

 

$4 in gas beats almost any motel or hotel. Safe and secure, as well. When trouble arrives, you can just pivot into the driver seat and drive away.

 

Are you saying Gen 3's WITH a "maintained OCC" have never had a head gasket problems, even in the +200k mile range?
Just curious where these statements come from....

 

Here's one post I quickly found at 200K.

Oil Catch Can, Eliminate that knock! | Page 43 | PriusChat

 

I only went through that page and didn't see an answer to my question.
I do understand that an OCC could slow down having sludge pool in the bottom of the intake manifold and thus avoid possible 'cold start knock'.

I also know that a bank courier buddy sent me a pic of his EGR cooler at 345k miles and it looked very clean.
Of course this picture was taken while the head gasket was being repaired. He never did any of the 'fixes' proposed on this forum.The car was 100% stock.
And of course 90% of his driving is highway. He claims keeping the coolant changed at the proper intervals helps. Who knows? He still ended up with the head gasket going bad.

Could it be that the head gasket is just a weak link in high mile Gen 3's, regardless of all the tinkering an owner can do?

 

Agreed.
This car is still on the road at +600k miles! And he still doesn't dik with cleaning EGR cooler and OCC.
It's just he didn't have that problem with his Accord. The head gasket lasted much longer.

 

I've lived out of my 2015 for the past 3 months. I've found that it doesn't jerk nearly as much when I put it in park, let my foot off the brakes, then apply the parking brake hard when it settles to a rest. I've tried many different ways and this works best for me, especially coupled with some ear plugs.