3rd gen headgasket / oil issues?

That's unfortunate .

On a side note (and slight thread diversion), where in Portugal do you hail from? Visited the Douro River region for a week (stayed in a house about 1.5 hours east of Porto outside of Marco de Canaveces) back in 2010.

Drove down to Cintra and stopped by Fatima on the way. This was just prior to the Pope visiting which was a unique experience (we are not catholic but when I shared this with some of my colleagues they couldn't believe my luck).

Portugal is a very nice country that I never thought I would visit. Good food and wine, especially when you get away from the city and out in the countryside. The roads are just a bit narrow for my comfort level.

 

(yes, a delightful thread diversion)...
(sorry moderators)

I live in Porto, and regularly visit Douro region. Congrats and thank you for your choice, I'm very proud of my country and couldn't be happier if a tourist comes and feels good here! A minus for the roads though.

 

If I lived that close to the Douro River wine region, I would visit regularly too. Thankfully I live 1/2 hour from Napa and surrounding valleys so I frequent them! We found a real nice winery just down the way from Sandemen. They had a nice restaurant and fantastic red blends. The family that owned it had been there for 6 generations. Very nice experience.

When we got to the rental car place at the Porto airport the first Kia Cee'd they showed us had bald tires . We pointed this out and they said "you'll be fine", to which I responded "what else do you have"?

Glad we did as some of the grades are steep and cobblestone like which if slightly damp I can imagine leads to a fun slide. No guard rails either so if you slide, it can be a long way down.

The terraced vineyards are something I'll remember.

 

glad to hear it, all the best.

 

Like anything, if your hard on your car, it will have issues. So drive them easy, as they were intended for high fuel MPG's. Not racing to each red light. I have a scan gauge and have the RPMs displayed. I never get higher then 3k rpm, and try to stay in the low 2K RPM's when on the freeway. Also, changing the oil at 5k miles instead of 10k miles is important. I also have gone to Mobil 1 0W-40 weight oil which should prevent oil burning from starting and still getting low 50's mpg. 0W-20 weight oil is too thin, and is only recommend in the USA for the Prius. This is to meet CAFE standards.

 

I tried the "under 3k RPM" thing with my Prius and didn't like it, as it's not enough power for accelerating onto a highway uphill. It takes half the time to get up to speed at 4k+ RPM as it does at 3k RPM, so probably no real difference in engine wear either way.

I do agree with not racing from light to light, which is a great way to convert gasoline into brake wear on any vehicle.

 

California is rather flat along the coast so no issues with hills. I find it very easy to stay below 3k RPM.

 

Ah, that would explain it. Half a mile from my house I take a sharp right turn from a stop sign into 50 mph-ish traffic going up a 5%+ grade on a cold engine. If anybody has head gasket problems, it will be me