Considering a used Prius- Questions!

I just bought a 2006 with package 8. I love all the bells and whistles that only high dollar cars have ,especialy the hands free phone that talks to me through the radio and the back up camera. Ours are mostly short trips but to day We drove about 50 miles with two stops. AC was on entire time and when we pulled into out drive it was registeing 55.7 miles per gallon. I do my own maint. So do not depend on dealers. Oil and filter changes are all thats needed. Keep reading about oil capacities and tire pressures on Prius Chat

 

1) There are plenty of people who have reported their mileage here. We should probably ask you what type of driving you plan to do. Please specify trip lengths, distance and type of driving (city, highway, etc.). Short drives will kill mileage on any car, esp. in cold weather. Using the heat in cold weather can tend to cause the ICE (internal combustion engine) to run more, thus impact mileage. There are some tricks to reduce this (e.g. when ICE is cold, not turning on the fan until the ICE has to run anyway).

Mileage could range from say low 30s in cold weather, terrible driving habits, high rolling resistance tires, improper maintenance (low tire pressure, overfilled oil, low 12V battey, etc.) and short drives (say 5 minutes or less) to say 60-70 mpg w/some hypermiling, patience, ideal commute and instrumentation.

2) What do you mean by "maintenance issues?" Are you talking about reliability and repairs or about wear items (e.g. replacing brakes and struts) or preventative maintenance (e.g. oil changes and other fluid changes)? Some people ask about "maintenance issues" when they're really asking about reliability.

3) You should probably get proper snow tires.

 

I drive about 55 miles each way to work on 55 MPH roads, going 61 MPH. (It just so happens that every major town near me is 55 miles away) My Prius is usually fully loaded (see picture) and gets 42 MPG in summer and winter and 47 MPG in spring and fall. (my winters will be milder, and my summers hotter than Boston) I do very little driving in towns under 50 MPH, so I can not advise you about 'city' driving. The Prius MPG excels in long commutes and is lackluster in short 'grocery' runs.

I only have 45,000 miles on my Prius so I have done little but rotate tires and change the oil and filter every 5,000 miles. (About 2 months) At 35,000 I changed both air filters. At 60,000 miles I may change some fluids.

If you ever need brake work, I would go with the dealer; tire rotation, oil and filter changes can be anyone. Just document each time. I use the dealer because mine is as cheap as the iffy lube shops, and I am too big to fit under my Prius.

 

I have 2 prii...2004, 2009...the 2004 has now 132000 miles on it...
real time mileage...45-48mpg in summer and 38-41mpg in winter...tires pressures at 42/42psi all the way around...
maintenance issues...lets see...a new small 12v battery in the 04, usual oil changes, brakes are still original yes after 132000 miles...inverter fluids flushed, transaxle fluid change...3 sets of tires...2 HID headlight bulbs in the 04...a couple taillight bulbs in the 04...the 09, has 33000 on it with only usual oil changes, tire rotations, thats it for both...
and no i drive normally, anywhere from low speed city to highway...
PS just got back from a 5500 mile trip...mileage average 45, with mountain climbing, to desert temps from 65-111 degrees F...no issues...

Winter driving...low clearance...get good snow tires...and be aware of the prius has a habit of not spinning tires in snow/ice...so dont pull out in front of anybody on a slippery surface...the traction control will not spin your tires to get you moving...you will ,however move slowly...

other than that...no problems

 

(See answers above in blue too)Good luck on your search and I hope you find this info to be helpful as you make your decision! My Prius is by far one of the absolutely best cars I have ever owned! I have never had a vehicle with 200k miles and I have no doubts or worries that this car will get me there everytime, no matter how far the drive. We also have two children and all of us fit in here fine, for what that's worth. They are 15 & 10 years old. It is quite roomy and handles more like a Camry, not a Corolla as its size would suggest.

 

Ok, at least your drives won't be too short. Assuming you're not stuck in lots of stop and go traffic and not driving like a maniac on the highway, you should achieve 40+ mpg except maybe in the winter.

BTW, they aren't "mp3 jacks". They're standard 3.5 mm auxiliary/headphone in jacks. They have nothing directly related to the .mp3 file format.

You can plug in an anything that emits sound out such a jack from such as portable music player (such as an iPod or Zune and it could be playing AAC/WMA, lossless audio, Ogg Vorbis, etc.), a portable CD player, Walkman, tape player, portable satellite radio, etc