Dragged, kicking and screaming, and now own a Pruis

I'm a newbie Prius owner in Northern California. My in-laws have two Gen II cars and love them. We rented a bright red 2010 for Thanksgiving week and my wife decided that she had to have one. I'm so tired of hearing about MPG I could just spit!

So, about a month ago, we bought a 2010. Now she wants ME to drive it! (I just hate hand-me-downs). I consider myself a "car guy" and have not had a vehicle without at least 300 HP for at least 10 years. The Prius is a shock to my system. Here's what she got on the car:

*Dark grey exterior- nice and shinny, I like the color,
*Dark tinted windows. Thank goodness, what if one of my friends see me in it?
*Factory leather interior - I like the color combo of the light leather and dark dash, mats, etc., heated seats,
* Sunroof with solar pannel- stupid question...why do I have a solar panel that doesn't charge the battery? The sunroof is nice though,
* Navi system with hands free phone- great system with touch screen

This car is growing on me, especially since one week I drove it for a week in downtown San Francisco. Awesome to park and easy to get around with. Dislikes (so far):

* Exterior stying - this thing is really ugly. The interior is pretty nice and I almost get used to it. As soon as I step outside of the car, I'm reminded how ugly it is.
* Hub caps- I don't know if I've ever owned a car with hub caps. In fact, I"m not sure if my father has ever owned a car with hub caps. I give them a life of 6 months before I put some nice wheels on the car and upgrade to 17's.

Since the main purpose of the car is to get great MPG, the gloves are off. I'm going to work on getting the best MPG possible. Does anyone have any mods that I should look into?

Mike

 

Thanks for diving right in with a personal attack your "A-Holiness."

 

I saw a good discussion here on the solar panel possible mod but it didn't sound like anyone had actually done it or attempted it. It just seems like a no-brainer that if my car is parked at the airport for a week that the panel would keep the battery charged. On a hot day in traffic, maybe the panel could keep the car running off the battery for a minute longer and get even better mileage.

 

Thanks. Actually my driving style is pretty good and with the one minute MPG bar chart on the dash it's getting even better. Since I'm used to the 300hp days I'm pretty good at saving fuel out of necessity. I used to get 30 MPG on the highway in my 2002 Corvette convertible. Just as you said, my wife gets 3 or 5 MPG less than I do pretty consistently. At Christmas, between the two Gen II cars and my driving of the Gen III, I have the family record so far at 43.6 MPG from Northern CA to Southern CA. I don't know how some of the other members here are getting 50+ averages but we have lots of hills plus a lot more highway speeds of 60 MPG +.

We have yet to put the car in "power mode" for any longer than to get a laugh. It seems such an oxy-moron for this car. It's always in "Eco" mode. Isn't that the point? We also try to put the car in "EV" mode as often as possible (I call it "golf cart" mode") but find it very hard to keep it there. We either exceed the 25 MPH limit, or accellerate too hard, or the battery just needs more juice.

I'll be glad when the stock tires wear out. I'm with you, not impressed with them. I'll be upgrading to 17's with maybe a lower profile, stickier rubber (as long as my MPG doesn't get hurt).

Other vehicles right now:

'02 BMW 745 Li
'07 Chevy 3/4 ton Diesel Duramax
'03 Bourget Fat Daddy chopper
'01 KTM MX400 dual sport

P.S. I'm thinking of getting a license plate frame that says: "less gas = more shopping, more shopping = more jobs" What do you think?

 

Re: Dragged, kicking and screaming, and now own a Prius

That's interresting about the sensitivity of the gas pedal. We had a BMW M3 convertible once and my wife was afraid to drive it in "Performance mode" (I never drove it out of Performance Mode). The sensitivity (or lack thereof) of the Prius gas pedal is something I have to get used to every time I get in it. The BMW mode actually changed the engine timing and suspension settings. I guess I assumed the Pruis did something similar, not just change the sensitity of the gas pedal.

 

Another member commented that the solar panel puts out about 80 watts at peak production. Living in sunny California, we get a lot of peak days.

I read an article about the gen IV coming up next year that gets in the upper 80 MPG. One of the big changes was that the car runs only on battery (unless hard accelleration is needed) for the first 10 minutes upon each start up. Because of our driving habits, a lot of going to the store and home would be battery only. That's how it gets such an amazing increase. So...using that theory, my thought is that anything might help, whether it's parked and just needs a top off (then the engine doesn't have to do it) or running in traffic on EV mode. I don't really understand all the electric stuff, but as long as the panel is there and producing power, I'd like to harness it. Thanks/MG

 

Thanks Mark, I'll look for the thread. How do your's look?

 

No way! Are those wheels really under there? They aren't half bad. Why did Toyota decide to cover them up (and it cost them a few $$ too). I saw a truck full of new Prius's going to a dealer the other day and told my wife that they had changed the wheels to a one piece. I guess the dealer had not installed the hub caps yet.

I can't wait until my wife gets home (with the Prius) and to take off those ugly plasic covers. Next stop, the hardware store....LOL. Thank you, thank you.