First week with a Prius in Arizona

Greg, I'm also from Phx near 16th St and Bethany. I'm getting 40 mpg and am still on my first tank (bought 6 March) Most of my trips are under 10 miles and I use the auto climate control

I got the sun screen; you'll like it, but it takes me a few minutes to unroll it and get it into place.

When I want to unlock the passenger door for a friend, I press the unlock button on the FOB twice. That unlocks all the doors.

 

The owner's manual describes the procedure for unlocking all the doors with the smart entry system.

I find that 3 quarts puts me right in the middle of the range on the dipstick and I change every 5000 miles but will switch to every 7500 miles after warranty expires. I use Mobil1.

Enjoy.

 

You didn't say what kind of driving you do, but 50MPG is pretty good, especially if most if it is highway.

Short trips are the killer, I seem to see 30-35MPG for first 5 minutes. 35-45MPH is the sweetspot at 60+MPG. Coast to stops, preferably in neutral whether you actually put it in neutral or feather the accelerator until the car is neither dragging or powering. Faster speeds, such as 65-75 will burn more gas. upper 40's is not uncommon at those speeds.

 

www.greenhybrid.com

Smartentry starts on page 23. Page 30 tells you how to change the method of opening the doors. This will only work with SKS, to change the method for wireless, the dealer has to do that with their tool.

Wireless function starts on page 34

"To unlock: Push the “ †(unlock) switch
once to unlock the driver’s door alone.
Pushing the switch twice within 3 seconds
unlocks all the doors simultaneously. Each
time the “ †(unlock) switch is pushed, the turn signal lights will flash twice.
This double switch operation to unlock all
the side doors and back door can be
changed to a single switch operation. For
details, contact your Toyota dealer."

 

Greg, does your last name start with V? I had some contact with a realtor in re property near Tonopah adjacent to I-10. I was a partner in Apollo Investment Group. My email address is [email protected]. Wot say?

 

Take a look at www.greenhybrid.com

 

Hi Greg,

I'm hesitant to post this 'cause the inertia of change is so great. I did post on another forum and had to post quite a few follow up posts.

The oil change interval after the initial one involves many factors. If I sold oil and filters and changed oil I'd say "Yup, change oil at 5000 miles.", and get you to make payments for MY car.

If you use mineral based oil and use an inexpensive filter, yes, do the 5000 mile oil change or sooner.

If you use a synthetic, I refer to Mobil 1 here since it's everywhere (I know they've changed formulation, you'll need to adjust my post accordingly), it's a 12,000 mile oil if you change the filter every 5000 miles (mobil 1 filter). There are synthetics that can go longer without depleting the TBN number of the oil, but you still must change filters every 5000 miles. With better filtration those oils would make sense in the Prius, but there is simply no way to mount the filtration unit in the Prius unless one intrudes on the passenger compartment or mounts it outside in the airflow.

I use another brand of oil in my Tacoma and haven't changed the oil in two years, conservatively it's good for 30,000 miles. I send the oil out to a lab, they test it and tell me if if it's good for another round. I change filtration every 6 months (1u filtration). Soon after the filter change the oil looks as if it just came out of the container. The real test is the lab result though. Synthetic oil doesn't "wear out", but it does lose the ability to neutralize the byproducts of combustion (TBN number). Mineral based oil does wear the additive package out and needs to be changed on schedule regardless of the filtration used.

Change oil every 5000 miles? Maybe. You decide. Things have changed since that was recommended, though folks who make $ from the myth of the 5000 mile oil change want you to change at 5000 miles. Do the math and see where you come out ahead. Frankly, due to the huge benefits of synthetic oil there's no way I'd put mineral based oil in my engines, and I haven't for over 30 years. That includes my small engines. I have NEVER had an engine related failure due to lubrication or to an engine wearing out in all that time. As I proof read this I have to add "or to any other part that has received synthetic lube". This includes greaseable ball joints, transmission, U-joints, anything I can get synthetic lube to.

Normal scheduled lube and filter changes need to be conducted though. Synthetic isn't a license for neglect.