Intro thread

Greetings and welcome aboard!!!!!

Lots of info on this site.
Some of it is even accurate.

While you're doing the WIN-WIN thing with your Prius (What is Normal.....What is not) try to avoid the very natural urge to "drive it like a Prius."
The best part of Priusdom is that you can get extraordinary mileage while driving it like an ordinary car!!
That's sorta the whole point.

There's a web site that you can use to determine what maintenance has been done by the dealer. Since you're only at 80K there won't be much there (hopefully.) If I were a better poster, I'd have it memorized.....but I don't/

Make sure your tires are fully inflated......
Check your oil level about every other fill-up to make sure that your volume stays OK.....
Familiarize yourself with the maintenance schedule, and ONLY pay for the items on that list unless there's a very compelling reason - and get a second opinion.....with one exception (see below).....
Read up on and consider a transaxle fluid change, which should not be more than about 150 bucks.

Finally....and MOST importantly.....

Enjoy the car!

Good Luck!

 

Track Your Service Records with Your Toyota Owners Account

 

^ Oh.....and one of the better parts of driving a Prius is that there are owners, Like JimboPalmer there, who are eager to share knowledge and experience.

 

Welcome!

Your car is a Generation 3 Prius. You may want to start your research here.
Gen 3 (2010-2015) Toyota Prius Forums | PriusChat

 

congrats and welcome, all the best!

 

Only a start? That's awesome
You won't save much money by trying for higher, so enjoy the immense savings you've already got. It's awesome.

 

Ah, got it.

My strong suggestion for new owners is:

1. If you have a sudden drop in average MPG, that can indicate you need to replace the 12v battery (or other problems, too, I would think, but the 12v is the classic).
Therefore, it's good to monitor average MPG, FOR SURE.

I do it casually, but some people use fuelly.com, or spreadsheet, etc.

Know that: Short trips, trips with inclines (especially net up or down for the entire trip, but also areas with lots of little up and down hills like we have in ohio) and cold weather / lots of hvac use can impact MPG by 5-15 mpg. So, on a great day, or if I've grill blocked perfectly, the display can read 52 mpg (that's actually 49mpg, since the display is wrong, but...whatever). So, nominally, 52.
Whereas, on a short trip, hilly, cold day, no grill blocking, etc, I've seen 28. More commonly, like 35 mpg.

The point is, you need apples to apples comparisons.

One easy method is:

1. Look at MPG after your trips until you get a sense of it.
2. Then if you see it drop for unknown reason, dig deeper of course. I recommend: ignore short trips, focus more on comparing a known quantity (such as: commute to work), or your basic 20 mile drive somewhere. If those trips are changing, dig deeper.
Also: remember that trip to work is DIFFERENT than trip back. one will have the more favorable elevation change and 2-4mpg better or something like that.

Change in the weather is a classic reason for mpg change.