It starts!

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(shoshana @ Sep 12 2007, 12:28 PM) [snapback]511359[/snapback]</div>

I don't think you need to carry a battery charger for the 12V. I've forgotten to turn off the dome light overnight on several occasions and there was no problem. Assuming you don't turn the headlights on AFTER you power down, you can't accidentally leave them on and even then the car will beep a bunch and I think turn them off after some period of time anyway.

I think the 'dead 12V' thing comes from the earliest 2004's when apparently Toyota wasn't pulling a fuse for the 2+ week trip on the boat. The 12Vs got drained pretty badly, beyond the point of recharging properly. There was many posts about the dealers replacing 12Vs early on. By the time I got mine (Sept 2004) they had figured that out.

 

I've had my share of silly uninformed comments. A month back, I went to Lake Placid. There are some pretty steep climbs and I marveled at the people riding bicycles up them. I mentioned it to my neighbor and said I'd likely not be able to walk them let alone ride up them. He made some comment that suggested he had some preconceived notion that a Prius is so underpowered that it probably had a hard time climbing the hills as well. People REALLY need to drive this car before they claim it is too wimpy. I've not met a hill I couldn't climb at speed and have leftover power if I need it. AND I'm getting better mileage climbing them than any large car or SUV gets at a steady 65 MPH.

A guy I work with had a leased 4 cylinder Toyota Tacoma. The lease came up this month and he leased a 6 cylinder this time. Why? Because he didn't want to have to push the overdrive cancel button on a somewhat steep hill on the interstate as the 4 cyl couldn't hold speed. Gee, no problem with my 'wimpy' 110 HP Prius, I even have extra electricity feeding the battery for most of that hill.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(bruceha_2000 @ Sep 21 2007, 09:58 PM) [snapback]516032[/snapback]</div>

It depends how you use the car. I ran the battery down during my first car show, with the CD player and the lights. I turned everything off, came back a 1/2 hour or so later, and it started up.

After that, I used my ScanGauge to keep track of the battery voltage, restarting the car whenever it got below 12 volts. The next car show, I managed to run the battery dead again anyhow. Had the charger with me and restarted immediately. Larnt my lesson.

 

Only one person (in an SUV....go figure) has honked at me for going "too slow," even though I was doing the speed limit and, you know, passing someone in the PASSING lane.

Other than that it's only questions about the car from interested parties. I bought this car for economic and geopolitical reasons, not the environmental factor. I think more than a few people have been surprised to find out I'm not some enviro-nut (no offense to those of you who are ).

My car immediately previous to this was a Subaru STI, which is a 300hp 0-60 in under 5 seconds rocket. I honestly don't have any problem with the power of the Prius. Obviously it's not gonna win any drag races, but it is very, very far from being underpowered.