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Joining the Family - New Owner 2005 Prius

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by ChaseC, Nov 4, 2017.

  1. ChaseC

    ChaseC Junior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 4, 2017
    20
    5
    0
    Location:
    Florida
    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    Right before Hurricane Irma swamped the main Florida peninsula, I drove down to Vero Beach and bought a 2005 Prius (Package 6) that had only 68,000 miles. Have driven it 1800 miles since then and am mostly content.

    I'm averaging 48-52 mpg and most of my driving trips are under 10 miles. The battery charge meter shows the hybrid routinely being two bars from the highest charge. Occasionally hits the 9th bar, but never the 10th. The car is mostly original. It had the water pump replaced a few years ago around 48k miles. And it had new tires installed and an alignment done this past spring.

    The car is a tan cloth interior with way too much plastic. Would love to redo the armrests, center console and some of the dash in dark walnut and chocolate leather, as well as chrome all the silvery plastic and the outer door handles. And leather seats too! Dreams. Or a project for the future. Time will tell.

    The car does have a smell to it. I see from reading on here that the battery vent tubes are the likely cause of that. Will be looking into replacing those in near future. As well as shampooing the interior and replacing the air filters.

    I do have a couple of questions about the computer. Is it possible to see the mileage over a longer period of time than just from the most recent fill-up? If so, I've yet to find how to access the data. Also, does anyone use the Maintenance screen to input service data? I've been thinking of doing it going forward.

    For a 12-year-old car, the Prius is very well put together. It makes my 2006 Sebring convertible look like a junk yard relic. Which is where I may be sending it soon enough.
     
  2. jerrymildred

    jerrymildred Senior Member

    Joined:
    Oct 28, 2016
    11,490
    14,095
    0
    Location:
    Tampa, FL
    Vehicle:
    2017 Prius
    Model:
    Two
    Congrats and welcome!

    Those are amazingly low miles for an '05. We've had two of them and my wife now has an '07.

    It sounds like your battery is really healthy for its age. If you go to Toyota's web site and click on "Owners," you can set up and account, enter the VIN for that car, and find out if it's been serviced by Toyota.

    As for the fuel consumption on the MID screen, I'm afraid all you get is the current tank unless you only add a couple gallons at a time. Here's the relevant page from the '07 manual. If yours doesn't have a manual, they are available on line in pdf format.
    Screen Shot 2017-11-04 at 6.02.24 PM.png
     
  3. ChaseC

    ChaseC Junior Member

    Joined:
    Nov 4, 2017
    20
    5
    0
    Location:
    Florida
    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    Thanks. I actually have the original manuals in the vinyl packages. Picked up a Haynes manual too. I was searching for a higher mileage Gen 2 with leather and a newer battery, but the hurricane's impeding arrival caused me to accelerate my decision and not to go as far south as Miami for it. I'm in NW Florida and I discovered that prices from Orlando southward to Miami were considerably cheaper. In the end, I spent $2k more than planned, but got a much lower mileage vehicle. Wish I had known about the lower quality MID in the '05, and the battery vent smell sooner (my dog refuses to go near the car because of it). Vent pipes look like a bit of a pain to replace, but not impossible.
     
    jerrymildred likes this.
  4. kenoarto

    kenoarto Senior Member

    Joined:
    Feb 7, 2006
    1,409
    395
    0
    Location:
    Chicago, IL
    Vehicle:
    2005 Prius
    Model:
    II
    Vent smell enough to keep your dog away is NOT common. We spilt some spoiled food on the carpet once, now that stank!
     
    bisco likes this.
  5. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

    Joined:
    May 11, 2005
    107,571
    48,862
    0
    Location:
    boston
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius Plug-in
    Model:
    Plug-in Base
    congrats and welcome!
    i track my phillups manually, for lifetime average. or, you can sign up with fuelly.
     
    jerrymildred likes this.
  6. peecee

    peecee Member

    Joined:
    Apr 14, 2017
    67
    39
    1
    Location:
    Annapolis, MD
    Vehicle:
    2004 Prius
    Model:
    II
    Very cool. There are some great tutorials on resurfacing the plastic. I just sanded all my silvery plastic and painted it black, as well as reupholstered my center arm rest in black leather. I have the tan interior also.

    Working on reupholstering the front door armrests as well. Check out autotrimming on ebay. They sell all sorts of colors.