Moving to Iowa -- probably -- anything I should know Prius-wise?

I used all season tires when I was in IA for 4 years, you can't drive in the worst conditions but you can use your own judgement and drive 99% of the time with all season tires up there.

It's not like you'll be east of a major body of water so you won't get lake effect snow.

You will be in the middle of nowhere more often than not (the biggest city in IA is like a small city in a coastal state) so be sure to buy gas at if you are leaving a major city and be looking hard for gas when you get to 1/4 of a tank out on in the small town areas. Most of the exits on IA interstates don't have gas stations. Sometimes leaving the interstate to find the nearest gas station will be a 10 mile detour so you don't want to run out of gas anywhere outside of a major town.

It'll be a lot easier on you now with cell phones and the ability to find gas stations with your android/iPhone but in 1999-2003 when I was there it was an adventure (I used to make trip plans on a PC, not bother to print out anything more than a list of cities/highway numbers and keep a paper map with me for when I screwed up)

bwt you'll see a lot of ethanol up there so get used to puregas.org if you want to keep your MPG up.

 

Just don't forget us Kris when you do move. Even though I am a traitor, I am still here... Good luck on your move. Iowa is pretty but a lot of bare country there. I think you will like it. Don't get down to two pips unless you will live close to a gas station.

Good luck to you and God bless you and yours!

Ron

 

The prius really likes 100% gas, 10% ethanol won't hurt the parts but will hurt the MPG.

Some of the gas stations in iowa only have 2 or 3 grades of gas like most gas stations in america but I've seen gas stations in IA and other midwestern states that have 5 to 7 grades of gas (they mix the ethanol and non ethanol grades right in the row of buttons so you have to pay attention / figure out / ask if you care about the type/quality of your gas).

For the most part it probably isn't any different than Pendleton, Oregon. Drive over there and imagine the average city in iowa is half that size and you'll be in the right state of mind.

 

oh and don't let people tell you IA is flat, there aren't any mountains but there are rolling hills, if you are taking a highway or state road instead of an interstate you'll notice more rise and fall.

I never had problems driving there and the Prius with traction control / abs will make it even easier. Just pay attention when you are on a 45 degree angle hill in the middle of winter because flyover country isn't as flat as a pancake no matter how flat it looks from 5000+ ft looking out a window.

 

You'll have to either keep that Prius washed in the winter or undercoat it. They use a whole lot of salt in the winter. Find a good car wash very near where you're going to live, that has an under-car wash system. That will help slow down the rusting effects of the salt.

 

Hello,

I live SW of Des Moines. Ames is not too far away. For tires for my Prius I bought Bridgestone from Bridgestone Ecopia EP422 they work great for gravel roads around here.

One thing about the gas mileage I always put unleaded fuel in from Kum and Go anywhere else around here gives me worse gas mileage. I average 50MPG+

Hope your move to Iowa goes well.

 

In 2000 I had occasion to travel from Orange County to Sioux City, IA on a monthly basis, connecting through Minneapolis and staying for a week or two at a time on business. It was a big cultural shock for me to visit there.

I hope you had the opportunity to visit and check out the local scene in Ames (such as restaurants, entertainment, places of interest) as well as your prospective employer, before you decide to pull the plug on your current employment. Even Des Moines, the largest city in the state, only has a population of ~200K. Good luck with your career choice.

The Prius should be the least of your worries, you can always buy winter tires if the snow is a problem.

 

As a transplanted west-coaster now living in Iowa, let me welcome you! If your all-season tires are getting long in the tooth, I would definitely put on a new set before coming out here. You'll get by on most plowed roads with all-season. Most of the major roads are cleared of snow pretty quickly. My experience is that the local, neighborhood roads are the ones that sometimes takes a little time to clear. If your job is driving critical, then I would recommend snow tires, both for safety and peace of mind. I can get by with all-season, but I feel more confident with snow tires, especially when the roads get icy. The story about lack of gas stations is greatly exaggerated, especially for Prius drivers. While you won't find a gas station along I-80 and I-35 every 2-3 miles, the longest stretches you will go along the interstate might be 30 miles without a gas station...which might be a problem for a Humvee, certainly not a Prius!

 

Silly me I'm used to higher population density and gas stations at every exit and often 10 gas stations within a mile or two of each other.

When I was in IA I had a neon and then a saturn, either way I was getting something like 30 miles to a gallon and easily had 300+ miles to a tank.

It was a big adjustment for me when I realized that many of the exits on I-35 between des moines and the MN border didn't have a single gas station and I actually followed a fuel exit sign off I-35 and had to drive several miles to the nearest one red light town to buy gas.

It also surprised me the first time I stopped at one of these random fuel stops and found the store closed (driving at night). Luckily this was after pay at the pump was invented and they had left the pumps on. In fact that was the first time I had ever used my credit card to pay at the pump.

between the better MPG on the Prius, pay at the pump, cell phone coverage improvements, smart phones finding the nearest gas for you it's mostly a non issue. But it will still knock a east/west coaster silly to realize how far away from the next human being they are when they are standing in a town of 500 people pumping gas in the middle of the night not knowing exactly how many miles they are away from the interstate and hoping they don't have a break down in either the GPS or the car until they get back to civilization.

Call me silly if you want but I remember a big culture shock coming from OMG there isn't a sidewalk that doesn't have 50 signs next to or above it and every gas station and restaurant you can imagine to hey where'd they pick up the sidewalks and pack away the entire town, the map says there is supposed to be a town here...

 

Oregon is a CARB state but Iowa is not. While in Iowa, your Hybrid warranty is 100,000 / 8 years.

 

say hi to danielle from the pickers for me!