New Irishman in the mix

uh Hey.

I thought it would be more appropriate to set up a priuschat account once I got the licence to drive it fully on my own. I got there... eventually. The car we got in 2014 was bought and soon learned it was a 'swimmer', which complicated things.

I've depended on priuschat with problems long before setting up an account (12v battery problems), but I've read so much on this forum for the fun of it and am really taken away by how well run and rich all of the threads and members are. I've been reading up priuschat in the shadows since 2007, learning more and more about it.

Being a learner before, I always had a passenger in the front, 200-or-so kg and would generally get between 55 - 62 mpg UK. And near to 70 on longer runs, and over that of which from Dublin to Abbeyshrule and back. Hoping to see what I'd get fully laden and a lone.

The only thing I would replace the Prius for is a plug-in, obviously - but that's going to take many years for something to come up cheap second hand. It just rolled over 140,000 miles on the odo and I assume the pack is healthy, it gets 2.5 leaves of regen at best. I'd love to keep this car to the death of me (not in the car) and push it to live till it's 15 or 20 years. I'd certainly had thought of asking santa for that Hybrid Automotive charging balancing kit for Christmas.

So, there you have it. Might share a student's perspective here in the future, like driving trips with 5 full passengers or up and down Sally Gap. Hoping I would write more than just this in the future!

Later!

Brian

 

*gasp* weheey My first reply! haha! Gonna save this one close to me!

Thanks for the welcome, I won't let you down!

 

Ah, I hope you would, yet there's lot more than Dublin. A lot of people from North America come here during September, October and Bloomsday. For the weather reasons, I'd recommend coming during the exam weeks of May to early-mid July. It's the only time during the year when it's more likely to be sunny than rain or hail, it's also the only time when students from 13 years-onwards don't get to leave the house.

 

Ha! I know a few who decided to drive all the way from Dublin to Newry to grab themselves a bargain. €1.15 for £1! Hell, there's word of a man in Derry throwing away extra weight in pounds!

Speaking of coastal drives, if you have the time, there's the Wild Atlantic Way. I think it connects with a tourist, coastal road in Northern Ireland. I've driven a few miles on country roads in Longford and West Meath behind a Land Rover Discovery and a horse box in tow. Gotta say, it didn't do too bad, 81 mpg for over 20 miles by going up and down humpback bridges and hills.

I suppose some careful coastal roads would be great hypermiling if you get to rent out a car there.

 

Well, the avatar there was involved on a railway line that runs right behind my house (where a tram exists now). I've used it in other avatars for years now.

Despite the Prius' reputation, it's flawless except for one, tiny, little thing in the rear corner of the car. All kinds of things happened because of that 12v battery (that was 7 years old), and has actually, technically made the Prius the least reliable car we've had. In terms of how many times the bonnet was open and times the AA was called to jump start it.

The only difference is that most cars we had (all second hand) would have a significant mechanical issue by now... Over the years the house had: a Peugeot 1007 (still with us), Range Rover Freelander, Kia Sedona, Mazda Eunos 500/Zedos 6, Mazda Zedos 9, 1999 Kia Sportage, Fiat Tipo, Ford Focus and maybe more...

Nothing mechanically wrong has come up for the Prius. We've had a road worthiness test (NCT) and literally nothing showed up. Never happened before. (that's another thread I need to make).

Anyway, the 12v has been replaced for 2 months now and have never seen the triangle-exclamation light during start up in a long while. Only thing now is that we hardly use cars during the summer, so it's sitting there. Getting a better tan than me.