New owner 1st post at 2000 miles

josephdmcc, welcome to the site. I suppose every car has its disappointments. If you pump up the tires and with the warmer weather you should see even more improvement. I'm running 45/45 but I think it is a bit much. Not going to the gas station does help to forgive the other stuff.

 

Can't comment on the sound system, as I'm fairly satisfied with what I got except for the radio reception; it's by far the worst of any car I've ever owned. Given the vast number of reasons I'm happy with the car, I can eat this; especially since I've never considered myself anything near an audiophile, and am not trying to vibrate any of my fillings out...

The rear view thing? You'll outgrow it and soon won't notice it anymore. Wonderful how the brain adapts.

 

Just a random point... You haven't reset the average MPG, but are you sure it hasn't reset itself?

I believe it "automatically" (if not reliably) resets itself when you fill up the tank with gas, based on what I've read here.

My Prius has a quarter the mileage of yours, though, so I could be wrong.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(josephdmcc @ Jun 4 2007, 08:52 PM) [snapback]455352[/snapback]</div>

I put on small spot mirrors (stick them to the glass of the side mirrors). It's not just that a lot of the rear view is blocked, it's also that the side mirrors are pretty small. You may adjust some, but I still find the passenger-side rear visibility to be relatively poor. That's where a check in a good spot mirror can be helpful, if you have the time to refocus your eyes to do that. If I had it to do over I'd have put on larger spot mirrors. I also tried several of those curved inside-rear-view mirrors -- they are really helpful for rear visibility -- but all of them blocked too much of my forward vision, so I gave up on that.

 

First time poster too - traded my 03 Element 4WD for a classic silver Prius with package 4 last weekend. After the excellent stereo in the Element, I was also disappointed with the JBL stereo. It sounds a little insipid and lacking in dynamics in comparison, but after tweaking the settings a bit it's not so bad - hardly exceptional though, which is disappointing given the brand name. The lack of subwoofer is part of the problem, but there is no sense of crispness about the sound either, so it's not just that. There does, however, seem to be far better performance from CD than radio - not surprising since radio is typically rather compressed. Even so, with a known-good CD, it's not quite the 'Mark Levinson' experience of the Lexus ads!

I've not had the car long enough to get any true sense of reliable mpg, but based on a the 400 miles covered so far, mostly highway with a couple of around-town commutes and trips, I'm getting a reported 50.9 mpg. I'll be reasonably happy if it continues at that, and I expect it to rise a bit since most of my regular driving is around town where it definitely does better. It certainly helps to keep an eye on the energy screen I think, because it ends up training you to lighter, more fuel efficient, driving styles which often involve more anticipation of conditions and thus allow more gentle acceleration and longer deceleration before braking is needed.

Rear visibility doesn't seem a problem to me. The spoiler does get in the way a little at first until you get used to it being in the line of vision, and with the door mirrors adjusted a little more outward than usual, the blind spots are well covered.

I've been very impressed with the car so far. Driving past gas stations that I have had to stop at before while doing barely more than 20 mpg in the Element is the most satisfying experience of all!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(josephdmcc @ Jun 4 2007, 07:52 PM) [snapback]455352[/snapback]</div>

The sound system.....Try disconnecting the middle speaker abover the MFD. It easily pops out with a flat head screwdriver (be careful not to mar the plastic) and has a quick disconnect. This helps achieve that "stereo" sound the audio system is lacking.

As far as visibility, you'll get used to the blind spots and begin to instinctivly check them. Just be careful till you figure them out.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(mmoncur @ Jun 5 2007, 06:29 AM) [snapback]455569[/snapback]</div>

yeah it will reset automatically after about 1/10 of a mile after filling up. The only way it wont is if you don't add alot of gas.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(morpheusx @ Jun 5 2007, 08:56 AM) [snapback]455603[/snapback]</div>

Actually the Average MPG only resets if you hit the reset button on the MFD, otherwise it is a running total for the life of the car. The miles per tank is the aspect that resets whenever you put more then 2.5 gallons in tank.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(josephdmcc @ Jun 4 2007, 07:52 PM) [snapback]455352[/snapback]</div>

Same issue I have w/ the sound system. I'm also figuring out ways to beef it up.

The easiest thing you can do immediately to improve the sound, which I've tried
and highly recommend, is to unplug the center front speaker.

If you want to add aftermarket components, you pretty much have to add some type
of electronics to defeat the built-in equalizations.

Do a search in the Audio/Electronics forum. There's tons of info there.

 

Try the Car Guys method for adjusting all three of the mirrors. It does help.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Darken @ Jun 5 2007, 10:30 AM) [snapback]455644[/snapback]</div>

Well either you are wrong or the manual is because on page 168 (2007) it states #4 indicates the average fuel consumption after being reset. When the "Reset" switch is touched OR more than 10 L (2.6 gal., 2.2 Imp.gal.) fuel is supplied, the average fuel consumtion is reset.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(morpheusx @ Jun 12 2007, 05:15 PM) [snapback]460431[/snapback]</div>

That's why some of us prefer to get our info here instead of from the manual!

I didn't realize, either, that the Avg doesn't get reset until you actually hit the Reset button.
I kept wondering why. Now I understand.

It would be even cooler if you could sync up the Trip button to the Reset button so that you can get
Average MPG per Trip A, per Trip B, and per Lifetime!!!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(zenMachine @ Jun 12 2007, 06:32 PM) [snapback]460437[/snapback]</div>

Definately second those ideas about the trip meters.