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New Prius owner on board

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by J0hannes, Jul 11, 2012.

  1. J0hannes

    J0hannes Junior Member

    Joined:
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    Location:
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    Vehicle:
    2006 Prius
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    Howdy y'all!

    I just wanted to introduce my self on the board.
    In May 2012 I went and bought my self a 2006 Prius. It had 52000km on the meter and all sorts of goodies on the options list. I.e. Aux in and park assist, Summer and winter tires on aluminum rims etc. For the price I paid for it, it was a steal.

    The only downside is that the paint has A LOT of scratches and scrapes of varying depth and size.
    That's all cosmetic though...On the other hand, I have been contemplating on getting the whole car taped over with 3M Scotchprint or similar...

    Been driving it for a few months now and I'm loving it. Fuel consumption has been around 5.1l/100km, which I guess is okay, but could be better. Its still way better than 14l/100km I got with my previous car:LOL:

    Since I bought the car from Sweden and I live in Finland, I had to pay some import tax. Last week I got my tax verdict and now I can go and get the car registered and in Finnish plates:cool:

    The winter time around here is quite tough for cars and although I've heard that Prius has a pretty good factory protection, I had the car rust proofed. They used wax-based Dinitrol products, which are very good in quality.

    [​IMG]
     
    #1 J0hannes, Jul 11, 2012
  2. usnavystgc

    usnavystgc Die Hard DIYer and Ebike enthusiast.

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    Welcome.
     
    #2 usnavystgc, Jul 11, 2012
  3. AllenZ

    AllenZ Active Member

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    Location:
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    Welcome on board! I did not know that Gen 2 model has park assistant on it. I am sure not in US at least.
     
    #3 AllenZ, Jul 11, 2012
  4. dorunron

    dorunron Senior Member

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    Hi JOhannes,

    Welcome to Prius Chat. Enjoy the ride. Yes, Park Assist is a new one on me too. I have not heard of that being offered here in the U.S.A.

    Ron (dorunron)
     
    #4 dorunron, Jul 13, 2012
  5. Britprius

    Britprius Senior Member

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    I have a gen2 Prius Tspirit 2008 in the UK and that has park assist. I believe it came as standard on vehicles with reverse camera from 2006 on. We only get three versions of the car in the UK and I believe EU countries, T3,T4,and Tspirit being top of the range and the only one with the camera and PA. All variants come with 16inch wheels.
     
    #5 Britprius, Jul 13, 2012
    dorunron likes this.
  6. GrumpyCabbie

    GrumpyCabbie Senior Member

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    Location:
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    Vehicle:
    2010 Prius
    Model:
    III
    Welcome to the forum and congrats on getting a Prius.

    The fuel economy of 5.1 l/100km is about right to start with but you will easily reduce that as you get used to the car. One thing that can affect your fuel economy are the tyres. Low Rolling Resistance summer tyres at the correct tyre pressures will enable you to get the best economy. Having the tyre pressures too low will increase fuel use as will non LRR tyres and winter tyres can reduce it further depending on the type of winter tyre.

    The 12 volt battery is also a weak point in the car and if it's failing it can increase fuel use as the car is continually trying to charge it up. The car doesn't have an alternator so some charge that would go into helping drive the car is diverted into attempting to charge the 12v. If you have DRL's then this will quicken the demise of the 12v. As a genuine Toyota replacement isn't that expensive, it might be worth considering a new one.

    We use lots of salt on our roads here in the UK (though maybe not as much as you do) and you just don't see any rusty Prii, though a Mercedes of similar age will have rusty wheel arches! Extra rust proofing is probably prudent in your climate.
     
    #6 GrumpyCabbie, Jul 13, 2012
  7. HaroldW

    HaroldW Active Member

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    Location:
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    Vehicle:
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    Model:
    Three
    Welcome, JOhannes.
     
    #7 HaroldW, Jul 13, 2012
  8. dorunron

    dorunron Senior Member

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    Thanks for the info Britprius, it goes to show that not everyone knows everything. I do appreciate the info and the education!

    Ron (dorunron)
     
    #8 dorunron, Jul 13, 2012
  9. J0hannes

    J0hannes Junior Member

    Joined:
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    Location:
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    Vehicle:
    2006 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    Big news! Yesterday I went to register the car and after I found all my papers and the inspection office got a green light from the Swedish transport administration (vägverket) for re-registering the car to Finland, I got plates!
    [​IMG]

    Oh yeah! Mine has a reverse camera too! Though I find the park assist being more of a toy rather than actually useful feature. For someone with serious problems, with parallel parking or reversing to a pocket, it could be useful. For me at least, I have parked the car and walking away from it in the same time it take to set the system ready for the car to park it for you:p Like I said, it's a fun toy though...

    The car currently has some mid-price Continental tires on, they for certain aren't LRR's, but since they are almost new, I'll drive them until they 3mm of tread left. I have them at around 2,3 bar or whatever is the manufacturers recommendation. Winter tires are Michelin x-ice studded, which aren't the best for Finnish climate either, but also almost new, so I'll wear them out too before getting proper stud less winter tires.

    I'm not sure how you use light in the UK, but in Finland we have to have driving lights on all the time, so actually installing a set of DLR's would in my mind lower the load on the teeny weeny 12v battery of the vehicle. For winter time, I actually have been planning on installing an smart battery charger to keep the 12v batt topped. The temp can easily drop below -25C for weeks and if the battery isn't in top condition, well you can guess what can happen to it:D

    There was some surface rust on the Prii bottom plate from previous owners driving in Stockholm area. I don't know how much they use salt around there, but I'm almost 100% that they don't use as much as here in Finland:D
     
    #9 J0hannes, Jul 14, 2012
  10. Britprius

    Britprius Senior Member

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    In Sweden they use salt water from their many inland salt lakes to clear the roads of snow. I worked over in northern Sweden for a while in the winter and at dusk the temperature went down very quickly and the salt water froze leaving black ice. I was driving a Range Rover shipped over from the UK with studded tyres and towed many people out of snow banks. At that time "about 12years ago" the Range Rover was very rare on Swedish roads and had lots of interest when ever I parked.

    In the UK DRL's are now required on new vehicles from 2012 but older cars do not require day time illumination unless visibility is poor due to rain or mist ect.

    Can you supply details of your Continental tyres as some are LRR and we may be able to confirm. Best results fuel wise is to run the pressures at about 40/38 PSI or metric equivalent this also improves handling enormously.

    The reversing camera is very useful if you switch on the steering position bars as this makes reversing very easy and car positioning very accurate.
     
    #10 Britprius, Jul 14, 2012
  11. HaroldW

    HaroldW Active Member

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    The DRL do not get the power from the 12V . Maybe only when not ready mode is powered off? The 12v powers the brain only, I think? H
     
    #11 HaroldW, Jul 14, 2012
  12. J0hannes

    J0hannes Junior Member

    Joined:
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    Location:
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    Vehicle:
    2006 Prius
    Model:
    N/A
    We've had a snow storm over here that started yesterday and still goes on. Two days ago the ground was thaw and on Monday it rained water:D
    IMG-20121130-WA0001.jpg
    Got my first experience on Prius driveability on snow. On unplowed roads it feels as the rear was sometimes floating on the snow and sometimes going where it wants. Then the ESC cuts too much power on wheel spin (IMO), which proves to be problematic when you want to start moving again after stopping. Aside these features, the Prius is probably the best (2wd) car I've driven winter time. Heats up fast as hell and no problem with the ICE starting without block heater.

    Also earlier I asked about the summer and winter tires that came wit the car. I finally have some pics for you tire gurus, so could y'all help me a bit and tell me what I'm dealing with?

    Summer tires Michelin Pilot Primacy:
    2012-10-26 16.20.59.jpg

    Winter tires GoodYear Ultragrip Extreme:
    2012-10-26 16.21.33.jpg
     
    #12 J0hannes, Nov 30, 2012
  13. GrumpyCabbie

    GrumpyCabbie Senior Member

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    Vehicle:
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    Model:
    III
    I like the look of those winter tyres. Might have to enquire about getting some. Where'd you get the spare alloys that fit the Prius from?
     
    #13 GrumpyCabbie, Nov 30, 2012
  14. J0hannes

    J0hannes Junior Member

    Joined:
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    Location:
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    Vehicle:
    2006 Prius
    Model:
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    The winter alloys came with the car from the first owner of the car. They seem to be Toyota originals, because they fit without center hole adapters or spacers and they use the same lug nuts as the Prius OE rims.

    I'll try to remember to take a picture of the winter tires under the car. They look really nice when installed.
     
    #14 J0hannes, Dec 26, 2012
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