New Prius Owner

Welcome to PriusChat and Prius-dom!

As far as knowing or doing anything differently, just hang here, browse the forums, and learn to use the search function for answers to specific questions. Most questions likely have already been discussed.

Some minor quibbles:

1. No seat bottom angle or height adjustment. I'm 6'4", and some additional adjustment to accomodate my long legs would be nice.
2. No inside release for the hatch.
3. Limited instrumentation, like no tachometer or engine temperature gauge. Many (me included) have added aftermarket devices like ScanGauge or CAN-View. (You can't buy the latter anymore unless you're doing a plug-in conversion.)

I can probably think of more, but the key word is minor. All in all, I loved the car when I first bought it and still do almost 2 years later.

 

Hello Everyone,

I picked up my new Prius Saturday 3 weeks ago. It's a 2007 color silver pine => light green with black interior. I already have 1500 miles on it and will probably have 35K - 45K on it by this time next year. I drive about 600-800 miles per week plus many 12+ hour trips. I am looking forward to the first one coming soon. I expect to save enough in gas in 5 years to buy the next Prius with cash ! In any case, I am so far thoroughly pleased with this great engineered car. I was not even looking at the Prius until I rented one in CA last month from Avis and I was instantly impressed. After 2 days driving on the 101 I was sold.

I'm replacing a 1998 Oldsmobile with 250K miles on it my wife will now use for her daily commute. She was driving a 1984 Olds station wagon and costing us about $75 per week in gas. The station wagon is in mint condition and still starts every morning without fail (hint hint, anyone want to buy it? It's like the one on the Chevy Chase movie B) ) We also have a 1989 GMC pickup with 290K miles on it and a 1986 oldsmobile with 450K miles on that one. As you can tell, we've been a GM house until this month. I'll be unloading some of the hardware over the winter.

Thanks to the great resources on this forum I have found endless amounts of helpful information including the little things such as shutting off the backup beeper and pumping up the tires and stuff, as well as the major stuff about reliability and driveability that convinced me this was a safe leap to make. I am looking to buy the block heater which seems to be out of stock wherever I look. Danny? I love the hatchback and the space it allows with the rear seats down. I think the driving controls are generally excellent and the MFD works great for me. I turn it off at night as it is too much like a cartoon to watch. The lack of a power seat adjustment surprised me, I miss that. I also think the steering wheel is too small and I would like a distance adjustment. The amount of power and performance of the engine/hybrid system was a very pelasant surprise and I find it real easy to cruise at 75 without feeling like I'm winding it up at all. I do find the wandering in the wind and in the road grooves a little annoying. What is the best way to fix this? Change tires, add the stiffening plate, both?

I would also like help with "Can-tool". I believe I need that to make other adjustments to the automatic lock operations and such. Where do I find that device? The dealers must be able to buy it somewhere.

Oh, and my mileage so far is an honest 45 - 49 miles per gallon. I am not in any way upset by that. I can see where I get better and see what I am doing to get less and I think putting that on the display is the best thing they could have done. My daily drive consists of 50 miles of highway and then about 15 miles of residential roads each way. I get 45 mpg average on the highway at 70-75MPH and over 60 mpg on the side roads at 35-45 MPH. It's a home run over the 25 mpg I was getting in the plush car.

So, thank you to everyone who has helped make this forum so useful, and hello to all of you I'll be hangin' out with for the next few years. It seems like great company!

Cheers
Steve