Okay so here are my first few questions...

1. The volume button on the dash is not itself lighted, but the little space surrounding it is, when parking lights or headlights are on. On the steering wheel, volume and station selection lights are also lighted when parking lights/headlights are on, but not very brightly, and they cannot be adjusted brighter as the dash lights can.

2. There are two threads on this topic very current. The longer one is entitled "Opening all the doors with SKS (Was: Deleted)" and was started by tracysbeans. It's 3 pages in as I type this, in the Main Forum. Bottom line: you can program it yourself.

Don't know about Sirius.

Re: your MPG, there are a zillion threads and posts on the subject. No, 28-30 MPG is not normal, especially in 70-degree weather as L.A. had yesterday. But 60 mi. is too short to start to judge, too.

Did you notice what the MPG read when the dealer first gave you the car? Dealers usually give you CLOSE to a full tank of gas, but it's often not exact. Furthermore, if a mechanic or "lot boy" drove it a mile or more after they put gas in it, it may have read about 15-20 MPG when they gave it to you.

My advice: fill it up yourself right away, even though it won't hold much more in the tank. When you do, push "reset" on the MFD screen. Now your MPG will reflect ONLY your driving, and you'll know the tank was full when you make your first calculation.

How long at a time have you driven it since picking it up? All Priuses get low MPG (about 20-25 MPG) the first 5 minutes until the engine and catalytic converter are warmed to a pre-set temp. So if you've had shorter trips of, say, 10 or 15 minutes at a time, your MPG probably wouldn't climb much over 35, depending on other factors. You really need to take it out and drive 20 minutes or more, including some at steady speeds (55-60 MPH) on a freeway, to begin to get a feel for what to expect WITH MODERATE TEMPS AND YOUR CURRENT DRIVING TECHNIQUES.

While waiting for your car, did you read any of the MPG advice here, including tire air pressure? If so, did you have the dealer (or did you) inflate the tires to about 40 lb. psi (per square inch) in front and 38 in rear? (Or, depending on how soft a ride you want, 38/36 or some other pressure.) If not instructed otherwise, the dealer probably gave it to you with tires at about 35 lb or less in front and 32 or so in rear. This pressure is only suitable for a "soft ride" and will not allow the car to give you the highest MPG.

That's for starters. You can start reading about MPG-maximizing techniques, and trying to use them, right away. But get yourself some reliable "baseline data" ASAP.

 

You can reprogram the computer to unlock all doors when opening the driver's door but I have a safety concern about doing that.

I sometimes drive to and then street-park in some nasty parts of Maryland, PA, and NJ cities. As a woman, I don't like the idea of unlocking all the doors when I'm alone. Sounds paranoid, but I don't want to give anyone hanging around on the sidewalks even a few seconds of access to the passenger or rear seats. Some low-life could slide into the passenger seat and take me hostagewhile I'm flumbling with the seat belt.

It was a bit of a pain when both my husband and I are riding in the car. I've learned to wait until he opens the passenger door - he usually carries the second fob - which unlocks the driver's side door too. Otherwise, I open the driver's door and automatically use the button to unlock the rear door. Or you can pull out the fob and use press the button twice to unlock all doors.

 

You might have already found it, but you have press the LOCK and PANIC buttons on your key fob and hold them down until you hear 2 pairs of beeps. That cycles between I think 3 settings. It starts out on the first, and it sounds like you want the second. Just did it myself this morning.

 

It is not just Sirius, it is all the audio settings that jump back. I don't remember the exact keystrokes, but in thet setup menu there is something that refers to a time out and go back to the consumption/energy screen after a certain amount of time. If you need the exact keystrokes let me know, but I know I found it by RTFM and looking in the menu.

 

One other thing (in addition to everything that people have said on this board) may have to do with the fact that you just picked it up from the dealer. When we picked ours up, I noticed that the battery level was MUCH lower than it has been since (i.e. 1 or 2 bars). We got less than ideal mileage on our first tank, and I have always wondered if that was because the engine was running a lot to charge the battery.