Three week ownership thoughts

How do you know a dealer isn't telling you the truth? Their lips move.

 

Back in the day, when cars had manual transmissions, we didn't worry about a constant speed on a break in, as the engine was revved up and down with each gear shift. A CVT tries to maintain a more constant engine speed. I would prefer an occasional quick 30-60 mph passing regimen that puts some load on the rings- don't be afraid to push down on the gas pedal, as the rings will seat better. The salesman who sold a Prius Prime in Wyoming, could sell a ski boat in El Paso, Texas.

 

See post 5. The car requires fresh fuel periodically.

 

i thought, in the end, you discovered it was the front defrost on or something?

 

john from minnersoter has no problems with the engine coming on, i doubt you will either.

 

The manual is available online: Happy reading.

https://www.toyota.com/t3Portal/document/om-s/OM47A88U/pdf/OM47A88U.pdf

Some is fine. Synthetic 0W-20 does not require much warm-up time. When I test drove my Prime (same one that I financed), the odometer reading was a whopping 8 miles. I had no problem pushing hard on the pedal to go up a hill with the salesman in the car with me. I had it up near 5000 rpm. Not a problem. Enjoy your car.

 

Nope, I always knew that front defrost kicked in ICE, that's why I refrained from using it. It was due to the fact that the car was outside and NOT in a garage exposed to the elements.

 

Is there a tachometer somewhere on the dash? I often wonder what rpm the engine is spinning.

 

No. You need a ScanGauge or Ultragauge to get RPM.

Until you get those, here are some reference points:

Cold engine warms up around 1300 RPM.
Warmed engine running quietly while stuck in traffic is around 1000 RPM.
Engine doing its thing up a mid-grade hill is just above 2000 RPM. (And honestly it's way quieter than in my Prius c, I wonder what they did to minimize engine vibrations into the cabin.)

 

Just 'cause you can do something doesn't mean you should do something, lol. How did you know it was at 5000 rpm, Scanguage or similar?

There's no harm, and lots of upside, in taking it easy on a brand new engine, and also, any time the engine is cold, regardless of miles on the odo. From the Prime Owner's Manual:

 

that's why i prefer mine fresh off the boat.

 

If you don't mind the wait, it's the way to go.

The new RX we bought had 9 miles on it when purchased and in that timespan the dealer managed to curb rash the passenger side rims.

Congrats on 59k posts BTW.

 

Neither of us has been through a Minnesnowta winter with the Prime yet. You may hear a lot of whining, at least from me. This week I used heated seat and steering wheel for the first time, and just applied Aquapel to the front windshield.

 

if your car is garaged, i think you'll be fine. at least to some low temp point.

 

Previously with my Prius c, and correlating the sound with the RPM that ScanGauge (and before that, Ultragauge) would display. And I was already aware of what I was doing as far as acceleration was concerned because of my note of the point about even break-in back when I had my Prius c.

 

My Prime is long past the breakin period, but it is not clear to me what I should have done. How on earth are you supposed to run the ICE at varying speeds during the breakin period? If you are EV mode, the question is moot (the engine is turning 0 rpm). And in HV mode, the speed at which the engine turns is pretty much controlled by the hybrid software, with very little correlation with how fast you are going or how you are accelerating . The system tries very hard to keep the ICE running at its optimum performance point, supplementing with power from the battery, or dumping excess power into the battery. Or are they really talking about breaking in other components, such as the transaxle? Since I had no clue about what I was supposed to do, I just drove it like I normally do, which means no jack-rabbit starts or slamming on the brakes.

 

Basically, for the initial break-in period, don't drive along a flat level desert road with the cruise control set to 60 mph for hours and hours at a time, each time. I mean, they have to run these engines before they end up at the dealership anyway, so any break-in period with normal driving ought to be fine.

 

Can anybody explain the "automatic baking" in cruise control and how to turn it off?

 

I've had my Prime for about three weeks, also. So far I give it a B+ or A-.

They could have shaped the interior storage so I could fit a box of tissues in the front. And a bigger glove box.
They could have found a way to let you know your instantaneous mpg in HV mode like every other Prius in existence.
They could have made it easier for normal-height people to get in and out of it (I'm short so I'm fine, but my wife isn't).

But it is such a wonderfully smooth ride in EV mode. I can't tell if I'm going 40 mph or 80 mph except by looking at the speedometer or how fast the trees are zooming by.

 

storage is one common complaint. the pip doesn't show hv mpg either.