What every newb should know

Welcome to the forum! As you car breaks in, your mpg will improve. For break in try to drive in all kinds of situations just like you would normally.

 

Thank you. Reading this advice got me to call my mechanic (who knows Priuses) and find out exactly what their procedure is for this kind of check. That way I knew how much it would cost, how long it would take, and that it was completely reasonable to ask the dealer to let me test-drive the car to my mechanic for inspection.

Also, this advice got me to decide in advance that this inspection would be a deal-breaker -- if any seller resisted letting me take it to be checked by my own mechanic, I would walk away. No matter how great the car or the price seemed, it was not worth the risk.

It turned out that the used Prius we were looking at was in totally fantastic condition. But it was well worth the $65 it cost to have a trusted, expert source tell me that. I would have happily paid twice as much.

I enthusiastically second this advice.

 

Thank you for the post. Several points of advice were very helpful. In particular, I enjoyed reading about the energy loss from moving from one form of energy to the other. Does this imply that when using the pulse and glide technique, you should maintain the glide as long as possible suggesting that pulsing to 50 and gliding to 30 mph is better than pulsing to 45 mph and gliding to 35 mph?

 

Hey bwilson,

Usually a glide as long as possible is best, yes. It's all about a very low ratio of engine on to engine off time. Think of your pulse as length x. Even though technically we should measure it in distance, it's not practical for me to stare at my odometer while driving, so I estimate time. If you can pulse for 10 seconds at 30 mpg and glide for 30+ seconds, you've likely gotten over 100 mpg for that segment (unless it was uphill).

In your example, yes, 50 to 30 would be theoretically be better before taking terrain into account, though keep in mind on your car the engine will run over at and over 46 mph.

 

Great post. Really helpful for those just getting started. It's a whole new way to drive!

 

As another newbie, I thank you for this post ,but am confused by one component in it. You say to accelerate hard from a stop to use the CID more efficiently (or did I misread this). I use the display to try to keep the horizontal bar off the extreme right area where the 'eco' light turns off. Is this less efficient way to accelerate? This goes against everything I thought was the proper way to get the most efficiency from these cars.

 

It is counter intuitive but don't waste time getting up to speed and then back off the throttle and glide at speed and you will see an increase in mpg over time. The idea is if you have to run the engine, then run it at its most efficient rpm range. That's about the 3/4's area of the HSI screen but not in the red area.

 

Just wanted to say hello. I'm about to take ownership of my brand new 2011 Prius and I've been poring over the forums here trying to catch up on everything, particularly trying to wrap my head around fuel efficient driving in a Prius. I'm sure I'll be back with more questions but for now just saying hello and thank you to all the people with their excellent advice!

 

Putt,

I received my Heatshield last week (I purchased it on Amazon) and have used it for the last four days. I live in Miami where temps have been up in the 90's already and the car does feel a lot better when I get in at 5:00pm. It fits reasonably well and rolls up pretty tight, too (I kept reading about how bulky it was but it isn't as bad as everyone makes it seem). Once I'm done with it I just throw it in the back and take off. Hope this helps. Now I need info regarding the mudguards....

 

I lived as a tenant in an apartment complex when I bought my 2008 Prius. I sure appreciated that heatshield. I now have a condo and a building carport. I was 79YO, live alone and my own elder-care giver. I don't understand what you are talking about being cumbersome Oh yes, I'm female too and I have old age aches and pains. What's the problem

 

Thanks for the tips.

 

Who knows about filling the gas ! my dad looks after tat :heh:

 

I picked up my prius last Thursday and it was on 1 pip from the dealer (I was mad) and drove passed a gas station since it was $.10 cheaper up the road. I got stopped in I95 North traffic out of Baltimore (Oh noes) but I took the first exit and filled it. Only added about 8 gal so who cares about ($.80)! I love this car.

 

Welcome aboard !

 

Anyone who has a mac and has posted the fuelly info on his posts, help, I'm a computer idiot and need help, thanks in advance.

 

[UR L=http://www.fuelly.com/driver/mikewi thaprius/prius][IM G]http://www.fu elly.com/sig-us/59074.png[/IMG][/U RL]

Here's how mine looks...just eliminate all the spaces and make sure your own data is in there instead of mine, including that number at the end.

Oh, and PS if you're looking for the signature, you have to click on "User CP" in the upper left of this page, then "Edit Signature" a little down on the left. That's where this info goes to show up every time.

 

Thanks, this is a test ost to see if the signature function works.....

 

Thanks for the info, as you can see it worked! Thanks again, gotta love this site and it's helpful people

 

Which display is the most useful for using the pulse and glide? Would it be the HSI display or the energy monitor?