Toyota Prius: Impressions and Numbers

LOL. Hope so.  :)

So... you buy a Prius. Yea it's slow and plasticky.  But what's the fun part? At least for the first few days, you kinda want to know what kind of mileage you're getting.  For the life of me I can't figure out how to get a number to show on the dash for average mpg.

We watched the video and (sorta) looked at the 4000 page owners manual.  Also googled it and found "PriusChat" - a forum where all the snarky hypermilers with 10,000 posts give a load of crap to newbies asking the same questions...

"Where's the avg mpg?"

Is a no brainer on my CRV, never even read the manual.

My friend loves his Prius.. Excellent choice Harv.

I'm breaking out this thread from the Honda thread because ... well not sure why. Also I realize that while a CRV could be loosely classified as ski gear, the Prius is a stretch. Whatever.

Neve's gymnastics class does this way cool thing once a month called parents night out. They take the class from 6-9pm on a Saturday night and it gives the parent a chance to ... be. Zelda is sick tonight so we home hangin.

I digress. Zelda's car was parked behind the Honda so I took it. It was pretty cool.  I still pull the key out of my pocket, but you don't need to.

I now know exactly how to get MPG from the dash. It auto calculates the current tank (42.2) and when you stop it tells you what you got since the last time you stopped. On the way over to gymnastics I got 47.8 and in the way back 57.6.  It actually can run on the electric motor at 40mph if you drive it right.

I also tried out the POWER button on the way over. The thing goes. I mean not like a fast car, but faster than Zelda's Civic with a stick that we just traded in. That one acceleration was probably the difference between the 47 and the 57 I got on the two legs of the errand.

The steering is tight too.  I think I'm liking it.

Just picked up a used Prius. My daughter wrecked our Santa Fe so it was prematurely time to get a new car. Found a 2007, super clean, 53,000, for $13,000. Haven't found any negative reviews about the things and we're pretty high mileage. Looking forward to saving some $$$. It's gotta get better mpg than my trusty Element!

Prius update: About a thousand miles into this thing and I love it. Good solid feel for a small car (MUCH better than I expected), handles well, and I'm averaging ~~45 mpg. On-board displays were a bit distracting at first but have grown accustomed to them quickly. Purchased the vehicle expecting to buy snows w/studs immediately but haven't seen the need, yet...maybe it's time for another snowstorm??? ;^)

bean valley wrote

Prius update: About a thousand miles into this thing and I love it. Good solid feel for a small car (MUCH better than I expected), handles well, and I'm averaging ~~45 mpg. On-board displays were a bit distracting at first but have grown accustomed to them quickly. Purchased the vehicle expecting to buy snows w/studs immediately but haven't seen the need, yet...maybe it's time for another snowstorm??? ;^)

Bean - I agree the thing feels tight. Nice to know yours is tight with 53,000 on it.  We are getting around 50 mpg with ours but we never step on it - always trying to get it to run on full electric. You got to watch out because guys in pickups get pissed!

"never step on it - always trying to get it to run on full electric"

Seems like if you really soft-touch the gas you can maximize the mpg. Hard to do in these hills...though I did have a flat one-hour histogram the other day driving from exit 25 down to exit 9. There's a paradigm shift, using realtime stats to measure my driving habits!

I FIRMLY believe that (by law!) every car should have an instantaneous mpg gauge. It does change the way you drive. Plus if you really want that hummer, you'll see that you're getting 6 mpg in the test drive.

It's funny that I'm finding with the CRV I get off the highway after driving home from the mountains and I've got like 28.6 mpg on a pure highway tank (filled up at Scotty's Exit 16 on the Northway) and I can push it above 29 in traffic over the last 15 miles.  A light touch in stop and go can beat flying down the interstate.

Prius as shown on the site: 32,650$
Passat Wagon TDI: 26,500$

Not having to be a smug subaru driver: priceless!

just kidding, I love subaru's. But someone tell me why it's silly not to just get the TDI (in dream land with my fantasy bucks)

Our Prius is pretty stripped I guess - it was $25k. Zelda wanted and electric car since 5th grade.  And I owed her one.  Prius.

Glad she kept it in the driveway this weekend!

That's a pretty good reason, and congratulations! Hope it provides your family with many a happy and safe mile. Forget about the German cars anyway, the cupholders always always always suck.

ml242 wrote

Prius as shown on the site: 32,650$
Passat Wagon TDI: 26,500$

Not having to be a smug subaru driver: priceless!

just kidding, I love subaru's. But someone tell me why it's silly not to just get the TDI (in dream land with my fantasy bucks)

Do you mean Jetta Wagon? The Passat is not available in the US.

My sister just got the Jetta TDI sportwagon and she loves it. Put some snows on it and it can go pretty much anywhere on roads. The reason I wil not get one is the size. When I am driving it nobody can sit behind me. If I didn't have kids I would seriously consider it. As for a Passat wagon, I doubt it will show up here.  All the car companies have better results selling SUV/crossover types. BMW is supposedly going to bring in the 328d xDrive Sportswagen for 2014, but I am sure it will be a very costly item negating the saving of diesel mpg (unless you drive major miles per year).

x10003q wrote

My sister just got the Jetta TDI sportwagon and she loves it. Put some snows on it and it can go pretty much anywhere on roads. The reason I wil not get one is the size. When I am driving it nobody can sit behind me.

You've gotta be one tall dude (or have tall dudes behind you) to not be able to have someone sitting behind you in a SportWagen. I'm 6'1" with a short torso and long legs and I can't even put the seat all the way back because there is so much travel. The thing isn't massive but you've gotta have two long legged people front and back to cause problems. It ain't an SUV back there but it ain't a coupe either.

riverc0il wrote

You've gotta be one tall dude (or have tall dudes behind you) to not be able to have someone sitting behind you in a SportWagen. I'm 6'1" with a short torso and long legs and I can't even put the seat all the way back because there is so much travel. The thing isn't massive but you've gotta have two long legged people front and back to cause problems. It ain't an SUV back there but it ain't a coupe either.

I am about your size. Here is a quote from my 5'8" nephew after sitting behind me when I took it out for a spin.
" There is no way I would spend more than 10 minutes sitting behind you in this car."  My sister is about 5'5" and her husband is about 5'7".  The car works for them.


The Passat wagon would work for me.


So would this 2013 Audi A6 wagon - also not for the US


Here is another one - Opel Insignia Wagon - the sedan is known in the US as the Buick Regal. There are rumors that this might be sold here in 2014. Note the Buick grill.

that opel is pretty cool. awd / tdi?

x10003q wrote

Note the hideous Buick grill.

Fixed it for ya.  

Time to break this thread out:

Awesome Sport Wagons For Guys Who'd Never Buy A Poky Prius

ml242 wrote

that opel is pretty cool. awd / tdi?

In Europe you can get that combo on all 3.

who would ve thought, station wagons making a come back

freeheeln wrote

who would ve thought, station wagons making a come back

Not here in the US. Here SUV/Crossovers/Pickups are the choice. Wagons have always been popular in Europe. You can get a wide variety of engines including some really small engines in full size cars like the Passat/Audi A6/BMW 5/Opel Insignia. You can also get them without all the bells and whistles that tend to jack up the price.