First 5k miles in2012 Prius 2 observations

Just had my first 5k service not too long ago as well. You didn't need to get your oil changed, but to each their own.

As far as the experience. I have enjoyed driving it A LOT. I have some minor complaints, much the same as you. I was expecting to get higher MPGs. But a lot of my hit comes from the big drive I make twice a week. (80 miles total, some uphill and downhill) with 3 other people in the car. Lots of weight, decreases my MPGs a lot. I also leave for work and do a 15 min commute to meet the carpool when I don't drive, in the very dead cold early morning.

However, when I drive the car myself and done the 80 mile trip I get at or above 60 MPGs on the MFD compared to the 54 or so I get currently reported.

Besides the big trips I have taken, I expect to slowly get higher numbers as the climate gets warmer. Make sure you inflate your tires a bit higher than normal, you should see some rise in your numbers.

Cheers to us and our 5k achievement. =)

Cya back here at 10k lol.

 

Didn't you get the FREE two years of service from Toyota?

 

Jesus Christ, $70 for a Costco oil change?
My dealership offers lifetime oil changes as a perk, but I don't trust em and am gonna do it myself. Besides, 10k mi/1 yr oil change isn't too frequent.

 

Well I hope you put the correct oil type in when it was changed. My understanding is that it should be fully synthetic 0w20 oil. If they put anything else in then you will not be getting the best mpg by any means. Seeing that you only paid $20 for the oil change, I have a very funny feeling it won't be 0w20.

A personal example of the 'wrong oil'. I could easily get 75 mpg UK (62mpg US) and then one time shortly after a service my mpg's bombed to about 56 mpg UK (46 mpg US) and it was impossible to get it much more than that. Turned out the dealer had used the much cheaper 5w30 oil thinking it wouldn't make much difference. It did though. Complained and they changed it back to 0w20 oil and suddenly my mpg's were back up where they were.

So moral of the story - if Toyota say you should service the car every 10k miles and use their type of 0w20 oil, then it's probably for a reason. I'm not saying the oil you have in now will damage the engine (it probably won't) but your fuel economy will suffer for sure.

 

Yes, the Prius uses 0W20 and it is a bit hard to find outside a Toyota Dealer. That IS the correct oil to use. Why does Toyota recommend a 10K oil change? Because for the first 25,000 miles it is on thier nickle and to be honest full Synthetic oil is probably good for 10K. If you get a warm and fuzzy feeling changing oil at 5K (like me) even if you have to pay for it) it will not hurt anything other than your wallet. I had mine done at the Dealer at 5K and they did not blink an eye. Some of us just change oil a bit more than we "need" to, I plan on a change every 5K but to see the MPG's use the recommended oil for sure. I was a thousand miles from home (really) when my Prius hit the 10K. It was not real convient to get to a Toyota Dealer just due to time constraints, since my oil only had 5K on it I felt confident to go home and get my 10K service at 11K, no moral to this story. Just to point out when Jiffy Lube was "selling" oil changes it was every 3K when you really would have been fine to run old dino-oil 6K. Use the correct oil for sure but changing your oil and filter every 5K is really a non-issue.

 

My oil changes were not covered when I bought my 2010. When I asked my dealer to change the oil at 5k miles, they tried to talk me out of it. and if I remember right, it was only about $55. Costco charging $70?? Something's not right.

 

Check they were both quoting the correct 0w20 oil. It's about £40 or £50 for 5 litres here in the UK ($50 approx inc 20% sales tax), whereas 5w30 oil can be had for half that cost.

 

Did you read? ..... Costco did not change the oil...... but he used a gift card issued by the Costco Auto Program.

 

Please tell me you had them use 0W-20 synthetic. If not, bad move.

 

He said a coupon, and it's really not clear who changed his oil, or what oil was used.