So I wanted to give an update about my 2008 base model that had only 14,800 miles that I bought from a friend of the family, an elderly man who had to give up driving. I had concerns about the health of the traction battery as the car was lightly used, and was given a lot of good advice by your forum members. Well so far, the car has been perfect! It passed Pennsylvania inspection and has run like a top. I already have driven about 2,500 miles since purchase on 2/22, and in cold weather got about 45 mpg, and on warmer days have achieved 51 mpg, mostly highway miles at 70 mph. I bought a new bluetooth radio and had it installed professionally, and all is well. I opted not to have steering wheel radio controls installed and lost the illumination of the steering wheel buttons, but otherwise all is well.. The car had the original tires , the Goodyear Integrity, and they have significant wear at only 17,000 miles. Anyway, I thought I would add my experience to date, and thank all for your input.
I'm glad to hear that your new car is doing a good job for you. I recommend that you replace those Goodyear integrity tires soon. Those were poor tires when new and have not improved with age. Enjoy and good luck.
1. Bridgestone Ecopia EP-422. These tires were intended for hybrid vehicles, low rolling resistance, good handling for an all-season tire, good tread life. I've bought three sets of that model. 2. Michelin - Defender XT. Excellent tire, more costly than the Bridgestone Ecopia. I bought a set of these for my daughter's 2007 Prius. Find a Costco warehouse- Costco
Nice find! If I were to get new tires today, I'd look at the Continental TrueContact--they have about the best winter abilities for an all-season tire. I'm using the Hankook H727 and like them--very nice winter traction, but they tend to feather a bit and get noisy (although reversing their rotation direction seems to help). The TrueContact is supposed to be even grippier in snow, is very highly-rated and is available in the OEM size.
