New to prius

no idea what a fielder is, but you can expect a smooth, quiet, peppy driving experience with the 2009, excellent fuel economy and ultra low emissions, and plenty of utility. all the best!

 

I'm picturing a "fielder" as some sort of off-road, four-wheel-drive, high-clearance vehicle. Or am I totally off-base?

Yeah, my one concern would be to stay preferably on paved roads, or at least well graded. Prius ground clearance is not that much. Also check cabin and engine filters frequently at first, assuming dusty environment.

 

Prius is famous for excellent fuel economy and reliability. But it has very low ground clearance and it is not a fast vehicle.

There is an engine air filter under the hood which you should clean regularly if you're in a dusty environment. There is also a paper "cabin air filter" which cleans dust from air blown into cabin by the heater and air conditioner. You can also clean this filter, but it must be replaced in the same direction which it was removed. That is to say: It fits and works in both directions. But if you remove it and put it back, if the airflow direction has changed, then you'll blow dust all over your car's interior. There is an arrow on the filter so pay attention to its direction before you remove the filter.

You can purchase these air filters and also the engine oil filters in bulk so that you have them in hand. The engine oil should be synthetic, if you can find it.

Beyond that, I know the 2010+ model years (Gen III) better than the models before 2010 (Gen II). You should determine if your car is a Gen II or III.

 

If you google "Toyota TechInfo" you can find link to the site where Owner's Manuals, and Warranty and Maintenance Guide are available (in pdf format) for download. Here's direct link to the North American site:

https://techinfo.toyota.com/techInfoPortal/appmanager/t3/ti?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=ti_home_page&contextType=external&username=string&password=sercure_string&challenge_url=https://techinfo.toyota.com/techInfoPortal/login/techinfo&request_id=-253768312539221652&authn_try_count=0&locale=en_US&resource_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftechinfo.toyota.com%2F

Click on the tab "Manuals" to get started. I would suggest, if your car is indeed 3rd gen, to set year to 2010, which started production about 1/2 way through 2009. Third gen would have gloss black spoiler at the rear, looks like this:

 

Confirm (if possible) that your car has gloss black rear spoiler, that will be third gen, and if so I can download and post a link for you. If it's in fact a body colored rear spoiler, that would be second gen, and again, I could download and link.

 

In the US and Canada it was known as the Matrix.

 

Welcome to Priuschat. I am a pretty new owner too.

 

2017 Prius Two. I have had it about a month, now

 

I usually get over 50 MPG on most trips and my wife insists my driving habits are not the best for a hybrid.
My son is on his second Prius (2005 & then 2015 Prius V). so I had some very limited experience before I bought mine.