Disappointed in Prius.... Any Advice for me?

foam for 1/2" copper

 

Nitrogen is good but helium is even better...for a more comfortable ride.

Seriously. You can't tell the difference. There isn't any. The only thing you can tell is the pressure.
Nitrogen is supposed to leak less. The difference is so small that you shouldn't pay for it.

Here is how you get high mpg.
- keep tires at 40 psi...or even 42 or 44
- don't accelerate fast....but also don't accelerate too slowly
- try to not use the brakes (but be safe)
- when you must use the brakes, brake early and gently to maximize regen
- learn how to drive in stealth mode (this is when the engine is off and you are only using the battery)
- you'll notice the car has a warm up cycle if must go through before you can drive in stealth
- try and not drive where this mandatory warm up happens while sitting at a stop light
- taking longer trips ...minimizing the number of warm ups

Mike

 

I had posted the link in the 4th post, I did not repeat it, sorry.

www.amazon.com/dp/B004A6EXVM

 

I've come to this thread late.
So you basically already been given various off shoots of this advice.
But here's my opinion.

Nearly 38 MPG in the middle of winter? Is pretty good. It's only even possibly considered low, by Prius standards.
You haven't owned and operated the vehicle long enough to really get a bigger picture look at what your MPG is going to be...for months, even 1/2 year, yearly basis.

I certainly wouldn't at this point be looking at changing out to a "different" Prius. I'd just stay the course. See what taking some of the advice already given might do, and even possibly of more impact, what this Spring and Summer might bring.

Also, when I buy a vehicle, unless I'm immediately, irrevocably unhappy, I stop looking at other vehicles.
It only leads to possible disgruntlement and unneeded temptation. You are only going to find "deals" that you can imagine are better.

I'd just stay the course with what you have.
If you are still unhappy in 8 months? A year? And with some application of MPG saving techniques, and making sure the vehicle is mechanically sound, ---all the advice given.

Then changes can always be made.
But for now....you have a Gen 2, with amazingly low mileage.
I'd just see if given some time, it doesn't become " a reliable vehicle with excellent MPG ".

 

From Fuelly.com

 

Oops. Here is the graph for 2009.

 

I can't believe you paid that much. W gas prices down and economy good I get those for 3k all day long....

 

Regular air is 4/5 nitrogen. Nitrogen fill could be more appropriately called "oxygen-free". It's intent is twofold: to keep air pressure more stable (it's less prone to leak out), and reduce corrosion inside the rim. Other'n that it does nothing, and the ride is just the same.

Up to you: you can buy 3 foot tubes for around a dollar apiece, at most any hardware store. Experiment and see what works. With my 3rd gen I like the "3/4" dia x 3'" tubing. The 3/4 refers to nominal plumbing pipe size, the OD of the foam tube is around 1.5", which works. I use velcro strips (you can buy it in rolls) to hold the tubing on. With that diameter I push the tube onto the grill slats, at the slit in the tubing.

Second gen has inverter radiator at the bottom, so be cautious, I would block the lower no more than 50%. The upper you can block 100% I think, it's a relatively small area? I would use just a little blocking with temps 32F to 50F, more below 32F. If you're doing any kind of serious hill climbing, say going up a mountain for sking, I would not use any blocking, regardless of temps.

Consider also block heater.

 

FYI
To address some of your issues/concerns....

From Gen1 to Gen3 I have not witness a drastic and or dramatic and or huge increase in mpg performance and have driven Gen 2 primarily… so purchase thereof buyer beware

All vehicles and therefore all hybrids vehicle mpg performance goes down in winter temps and unless 70F or above is a normality in drive condition your vehicle warm up cycle suffers ...purchase of engine block heater can help somewhat

New tires not sure which you purchase however I did purchase a set of Michelin Energy X LRR tires . Afterwards in summer driving in North Texas was getting roughly 56mpg to 58mpg per MFD. However I have now switch to Bridgestone Ecopia with no witness difference in summer season driving.

There are multiple variables and driving behavior that impact overall mpg

 

I think the reason for this is kinda twofold: first, just the realities of colder temps, the impact on warm-up time, the engine temp often plateauing lower. And secondly: the car has sensors reading the outside temperature, and it's very likely adjusting engine behavior accordingly, to reduce pollution but at the detriment of mpg.

 

Take a look at both filters for yourself. You'll then have a a better idea of their condition, and never want to pay someone to change them again.

If either is just slightly grungy, I wouldn't be in a rush to change. At 50k miles I've yet to change either, though our air quality is better than a lot of places: west coast on the edge of the pacific, and year round a fair bit of rain.

 

Yeah I just noticed in the thread you started, about rodents, lol.

Hopefully not too much needs to be pulled out.

You can install wire mesh over the egress points. Maybe the rodent issue was just on that farm, but who knows.

 

Change the filters and use at least 78% nitrogen in the tires.

 

Here are the Toyota parts:

1 cabin air filter: Cabin Air Filter - Toyota (87139-47010-83) | Toyota Parts

2. engine air filter: Air Filter - Toyota (17801-21040) | Toyota Parts

Both are suuuuper easy to replace - my elderly mother can do these two jobs. Instructions can be found on Youtube. If you call around town, you can probably find a Toyota parts dept willing to quote you a price sort of close to the online pricing.

 

I was a diesel mechanic in the 90's for a brief period. We found that do gooders who clapped out the filter on street sweeper/vaccums each day let significant dirt bypass each time they pulled the filter. They also failed to use filter grease for the gaskets. As a result they ruined engines in a year. Dirty filters only inhibit some flow at WOT and hence performance doesn't suffer. We found that mild to moderately dirty filters trapped more dirt than clean ones. Of note, a very old but clean filter was at risk for fatigue rips. Also very dity filters were potentially at risk. Better filters had a wire backing to prevent them from caving. The pleats must be arranged so dirt falls when they vibrate. Diesels use a resettable filter guage so the servicer can check the resistance visually without pulling the filter. Often service centers make sales of items they know they have in stock...at a big markup.
Hope this background helps you make informed decisions.
Doug