Greetings from another happy Prius driver

Yup resets every time I fill up too. Nice feature, but too bad it doesn't have another counter to track the lifetime mpg as well as the tank mpg.

 

Sorry if I sound like a broken record, just want to clarify about regen braking. So if I were rolling towards a red light at say 30mph, is it better to

1/ brake really early, and lightly ride the brakes to the light
2/ roll all the way to the light then brake when I get there

I mean, if I'm braking lightly from far away, are the friction brakes applied?

 

Yikes, what happened to my mpg reading at between 20-25 mins? Anyone seen that before? No, my car wasn't idling. That span should have read 100mpg because I was on a highway going 55 but rolling steadily downhill. I managed to keep my momentum when I got off the highway into the side streets. And it wasn't like my battery SoC was low too. It was around 50-60%, and rolling downhill probably charged it up a notch as well. Bug?

 

Just weird. Nope it was at night around 7:30, and the streets were fairly clear of other vehicles. I was definitely on the highway for a good portion of those 5 mins traveling downhill around 55mpg; my foot was off the pedal. I must have traveled at least 3-4 miles in that span. Typically on that part of my commute home, I'd get a score of 100 (see past screenshots 1, 2 and 3). And last night I was thinking that I did better than average because it was later at night and I managed to initiate a couple of short glides and timed a couple lights perfectly to avoid stopping at all.

Edit: Oh and even though I drive day in and day out in the bitter cold NE weather, I almost never turn the heat on. Hardly the radio. Gotta save those pennies, errr I mean trees. Lol.

 

Hmmm, it happened again. Link
Same stretch of the road. The whole time, I was in motion, on a highway with hardly any other cars on the road. I wasn't practicing P&G, but I was actively keeping the car running on solely on battery power. Max speed was probably 60 and slowest speed was probably 15. Never stopped once. Could it be that its like that because I burned 0 gallons of gas, so its a Divide By 0 error? Quite an obvious bug that toyota QA didn't catch if it is. :-\


Anyway, onto another question. For my other cars, I've found the haynes manual to be an invaluable resource over the years. Just wondering if I should pick this book up for the Prius. It covers Prius from 2001 - 2008, but I figure there's not much of a difference between 2008 and 2009. Anyone have this book or can recommend any others?

 

Hi thanks. Great place to be.

So adding to my list of questions, hopefully someone has the answers:

1/ For those living in cold climates, do you warm up the car and usually for how long?

2/ Anyone know if the haynes manual is a good resource for DIY maintenance and repairs?

3/ Is it more beneficial for regen braking to really early, and lightly ride the brakes to the light, or roll as close to the light as possibly then lightly brake when I get there?

4/ What's the optimal cruise control speed? 55?

 

Hullo, anyone have insights into my questions above? No biggie, just general wonderments. Oh I got one more (maybe a stupid question):

5/ Does regen braking apply to all 4 wheels or just the front two? Since there's no AWD, I gotta assume that regen braking only applies to the front two wheels.

That being the case:

a) does that mean than when I'm lightly braking, brake force is applied only to the front wheels
b) if brake force is applied to all 4 wheels, does that mean that the rear drum suffers a normal car's wear-n-tear.
c) if brake force is applied to only the front two wheels, does that mean the front wheels suffer uneven wear-n-tear, at least more than normal

 

I actually didn't know about the thermo bottle, so I looked it up and your video popped up ha!

I'm considering the bentley book, good reviews on amazon. I don't expect to do alot of maintenance aside from oil and air filter changes, but I feel naked without a manual for those just-in-case scenarios.

Thanks for your input, usbseawolf2000.

 

Hey Bill, yeah, thanks for pointing that out. Coincidentally I was planning to check the tire pressure this weekend, since its starting to warm up, but I'll be sure to keep a 2 psi diff between the front and rear.

Those are some fantastic tank mpgs you got. My first tank was a dismal 36 mpg, which was a major bummer. But similarly, I noticed a drastic improvement as a direct result of me spending all day on PriusChat. I suppose the passing the break in period also has something to do with it. The following tanks were: 50, 53, and then 49 today. Still beyond my expectations and its still in the dead of winter here.

 

Good thing I checked my tire pressure this weekend. Temperatures rose from mid 30s when I pumped them to 65F this weekend and my tired were over inflated; at 41 some psi.

 

Howdy, quick questions: Over the weekend I was discussing the prius with a fellow coworker who is also considering buying a new 2009 or even a 2010. I was just giving him the facts, but a very simple question stumped me and I really should know. He asked if the ICE ever directly powers the wheels. What would be the correct answer?

Oh here's another one. Is the prius on a timing belt or chain or none at all?