Finally purchased my first ever Toyota Prius on Thursday afternoon. Bought a Nice Eggshell White 2004 Toyota Prius with just 99k miles on it for $7,000. It's just the base model I believe, everyone told me I should get a smart key but mine is just the plug in and go fob. Runs great and on the highway I averaged 49 but since I've gotten home its dropped to 37.4.. Any tips for getting that up.. most of my driving will be in town so any tips to maximize fuel economy would be appreciated. The car really sucks in the snow but since the winter is almost over I dont even think I'm going to bother with winter tires until next winter. I haven't checked the tire pressure but whats the proper PSI for a Prius' tires? I haven't checked mine but I'm almost guaranteeing they aren't optimal as I do feel a lot of feedback from the road when driving. Thanks everyone.. any links.. or pictures of driving habits etc would be awesome! I really hope even in the winter I can crack 50 MPG
i barely get 50 in winter after 6 years of driving pri. crank up your tire pressure to side wall max or close. keep the same front rear ratio. don't use the heat at all, dress warmly! definately get snows next year. search the threads for mileage help. :welcome: and, all the best!
Congrats and welcome to PriusChat! Wow, the 2004s are really getting affordable now as used vehicles! Well short trips kill mileage on any car and it's more noticeable in the Prius (probably because most people pay attention to mpg when they drive a Prius). On the highway, the engine probably had time to warm up to operating temperature, thus yielding better mileage. Factory settings for the tyres are 35/33 (front/rear) but some of us have pumped it up to 40/38 or even higher. Just note that the ride does become stiffer as you raise the pressures so find the pressures that you feel comfortable with (I found 38/36 good for our 2005. I have experimented with 40/38 at times). If you want to crack 50mpg in the winter, you gotta start using the engine block heater (sometimes referred to as EBH in this forum) and start blocking the grille.
Congrats and welcome. I encourage you to read the maintenance section for our generation Prius. As I have just started to do so. If you have service records for your Prius, hopefully you'll see a transmission oil change. If YES, you'll probably avoid my fate. If no service records available, assume poor maintenance, despite what they tell you and change the transmission fluid ASAP. Hopefully you'll avoid my predicatment of a transmission that has likely gone bad, pending a second diagnosis. (post: Its the tranny part 2: $4211) Enjoy your Prius.
I bought my 08 Prius late Sept 2010. I'm still learning new things. I also haven't used all the devices. For example the connector inside the center console. Is that used to hook up a lap top? As far as the mileage goes. Winter has dropped my mileage some. But, I figure every car mileage drops so I'm still ahead of the game. It's 11 degrees as I type this with 2 feet snow cover. I've noticed running the heater does lower mileage. I've also noticed tire pressure is very important. When I checked my tires I had like 28 psi so I pumped them up to like 43. Now I'm thinking I over inflated so today I'm actually heading to the dealership for an oil change and I'll have them check my tires pressure. I'm averaging around 40 mpg. I drive it easy and slow. In September I was getting 50-55 mpg. I think the max is around 55 mpg - 60 mpg during the warmer weather seasons. But, I'm so glad I bought this car. I've always wanted one but the cost, and the new technology had me wait a few years.
Thank you everybody, I've already learned a bunch of things about the Prius. I've been trying to accelerate up to 40 and feather the pedal so that the screen goes completely bare and I'll see it skyrocket from 22s to 99.9, however I have a feeling my psi on my tires is low and I am planning on heading to Lowes in a bit after my class to by foam piping so that I can block the grill. It's 12 degrees here and currently my MPG is 32.9.. not bad but my commute for the day is a 3 mile roundtrip to work. Hopefully this blocking the grill will not make the engine have to run so hard when I start up the car. I'm getting a ton of feedback on here and on facebook with the Prius. I can't thank you all enough. My tires are the cause of my horrible snow experiences so far, including getting completely stuck twice trying to go up snowy hills out in the country.. and these aren't big hills.. maybe a 15 foot incline over the course of 100 feet? Anyways. If anybody has pictures of how to properly block the grill, I'd appreciate it. I'm kind of nervous about doing it.. but if I can block the grills 100% and it will get me like 5-8 MPG more through the winter.. that would be great!
A 3 mile round trip to school is just not a great candidate for vastly improved MPG, the ICE will be running way too much. Couldn't you take the scenic route (grin) ?
As you say you have the base model, your car should not have foglights and your headlights have halogen bulbs. Check the owner's manual for the bulb number, then go to your discount auto parts store and buy a replacement. Probably cost $20 or so. If your car has foglights, then your headlights are HID which will be more costly.
Damnit, that's the last thing I wanted to hear. I also had a bulb blow out within 5 days of owning it. The dealer said the tires had 75% life left on them but when I went to get the PSIs checked out, they said they wouldn't even suggest driving them through summer. Not to mention the front left tire's pressure was 31 psi... terrible. They are all 44 now. I'm hoping this car doesn't fall apart on me.
Luckily its Halogen lights and Autozone said 21 bucks for it. not bad. They would even install it. NW Ohio is supposedly going to get a blizzard in the next few days. If my Prius sits for 2-3 days.. is that okay.. if it gets covered in snow.. will it be fine?
i'm sure you'll be fine. but you have to realize, at 100K, little things are gonna happen. as for letting your car sit for a few days, if the battery is good, it will be fine. and you'll know if the battery is good when you go to start it. snow won't have any effect.
It will be fine except if the 12V battery is marginal and decides to die on you due to the cold weather and lack of use. I suggest that you park the car in such a way so that you can access the hatch area (for purposes of replacing the 12V battery) if need be. If that is not possible, the main relay/fuse box next to the inverter has a dedicated positive jumpstart terminal that you can use when jumpstarting the car. You may want to find the battery in the right rear hatch area, and see if it has a Toyota Motor Sales USA label on the top. If yes, then you may want to remove the center battery bracket so that you can see the date code on the battery. If it is older than 4 years then you may want to replace it soon as a preventive measure, rather than wait for a failure. If the battery does not have a TMS USA label then it probably is aftermarket. Again, find the date code and if the battery is 4+ years old then you may want to consider replacing it. If your tires have < 6/32" tread then I recommend you buy new tires now, rather than drive with marginal tires in the snow. Prius does not have wonderful snow traction even with new tires, let alone if the tires are worn. If you don't have service records for the car then you should assume that little maintenance was done by the prior owner, if you are lucky then engine oil and oil filter changes were done on schedule. I recommend that you look at the 90K and 100K mile service schedules, and plan to perform all of those activities. In addition, replace the transaxle fluid. Good luck.
Nice price! I just bought an '04 for much more than that. Watch this video if you want to feel better about Prius reliability: CTV British Columbia - Hybrids prove very reliable - CTV News
Okay everyone, next question. My tires (which the dealer lied about life% left.. said 75% but when I went to get them psi's checked, they said they are due bad, no wonder I slip and have no traction whatsoever). Anyways winter will be dead and gone (THANK GOD) in about a month and a half, hopefully sooner. I am looking for new tires to put on the 04 Prius. Anybody swear by any make? I'll take all suggestions and if you have links to the tire (tirerack.com etc..) that would be great. I hear all these rave reviews are the Michelin Energy Savers however my friend keeps telling me to get the Kumho Eco Solus tires. WHat tire does everyone have on their Pri?
Depends what you're looking for in a tyre. These are the ones that most commonly come up here on PC Michelin HydroEdge (good rain tyre) Energy MXV4 S8 (comfortable, quiet) Harmony (decent all-rounder) X-Radial (might be an older model...) Goodyear Assurance ComforTred (comfortable/quiet) Assurance TripleTred (similar in concept to the WRG2) Assurance Fuel Max Nokian Hakkapeliita WRG2 (all-weather tyre - certified mountain/snowflake symbol for winter use) Continental ProContact EcoPlus Bridgestone Ecopia EP20 (found on the new Prius) Turanza EL400 (found on the 16" Corolla models.. more of a Touring tyre) Yokohama Avid S33 (found on the 2010 Prius)
