What every newb should know

Ooops, my mistake - living up to my Newbie status. The vehicles I was looking at were listed on the Toyota websites here (NZ) under Prius C - however their full listings were 2009 Toyota Prius Hybrid 1.5P H5 ECVT. So, not sure what category they fit under!! Any advice would be welcome.

 

Ok, thanks for that. I'll keep weighing up the pros & cons!

 

Something every newb (and everyone else, for that matter) should know is that the model descriptions can vary from country to country and that can confuse even the most seasoned poster. I described my Prius as a 2009 NVW30 because it was built in May 2009 and was first registered in July 2009 but the Gen III is known as the 2010 (or 2010+) on this forum.

Always describe the model as best you can. If you use a local description, include the country. That way the responder can answer appropriately.

New Zealand Anna, if this is the car, you are looking at a 2009 NVW20 Gen II. As it happens, it's the same colour as my Gen III and probably just a few months older. If the tiny 12 volt battery is the original and has had a few cold Winters, then it won't survive infrequent short trips; 3 years is about as old as a battery in cold conditions will last. While the 12 volt battery isn't used to crank a big, cold engine, it is necessary to boot the computers and allow the hybrid battery to start the car.

 

Thanks for the tips Braddles. Apart from the colour (silver, not red), it looks the same, but can't really tell. However thanks for the pointers about the battery.

 

Thanks for that great intro post. I just bought my first Prius last night and would never have realized the info about jump starting if you had not put that. Thanks! I am getting the feeling that the learning curve is *huge* with this car and it's going to take me a long time to learn all the tips & tricks!

 

Hey Richard,

Very helpful thread for newbies, but I still have one question. I'm a cab driver & I have a night shift driver too. Majority of other taxi owners fill up to the max, meaning once the pump stops the first time...they wait a little & then go on to pour more till it stops pumping again. What should the two of us do? Any suggestions as to how should we fill up that it's fair to the both of ? Thanks. anybody else wants to share their thoughts...please do so. Thanks.

 

Captain, the short answer is stop filling on the first click. Then there's no risk of repeatedly soaking the carbon canister, affecting an important emissions control. For further details, search in the "Fuel Economy" or "Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting" forums for your particular model.
Obviously if the pump is too sensitive and clicks at the merest suggestion of being full, you may have to estimate "full" based on the volume you've pumped in and how much you expected to put in. Since the Distance to Empty is very conservative, even at 0km/0miles you may have 5 litres / 1.3 gal(US) left, so it can be very difficult to judge.

 

As a newbie, my first question is about upgrading (augmenting) the battery in a 2006.

Is it possible to tap into the lines which the brake generators use to charge the battery? Will the system accept a charge when the brakes are not being used? Could an additional battery be spliced into the system this way with a switch or diode to prevent current going back to the generator?

Obviously the objective is to have a secondary battery bank linked into the system and the second bank could be charged via a plugin charger.

Cheers,
John M.

 

That's one hell of a "every newbie should know" question!
Search the Gen II (2004-2009) Toyota Prius Forums first; in particular Gen II Prius Modifications.
You also need to be clear if you are talking about augmenting the 12 volt battery (because you want to run a camping fridge or a huge sound system) or the HV battery (known as a "Plug-in").
Oh, and welcome to PC.

 

Mr. Richard, some very good points. Thank you for replying.

 

This is a great intro post! Thank you for that.

 

"7. Fuel economy short-path zen:
- Gliding (lightly pressing the gas pedal so that no arrows point into or out of the battery on the "Energy" display) is better than coasting
- Coasting (foot off the gas pedal) is better than braking
- Braking is better than stopping

It may be counter-intuitive, but you maximize fuel economy by *minimizing* use of the big traction battery (the thing whose charge level is shown by bars on the "Energy" display)."

This confuses me.. When no arrows point into or out of the battery on the energy display, are you telling me to stay out of battery but be in battery? To me, point into means be in, but out of means be out of. I am sure I am just not understanding this properly!

 

The air the upper half of the tank has some humidity then at night the temperature falls and some of the vapor comes out of solution (condenses) and goes into the gas and falls to the bottom of the gas tank. You can prevent this by keeping the tank full of gas (which leaves no space for air)

But this is very hard to do in a car, I means really are you going to stop and buy gas every afternoon on the way home? We do this with airplanes routinely but then aircraft have gas tanks sized such they they need to be filled after every trip.

 

Firstly, don't use the Energy display. It is a lovely guide to explain the interactions of engine, motor and traction battery to a passenger, but won't give you the feedback you need for pulsing and gliding. The arrows never seem to point in one direction for long.
Instead, switch to the Hybrid System Indicator (HSI) display; the long horizontal gauge like a 1950's speedometer. This display is much more forgiving. You should also switch your HUD to display the HSI as well as the speed.

To maximise fuel economy, you use the traction battery to maintain speed and use the engine to increase speed. A pulse is delivered in the efficient range of the engine to speed up the car while also charging the battery. Then glide by using the battery a little or use the pedal lightly to neither regen nor drive.

There's no need to switch to EV Mode to Glide; you can do it all with your foot. Use Eco Mode so that the pedal response is more gradual.

Watch this video for an even better explanation, especially of my last point. - Max MPG Driving Techniques Youtube Video.

 

Holy Confusing Technology, Batman! I am/was excited about purchasing a 2004/5 Prius, but after lurking around this site for a while, I'm not so sure anymore. I LOVED my test drives. Because of my budget, I can only afford an 04/05 with over 100k miles on it. The cars I'm considering are 2005 w/152K miles, 2004 w/115K miles and 2004 w/141K miles & minor body damage (no rust). I do a lot of city driving in Denver, and have talked to other Prius drivers who have no problems in snow with snow tires, and typical careful driving in bad weather. After looking through this site, it seems like I might be headed for a heap of trouble. I plan to have Toyota look at it thoroughly before agreeing to purchase, I figure the $300 expense is worth it. Am I getting unnecessarily scared? Should I just stick to an old fashioned Subaru? After a nasty accident, the Prius is the only sedan that feels safe - otherwise it's a gas-sucking AWD. Some help, please?

Thank you in advance.

 

Hi Karen
An inspection before you buy is always important. Check the service book to see if the car was taken in for service at regular intervals (every 6 months or every 10,000km etc.). Prefer "full service history" to a car of doubtful providence. The book may also indicate that any service advisories have been applied.

Have you read this thread Snow Tires, best compromise between MPG and grip | PriusChat about snow tyres (tires)? I can't really help more than that. Even though it was 0.3°c a few nights ago (coldest Canberra December morning on record) it is Summer here and will be 30°c tomorrow.

 

I'm a new owner of an 05 bought with 97k miles. I understand your hesitation.

I researched the options and focused especially on the Prius for several months. After reading many of the posts here with all these problems I started thinking, what have I missed? How can this car have so many problems and yet get such a great reliability and safety ranking from every rating service?

Then it occurred to me that this car has sold over 1 million in the US alone and over 2.8 million worldwide. The rating services rely on the majority. The few hundred posts here with problems (not all posts here are problems) represent a very small fraction of the Prii that have sold, even just considering the US and the few other countries represented in these posts. It is a relatively new technology but Toyota has done extensive research and development of this car. Still, it has mechanical parts and there is such a thing as an expected rate of failure of some of those parts and all will fail eventually. The same is true with any car. But it is very infrequent with this car even when we read about it everyday here. It is still rare. But it is a car that takes getting used to because of the new technology.

I am glad to have this resource to be more knowledgeable if and when something comes up with my car that I'm not sure about or want to fix myself or know about before I take it to the dealership.

Do the research and due diligence and rely on it, then just drive it being aware of the few quirks of the technology.

 

I leased a new 2008 Prius and decided to keep it this past summer before the 5year contract was completed. It was a dealer's delight. What I've discovered is that you have to understand how the batteries work. I have about 10,000 miles. LOL, Little Old Lady mileage I just wanted the hybrid experience as a contribution to the future. A luxury. I love my Prius Pony. It even tells me which routes it likes the best. Well, I discovered a year ago when I couldn't drive it out of my carport that most towing companies just hate the Prius. I've since learned about how the different batteries operate. When I took my self-owned car this fall for winterizing, they explained I should get a new 12volt battery. It was a wonderful investment. So my advice is to get to know yourself all the ins and outs about all the batteries. Also all the computers. I think they keep updating battery construction. Important to know how jump-start works. How to test for jump-start.

 

You win the cute bit of the Internet.