Finally!!!

Congratulations. Everything sounds completely normal. You may not get great stats when travelling 8 miles but it will still be much better than a 'traditional' vehicle. On the freeway you won't loose any blips (pips) as it uses kW and charges at similar rate. You will will only run out of charge if you do a long run eg. 1 mile in a 40mph zone with no ICE. At this stage the ICE, plus regen, will replace lost charge.

 

Yep -- the gauge is definitely non-linear. From full the first pip goes away after some 100 miles of 'not high speed' highway driving.

Short drives on a cold engine will give results you are seeing. If you want better, buy and use an engine block heater to 'pre-heat' your engine before your drive.

 

Congratulations on your recent purchase and "Welcome to Prius Chat"!

As pointed out previously the Prius does not give it's best fuel economy on short trips, however as you have already learned it is still considerably better than the traditional gasoline powered automobile. Also as you observed, the Prius tends to get better mileage on long trips.

"Guess" meter as you called it is usually referred to as the "Guess Gage". A more common term would be gas gage or fuel gage. The guess gage has ten lines on it, and each line is referred to as a "pip".

On the MFD (Multi Function Device) that is on your dash you will find an assortment of tools there. One of them is the "Traction Battery" which shows different colors and a certain amount of "bars". From Top to Bottom the colors are: Green (Top 2), Blue (6 bars total), and Red or Purple (2 bars total). When the battery is full green (10 bars) your traction battery is charged to 80% of full capacity. Any thing over that the Prius will automatically spin over the ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) until the storage capacity is back down to 80%. This can happen if you are going down the side of a mountain and the battery begins to fill up due to the regenerative braking on the Prius. You will also note that it sounds like the engine is running at top revolutions. All of this is NORMAL. On the other end of the scale at the very bottom (1 bar) is represented at 40% of full charge. Whenever the Prius Traction Battery gets down to almost 1 bar or 1 bar the ICE will automatically fire up and burn fuel, whereas when the ICE is spinning due to the battery being over the 80% figure the ICE is simply spinning but no fuel is being injected. The spinning action is done by one of the two MG's (motor generators) that are contained within the transaxle. Furthermore, the Prius does not have a traditional starter motor. The ICE is spun over by the MG when it is time to start the ICE. All of this is controlled by various ECU's (Electronic Control Units) otherwise known as "computers". When you are driving your Prius you will notice over time that the readout will vary as you operate the vehicle. DON'T WORRY about it. The Prius automatically takes care of the "traction battery" for you. The only time that you "might" have a problem with the battery is if "one of the modules within the battery fails to operate normally". When that happens the dash will light up like a Christmas Tree plus you will see the Red Triangle along with the CEL light. If that happens, that does NOT mean RIP Prius. What it simply means is that the traction battery needs to be repaired and or replaced. It seems that the general population believes the Toyota Prius is cursed by this battery, and that every one's fear is that the battery will go out. The truth of the matter is that since the Prius first hit the road only 2-4% of all of the batteries that have been manufactured have indeed failed. However that is not the case with the little 12 volt battery that is used to "boot up" the Prius. There might be a time where your Prius starts acting funny. Weird stuff will happen, crazy things like idiot lights popping on, gear selector reading flashing, getting strange messages on the MFD, or not even starting at all when you push the power button. Unfortunately this too is NORMAL, and can happen as often as 3 years or on the other hand only happen once every 8 to 10 years. The point is this, it is a good idea to be aware of the condition of said 12 volt battery. As long as you keep it fully charged and not allow the battery to die on you over time you should have pretty good luck with your Prius. FYI, the 12 volt battery is not like the batteries you will find in a Ford or Chevrolet. These batteries are very small, low Amp/hr ratings and also have small posts on them. Specifically the posts are referred to as JIS posts. On the Gen II Prius, two different batteries were used. If your car is a base model, you will need the smaller battery. If your car is any thing over the base model (Package 2 and up), then you will need the bigger battery. If you happen to buy an aftermarket battery AND you own a "base model" you will find that the new battery may not fit properly. That is because the "tray" that is in the Prius comes in two different sizes dependent on the battery that is required for your Prius. The tray can be easily changed and is available from the Toyota Parts Dept. Any Toyota Dealership will have the tray or can order it for you. You will also find that the battery looks rather intimidating if you attempted to change out said 12 volt battery. Trust me, it is easy to change provided you use the proper tools and take your time. Most report being able to change the 12 volt in 30 minutes. Some will take longer possibly spending 1 hour or 1.5 hours at the most. The tools required at very minimal. A couple of sockets, a wrench, screwdriver, small hammer, ratchet, and a few extensions. A little grease or tape helps to hold the top screw on the vent duct that has to be removed when swapping the battery. Some have been able to wiggle the battery in and out without removing the duct, but it really is easier if you remove the duct while you are in there.

In my signature file below you will find four (4) links that apply to your Prius. I suggest you bookmark all four of those links, and take the time to read and study all of the information there. I believe if you do that plus read the owner's manual from cover to cover you will know more about the Prius than the average driver out there.

You will also find if you are mechanically inclined that you can make all of the repairs needed on your Prius if or when you run into a problem down the road. There is a wealth of information that can found online using Google. You will also find a lot of the "how to's" here on Prius Chat. Pay close attention to post's authored by Patrick Wong. He is very knowledgeable on the Gen II Prius. He also has documented all of the work he has done over the time he has been driving them. There are other's here like Patrick that are also well versed in the Prius and it's repair and maintenance.

Take a few minutes and learn about the maintenance thereof for your Prius. It is a very good idea to keep the maintenance up to date. You can also register your Prius on the "Toyota Owner's Website". Once you have done that, you will be able to look at service records that have been done to your car by the various Toyota Dealers as well as download manuals such as the owner's manual plus be able to tell what maintenance has been done as well as what needs to be done. To get to that site, click on the following link.

Toyota Owners Official Web Site: Service Coupons, Owner's Manuals, Service Scheduling And More

I wish you the best of luck with your "new to you" Toyota Prius. I believe you will find that the Prius is the best car out there. If you like the Gen II Prius, you will love the Gen III. I can say that truthfully since I recently traded in our 2009 Package #2 Gen II Prius for a new 2013 Gen III Prius Model #3.

Finally don't be surprised to learn that the Prius holds it's value well over time. Again it is not like a Ford or Chevrolet. I will give you an example. The Gen II I traded in was a Package #2 unit. The odometer read 79K. It was in good condition. Everything worked, and all the maintenance and recalls were up to date. It had very good rubber on it. It only had a few scratches on it. The dealer gave me after negotiations $11,500 trade in value on a new 2013 Model 3 Gen III Prius that had 7 miles on the odometer. I put $4K down and with my good credit score I was able to get a loan through Toyota Financial Services for 36 months with payments of $326 a month.

With all that said, I think you will find over time that once you get into the Prius, you won't go back to the conventional ICE machine.

Again, best of luck to you and "Welcome to Prius Chat"!

Ron (dorunron)

 

Welcome & congratulations!