Living in WNC (western North Carolina) there are a ton of Priuses around, especially in Asheville. Have a buddy that's on his 2nd one. The 1st we took to Nashville once and avg'd 48 mpg. Ive never been a hybrid guy but thought Id give it a try. Originally I had a 98 Plymouth Breeze, had it since college, put over 350,000 miles on it w/ only minor repairs/maintenance. The transmission final shot in it and I bought a Pontiac G6. Kept it for less than 3 months, hated that car. Found a used Prius at a local Toyota dealer. 06 w/ 120k on it. However it has a brand new battery pack (got the install paperwork) and I decided to go for it. Im in my 2nd day of being a Prius owner and I have to say Im liking it a lot...
On day 6 of my hybrid journey and I too thoroughly enjoy it. Its the perfect fit for my family. Still learning about thanks to this forum.
I hope you enjoy your Prius as much as I have enjoyed mine! Welcome to PriusChat! Asheville may be hilly enough to advise you to use the B mode on down hills with more than a thousand foot vertical drop. When in B mode, the engine will rev more under harder braking, which is counter intuitive. Normal driving and smaller downhills do not need B and you will get better MPG without it. (the only maintenance I would do in addition to the Toyota service is to change the ATF WS in the tranaxle now and then every 90,000 miles. My dealer does it for $110. It is about $40 in parts)
We are on the third week with a 2012 Prius 3. Traded in a 2013 Ram 3500 Cummins turbo diesel. Little bit of a learning curve. iPhone ?
I have been driving since 1967, this is the first car I have owned where pushing on the brake makes the engine rev. Have you had this happen in other cars? I thought it a valid warning for a new Prius owner.
My hills are fairly small but I still use the B going down them. It keeps from having to ride the brakes. I think it doesn't give as much charge energy but I get enough to maintain a very high bar. It's just important to remember to go back to D at the bottom. I average 54-58 mpg.
Honestly that was the best car Ive ever owned... I took care of it, as I do my other vehicles, but that car was awesome. Finally a Full Time Toyota Family now. I have a Tacoma and the Prius, the wife has a 2015 Rav4. The salesman started laughing at us when we left because the wife drove the Tacoma out of the parking lot w/ me in the Prius...
My wife drives the Anti-Prius; a company owned Chevy Tahoe with heavy duty towing package which gets about 18 MPG when I baby it. We some times have to decide, her company car is free to drive but depletes the world's oil supply all by itself, or my v which gets over twice the mileage, but we pay for gas.
No, but when you've got your Jack Russell w/ you and youre pulling out in a Prius when you drove in in a Tacoma, that lends to laughs... It should and after I thought about it, I kinda chuckled at it also... Goes back to the Blue Prius skit Jeff Dunham does.
Congrats and welcome to the club. We, too, bought an '06 with 120k on it buying ours in June of this year. My first suggestion would be to do the services faithfully and not let any of them slip by. My second would be to tell you to be patient. There is a learning curve to driving the Prius and it takes time to get the hang of it. Our gas mileage has improved each month from June until now and we just keep getting happier with the car. I suspect you will, too.
