Jerry's Evolving Thoughts on "new-to-me" Prime Premium

Welcome! I agree with @Trollbait and @Salamander_King. And there is a LOT of discussion here on that. Here's my take, for what it's worth living in a very different climate from yours. I don't think that for most of us, it's anything to worry about. Only the ones who make a tank last for six months or more have any reason for concern. I got my Prime in March this year. Other than a 6k +mile road trip, I have only filled up twice and still have 3/4 of a tank with almost 1,000 miles on it. At the rate I'm going, this tank will probably last about three months.

The tank is well sealed to prevent vapor loss, so there's little chance of additional moisture entering it, even in a place with big temperature changes like the midwest.

 

Trip, compliment, and sightings report:

I finally bought gas again the day before yesterday. First time since August 16. I still had about 1/4 tank left, but I was going to be doing lots of driving yesterday.
Numbers:
2,569 miles
7.537 gallons
Raw mpg was 341 mpg.
Metered kWh paid was 306 kWh.
Total cost per mile was 2.06 cents per mile.
Savings compared to a 28 mpg gasser over that distance was $159.04. Total so far after 13,477 miles & 7-1/2 months is $800.12.
I'll take that!!!

Yesterday's drive starting with a full tank and a full battery with no other charging. This about 98% freeway driving at 60-75 mph:


Compliment report:
#1. The above trip was to Kennedy Space Center and back with a friend, plus we took another friend to the airport before heading across the state to KSC. On the way back he said something like, "Not to belittle all that neat technology on the dash, but what really impresses me is how comfortable this thing is." I have to say, that's also very high on my list of what I like about it, too.

#2 Today, I took it to the dealer for my free tire rotation. The service writer was a self-confessed sports car nut. He said he really liked my car. He also asked how in the world I keep those white "leather" seats so clean. (Nothing special, actually; they just don't seem to get dirty and when they do, they clean up with a damp rag.)

Sightings report:
There was a Prime Advanced waiting for the owner to pick it up after service at the dealership. No Primes on the lot otherwise, but lots of Prii. Then I headed to the grocery store to pick up a few things and found myself behind a PiP. They are at least as rare as Primes around here.

 

I finally changed the transaxle fluid today at 37,656 miles. It came out looking almost pristine. Just a hint of darkness. I hadn't realized that the fill hole was all the way at the back of the transaxle. That would make it really important to have the car level, especially when filling.

All in all, it was pretty easy. One of the plastic clips shattered like hard candy the moment I started to pry on it. The others were easy. And I think it found a trick to helping them pop out. I tapped on the heads with the end of the screwdriver handle. I could hear the sand and grit rattle around. The ones I did that too seemed much easier to pop loose. Before putting them back in, I took @Mendel Leisk's advice and washed them. I also sprayed some WD40 on the four screws at the front because they were a little rusty.

While I had it open, I rinsed off the salt and corrosion from some of the aluminum castings. It's a car from the north. Next oil change, maybe I'll take the whole cover off again to see if it made any difference.

My one beef is that the fill hole is above a motor mount, so when the excess oil comes out, it runs all over the place and dribbles forever. Also, the plugs felt really tight, but came loose without me knocking the car off the jack stands. After getting everything done except the cover reinstallation, I drove to the grocery store and back. That bracket was still dripping a little, but the plugs were good, so I closed it up.

 

From the sides was how I did it for the oil change in June. That was the only previous time I've had need of jack stands for the Prime. It's a pita. This time I used a tip I read somewhere here on PC. I parked the front wheels on boards that put the front just high enough to get my floor jack way back there to the front center jack point. To make it easier, I backed up to my stop point (where my tape marker disappears under the rear bumper in the backup camera). Then I marked the center line of the front tires on the floor with a magic marker and pulled ahead a couple feet. I put the boards in place. A couple short pieces of shelving under each tire was just enough. Then I backed up onto the boards. The back, as you know, is a piece of cake. Since my driveway slopes, and it was sprinkling and chilly, this made it WAY easier to put it up on the stands inside my tiny garage. Now that I have a system, I think it'll be SOP and much easier in the future. This first time involved lots of laying down and getting up. When I get some free time, I'll make a pair of mini ramps maybe 3-4" high to simplify the job.

Right now, I feel like I might never need to change it again since it was this nice after 37.6k miles. I'm sure it was the original fluid since the PO had it serviced at Toyota every 5,000 miles. Unlikely that he would have done this on his own.

Surprising tidbit -- at least to me: I only had two jack stands. So I went to Auto Zone and bought another pair. According to the info on the box, they looked like the same height increments and max-min height as the ones I had. When I got them home and took them out of the box, I set a new one on my workbench next to an old one. One was blue and one was red. Otherwise, they were identical except the stickers. Even a blind hog finds an acorn now and then.

 

Just a piece of 2X10 is enough by itself for my jack. But doubling it would still not be a problem driving onto and it would give more room to pump the jack handle at the start of the lifting. I'll probably make something very close to @Mendel Leisk's sketch above.

PS As to the epic fail of the jack point, I wish I'd have measured it. My guess is that it's close to being right under the Qi charger. I wonder how far that is from the center of gravity.

 

I got curious and measured it just now. It's about 55-56 inches from the front of the bumper to the front center lifting point. That's just a couple inches behind the back end of the plastic shield you have to take off And about in line with the rearmost point of the front tires.