What every newb should know

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I'm 79YO so what I say is ancient. My husband taught me to drive when I was 21YO. The important thing he taught me exactly was "drive as though you had no brake pedal." I learned a whole lot about humanity that way. Can you tell me how I can easily keep my tires inflated properly? I should be able to handle that myself? What is the best way to do this at home?

While I'm at it, I asked my husband shouldn't you teach me how to park? He said: No, that's the easy part. So I went for my driver's license. Funny but I won't bore you. Picture a 7 month pregnant 21YO going for her first driver's license. I learned on a road from Crisfield,Md to Salisbury, Md. A straight road with only one curve and country and great shoulders. Those were the daze my friend.

Inflated tires and you have no brakes. That may be the philosophy of the algorithm in the car's computer. (I wrote software for 26 years, 24x7. Can't break the habit.)

 

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Oh what wonderful info. This "John" really is charitable. I even easily updated Adobe. Now I can have a User's Guide on my desktop. Don't have to go out to the car any more. I can take my time. Great reading during commercials. I watch TV when I use my PC's. That way I can make sure the speakers are telling the truth

And you are charitable by citing this site. Sight and Insight

 

Got my 08 Prius in June and LOVE IT!

Mind you, I still am p*ssed off over the ~$9,000 extra dollars I had to pay for the Canadian base model versus the US base model. Toyota should be ashamed at the way they're ripping off Canadians. The $4,000 in combined Federal and Provincial subsidies helped (once I finally got them) but the steep Canadian price premium, combined with Toyota's instructions to US border dealerships to not sell to Canadians, still gets my goat.

Wish the Owner's Manual had come with a link to this site, though!

I've reviewed this entire thread and it's been helpful for sure. I look forward to learning more as I get the time.

One big question: I find that the cruise control is quite aggressive on the acceleration side, ie. it opens the throttle too far and forces the transmission to gear down to maintain speed, particularly on hilly stretches of highway, leading to (far) poorer fuel economy than I can manage by controlling the speed myself. That's an observation basedl on a very long trip (from Nova Scotia to Ontario along the Trans Canada. Hilly New Brunswick and cruise control were NOT a fuel-efficient combination!

Is there any way to de-tune the cruise control such that it's not so aggressive on the acceleration side? Cruise is otherwise so convenient and so effective at avoiding speeding tickets...shame not to be able to use it!

I do love the car, and am impressed that I've got a much larger and more comfortable vehicle than my previous Honda Civic hatchback while still getting better fuel economy than the Honda ever gave me. But I'm still not down to EPA performance by a long shot.

On my daily highway w/stop and go commute, in my first 10,000 km I've never been able to get below about 5 L/100 km average fuel consumption, even neglecting the shorter trips on the weekend. The initial start-up phase (the 1st 5 minutes of driving) seems to be what's eating my lunch, even though my commutes are 40 to 60+ minutes in duration. My typical driving style is moving at the rate of traffic flow with an absolute peak speed of 115 km/hr, anticipating stopping well in advance/not following too closely and being very gentle in application of the brake, and limiting my rate of acceleration. I do try to "glide" when I can, but there's not much opportunity on the highway.

Aside from limiting my top speed further to 100 km/hr (making me a likely target for rear-end collisions on the QEW and 403), attempting to draft semis (risky but definitely effective), and over-inflating my tires (leading to impaired handling and premature/uneven tire wear), I'm at a loss on how I can get this thing near the EPA stats of 4.2 L/100 km highway. Am I missing something obvious here?

 

Richard: how many miles do you get on a set of tires? How often do you rotate them? Do you see any uneven wear? I'm doing high mileage and don't want to be spending a fortune on rubber if I can avoid it.

I've never found the need to use the B setting, so that's not the culprit.

It's that last 10% that's getting my goat. Speed's part of that for sure, but it gets scary to drive speed limit on the local highways.

It's reported that these things loosen up a bit and see a small fuel economy increase during the 1st 10,000 miles or so, and I"m not quite there yet. Is there any truth to that? I've seen a modest but only very modest improvement, and I attributed that to learning how to drive the car...

 

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I'll go on with the picture. I go home and tell my husband he's got to teach me parallel parking. I'm bigger now. The cop simply gave me voice instructions and passed me. During this time my mother-in-law would drive me to the doctor in Salisbury. It was so scary. She drove on the shoulder all the way from Crisfield to Salisbury. Can you picture me in the passenger's side of the front seat. I asked her why? She said she wanted to make sure she didn't have an accident. It was a great two road with plenty of room in each lane in both directions. That was the way I was driving and then we moved to the big city, Baltimore. Then I learned how to drive by experience. Still don't parallel park.

Thanks for the explicit information on tire inflation. I'm researching doing it myself and there's a Target near me. Just found on line they sell a great coffee maker for one cup at a time. That'll save me energy/time too. Time is of the essence.

 

Tip on tire wear. especially for parallel parking. Don't fight the steering wheel. Never try to turn the wheel when at a complete stop. Let the car inch just a little and you feel the steering wheel free up. That allows the rubber to flex as you turn the tire and reduces the scraping significently. Try it with the heel of your hand. Make a fist and place the heel of your hand on some hard and rough like concrete. Now push down and rotate you hand as if you were turning a tire at a dead stop. Now push down but this time sort of roll you fist on the out side circumference as you rotate it. Feel the difference. When you turn the wheel at a dead stop you can hear the scraping of the times. That's Treadwear! Probably equivalent to quite a few miles on the highway. You don't have to let it move much. You can feel the difference in the force at the steering wheel. You don't have to force it. Anyway, for whatever it's worth.

 

I have had my Prius for two years now, but am new here on PriusChat, so am here in the Newbie Forum. I have been reading bits from several threads, and often see posts from people wanting to purchase hoods for their displays (MF something-or-others; pardon, but I'm not yet up on all the abbreviations), so I just wanted to pass along my experience on this.

When we first got the Prius it really bothered me whenever the sun hit the display, making it difficult to read, and I was thinking of ways to make a hood myself. But at some point I guess it no longer bothered me, because I had completely forgotten about it. Maybe I am not looking at the display as often as I used to, or maybe I have gotten used to the temporary glare.

The pictures I have seen posted of installed hoods look very nice, and I certainly don't want to discourage anyone from purchasing one; I am just sharing that it eventually became a non-issue for me.

What does bother me is the fingerprint smudges that are so apparent all over the screen when the sun hits it. Anyone have suggestions on a non-damaging coating for the screen that reduces the likelihood of finger smudges from adhering to it?

 

Richard,

Thanks! Great suggestion. I used to always wear gloves while driving; not sure when I got out of the habit, or why.

Is 'shmutz' a word? I kinda like it. Rolls off the tongue like my fav, 'schnadle,' that I picked up on a river trip through the Grand Canyon way back when.

 

i always wear gloves too

 

Where most of the water comes from is the atmosphere! (if you live in a high-humid enviornment). You see, your gas cap has a one-way valve that allows air to enter the tank as it empties. That air has moisture in it. If you live where the humidity is quite high, then more moisture enters your tank than the tanks of those that live in drier climates. Well, when the tank temperature reaches the dew point temperature, that humidity condenses into water droplets that settle to the bottom of the tank. This is why aircraft are always stored with a full tank of gas (no air volume = no condensed water)

The Prius is less prone to this phenomenon than other cars because of the bladder - but it's still a possibility.

 

E10 adds to the water absorbtion problem. But Prius' bladder should minimize the absorbtion.

 

Relax! Who said anything about fearing it. I was just pointing out that it absorbs water, which is not a problem with non-e10, but that the bladder in the Prius should elimanate it as a problem. Initially, it will absorb any water already in your tank. Unfortunatelly it will continue to absorb moisture from the atmosphere. However, it can be a problem in other cars, that are not used regularly, and you may also want to be aware of that fact if you keep gasoline around for mowers, etc., for long periods of time. The E10 fuel can absorb enough water, over a period of time, to damage an engine. I have to be careful with our van. It has two tanks and is not used very often, so long periods between refills. I'm thinking of running one dry. I have to make sure that I alternate their usage. My response was mainly to point out the the Prius' bladder should avoid any problem, but also acknowledge that E10 will absorb water from the atmosphere.

 

Hello,
I own a 2002 Prius, and have loved it to pieces. I'm now readying for a trip to Ohio to pick up our "new" Prius, a 2008. We bought it used, with only 5,000 miles on it. Here's my question:
Is the GPS system something that can be activated at any point? Do I just call someone or what? I'm past middle age and get a little nervous at the prospect of Ohio to Arizona by myself... Or should I just look at a handheld? Any recommendations?
Thanks for any help you can give!

 

I am surprised to see another Vette owner with a Prius. I (we, wife and I) just bought a 08 Prius off the dealers lot with Pkg 5 in Silver Sept 24th and I really enjoy it. My Vette is a 11.5 to 1 comp ratio 69 350/350 that takes 93 octain Sunoco getting 18mpg on the highway. bought it new coming home from Vietnam in 69. RobTrek is first name and Trek bikes which I love to ride.

 

Hello - new here.

About to make the big purchase for an 09 package 2 or 3 prius. Ive sifted through this forum and cant quite find a straight up answer.

If I drive it at 80mph, am i hurting my car? Or am i just loosing mpg?