Congratulations. Almost exactly the configuration -- model and color -- that we're considering. One question. What is your plan for the front license plate that is required in California? Thanks.
Very cool dude congratulations, can I ask a question though what are the LED headlights like for driving at night with? when I saw the stand in london recently I was told that the LED's were a replacement to the HID's, now my experince of led's are what you get on the front of your mag light and cycle lights are they a patch on HID's because if not then I may just order and IV and do a retro. if anyone else has any pictures of the LED night performace please post them thanks
Thanks for the pictures. I should be getting my Prius V NAVI this week, in Blizzard, and I will post my pictures then as well. This car looks sweet!
I don't have pics of the LED lights showing a distance effect, but I do have some pictures comparing the color and spread of the LED lights to the color and spread of the HIDs. Please see this post for the pics and a brief discussion.
I haven't had a front license plate on a car since I moved to California 18 years ago, and it seems like a third of the cars I see on the road don't have them either. If you get ticketed for it, it's called a fix it ticket, meaning you attach the front plate, have a police officer sign the ticket, and mail it in with the $10 fine.
I didn't drive it last night so can't comment on the lights. I'll post impressions once I've used them. I've had HIDs on my cars for the last 10 years, and when I drive a rental car with halogens, it's noticeably dimmer, so I didn't want to go back to halogens.
i got a ticket for no front plates in beverly hills when my car was parked! i was soooo mad! there was no fix it option. i didnt give in tho...i think it saved me a few photo enforced tickets in bust intersections in LA tho, so all in all i think i came out a winner.
What kind of fuel efficiency are you getting with the 17" wheels? Still on the fence regarding the 15" vs 17". Attempting to gauge the mpg hit. Have read most of the discussions on this but will wait til the fall to decide. I test drove a Prius V in ECO Mode and was only able to get 44 mpgs on a seven mile test drive, 90% highway.
I''m getting ~45 MPG, but I'm not concerned since I'm still in the break-in period (both for the car--and my driving style ). I believe Prius Team estimated a 1 - 2 MPG hit for the 17s--a rounding error in my mind. I really like the way the 17" wheels look, and they will handle better than the 15" wheels. Plus I didn't want halogen headlights (after driving cars with HIDs for 10 years), so the Prius V was the obvious choice for me.
FWIW, at my first fill up this morning my average was 42.4, with a lot of short commute driving. This is comparable to what I got with my 2004 Prius for the same short trip driving. If you figure +3 for the new model and -3 for the 17" wheels, the numbers seem to be coming in as expected.
I'll need to update my MPG calculations early next week, but for the first 1,000 miles I was running at about 57 MPG. I'd say that's probably pretty close to what I'd expect to have been getting at this time of year with my '07. It may be a bit higher than I would expect from my '07 for the kind of driving I've been doing, though. The past few days have been almost exclusively highway driving. Cruising at 65 to 72 for the most part. I've been using the cruise control (I have the AT package and want to test out the adaptive cruise control) and running the A/C on Auto. I've nearly disregarded the effect on MPG of driving habits, and I still cannot "kill" the mileage. On Thursday of this past week I drove from Chicago to Indy and back. It was a 441 mile round trip. Nearly the entire way I was in cruise control, though I kept my speed no higher than 65 for most of the way. At the end of the trip, my mileage was 58.8 MPG. Not bad for 17" wheels, new tires, new engine, etc.! On the lower side, I just completed a 414 mile drive from Chicago to St. Paul. On this ride I pushed the speed higher and hardly ever found myself below 70. I had is on cruise control and the A/C was on (running more because of the sun shine). The big thing was the very strong headwind and, at times, cross wind. The car handled really well in these conditions, by the way. Mileage really took it on the nose: 51.4, I believe, was the mileage for that stretch. Perhaps the return today will be different, but it is supposed to rain, and the rain ALWAYS drops fuel economy!
Took it on the nose?? Dude, you beat the stickered mileage with the bigger tires and you weren't even really trying! I shudder to think what you could achieve if you had the AC off and were hypermiling, or at least using the guages to get yourself closer to optimal instead of using the cruise control.
Boy, ain't that the truth! Do you still get those funnels out on the lake? (I went to high school in Winnetka in a previous lifetime.)
Took a few more pix after a wash & wax yesterday: http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...cial-2010-prius-owners-pics-8.html#post869860
Is there a guide on how to do some of those modifications? The constant beeping while I'm in reverse is very annoying. Thanks.
There's a whole chapter in the owners manual which lists 2 dozen customizations the dealer can do for you. The only change I was able to do myself (instructions are in owners manual) was unlocking all doors (vs. just the driver's) when using the SKS. The owners manual provides instructions for changing the auto door lock/unlock settings, but they don't work, so I went back and the dealer programmed that for me as well.
I also bought a Prius V with Navi (Blizzard Pearl), and so far, for the first tank of gas, I averaged 53.1 MPG. This is my first Prius, so from everything that I have heard, it should get better than that once the car is broken in and I have learned the ropes. Granted, I am driving a lot less aggressively than I used to, which is a good thing. Once this becomes second nature, I would expect to be able to better this regularly.