Interesting eBay auction ... trying to figure out why someone would auction a Prius seat. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAP...&category=33701 Then I looked at the fourth picture. Wow! At least it appears a Prius would do well in a front-end collision ...
Whoa. Sent a shiver up my spine..... I emailed the seller re., the accident. Will post a response.. Drive safe, all... ..
Wow! Going from pictured 3 to 4 is like night and day. I mean, in Pic3, you can tell there was an airbag deployment and there are a few things that look slightly ajar, but otherwise, no real damage. Then you look at pic4 and it looks like an Indy car that hit the 4th-turn wall at 215MPH. I have to admit that I feel pretty safe in a car that can look that bad on the outside but so good on the inside. But wow!
Apparently this one rolled over as explained in his inventory list. He has more blood curdling photos on this page. And if those were not enough, more here.
Oh, the humanity! I think I'm going to be sick. ukeright: Those pictures are so wrong, but at least it looks like the safety features did their job. I've had several close calls with drivers who simply don't seem to know or care about safe driving habits. Looking at those pictures will sober you up real fast.
Ehh... how fast was he going? A rollover would not induce that kind of damage (but it would explain why the right A pillar is crumpled and the rear hatch is damaged) <shudder> ugh. That's the worse I've seen.
I would be a little more worried about the other bodily secretions which made their way down under the easy clean (maybe Alcantara) micro-fiber fabric. So THAT’S what the coolant tank looks like! And approximately where it’s located. :wink: 3665 miles . . . the car was still a virgin and hadn’t even had its first oil change.
I had my first oil change at 3.000km (2.000 miles). Don't you change the oil at that point in North America?
Hey, Gang...here's the reply from the gent that is selling the seat: "I contacted the company who's name is on the car... the driver, a sales exec, walked away with some scratches...pretty amazing these lightweight little cars !" Whoa. Note the "walked away" part... ..
Isn't this the same car linked in HV Battery thread? However the latter car shows the curtain airbag deployed.
I know it looks bad but that's the beauty of car designs today: We want the car to take the hit and have it absorb the impact. Rather than looking at how trashed the car is, the thing to concentrate on is how intact the passenger compartment is. I'm very impressed that the dash and steering wheel stayed in place and didn't come back into the passenger's compartment. I mean, look at the foot wells: There's nothing there but space! In yesterday's cars, the engine would have pushed everything back towards the occupants. And, the guy is selling the seats! Meaning, that's where the occupants were in the crash and there's nothing wrong with them except for some blemishes. Structurally, they're still sound. That says a lot about passenger safety. In an accident, the more pieces and parts that go flying and the more damage done to the car, the better off we are.
Actually, there has been a lot of discussion in the Care & Maintenance Forum about *when* to do the first oil change! Apparently, the Prius in the UK has the first scheduled oil change at 16,000km. Here in Canada, I was told in no uncertain terms to wait until the first scheduled change at 8,000km. The North American Prius cars require an oil change every 6 months or 8,000km / 5,000mi. Just curious what is the interval in the Scandinavian countries? Also, what viscosity motor oil is recommended there?
Thank you for your prompt reply! I checked into Neste Oil Oyj: http://www.nesteoil.com http://nesteoil.fi Unfortunately, the English site isn't very detailed, so I couldn't find any specific information about the 5W-40, other than that Neste only produce synthetic motor oils. A 5W-40 motor oil is a *very* common viscosity in Europe, and is approved for use in almost all of the passenger cars. In a compromise between fuel economy and long-term durability, the European market has chosen durability. In Europe, the ACEA (Association des Constructeurs Européens d'Automobilies) has performed extensive testing on the theoretical fuel economy "improvements" over the reference oil, a heavy duty 15W-40. On average, a 5W-30 will improve fuel economy around 2%, and a 5W-20 will improve fuel economy around 2.5% over a heavy duty 15W-40. If most of your driving is at slow speeds, and light loads, it probably wouldn't matter which viscosity you ran. Indeed, with temps colder than 0 C, the lighter the better WRT fuel economy and engine wear. There is a lot of debate about "thick and thin" WRT engine loading. Traditionally, a motor under heavy loads usually ran a 40-50 weight oil (10W-40, 20W-40, 40, 20W-50, 15W-50, etc) to protect the motor. We are now seeing trends towards much lighter oils, at least in North America. For example, the 6.8 litre V10 motor used in North America in popular motorhomes requires the use of a 5W-20 oil. That seems insane, given how those motors have to work. Yet the motors appear to hold up very well. So I wouldn't worry about running a 5W-40 in your Prius, especially if that is what the dealer recommends. However, I'm sure you can get as cold in winter as Winnipeg does. Do folks in Finland run a 0W-30 in cold temperature? A 5W-40 usually is borderline at -40.
