Are you happy you bought a Prius???

I am thrilled with my Prius. I've always had a bit of a problem keeping cars for the long term. I have committed to everyone that knows me that I will NOT be trading the Prius. I love this car, and can't imagine going back to a <25 MPG vehicle. Even a <40 MPG would be hard to swallow after driving the Prius.

 

NO, I'm not happy at all. Gas prices go up daily, and my Prius just keeps going and going without wanting to stop for gas.

When it's time to pump gas 2 weeks later, I have to pay the higher price. If I were driving my old car, I would have to pump gas every week and pay the cheaper price on that week. GRRRRR

 

Yeah, and then you think "maybe I should top this thing off while gas is cheaper". So, you pull in to a station and feel silly when the pump stops at ~3 gallons.

 

it is still entertaining to me to stop and put <8 gallons in. But that is the new normal for me, I suppose.

 

Gas is $3.62 here in Pinehurst. I'm a thrilled with my Prius.

 

I have made it a personal goal to put 10 or more gallons in it at one time. The car can beep at me all it wants, I just want to do this.

 

Yes. Turned in a Scion TC after its lease expired and got a 2011 Prius for $1999 down/$189 per month lease. That's lower than the monthly payments on my Scion and it was $18500 new. I got the base model Prius which listed for $24500. Even though it's a basic model it is still very nice and my wife loves it. Our plan is to turn the car in at the end of the lease and get a new one, perhaps with more features, but for now this was a very economical decision. Plus it includes free maintenance!

 

I don't know how anyone can be happy with a non Prius.

55k miles and almost 5 years later, I am a happy with it as ever.

 

I did about the same thing a while ago, but then when I looked down from the gallons gauge to the price, I realized that now, even a few gallons isn't even close to being a silly-small debit card transaction.

Yesterday driving home I several times found myself waiting at a red light, at the front of a traffic platoon, and accelerated rapidly, to at least the 50 MPH speed limit, before coasting down to the next light. (I don't hypermile, but am pretty careful about the hybrid paradox.) It was surprising to see how far behind me the platoon had fallen. (Until reaching the next red light, where most of them seemed to have been, finally, pouring on the gas, until there was just barely time for them to stop with their non-regenerative brakes. And I'm still showing between 51 and 52 MPG on the MFD for this fillup.

Remember, in general, lower octane gas has more energy per volume, than high octane gas, especially when there's less ethanol blended in. This is perpetually poorly documented, but as an example, see the "Fuel type" table, "Gross MJ/L": Conventional gasoline = 34.8, High octane gasoline = 33.5, Gasohol = 31.2. Quote: "A high octane fuel...has a lower energy content than lower octane gasoline..." (of course high octane fuel does allow for the design of engines that output more power by consuming disproportionately more fuel, which a Prius engine, most certainly, is not and does not.) See: [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasoline"]Gasoline - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame], fillup with low octane gas, and "happy motoring!"
--fdf

 

very happy, traded in my 2007 Buick LaCrosse XLS a really nice car but the 17-18 mpg in the city and 26-27 highway made the leather trimmed land yacht pale with gas at $3.56 a gallon and me complaining about my measly 53 mpg city in the Prius.

 

I've had mine for 10 days and love it more everyday. Put 5 gal of gas in yesterday and was laughing so hard at the pump people thought I was nuts I guess. Cost me $18.50 for 1/2 tank versus $45 for my has been Trailblazer. You know were you can go GM.

 

I've had mine for 2.5 months and 2,000 miles. What's not to love? I bought when the dealers had way too much supply and gas had not really started to go past $3 (and way before mother nature came crashing into Japan). The result was a great purchase price. Today, gas at $3.60 and with 450 miles on the trip odometer, I stop in for a fill-up and put in 8.4 gals (yes, I know...still had 3 gals left, but some habits die hard). Do the math...53.57 MPG (despite the fact the car computer put me at 55.3 MPG...I always seem to get about 2 MPG less than the computer readout). The car is a proven winner with 10 years under it's belt (let's see what Volt owners are saying in 10 years...HA!). No charging device at home (thank goodness) and no false promises of an American car company that is always a day late and a dollar short. In summary...heck yes, I'm happy.

 

It will be interesting to rent a Prius (again) months from now to see how it drives compared to my Accord Coupe. I wondered quite a while how the Accords are to drive, but didn't want a 10 minutes test drive and pretty much no rental car company rents Accords. Maybe at the airport, but nowhere near here.

Anyrate, this Accord Coupe is really nice to drive. Drinks about 2x the gas though.

 

Interesting that the Aussie Prius has a minimum recommended fuel octane of 95. Unsure why it needs 95 vs the cheaper 91. Also, the power output and torque are the same as the US ones, so am baffled why we need the higher octane fuel. Maybe I should try 91 RON for a while and determine its suitability.

 

I think the Aussie manual has just used the UK & Irish manual where 95 Premium unleaded is the lowest rated fuel available. I guess this would save on reprinting an entire manual for the 500 Prius sold in Oz each year?

I guess you could try 91 RON if it's available and cheaper. If it knocks and bangs then you fill her back up with 95.

 

Glad to be in company with all of you.

Yes, very happy to purchase a 2011 Prius. The technology is amazing. Just picked up a pretty blue ribbon two this last weekend, will be my wife's new car replacing her 1995 Audi S6 with 210,000 mi.

We hope to take some long road trips across the US!

 

Am I happy? You bet, and now that the weather is attempting to warm up I'm back to over 50 mpg. I've probably customized this car more than my first new one which was a 1967 Pontiac GTO. I can still visit my son in Chicago and not sweat the cost of fuel. I'm actually thinking about aftermarket wheels, the last set I bought was a set of Cragars for the '67.
Even at 61 y.o. I'm a confirmed "techy".

 

One of my friends and neighbors was the Chief Engineer for the GTO. He is a bit of a celebrity in the muscle car world.

Tom