Considering Prius - lots of questions - Cold Climate Owners please chime in

Hi 72,

The Finish car magazine, chose the 3rd Gen Prius for one of its 3 Winter Cars of the year for 2010.

The 2010/11 Prius has an exhaust heat recovery system, which scavenges waste exhaust heat into the coolant. This leads to quick warm up and good winter heating. Unlike the 2nd Gen Prius, which could be VERY cold in like below 5 F stop and go driving just after a start, and 20 to 30 minute warmup times when you have good driving conditions. The 3rd Gen is much different in this respect. It warms up about 4 times faster.

As others have pointed out, the Toyota HSD (Hybrid Synergy Drive) system is about the most reliable winter starting system of all cars. The motor used for starting the engine is brushless, 10 HP, and has a 30 HP battery driving it. Which is about 5 times greater starting electrical power than standard cars have. The car senses turnover rpm then injects fuel and computer controls the throttle valve, which makes it nearly impossible to flood during winter starts.

 

Back when I had to do a lot of driving for work - and got reimbursed for it - I had a 2004 Prius that I got new. Seems the 2004-2006, a handful had very poorly calibrated Traction Control

Without studded snow tires, my Prius was helpless in slush, snow and especially ice

With studded tires, no problem whatsoever. If allowed, I run studded snow tires on everything, even my FJ Cruiser

I did test drive a new 2009 Prius and the TC behavior was light years better than my '04

Cold weather - make a "winter front" and cover the grille. Even at -30 C, the ICE will shut down at red lights. Perhaps only briefly, but it will shut down. Without a winter front, the Prius is very cold blooded in winter. Not much excess wasted heat

I currently only drive 3,000-5,000 km a year, and that won't change anytime soon. Have no need for a fuel efficient car

 

Do you have the average mpg for that trip instead of the instantaneous? I could probably get 99.9 on that screen when its on battery only at any temperature, but it's not a good measure over time.

I would also note that the battery shows green and not at the optimal SOC so the car is probably pushing more electrical energy to the drivetrain resulting in a higher fuel economy.

To the OP: Honestly, my Prius gets around 40mpg during winter (+30degrees) but jumps higher when the temperature gets warmer. There is a grill blocking modification that other owners have tried and have found that it is very beneficial to the fuel economy in cold weather situations.

Also.. my fuel economy may be lower than average because my Prius may be heavier than average. Also I have a Gen II so you would see higher fuel economy in a Gen III than what I achieve

 

K&N filter fixes this. After installing one that annoying acceleration delay is gone and accelerator transition from light to to the floor is very transparent and normal-car like. Downside you have to be more restrained to get good MPG.

 

How far do you live from the local Toyota dealer ?

The reason I ask is that unlike a Civic which can be serviced by most neighborhood mechanics, the Prius, given it's full of electronics, will require more dealer attention. Given the wide distances that rural Canada encompass, will it be practical ?

 

More of the usual FUD. See http://priuschat.com/forums/newbie-...onsidering-prius-iv-2011-a-2.html#post1291647 and http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...train-200k-city-vs-highway-9.html#post1296051.

If you look at his posts, you'll notice even though he doesn't own a Prius or any hybrid, he likes trolling and posting FUD in threads of people considering Priuses or that of new owners.

How much firsthand knowledge of Priuses do you think he has?

 

It was that extreme nasty winter cold 2 days in a row. I went nuts with the camera trying to document as much as a could. There are 42 photos available from those commutes. Starting on this webpage.

This is what I have for data available from that driving...



.

 

My '04 Prius with 125k miles has yet to visit the dealer for repair or maintenance. I posted detailed upkeep costs here.

 

Oh give me a break. Now you're an expert on rural Canada?

Go back under the bridge already

 

Actually, tpfun is right this time. A little known fact about the Prius is that every time one goes to any dealership, under federal law (even for an oil change) there is a $1500 minimum consultation over video conference with the Prius design team in Japan. This is why used Priuses are worth so little. Most owners got sick of the $1550 oil changes.

Even the tires need to be changed by Toyota-licensed experts flown in from Japan. And gas can only legally be pumped at a dealership. Most expensive car to operate and harder to work on than the space shuttle!

 

Most of us bought a couple dollars of foam pipe insulation to stick into the grill. From my experience it works great: I can pull all or part off anytime a warm day comes along, and I reuse it. I did not keep good records, but my WAG is that the block is good for 10% improved fuel economy AND I have more engine heat for personal comfort.

I try to be protective of my inverter cooling, so the block starts to come off when the radiator pump is active. Lots of excellent threads to read on the topic here on PC.

 

eeek. Hope I'm not too late. You said you are 'very tall'. Be very careful of the 2nd gen (04 - 09 ) Prius. It is well known to be unfriendly to many tall individuals. Why? Small front seats, no driver's seat height height adjustment, and measured, 2.5" less driver legroom, about 5 clicks less. 3rd gen Prius, much, much improved in this area.

Your '99 Civic front seats should be much better in terms of room than the 04-09 Prius. My nieces 2001 Civic driver's seating is better.

I'm 6'2" tall, long legs. I had a 2009 (2nd gen) Prius for 2 1/2 years. It is easily the worst car to sit in of 13 cars I have owned (my mistake,oops) I miss the Hybrid Synergy Drive, but I don't miss the ergonomic awkwardness of driving that thing one bit.

 

Then you definitely do not want the 2nd or 1st gen Prius. Good eye.

3rd gen is pretty good on forward legroom in that size of car. Can't help you with Winter driving. Live in SF Bay Area.

 

Good luck, I'm sure you'd be happy with a 3rd gen Prius. I pretty much wish I had gotten it over the Accord Coupe. At least I'm lucky I don't have a long commute given the 26 MPG average of the coupe. I'd be doing 52 in Prius.

Seems like you've been smart shoppers!

And that tpfun guy, pay no attention. I doubt he's ever driven a Prius. I've got about 1k miles in 3rd gen Priuses and went 15k in my 2009 (sounds like I'm talking about flight hours)

 

WTH! I didn't even know that the display went that low.
-40C, BTW, is the lower limit for the temperature range automotive semiconductor parts are specified to. Lower than that and you might experience some weird ECU behaviour (on any car, not just the Prius)

 

I'm from Kitchener, Ontario. We unfortunately live in a condo building with an open parking lot, so no enclosed garage or block heater provision. It doesn't get too much lower than -20c here, but it does linger around there for a month or so in the dead of winter. My commute is 20 km each way, and the Gen3 Prius seems to find that a trip any shorter than that pays a big price in the fuel consumption (ie, 20 km of driving in sub-freezing temperatures is what it takes to "break even" and get the consumption lower than 4.5 L/100 km and settle in there). I keep meaning to make some daily graphs at 1 km intervals showing the curve of fuel consumption vs. distance.

That said, it was 17c here yesterday, and our 300 km round-trip yesterday (401 to Toronto back and forth, twice) yielded 3.7 L/100 km. So, it's delightful.

We've been very, very pleased with the car. Summer temperatures are better all around. Tideland's and other information here is really solid advice. I think you'll like it. It is hard to make a move from a smaller, also efficient car into the Prius because you have very high expectations. Coming from a giant SUV or other high-consumption car it is an easier jump because it looks so much better. The drivetrain was the biggest selling point to me - I'm very much a mechanical person and the simplicity of the mechanical design of the "HSD" - nothing to go wrong - edged it out over the TDI Golf w. DSG we were also considering.

It is like driving around a luxury private spaceship...

-Iain

 

Why are some people scared to give out there location?
I live in rual Canada, like that helps