Jerry's Evolving Thoughts on "new-to-me" Prime Premium

Ah! I was just noticing something elsewhere on the forum about armrests. This one is a real beef. Why the heck does Toyota think that our elbows are down there by our pockets? I can only put my elbow on the door's so-called armrest if I lower the seat so much I can't see over the dash.

I'll probably need to make some sort of extension before we drive to Arizona since I haven't found anything I like online. This isn't the only car like this. I think every one I've had I wound up resting my left elbow on the windowsill. But there's something about the position and shape of this windowsill that my elbow is getting sore just from driving around town. Maybe I'll just take a pillow with me.

I guess that when a car gets this good, the little nuisances start to stand out more.

 

Thanks, David. It's not new. It has 23,000 miles. But it looks almost new. Whoever had the car first, did not surrender both fobs or the owner's manual and whoever they surrendered it to (a lease, I suppose) must have not demanded the other one. It happens a lot with used cars. I almost did it myself. I don't care about the manual, but Todd was nice enough to order and program the fob for me at his own expense. Since it is my 5th car from him, it was probably an easy decision. He was out of keys, so I'll go back later when his restock order arrives.

 

This is my second red one. My first Prius ('05) was Barcelona Red Metallic. In all my years driving before that, I don't think I ever had a red car. But three of my five motorcycles were red. OOPS! It was Salsa Red Pearl. Thanks for the correction @Tideland Prius.


Anyway the clear coat on the '05 was badly blistered when I got it (which helped with the price). This one is starting life with me newer and will be garaged at home and mostly in the shade at work. Hope that and regular waxing helps.

 

You're right! I was looking at the '07 brochure. And I thought I'd heard the Barcelona moniker tossed around for the '05, but I just googled the '05 brochure and it's Salsa Red Pearl. They look the same to me, but I'm not an "artiste."

 

Progress in the ergonomics:
I decided to try to deal with the extreme glare from the polished black panel above the glovebox by using matte black vinyl wrap. Due to inexperience and the compound curves, I wasn't able to get out all the bubbles, but I still think it's a big improvement. I like the look! Hope wifey likes it when she gets back home Saturday. They had a matte red vinyl that came really close to matching the car's exterior. If I re-do it, I may try that. But I don't think I'll throw away my investment just yet. And I suspect that my wife will prefer the black to the red anyway. We'll also have to see if the reflection from the chrome trim bothers her now that the black is eliminated.

If I do do it again, I just found a video showing how to remove the dash. That'll make it much easier.

Anti-glare screen protector should arrive tomorrow.

And while I was at AutoZone, I noticed that they have what looks like really functional visor extensions. So I got one of those on a trial basis. Easier than making my own. It's not quite as long as I'd like, but not bad. If I like it, I'll get one for the passenger side. Sorry for all the clutter on the bench that makes it a little hard to see the details. I was too tired to put it away yet.



Then I installed a d-ring to secure my spare tire like it was in the PiP. It's not the right ring, but works for now. I may swing by Toyota and order the one for the PiP or a hatchback so it's nice and shiny and shaped better.

Solved a puzzle, too. The miles per kwh in the Drive Monitor 2 display was stuck at 3.7 even though I'm consistently getting 5.1 to 6.1. I found out it needed to be reset since it was keeping the data from sometime long in the past. The previous owner must have been a real lead foot.

I'm working on an armrest pad for the driver's door. Hope I can finish that tomorrow.

As for driving it, I continue to be amazed. In 354 miles since I've bought it, I've only run the ICE two times. Each was under 12 miles.

In the PiP, I was always very judicious in my acceleration because I just had enough electricity to make it to work with a full charge. Since I have so much range now, I'm a little less frugal. But I'm still getting decent ECO scores and what I think are pretty good miles per kwh. At least way better than the PiP. And definitely getting more compliments from friends than I got with the PiP!

Edit to add:
I knew I was forgetting something. Somehow this car has moved my house and my office 3/10 of a mile closer to each other. It's now 9.5 instead of 9.8 miles.

 

Thoughts on charging compared to the PiP:
I just plugged in because I have an unscheduled meeting at noon about 8-9 miles away. Car had been sitting overnight with about 9 miles range left in the battery. I'm finding that, unlike the PiP, I rarely use up all the EV range before I get back home. I've only charged from a fully depleted battery twice in over 350 miles over eight days of ownership. I don't think that's a problem since I'm not parking it "full," but it is different in a good way.

In my last 8 days with the PiP, I show 19 kWh pulled from my L2 charger at home. In the first 8 days (so far -- I'm charging right now) I've pulled 32 kWh from the wall for charging. Both of those figures are from pretty typical driving routes and distances.

Note to self: Will I ever learn to put the charging cap back on the port before I try to close the charging door?

L2 charging at 15A instead of 9A on the PiP makes a huge difference!!

Even though I charge quite a bit away from home, the higher capacity and faster charge rate (more power acquired in quick turn around charging), my electric bill will almost certainly show that something has changed. But so will my gas bill. I was getting gas every 4-6 weeks. Now? Well, we do have a trip to AZ coming up in May, so there's that. Otherwise it might be a year for all I know.

 

Busy weekend, but I think the ergonomics work is almost done. Today I made that armrest I've been wanting for many many years. Now I can rest my left elbow on something comfortable while driving with both hands. Maybe that bruise that's starting to develop from the hard windowsill will go away.

I used that cushy styrofoam stuff they use for packing computers. I cut four pieces and glued them together with Liquid Nails to get the right height. Then wrapped it in black felt using 3M spray adhesive. (As I look it over now after the dust has settled, I see a way to cut the felt that would look better, but it's not worth re-doing it unless I have to take it apart for some other reason.) It all seems to have stuck together solidly, though. Next, I made a flat plastic plate and drilled four holes in it to line up with two of the holder tabs that snap the arm rest pad in place. After getting that made and wired into the right place using stainless steel safety wire that I had laying around, I glued the pad to the plate with Liquid Nails and clamped that while it dried. Once the glue was set, it was a simple job to snap it into place. It's not quite a factory look, but for $0.00 using stuff on hand, I'm happy.


The view no one will see without popping the arm rest off of the door panel.


Ready to pop it into the door and drive!


Finished product before cleaning in all its dustiness.


Ta da!! It fits!!!! Let's hope the glue holds. Hey automobile designers. THIS is where arm rests are supposed to be if you're going to even have them.

Oops! I almost forgot. The "anti-glare" screen protector arrived today. The screen is now protected. Not so sure about our eyes. We'll have to wait till we drive in the right direction at the right time of the day. But I do still have a nice view of the front passenger window in the 11.6" display.

 

Update on the ergo mods:
The so-called anti glare screen protector doesn't help with reflections at all.

The matte vinyl cover for the polished black plastic is the bomb! Looks great. Take note, Toyota designers.

The armrest? What a difference!!!!! I think that now I could drive this thing all day with no discomfort other than my bladder. Take note again, Toyota designers.

It has basically reached, "just drive it" mode now except that I still need window vent shades before it really gets hot.

 

Well then, New Jersey has winter all year. Living in Tampa, I know that other drivers can prevent you from driving wisely. But this driver was getting mpg in the 30s and 40s even in the summer. I haven't explored all the history, but if average m/kWh was 3.7 over two years, I wonder how bad it was just in the winter. Also, I could tell that it didn't get plugged in much. I think it just wasn't the right car for that driver. He or she really needed something like a Shelby Cobra.

 

A week and a half into ownership and I'm getting a lot more familiar with the screens and menus. But one little thing is bugging me and I have looked everywhere for the answer. It's not in the manual and Google is no help either. What the heck is this dashed line all about!? All I can imagine is it's a "Don't go beyond here or you'll be into the friction brakes" line.



On another note:
I've been reading about people using charge mode on the highway to get even better fuel efficiency. I tried a little experiment Saturday afternoon. I'm afraid I didn't really set myself up for a clear outcome, but it at least looked promising. Problem was that I didn't go far enough and also had to get off the freeway and turn around and come back the way I came, which threw in acceleration that most certainly threw off the accuracy of the test. But still, over about a 20 mile stretch of 70 mph highway, it got an indicated 54 mpg. In charge mode at an indicated 72 mph it was showing around 38-40 mpg. I'll need a longer run without speed changes to get a clearer picture. We're planning to leave May 3 on a long trip, so I'll play with it then if I don't get a chance before.

 

It's definitely in the right place for that. But since there are already indentations for the EV/HV portions of the battery on the battery symbol, it seems redundant. On the other hand, the braking bar hits that line pretty quickly and it doesn't really feel like I'm into the friction brakes at that point, so I'm inclined to agree with you at this point.

You're right. I did finally catch on yesterday. ... So far. LOL!

Yesterday, I got an example of how inexpensive this thing can be to drive. I'm permitted to plug in for free at work and at church. The day before yesterday, I left work with a full charge. I drove home (9.5 miles away), didn't charge at home and then drove back to work yesterday morning. I then went about 8 miles round trip for lunch and plugged it in at work. After work, I had a meeting at church about 14 miles away. Plugged in there and topped off the battery. Then I drove 17.5 miles home. Did not plug in at home. Drive 9.5 miles to work this morning. Total of about 68 miles without spending any money. I'm plugged in at work now, so going home is also free, which takes me to about 77.5 free miles. I'll put as much as I can in the battery when I get home (maybe 2 kWh) before I go for another meeting tonight at church. If I can plug in there, it should be a free drive back home and then to work tomorrow where I can plug in again. And so on.

But even so, I think I'm using more home electricity than before. In the roughly 500 miles I've driven the car, I've used 52 kWh from my own wall. That's roughly what I used in the PiP for 800-1,000 miles. But in those roughly 500 Prime miles I've only been in HV mode about 30-35 miles. I've used less than a gallon in 500 miles!! The PiP would have been at least 250 HV miles.