Hi Guys. I've finally done it. I bought a Prius. I was actually going to buy a Nissan Leaf but since the prices are still north of $4000 for one, I decided to scoop up a nice little Prius for $2000 until prices drop a bit more on used all electric vehicles. So how did I do? Price: $2000. Miles 80,000 miles 130,000 KM Year: 2007 JDM model here in Japan. I'm not sure which package this is exactly. Can someone tell me based on pics? Title says DAA-NHW20. Anyway, I love it! I may not actually get an EV for years and years now based on how efficient this is. I'm getting 25.2 Km/l which is about 59-60 MPG. Wow...... That's double what I was getting out of my Toyota bB at 27-29 MPG. My daily commute is 11km each way. So 22 km round trip. That's LESS than 1 liter of gas to get to work and back home. So I estimate I'll get 40 trips to work and back per tank!!!! That blows my mind every time I think about it. So it's got some Yokohama BlueEarth ES31 tires on it. Well 3 anyway. One is a Firestone FR10. Wondering if I should replace it to match? Any opinions on the Blue Earth ES31 Yokohama tires? I see they are AAA rated for rolling resistance. Right now I'm about to research a few questions: 1. What are the highest MPG tires? 2. What is the highest MPG oil and viscosity to use for my climate of 72 degrees avg temp? 55-95 deg. Okinawa, Japan. 3. What is the best OBDII reader to use and which app is recommended? Or a scanguageIIE? Thanks! Enjoy the pics. R
Congrats and welcome to PriusChat! It's interesting that you have Gen 3 wheel covers on the Gen 2 lol. Looks like it's an "S" trim level with optional "HDD Navigation System Package" because there's no cruise control (so not the G) but you have a rear wiper (so not the S Standard Package). 2G Prius (2004-2009) Standard and Optional Equipment (Some Countries) | PriusChat (scroll down to near the bottom of the first post to find the Japanese info)
Congratulations on your new Prius. You got the best deal I ever heard of buying a used running Prius. If it has a backup camera and fog lights it is one of the higher level Prius. It seemed they were packaged different in different countries. If the odd tire is the same size as the other three I wouldn't worry about it. Good luck.
Oh, excellent, I didn't know that about the wheel covers. lol. Good to know! Thank you. And also excellent info on the trim level. Thank you again. Very helpful. Another question I was thinking about was if there were any wheel covers that are completely solid like on the old Honda Insights? I thought maybe those would help a tad bit to improve MPG via reduction of wind resistance? I'd always wanted the original insight because of it's super low drag design and accessories. Now I'd love to find a great list of improvements I can make to this to get it even more efficient. Thank you for the quick answer!
Thanks padroo. Good to hear I've gotten the best deal ever. I'm a bargain shopper and was trying to. So that just made my day. Here's the front pic showing the fog lights. And yes, it has a backup camer as well. So I guess I lucked out!
Yes you did luck out. Have you pumped your tires up to a higher pressure? Common here is 40 psi front and 38 psi rear. Driving techniques alone will get you great mpg. What kind of driving do you do, highway, stop and go, city, maybe hills?
Thanks again Tideland P. That link was perfect. It seems your'e right, I do have the S package with extras: S Standard Package Some Standard Features: - 15" alloys on P185/65R15 tyres - Actually 195s. - TRAC - Not sure. What's this? How do I check? - Front foglights - Yes. - Electric Mirrors - Yes. - Remote Keyless Entry - Yes. - EV Drive Mode Button - Yes. - AM/FM/CD w/ 6 speakers - At least 4 that I know of. - Anti-Theft Device - Not sure. How do I check? - Rear Foglight (in cold area specification) - Not sure. How do I check? - Halogen Headlights with Manual Levelling Adjuster - Not sure. S S model adds: - Trim Rings - What are trim rings? Googled. Nope. - Rear Wiper/Washer - Yes. - Tonneau Cover - No idea what this is. Googled it. Yes. It's there. Options: - Front-Seat Side Airbags and Side Curtain Airbags - Not sure. How do I check? - HDD Navigation System Package which includes backup camera (yes), Intelligent Park Assist (IPA) (yes), AM/FM/MD/CD (yes), Sound Library (to store your songs)(yes), TV Tuner(yes) and 6 speakers (not sure. At least 4), G-Book Alpha Service(yes, useless I believe), Voice-Recognition (Yes, I think so). Thank you again for the welcome and the quick direction to this excellent page. R
Thanks. It's good to know that the driving techniques I'm trying are the bulk of it. It's already helping. So that's good. Yes, I stopped by and put the tires at 42 psi front and rear. Too much?
If you read the side of the tire there should be a maximum pressure listed and just don't exceed that number. High pressure makes for a rough ride.
Thanks. I'll double check them. I would think that the harder you make them up to a point the better for lowering rolling resistance. And that it may even require going over the max a tad to do so. But I definitely know there's probably a law of diminishing returns and a lowering of the durability and risk increase the harder you go. I'm curious if this has been thoroughly tested by anyone at each PSI? Also, my BluEarth ES31 tires are actually not AAA rated. They're just A rated. I double checked it. On my last eco car, a Toyota Will Cypha I had these: y-yokohama.c product/tire/bluearth_ae01f/ The AE-01F tires are AAA rated and were wonderful. I was getting 33 mpg on the Will Cypha. I think I'll get those again should I feel the need for beyond 60mpg.
Keep in mind that he is in Japan. Foglights were standard on 2007 models, unlike in the US. I can't remember if the 195s were standard in Japan or if the previous owner changed it. I do recall that Japan had slightly different tire specs but for the rest of the world, the standard wheel size was the 185/65R15. TRAC is traction control. Wait til it rains or snows and you'll see the "slip indicator". Just be aware that the Gen 2 Prius' traction control is quite aggressive. It cuts the power (rather than allowing wheel spin) so keep that in mind when you make right turns or if you're in a slippery situation and need to accelerate. The 6 speakers will be 4 in each door plus two front A-pillar-mounted tweeters (they open with the front door). Umm, there should be a blinking red light on the dash when you lock the car - that's the engine immobiliser. Rear foglight - It's usually specified for the Hokkaido region. Based on your one photo of the rear quarter panel of your car, you do have rear foglights (it's the inner set of red lights at the base of your taillight assembly. You have to turn on your front foglights first, then the rear will turn on if you twist the foglight control one more step further) The headlight level adjuster will be on.... the right of the steering wheel, possibly below the key slot. I *think* it's near the IPA button. Trim rings are the aerodynamic plastic rings that go over the alloy wheels. Here's a stock photo of the 15" alloy wheels on a Gen 2 Prius with the rings And here's how they look like without the rings But as I've mentioned before, you have the 3rd generation wheel covers. So, something was changed lol. It could be that the previous owner upgraded the wheels and tires to get a wider set (195/65R15 like you said). Lastly, for side airbags, there's either a small tag sewn into the outboard side of the front seats that says "SRS Side Airbags" Or, look for SRS AIRBAG imprinted near the top of the A-pillars.
Wow. Thank you so much for the kind, detailed answers! You sir are a scholar and a gentleman. Very cool of you to answer all my questions. That saved me a ton of time. I probably never would even have known that I had rear fog lights never mind even used the front ones. lol. So now I will! And you're right. I have 6 speakers. I see the two A pillar ones now. Cool. I don't think I have the A pillar SRS airbags though as I see no labels there or on the seats. But that's okay. Since the Tabata recall and all the news about people being killed by their airbags going off, I can do without them! And I think I like the gen 3 hub caps better. They look more aero, so maybe they're helping a tad over the gen2. I still plan on eventually trying some moondiscs to see if they help give me the 1-2% on average improvement in MPG others have seen in testing. You even found two pics of my exact car color. Now THAT's service! Haha. Best forum mod ever! I'll have to look for the TRAC and red light for the immobilizer next. Now I'm curious. But so far I'm absolutely loving this car. I'm already up to 25km/l (58mpg) now in the first week with my typical driving. That's double my last car. It's wonderful. And it's a nicer car by far. I'm blessed. Thanks again for the answers!
I have a huge mountain between home and work. 1km long and probably an 11% grade maybe? Not sure. It's steep. I lose .2 off the guessometer by the time I reach the top of it. But other than that It's mostly flat with a bit of up and down slight grades. I drive slow, like Mr. Magoo. So that helps.
Please actually calculate your mileage. My '07 consistently gets 10% less mpg than is shown on display. About 48 is the best I've gotten and I'm a conservative driver. LG-TP260 ?
I see a perfect opportunity to hone those touge skills! I wouldn't be able to resist picking up an S15 or a R34 if I was living there. All that aside, you might be able to squeeze a little more MPG out of it with some aero mods - a splitter and wheel well covers will help (like these A-CORO ones). I wonder if Super Autobacs would have used aero pieces you could pick up at a discount (I know they have quite a bit of used performance stuff on sale). I was under the impression that 48 was the real-world mileage most Gen2s got. It's certainly what I get and what my acquaintances get.
Congrats on purchase.....and yeh, you got a steal. I bought a 2004 recently for $2,500. Just discovered battery well completely rusted out- gone. So you gotta feel good about this purchase. What is the story behind the prius? So amazing it seems to have possibly occurred in some designers revelatory dream! Amazing aspect I love about Prius- besides mileage- is such a great travel vehicle!! I dark tinted my side rear & rear windows, fold down the back and sleep comfortably on the road. I can set the temp and leave car on- it will maintain temp, periodically starting engine to charge battery. ....have fun!
[Oh, excellent, I didn't know that about the wheel covers. lol. Good to know! Thank you. My Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
