New Plugin Owner - Couple of Questions

I wanted to introduce myself to the board:

I just bought a 2012 prius plug in and drove it across the country from Massachusetts to Los Angeles over the course of 3 days. According to google, the drive was a little over 3,162 miles, and an estimated time of 46 hours (plus another hour since the overnight accommodations I stayed at were slightly off the most direct route). Due to scheduling restrictions, I left the Boston area around 10:00am Friday, and needed to be home around 10:00pm Sunday, giving me 64 hours to make the drive (3 hours time change plus 1 hour end of daylight saving time). I'm going to proclaim myself as the first person to drive this many miles in this short of a time in a Prius Plugin

The driving was done almost non stop - I would get gas usually once every 250 miles or so, which would consist of me pumping gas, running inside to use the restroom, then running back out and jumping back on the road. For lunch and dinner, I would spend another 5 minutes getting some fast food. The hours driven per day were as follows: Day 1 - 14 hours, Day 2 - 18 hours, Day 3 - 16 hours.

A couple of impressions:

1. Road noise is not too terrible, but louder than a standard mid-sized sedan.
2. Engine noise is quieter than the Gen 2 prius (my mom and sister have one), but can drone a bit when trying to do 75mph up any slight incline.
3. The seats are pretty good for long distance driving. Either I'm superhuman, or the seats are exceptionally supportive, or a combination of both.
4. The power was adequate most of the time. However, going through I-70 West in Colorado past Mount Evans and through the Eisenhower tunnel and through Vail, the engine struggled mightily. This was understandable given the elevation, but it was a bit disconcerting that I could barely maintain 40 mph towards the peak.

Overall mpg per the trip computer was 45. Speeds were 75-80mph consistently. I didn't have time to fill up the tire pressures before I left, but they were 30.5 psi bone cold in the morning in MA.

My plans for the car:

1. Full detail interior and exterior - clay, polish/swirl removal, seal, wax, etc
2. DIY homelink rear-view mirror
3. Add sound isolation to the doors
4. Look into bigger wheels - either the Persona wheels or CT200H F Sport wheels
5. Suspension - plus performance springs and rear sway bar?
6. Look into adding leather to the interior - Clazzio or Katzkin.

My complaints:

1. Radio has 6 preset pages. Who on earth needs 6 preset pages. Will probably set all 6 pages to be the same 6 FM stations in the same order so I can cycle through easily.
2. One wheel/tire feels either out of round or out of balance. There's a vibration/shimmy at high speeds that I can feel through the gas pedal and slightly through my butt.
3. The reverse beep.
4. The fuel gauge is unreliable, and the tank sometimes cuts the pump off even before it's full. I quickly learned you have to try pumping again to see if the tank is truly full.
5. Armrest for the front loves to creak.

Hope to be a contributing member to this community.

 

I was in such a rush that day to get on the road and get started on my trip that I did not bump the tire pressures higher. For my other cars, I typically run at a minimum 33 psi all around, typically around 35. I can only imagine the mpg increase you can get on the prius running at 40 vs 30. I did bump the tire pressures up some 3-4 psi when I got into Utah, but by then the trip was more than 2/3rds done. Hard to gauge the impact on mpg due to the elevation changes

Price is indeed better outside of CA - the prius plugins in CA are an easy $2k higher in price. There is no reason I would have made the trip if not to save money. Money seems to be a good motivator for certain people...