Join The Prius Ownership Family

[Novco]

Hi All,

I'm looking at trading in my expensive to run renault espace that the wife uses to ferry the kids into school on a daily basis. It's a diesel and does about 10mpg (it's an auto also), we moved a year ago and the old circumstances meant we could walk the kids to school and back. now we have to drive them as they aren't road 'aware' on their bikes.

So I've been looking at a second hand car, I don't want to spend much more so I went to a toyota dealer yesterday and drove one for the first time. I love technology and this is awesome. I love it when the engine cuts out and you can pull away on electric.

Now ever, the problem is my lovely wife, the Toyota dealer found me a 2005 05 plated TSpirit with 51k miles on, she is concerned about buying a high miileage engine, not that I'd call that high myself. So can anyone give me any feed back on experience with a 'high' mileage engine?

Also, what do you get realistically on slow moving, stop/start traffic, mpg wise?

Thanks in advance

Chris

[Chris Dance]

Hi Novco,

My Prius is relatively new but as the car is powered by electric motor as well as the petrol engine and everything is automatic I would not think 51,000 miles is a lot for the petrol engine.

I am getting 52.9 MPG at the moment but in the Winter it was about 49 MPG.

When your wife is going slow or stop go in traffic it will be on the eletric motor so no petrol will be being used.

I am sure yor wife will like the car, my wife thinks it is great.

The electrics on the Prius are warranted for 8 years.

Hope you get it; you will be making a big saving on motoring costs.

Regards Chris.

[JonFB]

Hi Novco,

I bought an '05 T3 with 60k on the clock and it's fab. I came from a mercedes c class and considering the "step down" most things are fine. Although slamming the door doesn't exactly give u a satisfyingly solid "thunk" esp if u do it with the window part open!...Sorry, I digress. Stop start traffic is where the Prius excels, it is fantasticly fuel efficient in this environment. If you're going to use it on lots of long motorway journeys then that is not what it is for, and you will see your mpg fall to below what a diesel would get. But before anyone shouts at me, of course the Prius is allegidly "cleaner" (from a fuel point of view, if not manufactruing etc) than a diesel. It is also a surprisingly pokey car at times, not in a standard way with lots of guaranteed oomph under your right foot, but get it in a situation it likes, e.g. whizzing out of a roundabout when the electric motor cuts in to give more power and it's quite fun to drive. Rest of the time I would say it is spacious, light and much like driving a bumper car - it's so easy and relaxing.

So that'll be a thumbs up from me then :-)

Jon

[Novco]

Thanks for the replies. They have been useful ammo to try and persuade the wife.

The only other question I have is, does any one have 3 child seats across the rear seats?

I managed to get two in, with the youngest harness seat in the middle. Then one booster with back and the 3rd with the back off, but it was not level?

If anyone does, please could you let me know the make and models?

With thanks

Chirs

[Nightstalker]

LO...

I was looking at the Prius but the bit that turned me away was the fact that you cannot fit 3 child/infant seats accross the back seat. Also the boot space would not accomodate the luggage we need when traveling up north.

And after having watched Top Gear last night I wonder if - other than the savings on road tax - the prius would have been a good buy for me... Fuel consumption wise it was beaten by a BMW M3

So although I did like the car it would not have been practical for me and by the looks of things not much cheaper to run than my Rav 4.

Regards

Rob

B)

[Mkuk0]

Yeah but that Top Gear comparison was...ahem...slightly loaded in favour of the M3. The Prius was being thrashed to buggery, and the M3 was poodling along on top gear, hardly suprising the MPG figures were so skewed. In normal day to day running the Prius would kick the M3's a@#e back to Bavaria!!

[posing]

Agreed boot space is not great. Removing the base boot flooring reveals a little more space. I last refueled after doing about 490 miles and filled up 38.5 litres of normal Unleaded. If I used Super Unleaded mayhaps I could get better mpg but the price difference is offputting.

[gniie]

If I used Super Unleaded mayhaps I could get better mpg but the price difference is offputting.

About that!!!

Is anybody using Super Unleaded and have they noticed any difference in the Prius behaviour( performance, economy, etc....)????

Let us know pls.

[posing]

Is anybody using Super Unleaded and have they noticed any difference in the Prius behaviour( performance, economy, etc....)????

Let us know pls.

I did start using Super Unleaded when I first got the car but then switched to normal unleaded and found not much of a difference and stuck with normal ever since. If anyone else have evidence super unleaded in a Prius is good then pray tell.

[propnut]

I am not a Prius owner but have spent my life working on cars and a significant portion of that on high performance engines and in my opinion any Super Unleaded fuel from any manufacturer is a complete waste of money on the vast majority of vehicles.

The octane rating is your anti knock specification. Basically the higher the figure the less suceptible it is to pre-ignition. That is the fuel detonating due to heat within the combustion chamber before the piston reaches its correct BTDC position. This only becomes an issue on very high performance cars that are running high compression ratio's which very few road cars do. What's more almost all modern cars have a knock sensor which tells the computer that knocking is occurring and as a result the computer retards the timing accordingly to mitigate the issue.

So without being too long winded that is the reason you have found no difference because there isn't any except for the price at the pump.

[Chris Dance]

Propnut: What you say is more or less what the dealer told me when I purchased the car. Using super unleaded is a waste of money.

[Novco]

LO...

I was looking at the Prius but the bit that turned me away was the fact that you cannot fit 3 child/infant seats accross the back seat. Also the boot space would not accomodate the luggage we need when traveling up north.

And after having watched Top Gear last night I wonder if - other than the savings on road tax - the prius would have been a good buy for me... Fuel consumption wise it was beaten by a BMW M3

So although I did like the car it would not have been practical for me and by the looks of things not much cheaper to run than my Rav 4.

Regards

Rob

B)

Hi Nightstalker,

I'm picking up my Prius today :D and I managed to get 3 seat in. My wife was very scepticel that this could be achieved, so before we purchased we took the Espace, 3 kids and their seats.

We fitted the 5 point harness for the youngest in the middle, the 5 years old's boaster, with back and the 8 year olds boaster only.

I did a load of research to try and find the narrowest boasters and it appeared I already had them.

I will say it is much more of a pain to strap them in, as my daughters seat I have to pull out a little to put the buckle in, then push it back towards the centre. When we get out, she can release the buckle her self with no problems.

I'm really looking forward to picking it and and reducing my £200 a month Diesel bill to about £80 for driving the kids to school and back (8 miles a day).

The ideal solution would be for a hybrid Verso (if your listening Toyota )

[joniro]

Hello all.

I'm joining the Prius family any day soon. Just ordered it last week and should get it by the end of next week.

I used to drive 1.4 D4D Diesel Auris with tuningbox. It took 5.0L / 100km at citycenter and 4.5L / 100km at highways avg. speed around 105km/h.

Without tuningbox it was 5.5L and near 5.0L / 100km.

I wanted to test Prius how it compares to Auris, and it did well. Actually it took 8dl more on highways but 2-4L / less at urban. Did not test it at citycenter but there is should even better.

And I dont have to pay diesel tax that is 450€ / year.

Diesel is about 1.55€ / L

Gasoline is about 1.65€ / L

People have been saying that Prius not so good at highways to drive but I didnt notice anything like that, maybe it was bit more wind sensitive than Auris.

But a tend to keep my hands on the steering wheel anyways so it's ok. Now I get also great automatic gearbox, moore room and a cruiser + quite good JBL Speakers, and I'll add Kenwood subwoofer later on.

This was my story, I have had Yaris T-Sport 2002, Yaris T-Sport 2007, Auris 2007 and now Prius 2008. Also I managed to get my father to buy used Toyota Corolla and get rid of Saab 2.3T for polluting the earth. (Someone elso will do that now)

Just love Toyota's. They are expensive here (what is not?) but the reliability is something that I need and get with my Toyos.

- Joakim

[Chris Dance]

joniro,

You will like the Prius it is excellent and a joy to drive and the performance is very good. I have not got my bluetooth in operation at the moment but it is the phone that is the problem not the Prius. I miss the folding wing mirrors and the individual heating controls I had on the Avensis. I like the 54MPG I am getting and the low road tax.

Welcome to the Prius family.

[Novco]

Well, had mine for nearly 3 weeks and I love it. Even my wife now enjoys the car and has got used to the different approach to the gear lever and hand brake.

The sound JBL sound system is excellent, the blue tooth, I've been told. is crystal clear.

Also found the best way to get the car to use the Battery in urban zones is to use the cruise control. Did it tonight on the way home (10pm) and set it to 30. On any long level straights it just switches to Battery, excellent.

The MPG is about 54mpg :D , My Espace was 17mgp and a Diesel :o ! So this will save me a fortune

For driving the kids to school and back, this is probably the best option I have found. I can't wait to see the next one

[joniro]

Hello.

Here in Finland we have 4 different models.

Basic: No keyless entry, basic stereo no MP3, basic Speakers, no bluetooth, no NAV.

Executive: Keyless entry, JBL's. No NAV no bluetooth.

Executive 2: Keyless, Basic Speakers, NAV, bluetooth, park assist.

Executive 2+: Same than Executive 2 but with leather seats.

So I guess we have a bit different models here. Mine is Executive, loved the sound of JBL's. Parking I can do with out assistance. Have separate NAV and Bluetooth.

Prices starting from 29 990€ to 35 000€.

- J

*** Please give me my car on next week ****