Thanks Bob. Based on what I saw the other day at 24 mph, I believe more in the steady state cruise control mpg from your chart (31 mph).

Wouldn't it be nice if our commutes had no lights, no traffic, and 30 mph speed limits. I would just set the cruise and listen to a book on tape or watch the world go by. It really takes a lot of concentration to save the $12 dollars in gas by going 800 instead of 500 miles per tank in a commute that has several "heavy" traffic areas and roughly maybe 30 stops. I'll have to count tomorrow on my drive to work.

I think I have read too many "Darrel the ev nut posts". I think a smart car should be my cruising car for errands, etc.

Thanks,

Chris

 

92000 km when i got it (lease was done), right now i'm sitting at 4.2L/100 km and I got service records from day 1 but tranaxle fluid was not changed! so iam in fear right now... but your site really saved the day. Your knowledge and data is unbeilieveably helpful right now because I think I'm going to reject the warrenty the dealership offered me ($2000 for an extra 3 years or till 160,000 km bumper to bumper) and gasp! start working on my car which I did not do on my previous car (I bited the bullet and went dealership work) . From the looks of your tutorials... it shouldn't be that hard

Also I notice the tires were not RE92... they are SP10, I wonder if those are LRR? Although coasting ability is about the same as my civic which I do not mind since I had tons of coasting experience with the civic the transition for the prius should be soon mastered (I had some luck from engine straight to deadband, timing the transition with my right foot). I'm glad I got the 03 model though, the last model year before the NWH20 model kicked in, another 5 figures would have gotten me that car, but that's extra dough I cannot afford.


The inverter and the engine coolant and the recalls were done to the car, its up to date in terms of "software and maintaninence" it seems.... just the transaxle fluid must be changed quick! Boy going to take me awhile to get my lazy *** going...

Anyways Bob hope that satisfied your curiosity about my newfound purchase, kick *** site and I hope to send you my results when I scan the transaxle oil.

 

I changed mine at around 86,000 km and the car came from a dusty area, Texas. Be sure and baseline your performance. Also, you might consider switching to Type WS. I'll be switching to Type WS as soon as we get a dry weekend.

Save a sample but I wouldn't worry about getting it tested except to answer your own curiosity. If it smells of parafin and looks ugly opaque, testing will confirm what we pretty well already know but we have plenty of samples in that range. The only question unanswered are particulate sizes. We are finding oil from vehicles in dusty areas seem to have higher contaminate loads. My current test is looking at what that takes.

BTW, when you do the oil change, do the job right, which includes dropping the pan and wiping all of the areas clean and cleaning the magnet. One poster believes the gasket does not have to be replaced but agrees you want to have a new one just in case a problem developes. My thinking is the old one can become the spare and use the new gasket. Just have all of the parts and tools handy and it should take about an hour or two.

If you go self-maintenance, I would strongly recommend getting the 03 maintenance manuals, $200-300, and without going 'nuts' a good set of socket wrenches and VOM. In terms of criticality:

Vol. 2 - has the illustrated parts and covers the major systems
Vol. 1 - has more diagnositic procedures, how to check systems
Electrical Wiring - brings all circuits into a single volume although sections of the diagrams are found in Vol 1.

I can't help you there other than to recommend checking the wear pattern and keep them well inflated. The tires I replaced had suffered edge wear and were at a low pressure. I've had good luck with tire pressure caps keeping them well inflated (and confirming a slow leak in one of them.)

I know you'll have a lot of fun but I want to share one caution. If you use "neutral" for any coasting, avoid letting a hill increase your speed through 42 mph. That is the only way I've found to over-speed MG1 above the 6,500 rpm limit. In all other modes, it is all but impossible to over-speed MG1. Although still under investigation in one of the Prius technical groups, the current hypothisis is a potential electrical problem from MG1 spinning too fast causing high voltages.

I've been very happy with mine. Feel free to wander through all of my web pages to see what I've done this past year:

http://hiwaay.net/~bzwilson/prius/


Uh, you are going to start your own web page, right? <GRINS>

Bob Wilson

 

Haha the Prius is so ridiculous. That's some great mileage bravo.

Well you guys have convinced me - I hate cruise control but I'm gonna give it a shot now and then out there after this - California traffic is just so fussy it's hard to go any constant speed for more than a few minutes... .