I'll be picking up my 06 Silver Pine Prius mid-September. I thought I was just going to hop in and drive, just like a regular car. Reading all these posts makes me a little nervous... running out of gas, green lights, pink lights, battery charging, the bladder, the bladder not filling all the way... Seems very confusing to a first time hybrid owner. Honestly, it's making me a little nervous. My main reason for purchasing a hybrid was to ease up on gas since I commute 80 miles per day, but I still want something that I can just hop in and drive and feel comfortable that I won't being sitting on the side of the highway with a dead battery and no gas. I'm overeacting, right?

Thanks!!

 

Yeah. I've had a Prius for 3 weeks now (1500 miles), and have been reading various forums for awhile. It's a car. You get in and drive it. When gas gets low (I try and fill at 2 bars left, about 350 miles) you pull into a gas station and fill it up. And you enjoy how little you paid for that fillup.

As far as the bladder - it affects how much gas a full tank is by a bit, but you only really care about that if you are calculating mileage by hand. If you watch the gas gauge and don't try and push it, you wont run out of gas.

The Prius is an advanced car, so there is a lot you can learn about it if you want. But if you just want to drive it, all it takes is getting used to hitting a button to start it and the kinda weird shifter. You'll have that down after the test drive.

Enjoy the new car when you get it - I was surprised how roomy and just "nice" the Prius actually was.

 

Just drive it!! It's a great car.

All this chatter is simple to amuse those of us who like to push the limits and test things out. As carbheat said, there are a few things to get used to, but they're minor.

Remember: when you're at a stop light for a minute, the gas engine will shut off. It sounds like you just stalled out, but you didn't. Press the accelerator and off you go!

Enjoy!

 

You can follow all the suggestions here and get fantastic mileage. You can follow some of them and get great mileage. Or you can drive it like any other car and get much better mileage than can normally be expected from a car its size.

You determine how much extra work you want to do to get the most miles out of a gallon of gas. But you shouldn't get nervous or feel bad if you just want to drive it without any extra effort. You're still doing better than 95% of the drivers on the road.

 

Hi,
There is an old saying, "If you like sausage, never visit the sausage factory." <GRINS>

When you get the car, relax, enjoy, learn how everything works. Just enjoy! After a while, you may decide to get better MPG performance, fine, there will be plenty of helpers and useful suggestions. You'll probably figure out a few yourself. Best of all, you'll be enjoying a vehicle that is much quieter than any simular car with a nice, smooth ride and a lot of creature comforts. ENJOY!!!

Now some of us, me in particular, are a little bit **** about Prius technology. It has become a hobby, like home-brew beer, home electronics and other things 'technical.' For us, 90% is just the start and we're after getting 99.9% of the vehicle's capabilities . . . but we're the exception, not the rule.

Bob Wilson

 

Yes, when you are reading this forum, remember that there are people, not like me, who have a Phd in Prius... pulse and glide for just and example. The biggest thing that I think we need to be concerned about and new prius owners is remember the fuel guage may not displate the correct amount of fuel.

If you are a person that likes to run their car on empty, you should be concerned, and fore warned. Other than that, sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride with a high MPG average.

 

I'll add to the 'just drive it' voices. Yes there are a LOT of fun and potentially confusing things in the forums (and the owner's manual). If you want to start life with your new wonder-car oblivious to most of the things you mentioned - like blue, green, pink/purple bars, turn off the display. The upper left button next to the display is marked: DISPLAY
Press that, then on the touch screen, press "Turn Off Display" (or whatever it says). The screen will go black. If you need any of the functions on it, for instance you push the 'Audio' button next to the display, it will come back on automatically.

Once your radio stations are set and if you use the auto climate control, almost every control you need is on the steering wheel: temp, fresh/recirc, front & rear defrost, radio volume, up channel, down channel, mode (press and hold to turn off or on, press to cycle through FM1, FM2, CD, AM). If you want to turn off the climate control, just press the button on the wheel, press it again to turn it on. If you have turned on front Defrost and then want to turn off the climate control press the auto A/C button twice. Once to switch to auto, then again to turn it off.

Now you can 'just drive it'. As noted, your car will stall after a few seconds at a red light (unless it is cold, then it might run for a while) but that is OK, it is SUPPOSED to stall When they are new, or cold, it is more noticable. Sometime it feels like a real stall - a little shudder before the engine stops. This is normal. Once warmed up, it is frequently almost imperceptible.

Do, NOT worry about the battery, you can't hurt it, the computers won't run it down lower than is safe for it. It will run the engine as needed to recharge it. Those colord bars you mentioned show the relative state of charge and it isn't from 0 to 100% so if you see purple/pink, don't fear that you are in immediate danger of hurting the battery.

I'm not sure you can even hurt it by running out of gas, though I wouldn't test it on purpose. A friend of mine ran out of gas, kept driving and apparently things started to shut down, including the screen, one third at a time. No battery problems, though I'll have to ask him if just putting gas in it was enough or if the 12V needed a boost. I don't think I've read any forum posts saying a person had run it down that far.

• Just remember you start the car (put fob in slot if you don't have SKS) by putting your foot on the brake (no different than any other car) and then pushing the Power button firmly then release it. If you happen to live somewhere very cold, you will LOVE this car. Starts fast no matter what the outside temp. -20F, +90F, no difference.
• You turn it off by pushing the Power button the same way, it will put itself in Park.
• The shifter joystick will ALWAYS return to home - the upper right part of a little h. You can see what gear you are in by looking at the dash just under the widshield - much more useful than hiding all the instruments behind the wheel.
• If you need to put it in Neutral, push the joystick left and hold a second or two.
• Counter intuitive to some (me included) Reverse is at the TOP of the little h, Drive is at the bottom. Braking mode is reserved for long down hills where you have to ride the brake too much to keep your speed down. In regular cars, you would downshift. It does NOT mean Battery (though it is charging the battery)

R
N (home, unmarked)
D B
When the reverse beep drives you nuts (it is barely audible outside the car, apparently it is to tell YOU that you are in reverse), come ask for the procedure to turn it off if you don't already have it.

 

That is pretty good, I like that one.

I suppose I have a pretty strong constitution, but a couple years ago when I was considering a Prius I was reading the same stuff, and I blew it off because with any vehicle or manufactured item there will be users and owners that have issues. Some brought on by their own behavior, others that occur because the device is a machine. The thing about any Internet forum is that the bad experiences are iluminated more greatly than the positive experiences. That is human nature and the Internet seems to assist that.

The Prius has been a trouble free vehicle. I have not gotten one warning light that wasn't expected and I have never run out of gas. Frankly, it is stupid to try to run any vehicle out of gas, let alone this one. Refill this vehicle as you would any other vehicle and you will never have a gas related negative experience with it.

 

I was a little concerned when I first picked up the car and had no previous experience with hybrid cars to know what was normal. I read the manual the first day and just got to know the car. Everything seems to be working well.

You will get a kick out of this one. One night after I had the car for a few days I locked it up and went to get the mail. As I was passing by the car on my way back I noticed the interior lights come on. I thought: "Why are the lights turning on?" They went off 10 seconds later. I went out a couple of times to see if they came on again and sure enough as I got near the car the interior lights would turn on. I am sure you have figured out where this is going. It finally dawned on me that the lights come on as you approach as a courtesy. It recognizes the transponder in your pocket. Duh!
Until I figured this out I thought the car would be dead in the morning because it was turning the lights on and off. The point is that it operates like most vehicles and you will get used to the new technology.

My wife and I both have keys and if we are together and she decides to leave her purse in the car, you can not lock the car by pushing the button on the doors. The car recognizes that a key has been left inside and is trying to prevent you from locking yourself out. Solution: I push the button on my key fob and overide it.

Its an adventure....enjoy.

 

The other solution is to use the lock on the armrest after all the passengers have opened their doors. Then you don't need to get your fob out.

This is how I used to lock my prior vehicle rather than using the key in the door. Yes, my prior car was so old and low tech it did not have remote lock/unlock. Heck, it had ABS, that was the snazzy new feature step up from the prior car (which had power windows, locks AND A/C!!).

This is also the only way you CAN lock your fob in the car, on purpose or accidentally. A friend of mine did this and had to go get the extra fob from the house (fortunately done at home). I always use the button on the door myself and there have been times the car has said "I don't THINK so!!! At which point I would remember the fob was in a coat I left it in the car because it was warm enough outside to not need it. I would have been in deep doo doo several times if I was using the 'switch in the armrest' method routinely.