williamhathaway.com » prius

Prius at 33,000 miles

William Hathaway — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 14:45:58 +0000

I’ve had my Prius for about 16 months now (got it in early May 2008). So far I have been largely happy. I’ve averaged about 44-47 MPG in the warmer months and 42-44MPG in the winter with a roughly 50% highway/50% city mix of driving. I’ve only had a few minor nits/issues:

The gas tank is made of a (sort of) flexible membrane and it becomes stiff during colder months and won’t hold as much fuel. During the winter I can often only get about 75% as much gas in the tank as I can during the spring/summer/fall months. More info available in a hybrid cars forum.
The default behavior is to beep inside the car when in reverse (versus trucks which beep outside to warn people behind it). It turns out it is fairly easy to disable the beeping using these instructions. I just followed the instructions this morning.
It is difficult to jump start other cars. The positive terminal is really small and when I tried to help a friend get his car started, the metal “jaw” on the jumper cables were too big to fit in the space near the positive terminal.
I wish there was better iPod integration by default (I am currently just using the AUX jack). A friend of mine purchased the factory unit for his Lexus and the interface is dissapointing. I am considering getting a Vaistech unit.

Other notes:

I’ve had no maintenance problems.
The leg/headroom seem fine. While I am not tall, I regular drive 3 other people to lunch, and the bigger guys in the office can fit comfortably (although the 6’6″ guy does always take shotgun).
By folding down the back seats I can easily put my mountain bike in the trunk if I take off the front tire.

10 days later

William Hathaway — Thu, 08 May 2008 22:50:11 +0000

I’ve had my Prius for 10 days/650 miles and overall I’m pretty happy with it. Here is my quick rundown:

Cool

Bluetooth integration is really handy when I want to accept calls and it is nice the audio system mutes automatically
Displaying your speed in a manner where you don’t really have to much your eyes much
Rear-view camera when backing up helps compensate for the smallish rear window
Good passenger headroom – one of my really tall co-workers was able to fit fine
Proximity locks and ignition mean I never have to take my keys out of my pocket
I’ve been averaging 44.x MPG in combined highway/city driving

Wish it were different

Having to use the AUX audio input or an FM transmitter for the iPod
The main display screen can get washed out when in very bright sunlight
Beeping inside the car when backing up (I know this can be changed with a ‘hack’)

Still getting used to

The lack of almost any noise when the car is stopped or moving slowly. Makes it very easy to forget the car is still on.

Great Timing

William Hathaway — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 19:36:54 +0000

I traded in my Toyota RAV4 and picked up the new Prius this afternoon at 2:00. Earlier at lunch, I was heading to a restaurant to meet Nate when the ‘check engine’ light on my RAV4 came on. Since I knew that I’d only be the owner of the RAV4 for the next 2 hours, I thought the timing was pretty awesome. The only way it could have been better was if the light turned on as I rolled onto the dealer’s parking lot.

I’m planning on reading the owner’s manual tonight and will give some feedback after I’ve driven the car for a few days. The one thing that was weirding me out on the drive from the dealer to my office was the fact that the car was totally silent when I stopped at a light since the engine gets automatically shut off.