We hit 130,000 miles with all the warranties expired…and the seats being just a critical bit less comfy. So we started looking. We’ve been saving up for years, just putting a little bit by in a special account, so the finance was there. We wanted a Subaru hybrid, but the long-awaited car had no cargo space. We looked at the Forester, and the mileage is much improved: 28/32…from our 2004, which is 19/25.
Then we got a look at the Prius V in the hotel portico down in Oklahoma, and decided to go to our local dealer and have a look and a test-drive.
Well, we for very sure hadn’t intended to buy. We came to look. But the price is about the same as the Forester; the cargo room is there; the mileage is 44/40, (more in town, yes) and the local Toyota dealer is under reconstruction and nearly impossible to get into, so they were getting lonely for customers: half their cars are warehoused; plus the national just came out with a zero-interest for 5 years deal, so we wouldn’t need to touch our ‘car fund’ except to dole out money from it monthly while continuing to feed it from the other end. It’s a very Buck Rogers car…we had a Mr. Toad moment; and it’s not hard to adapt re the driving. It’s got some interesting quirks—the fancy braking system can be grabby if you lead-foot the brakes—but it has power enough for the mountains, and windows are much larger than the standard Prius.
And it would be under warranty the whole way.
We signed the paperwork on a car they’ll have to bring in and modify to our specs; and then to our surprise, they said they wanted our car now, so despite the fact it was so filthy from the trip and still having baggage we’d not offloaded—we’d even hesitated to let them look at it—they wanted to get to work cleaning it up for sale and they offered us a used Prius until our car is ready. Well—we cleaned out the stuff, put it in bags, loaded it into the loaner Prius sedan and bade farewell to our faithful Forester.
We opted for dark brown seats (less prone to show dirt) and the ‘sea glass green’ color. And we don’t know when it will be ready, but until then we get to practice on the loaner. It’s a big move, a change from driving essentially the same car, same controls, for 10 years, but driving places on half the gas is going to be nice. It’ll save us at least a thousand a year in gas cost, based on our usual 10,000 miles a year, and we’ll like that part. Exotic bits (hybrid drive and batteries) have an 8 year warranty, and there are cabs in NYC that have logged 600,000 miles on original batteries. So… we are the usual bit of OMG I can’t believe we did it mixed with ooooh, shiny!
Congratulations on the new wheels. Will you be taking them to San Antonio or do I have to wait until LibertyCon next summer to see them?
PS: I once watched a 4-piece bluegrass band whose instrumentation included a full-size upright bass fiddle load themselves and their gear into a Prius. Granted, the two musicians sitting in the other 60% of the back seat were Real Young And Skinny…
Then there was the trip from Ohio via Milwaukee to Spokane and back in a Scion Xd named Betty, carrying three people and their luggage. Fortunately, we hit upon the idea of mailing a lot of our stuff back before we left, so it wasn’t quite as crowded coming back.
My car, a 2005 Honda Civic LX sedan, now has about 137,000 on it. The timing belt has been replaced about 4 months ago, the front struts need to be replaced, and the tires are about 3 years old. Since I’m already up to my ears in debt, I’m not in the market for a new car for a while. (impulsive me, buying a hot tub, even though it was on sale for 50% off and the damned thing STILL isn’t hooked up after 3 months on the deck. At least, the cover is on it.)
I don’t plan to get rid of my car until it’s at the point where it’s economically infeasible to keep it. I really should drive less than I do, but most of my trips are across town, and I try to combine errands together. The worst things are having to drive to see my doctor who is 45 miles away – Air Force Medical Center at Wright-Patterson AFB, Dayton, OH. Then the other referrals, which might or might not be at the same place.
Well, next year, I can apply for Social Security…..
Silly question — are you/did you do ham radio at any point? Your monicker makes me think of a friend’s call sign… and out here, many old hams put their call signs on their license plates!
Not a silly question. Yes, I am a ham radio operator. My callsign is the last 6 characters of my screen name. I am the Assistant Emergency Coordinator for SKYWARN Operations for my county, which sounds like a fancy title, but is actually a volunteer position within the Amateur Radio Emergency Service. We work out of our county Emergency Management Agency office, and during emergencies, we will man the communications center at the office. It is in the process of being moved, though, so I don’t know what the new arrangements will be. For the most part, my job is to take weather spotter reports from my county spotters, who report in to me on one frequency, and then I relay those reports to the regional SKYWARN station in Dayton, OH, who then relays them to the National Weather Service in Wilmington, OH. All by ham radio, and from initial report until it gets to the meteorologists is less than a minute. When you’re dealing with safety of life and early warnings, speed and accuracy is critical. (I’ve been on the air 5 out of the last 6 nights due to severe weather.) I have a weather station in my basement that is connected to the interwebz to feed data to them as well. When I’m driving around in the car, I usually have my VHF/UHF transceiver turned on, although not usually talking. I also have an HF transceiver in the car, but that is for when I’m driving for a longer distance, since I don’t stay on one frequency with that radio, but search up and down the bands looking for other hams to talk with. It’s a matter of luck because my antenna is limited in performance due to its location on the car (left trunk lid lip), and I don’t run that much power, usually around 100 watts maximum. I have another VHF transceiver that is tuned to the local Automatic Position Reporting System frequency, and a small device that connects to the transceiver to broadcast my position, as well as to act as an interface between the radio and a laptop computer. No, I don’t use the computer while I’m driving, it’s strictly for when I’m stationary. I can set up the system before I get moving, and then when I arrive at a stop, I can send or read messages that other hams might have sent me. All in all, it’s not just talking through a microphone any more, or pushing a CW key.
I drive 50 miles to mine at Travis AFB. He’s fantastic, sved my life twice.
New car! Exciting to have all those new car smells and gadgets! 😉
Congrats on the new car! Did you get the solar powered air ventilation? A friend bought a demo unit that came with that and here in Texas it is MAHvelous!
“It’s a motorcar!”
I just took my car in for service. $350 to repair the low fuel light? No, I think I’ll just use the meter and the trip odometer, thank you. Outside of that, looking good at 12 years. I went into the showroom just to look. Naturally, a sales person swooped down on me, “Can I help you?”
“I’m just looking. I’m due for a new car around…”–doing the math in my head–“2050.”
Volte-face!
I hear distantly from the office, “Are you sure he didn’t say 2015?” “No! 2050!”
Given how many Prii are sold, the battery pack shouldn’t be a problem. I expect it should be covered from failure under the emissions warranty to 100,000 miles since the car will emit more pollutants without it. And in far less time than that, the batteries will cost far less and carry far more charge. You may even be able to get a Duracell replacement for less than a Toyota replacement. It’s not quite to the point of Moore’s Law, as solar cells are, but battery technology shockingly charges ahead.
My fuel gauge has been non-functional for a number of years. I go off the trip odometer like you will be doing.
Mine is at about 50,000 miles and 11 years. I had to replace the starter (conventional) battery several years ago, and it’s not really cheap. Neither are the tires; they’re all heavier-duty than you would think. The mileage does make up for a lot (it’s averaging 45mpg), and so does the relative quiet. (Also, Priuses like highways much more than stop and go.)
As Mr. Toad says, “Poop-poop-poop!putt-putt-putt-putt…”
Congratulations on committing new car. I just did the same on Monday, and will in a couple of weeks be the proud owner of a new Honda Fit hatchback. The thing that sold me, aside from gaining 7 mpg over the faithful old Taurus, was the fact that the back seats (adequate for 2 adults, with more room than airline seats) were SO easy to flop down, and the newly revealed cargo space could easily hold a recliner. This in a subcompact.
The one thing I didn’t like was the local dealerships. We are in a unique position out here, in that it is truly impossible to drive 100 mi and find a completely new batch of dealers to negotiate with; the dealers have you over a barrel and know it, and price accordingly. Even the much-ballyhooed Costco Auto Program did very little to drop the price, and I had to buy from a dealer on another island to do it. Some of my friends bought sight unseen; they did all their research and negotiating for their Toyota Yaris online, and handed the shipper a check at the dock. That would make my stomach hurt, at least I got to test drive my car first.
I just looked as some pictures online of the Prius V; it looks like a much swoopier version of a minivan. I await the learned opinions of your faithful co-pilots; I expect that Shi and Shu will have many comments (Yow! Raorwrrr!! sniff-sniff-sniff)
Oh how fun! Our older Subaru lost the AC right before the heat hit — one big reason we did not go to Oklahoma, which was probably good in retrospect. Russ bought the car in New York just before he drove home. It’s not new, but it’s comfortable and gets us there. Since he makes the trip to Omaha several times a week (about 100 miles each way), we needed something with reasonable gas mileage and he’s been happy with it.
New car! Fun! And I hear good things about the Prius. Very impressive gas mileage, too.
The loaner (a sedan) gets higher mileage than the heavier SUV—we’re interested to know what it will do. But we’re settling in to the notion of how to drive it. It still seems weird that you only have to carry the key: there’s no metal sticky-out-key part. It’s just a beeper. You get in, carrying that, put your foot on the brake, push the start button, release the foot brake (yes, it’s an old-fashioned stepon for the parking brake) and nudge the little shift-knoblet on the dash down to back up and over and up to go forward. Quite the techie toy.
Zette, we are SO glad you didn’t set out on the road!
http://www.toyota.com/priusv/?srchid=google|Hybrid_Prius_v|prius_v#!/Welcome
We’re the seaglass green—with dark seats: one black cat and a cat that can shed in black, white, or tabby. What can we do?—at any rate, we’re having it fixed up and delivered at some time in the near future. Meanwhile they gave us this nice sedan one to drive.
The Prius V has one square foot more cargo room than the Forester. And we’re happy with that.
Cubic.
Picky, picky, picky! 😉
(Pat Paulson, “Laugh In”)
I read over the specs — have you ever driven a car with a CVT (continuously variable transmission) before? I am given to understand that if you are used to a traditional transmission, it may take some getting used to — one friend said it felt and sounded like the car perpetually needed to upshift. I also am curious about how it handles hills and mountains. One looks forward to a review!
I had no trouble going from a stick to a Prius; the biggest difficulty is that they tell you to keep the speed below 55 for the first few hundred miles.
It takes a while to learn not reach for the gearshift automatically, and even after 11 years, I still try it. (The ’02s have a conventional key to go with their conventional appearance. Best part of having one is that no one notices them.)
Congratulations on finding a car you like. readyGuy and I committed used car last night… traded in the blue 2007 Porsche Carrera 4S Cabriolet for a 2012 Porsche Cayman R in Guards Red. Its a screamer with better gas mileage, a better power to weight ratio, still has four years on its warranty, and the tires cost less to replace than the previous Porsche, and our insurance went down. There’s even room for two suitcases in it. Our needs are much different than yours… readyGuy just wants a car he can afford to race and use for track days; my car is the one for long trips, etc.
Congrats on the new car – I think you’ll like it a lot. I bought a Camry hybrid on October 31, 2007, and it’s been a great car so far. (I’ll always remember I bought in Halloween because the guy that sold it to me was wearing a bathrobe!) Up to about 55K miles now, and no repairs other than routine maintenance, one set of tires and a recall for the accelerator a while back (which I hadn’t had any problems with). The best mileage I ever got on a tank of gas was 41.7 mpg; right now it’s been getting 40.7 mpg over the past few months. It’s great on the flats, which we don’t have a lot of here in Maryland, but the mileage drops down to 20 mpg going up hill. We’ve developed the habit of coasting down hills without touching the brakes so we have momentum to help get up the next hill without using so much gas. Mine really freewheels going down hills; the dealership gave me a loaner once that was a 2012 (I think) and it didn’t build up quite so much speed, so maybe they’ve changed something since I bought mine. I have a friend who is driving a 2003 Prius and hers is still going strong as well.
I had always driven standard shift cars until I bought the Camry, and I didn’t have any trouble adjusting to the CVT. A tip for saving more gas; if you’ve been accelerating and then get to a level spot, back off the gas for a second or so, and your mileage will jump back up to 40+
Congrats on driving a Prius. We have switched to the seven-seat version of the V about nine months ago (two parents, two children, a cat, and lots of people on the benches), and we all are very happy. Especially since the fuel consumption is lower than with all other cars of the same size class.
The only thing that is annoying me is that it is really frightened of breaking down for lack of gas. Usually it claims to be empty if there are still 10 liters of gas left.
Maybe you can illuminate, then. I went to the Toyota site and they had the “Prius V Two”, the “Prius V Three”, and the “Prius V Five”, seemingly with the same picture. I was wondering if it was doors (3 or 5 meaning a hatch), but they seemed to show the same picture for each. Can you help me and clarify?
Back to the earlier comment about CVTs (Continuously Variable Transmissions). A conventional CVT has friction belts on cones instead of toothed gears (or belts) meshing, so any ratio is possible. Toyota calls the Prius an eCVT, which I think means, the power of the motor (electric) and engine (internal combustion) are combined (using a differential?), and then split (using another differential??) between powering the car and recharging. The effect is that the power to the wheels acts like an electric motor: huge torque when needed and power constant to as high a speed as the car will go. In other words, unlike an Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) on its own, you just can’t get out of the peak power range so you never need to shift (nor would it be advantageous if you could shift).
Walt, they’re equipment classes, I think. The one we got is not the one with the radar cruise, the backup camera, the moonroof, the dashboard gps, leather and heated seats…we didn’t want leather (which btw is actually nauga)–we emphatically wanted cloth. So we went a grade lower to get the cloth and the dealership is installing the moonroof and heated seats, which ends up saving us a bundle.
They all look alike on the outside, except the moon roof: but the dealership can install that on any model, ditto the seats. And you can get the leather as an option on the midlevel, I think.
You’re right about the combination of the electric and regular engine: much of the time they work together. I wondered about the engine-switching, whether it would be a scary moment of silence, but you just drive as usual, and it doesn’t sound or feel any different at all when the power system switches to all-gas or all-electric or something in between. The downhill roll is a little restrained, which I suspect is because it is storing energy; and the acceleration is good.
The thing I find most different is the brakes: they will jam on as if you’d dropped an anchor if you don’t use a light touch, and they are part of the energy-storing system, so abusing them is probably not a good idea. Jane’s always complained about my fast braking (I drove alone for decades) and now I’ll have to reform or inertia will dump everything I have on the back seats.
Reform is good. I got us to the Valley yesterday without jamming the brakes or jerking us once. The pretty red sedan loaner they gave us is fun to drive. Another peculiarity is that the readout panel, speedometer and everything, are central on the dash, so your passenger gets to see how you’re driving, and can critique your power usage. 😉
Thank you, CJ.
I test drove a Honda Insight, a mild hybrid, I think. It also used regenerative braking, where the motor that drives the wheels brakes the car. It had a nice indicator that showed when you were approaching the point that it would have to apply the real brake and waste energy. In any case, gentle braking allows you to recover much of the kinetic energy of the car and put in back in the battery. I’m surprised the brakes are touchy; maybe the actual V will be better.
Interesting about the moon roof and all. I have leather in my car, but I’ve never liked leather. It looks nice, but it’s hot in summer and cold in winter. In a roadster I had with leather seats, I covered them with fitted sheepskin seat covers, which are very warm in winter and surprisingly cool in summer. I’m sure they’re available for the Prius.
They like a light foot on the gas, too. Leadfoot really kills the mileage.
On a long downhill, you can switch to ‘engine-braking’ (‘B’ on the gear diagram) which decouples the engine from powering the wheels (it’s used as a brake on the system instead) and charges the batteries. I once did it going down the Grapevine and got all the way to Wheeler Ridge before I needed to use gas. At 60mph the whole way. (This is about 15 miles, six of it a 6% downgrade.)
Sounds like y’all are having good fun tooling around in that new vee-er-hickle. (Yes, blame my relatives for that word.) 😉 Maybe the new one will be even more fun.
My only relevant comment comes from that artsy point of view. “Seaglass Green” Somehow, despite the “glass” in there, I was expecting a deep teal sea-green and had my eyes all set for a purty deep viridian sort of a green instead of the lighter, glassy green. (I would’ve also liked a “seafoam green” color, a sort of minty blue-green.) But hey, it’s good to get a surprise now and then. I’ll bet it looks gorgeous in person. 🙂
I rely on cabs for transportation. Have not found a fancy interstellar shuttle yet, darn it.
So I am used to either bright golden yellow or dark ultramarine blue in cabs. 🙂
Therefore, seaglass green sounds really nice. (The other colors were nice too.)
This car buying stuff is going around. ’03 Nissan Maxima, 128K miles. The paperwork will be finished Monday. White, light interior, sunroof. Not the MPG I wanted, but less chance the transmission will die. 6 cyl. Should have it paid off in 2.5 years.
The first car DH and I owned jointly was a 80-something Nissan Maxima station wagon. It was already heading for double digit age when we bought it, but the straight six engine was nigh-invulnerable. We once hauled eight paintball players and their gear to a match, then dropped them off at their homes all over the island, on one tank of gas. If your new vehicle is as tough as ours was, you will not be displeased.
Congrats on the new car.
Thought you’d enjoy this:
http://iansales.com/2013/07/10/the-list-100-great-science-fiction-stories-by-women/
Notice number 27.
And this, which is seriously cool:
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Windows-Widgets/Alarms-Clocks/Steampunk-Orrery-Calendar-Clock.shtml
WOL, thanks for the shorts link. Most of those, I haven’t read. I still haven’t gotten back to my reading pace. I’ve been doing other things. (Much writing too, nothing new completed yet,)
So it’ll be great to read over those. Always nice to find something good and new. Heh, I’m sure I’ve read Cassandra and All Cats are Grey, some of the writers or worlds, I’ve seen/read before, but most of those 100 stories are new to me.
(The Cassandra info at Shejidan has me wanting to reread Cyteen, by the convoluted way in which my brain does its thing. — I want to rediscover Grant and Justin and Ari.)
Correction. The car has 108K miles. I looked at a different car with 123K and typed the wrong numbers. Must finish clearing out the Escort today.
Looks as if everybody is in the car market! It’s always a regretful and a happy thing, selling the faithful chariot, acquiring the shiny new one…many memories with the old one, and I was rather shocked when they wanted it NOW, and put us in the loaner, but hey, it’s done, and we got all our stuff out, even our CDs from the dash, and my glasses in the overhead—two things a lot of people leave.