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Can you expand on your tire wear experience. I am awaiting my Touring Prius and have heard some issues with Tire wear. The tires seem to have a "V" speed rating which seems to indicate a higher speed tire.
Are you running "V" rated tires?
What do you mean by "I never push the rated speed anymore"?? Can you expand on this some more?
Also, can anyone out there suggest a good 3 season tire for when my first set wears out?
Good meaning: >=50K miles on a set, good 3 season traction, low rolling resistance and lower noise?
Thx
HyroEdge is Michelin's lowest rolling resistance tire, by the way. They are wonderful where it rains a lot or for slushy surfaces. Combine those attributes with your traction and stability control, your ABS, and you've got a winning combination!
This does not make me as happy as I was the day I bought it.
Had mechanic walk me thru the jump....and I know difference between red and black. So why did the car die in the first place....at less than 1 yr old. How could one do $4800 worth of damage anyway on a jump start. Anyone have any ideas of how to get Toyota to fix my sick car under warranty.
I'm sure we would all like to get as much info as possible on this failure.
sc
By the way...I've seen a few used (damaged Prius) on ebay and/or auto finder listings, that could be a handman's special and save mega bucks if you're good at auto repair. Lastly...It might not be a bad idea to wait a few months and get an '09 Prius with what ever it may hold in styling and tech. improvements.
Railroadjames
I own a 2003 Honda Civic Hybrid. The "Integrated Motor Assist" battery had to be replaced after only 60K miles. Of course this was covered under warranty by Honda. However, the next replacement will have to be covered by my at a cost of $2000.00!! In addition to this I have had the car in to the dealer for at least a dozen other warranty repairs. Also, the local dealer is quite inept at repairs and needs to do them multiple times to get them correct.
Anyway, I really like the idea of a Hybrid car and I would like to replace my Civic Hybrid with one of Toyota's Hybrids, but I'm skeptical about Hybrid reliability, etc from the bad experience with the Civic Hybrid. I'm wondering why Toyota's Hybrid batteries seem to last longer than Honda's. They are the same Nickel Metal Hydride type of battery.
It's a 2004 model with about 65K on it. When we bought it last year, it had about 40K. So you can see that we're big drivers.
What I've seen is that get's much worse gas mileage in the winter than in the summer. Not that it's bad. I get between 40 and 45 mpg during the winter and between 55 and 60 mpg in the summer time between fill-ups. This is probably because the car has to take longer to warm up and Utah puts ethanol in the gasoline during the winter to cut down on greenhouse gases while we have the inversion layer in the Utah and Salt Lake valleys. I suspect that the ethanol is about half the reason for the dramatic drop in mpg. Then again, short trips really kill the mileage because the car never gets a chance to warm and it continually tries to warm up every time you turn it on, wasting gas (which drives me nuts).
Everything else is great but I think that if the warm-up period were more efficient, it would greatly increase the efficiency of the system as a whole.
The only maintenance I've had to do on the car is that I accidentally put the wrong kind of coolant in the system and had to have it flushed -- very expensive.
I've also replaced in the cabin air filter, also more expensive that I like. Let's just say it cost more than the $5 I wanted to spend, but when it's full of leaves and dust, you kind of have to think it might be a must. No, the thing was $25 -- not expensive but way over priced for some fibers and plastic.
As for the person who has only changed their air filter for the engine air intake, not changing that regularly can shorten your vehicles life due to increased stress on the system. Since the Prius only needs an oil change every 5,000 miles, you should check your air filter every time you change your oil. Still, I need to consult my manual about what routine maintenance I'm due for, particularly how often I should change the air filter.
One piece of advice for saving just a little more on gas, keep your tank full. Then you'll only pay the higher prices to top off your tank. It's a difference of paying extra $.05 more for 2 to 4 gallons instead of 7 to 10 gallons.
It could be that you were just very unlucky to need a replacement battery. It's also possible that Toyota is able to do a better job of keeping the battery charge level within the range that promotes long battery life.
I've never really considered this before but Toyota have the ability to charge the battery almost any time they want to whereas, as far as I'm aware, Honda only charges the battery with energy recaptured from braking/deceleration. It's also reasonable to assume though that if Honda has a battery at or near the lower limit of charge they won't call on it to deliver power.
I had a 2006 Pilot that was in the shop 11 times in the first 5 month. That vehicle was a major piece of crap. i have talked to others who also had multiple problems with Pilots.
Somehow I think honda bribes consumer reports for reviews and statistics that are significantly better than reality.
My Prius touring edition should arrive next week. Not sure what color it will be as long as it is black or silver I am okay with it.
I know many Prius owners who like everything about their cars except tire wear (also voiced in these forums). The touring edition has different suspension and 16 inch wheels. I am hoping that will make a difference in tire wear. The touring model does come with performance tires which probably will not wear well but that will be temporary.
The good year tires that are on the regular Prius are not particularly good tires. The same model tire was on my pilot.
Toyota is struggling with the Li-ion batteries. Since I live in the mountains, my wish list also includes and electric turbo and 4WD like the Highlander. The plug in feature only helps if most of your driving is real short trips. I can't see how they can get the electric range beyond 5 miles. Right now in EV mode I can go 1/4-1/2 mile max before the ICE comes on. Battery improvements would have to be 10 fold, with some programming changes to make it practical for around town use battery only use. Not likely soon. Maybe 3 years. Don't believe McCain, Clinton, Greenspan, Gore. They don't have a clue. Read Amory Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute. He knows what's possible and when.
What mountains do you live in?
Findings: Live in Denver area and are in the Mtns every weekend. 2 adults in front, 2-70lb dogs and a beagle in the back seat. Built a carpeted/wooden platform for dogs in back seat & works great. Story tons of "stuff" in the hatch area & feet area of back seat.
This car is replacing a Ford Explorer. while it obviously doesn't do all the Explorer does, with a few mods and a bit of packing planning it is exceeding our expectations and costing 75% less in gas.
It doesn't set any speed records climbing the mtns but it actually does quite well. Engine & CVT transmission revs pretty high sometimes but other than that its just fine climbing.
Weekend Mtn trips - 200 -miles RT - Car averages 39MPG up and 55MPG down.
Sometimes at Hwy Speeds on slight downhill grade, a soft foot will find the engine running on Battery only & keeping speeds up. (round trip avg btwn 44 - 47 mpg car fully loaded sometimes AC running)
Driving style makes a HUGE difference in MPG. Heavy foot = 35 - 39 MPG around town. Lite foot = 44-50 Mpg.
Options & suggestions:
Got option #2, added after market (front)HEATED, leather(front & back) seats thru dealer for $1500. More colors to choose from vs Toyota and didn't have to take Opt 6 to get leather. (Toyota doesn't seem to offer heated seats in Prius) Thru dealer seats are covered under warranty.
Added Clear Bra thru dealer - $200. Strongly recommend it.
DIY Options - Mud Flaps & 2" receiver/trailer hitch for Bike rack. (Both very easy to install & from Coastal Tech), clear Plastic headlight protectors. (prevents rock chips from pitting or cracking expensive headlight lenses), rubber honey comb cargo area mat. Keeps dirt & grime away. Costo Rubber Floor mats.
Tinted Windows - first time to have them and love them. With all that glass area the tint makes a huge difference in keeping the suns heat out. Cost - ~$200.
Tires- Spoke with local chain tire store have been using for years & trust them- they suggested when tires need replacing going with 205/55/16's. More choices than the stock 195/55/16's & lower cost too. the 205's are only about 1/3" wider & will fit and minimal/ possibly no hit on MPG.
We love the car, no complaints yet after 4000 miles....
I am not entirely sure why the tires wear so quickly other than to point to the Tread Wear Rating number of only 260....
ie. not long lasting Tread wear.
The Prius OEM tires are V rated which typically means "higher quality" softer compound with stiffer sidewalls, faster speeds (Corvette speeds) (and lower Treadwear) Why they put them on Prius is unknown to me....
Check out tirerack.com for the specs on the Prius OEM tires.
The UTQG # is 260 for this tire.
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/Spec.jsp?make=Bridgestone&model=Turanza+EL400-02&p- artnum=955VR6EL40002&vehicleSearch=true&fromCompare1=yes&place=18
195/55VR16
Load Index 86 = 1168lbs (530kg) per tire
Speed Rating “V” = 149mph (240kph) 86V SL Treadwear: 260
Traction: A
Temperature: A260 A A
The 15" tires (Non touring Model) are indeed rated at 460. Based on these subjective tread wear numbers, they should last much longer than the 16" touring models.
Check out tirerack.com. They have all the specs on OEM and replacement tires.
Its an excellent resource including Customer reviews of tires.
I had problems with the car not starting periodically but they seemed to have fixed that finally. Now, though, the problem has returned and the warranty has run out. It will cost $215 dollars just to get to the problem, which seems to be with the high voltage system, according to the diagnostic. In addition, a slow break fluid leak appeared a few weeks ago and I am told that it will take 5 hours and $500 just to get to the leak area because it is so buried under other things.
Don't get me wrong, I love the car but I am disappointed with the reliability and the cost of the repairs, which I can't afford. Does anyone know if it is possible to buy an extended warranty at this late date? Also, I may need to buy a car - does anyone know of a good car broker? I don't want to make another mistake on price paid.
My suggestion would be to fix-er up now and sell ASAP if you're uncomfortable with the car. There is no better time to sell a Prius than when Gas prices are around $4/gal. Prius's no matter what yr, have never been in such high demand... Call a dealer and find out how long the wait list is for a new one. Last I checked in our area it was 3-4 months.
Gripes: the back-up beeper (why is it on the inside?), having to start the car to open & close windows, overly complex controls (hard to see in bright sunlight, hard to hit the right "touch" spots on bumpy roads or in traffic), headlights are almost impossible to replace if you have big hands ... that's about it.
Hint: ultrabright bulbs will not last in a Prius.
Al in all ... best vehicle I've ever owned for reliability, utility, and economy.