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A simple question: When I drive a consistent 65 mph for extended periods of time, I usually only average 42-47 mpg. When I was in stop-and-go traffic, I was getting 65+ mpg. I know the car runs mostly on electric in less than 20 mph speeds. How are the rest of you doing on sustained freeway speed trips versus how it is in Thanks,
Rich
I had just filled my tank and left home with 23 miles on the odo. The avg mpg displayed was 44.6 and after 15 miles of less than 20 mph traffic it was over 50! I'll try 55 mph for a change and see what it gets. I don't punch it or hot rod, just normal, smooth acceleration.
Thanks,
Rich
Thanks...
I have had my Prius for over a year and the two things that helped my mpg increase noticably, were taking it on a nice long highway trip (brake in the engine?) and bumping my tire pressure to 42 front & 4o rear. Cold weather knocks me down in the 47-48 range. Once had 59mpg on a stretch of 50mph highway. I stopped nursing it and just drive:)
Culliganman (the right car for the right times)
I am really glad we have chosen our dealer...I do not believe they will play any games...I do trust them as much as you can trust anyone.
From what most people are posting here, most dealers are providing Package 6 (BC) which has the Navigation option. Are you sure your dealer is being totally honest with you?
Not criticizing, just asking.
Congratulations on your Prius. I owned 3 Camry's in the 1990's, and they were the worst cars I've ever owned for reliability, and gas mileage.
FWIW, I filled it up on Tuesday - almost 400 miles on it and it took a little over 8 gallons. Sure beats what I was used to paying for gas. I've got about 100 miles on the new tank and the gas gauge hasn't left the full mark yet.
http://www.carsbelowinvoice.com/redir/newcar.asp?src_id=2235&- - kw_sqid=124807&OVRAW=prius&OVKEY=toyota%20prius&OVMTC- - =standard
Rich
Well, I was young(er) and stupid. The short answer is that I liked the way the car drove. However, the MPG went from 30 down to 21 MPG in the first year (for all three models). We went with the third one because it was a new design and we'd hoped they were better. However, it required major engine work at 48000 miles and that was it for me; we switched to Honda.
We are very interested in a Prius. However, we cannot buy a car without thoroughly inspecting it and trying it out. Because of our needs we must see for ourselves that the back is completely flat when the second seat is down. We also need to measure the rear opening for our motorized scooters and wheelchairs.
The Lexus hybrid is also on our list. I do hope that the Lexus dealers will have at least one to try when it arrives. We are now inclined to keep driving our commuting car until the fall when other hybrids (e.g. Camry) arrives.
You would think that Toyota or Southeast Toyota would make sure that there was at least one Prius available for test driving in the Atlanta area. This would sell a lot more Priuses!
Seb
toyota has no problem selling every prius they make. having them available for test drives doesn't add to sales. there are only so many to go around and they want them in the hands of customers.
dealer plates have become an expensive proposition(insurance due to liability). it's probably 'better business' to register privately.
$29,000 is a lot to spend without a chance to kick the tires IMHO.
Complaining to Toyota USA about this sort of thing may make you feel better, but it has absolutely no practical effect on the ground. American franchise agreements [which are governed by state laws] put just about all of the cards in the hands of the dealers - anything short of outright fraud or financial malfeasance [i.e., not paying for their inventory] is not going to cause any dealer to break a sweat.
Right now the Prius is in high demand, so dealers are requesting more cars than they are getting. Every dealer has an 'allocation'.
The punishment for charging over MSRP is to decrease or eliminate that allocation. In other words, Toyota can just stop sending them cars, and they have done this to some dealers.
So, please do report all instances of over MSRP sales to Toyota Corporate.
However, be aware that there are some ways the dealers can side-step this.
In some cases they put dealer add-ons like paint protection, undercoating, glass etching, upgraded wheels, leather, etc, then charge for the add-ons. There's nothing Toyota can do about that even if they are charging $2K for glass etching
In other cases, the dealers finagle the cars into 'used' status. Once the cars are 'used' Toyota has no say over what they are sold for.
This is not the case for most dealers in most states for most car brands. Where the franchise was specifically set up around pricing, e.g. Saturn, the agreement carries very specific penalties for pricing "violations". For just about every other brand out there, including Toyota, the dealers are PROTECTED BY THE LAW AND THE FRANCHISE AGREEMENT to charge whatever they want. When supply and demand require discounting, they discount - when it allows markups, many [not all, thankfully] cheerfully mark up the price from MSRP.
I can assure you that Toyota will not cut the allocation of the SoCal dealer being referenced in an earlier post for this particular sin. They simply cannot punish the dealer that way over pricing. They CAN and WILL cut allocations over poor CSI scores, poor sales performance, etc....but not over pricing. Customers can mark them down on sales CSI surveys, and that eventually will have an effect, but there are lots of techniques that these dealers use to insure that their CSI scores don't suffer unduly over pricing.
There is one, and only one, solution to this problem: supply and demand have to get closer together, and I predict this will happen by this time next year, even in the hottest markets for this car. Until then, either be patient, pay up, or find a dealer with better business practices. What Toyota the Corporation can do, it is doing: producing more cars.