The Prius is having a few issues. I’ve had a slow leak in a tire that required two trips to the tire guy to get fixed. It wasn’t so bad since I had to get an oil change as well. I combined a few trips and things worked out well.
I ran into this survey that said half of US citizens would buy a plug-in electric hybrid, or consider one. That’s interesting to me as a hybrid owner. It’s worked out well for me, but it was more an economic decision for us living in the country, with relatively good weather. We drive a lot, and the 50mpg has helped us.
My last tank of gas, with the kids watching, got us to 482mi, with about 9.3 gallons of has. It averaged out at almost 52mph (51.8), which is pretty cool. Especially as we crossed 50,000 miles this month on the Prius. That’s 50,000 in 25 months, quite a lot of driving! A lot of commuting from the country to kids’ schools and even ski trips. I bet half my trips to the mountains last year were in the Prius. Saving fuel, money, and enjoying myself.
The survey above also surveyed people why they weren’t interested. Almost half (45%) listed that they weren’t sure about the technology. I think that’s interesting because the Prius has been around since 2001. While it has matured, a lot of people don’t trust it. I have a friend, who works for the city of Denver. He heard from a friend that all the Prius’ purchased by the city were being sold because of maintenance. He said that in 3 years they needed to have their batteries replaced as a recommendation from the manufacturer.
Hogwash. I can’t convince him it’s not true, even with my owner’s manual. I think his friend (and likely him) have a thing against the idea for some reason. I have a 2nd gen Prius, 2004-2007 age, and my manual doesn’t say anything like that. I’ve seen lots of people putting 200k miles (reportedly ) on their cars before replacing the hybrid batteries.
There’s also a lot of stink about the batteries being polluting and worse for the environment than a Hummer. I can’t believe it. It seems that some people are just upset for no good reason. Maybe they just want big cars, or more power. The batteries are mostly recyclable, as is most of the car. I know these are figures from Toyota, and might be cooked, An argument from Bad Templeton, and an interesting rebuttal as well in the first comment is worth reading.
I’m not sold that hybrids are the answer for the long term, or that they work for everyone, but they’re not horrible cars that break down all the time either.
There’s a cross country tour, using a hybrid that runs on a renewable fuel made from algae underway now. They’re driving from San Francisco to New York in 10 days, stopping in various cities. They go to Salt Lake City, and Cheyenne, but skip Denver. I would have gone to see it, so I’m a little disappointed.
The idea of using a renewable fuel made from algae is great, but I’m a little skeptical that they aren’t saying how much energy is needed to produce the fuel. Ethanol seems OK, but it isn’t necessarily the most efficient way to produce fuel.
However it’s another area of research, which is good to see. The more things we try, the more likely we are to find a good, renewable alternative.
Ford is adding Eco-Boost to a number of vehicles. A combination of a turbo and fuel injection technology that can add up to 20% to the mileage for all kinds of vehicles. It's not a great long term solution, but it's a start.
It's good to see Ford making changes to try and improve the technology in cars. If you added this on top of hybrid technologies, then you really start to get some good improvements. I hope they continue to move forward with other technologies that will improve the way we transport ourselves around.
This is the type of improvement that GM and Chrysler have been avoiding, just sticking with minimal changes to their technology. GM has done a little, but not enough. It feels like they have been dragging their feet and resisting changes. Ford is trying things to see if they can improve things.
We’re getting closer. Coda is planning on selling a 4 door sedan in CA next year for $45k ($10k tax credit available). With a 90-100 mile range, that’s getting close to the point where someone might be able to use this regularly.
I wonder what the range is if I drive 30 mi in stop and go traffic, park for 8-10 hours, and then back home at night? That’s the key. I see the battery in the Prius lose charge in the heat during the day.
I'm on the Prius mailing list since I bought a Prius and Toyota hopes that I'm
The answer to both of those questions is yes, but I've had my Prius for 2 years. I know we Americans love to consume, and we like to buy new cars, but honestly I expect a car to last more than 2 years. At least a new car. I'm definitely someone that likes to trade cars around, absorbing some transaction costs to enjoy a new (to me) ride, but I'm slowing down a bit.
Especially as insurance costs rise and I have a 16 year old driving. Maybe when he comes off our insurance I'll look to add something new.
The next generation Prius is interesting. There's a YouTube video on this page that shows someone test driving one and having some new features explained. I thought the new design was neat, and I wish a couple things were in my 2nd generation model.
Sunroof - I've had lots of cars with sunroofs and moonroofs, and I like them. I know this impact mileage, but there are times I'd like to be able to have more sun, especially in the winter, heating up the car. Conversely, cracking one in the summer to let out hot air is a great feature. I'm glad this was added in, and I think every car model ought to have a sunroof option designed in there.
The solar panel in the roof is a great idea as well. We'll see how it holds up to wear and tear in the real world, but allowing the panel to a) charge things and b) help keep the car cool or even hot, is a great use or renewable power. I know I'd appreciate this in any car, as would most people.
The Intelligent Parking assistant, which can automatically parallel park the car is a neat idea, but it feels gimic-y. Sure, we should all have that skill, but I drive 20k miles a year and I almost never parallel park. That's driving on vacation, renting cars in downtown cities, etc. It's just a skill that is used less and less. If you need to do it, you probably have developed the skill. If you don't do it often, do you want to pay for it? I think Toyota wasted some engineering skill here, but perhaps it's technology that can be applied somewhere else to other problems.
I like the dash being redesigned to put more information up front, but what I'd really like to know is when are we going to get good Heads-Up Displays (HUD) in cars? That's what I'd like more than anything.
Thought given the way people drive, perhaps distracting them with stuff in front of their eyes is a bad idea.
Would I buy another Prius?
I would if the economics worked out. This was mostly a financial decision for my family, and less a environmental one. Though I write about it, and it's an interesting test, it hasn't been a business expense for me to write off. Perhaps it should be, and I'll ask my CPA, but it's been a good economic move for my family given how far we live from town and how much we drive. Would we have been better off with a used diesel Jetta or other car that got 40mpg and cost us $10k less? Perhaps, but I think over the life of this Prius, the $$ will even out.
Plus we got a new car that is a little unusual and attracts attention. I've learned a few things as well about hybrids and gas mileage. Plus I've learned how to drive a little more economically. Things I might not have done with another car.
I went to pay for the Prius this morning; it’s finally done!
Front seatbelts (2) - $412
Rear seatbelts (2) - $260
Front door panel - $450
Rear door panel - $660
Add in labor and misc parts, the total was $2148.
Insurance deductable out of my pocket - $500.
Insurance is priceless for cars. Not that I’m quite getting back what I paid in, but with a few claims and not having to come up with $2k right now, it has worked out well.
I was surprised that the repair company hadn’t called, though maybe that was on the agenda today. I called them as we finished at the ortho this morning around 9 and they said it was done.
I just glanced in there, but it looks good. It will be nice to have that back.
So was it worth it? Financially it was for sure. Parts were north of $1500, and the labor wasn’t that much. It was better than the dealer, who wanted $200 per seat belt for the install, but I might have saved $500 off the total cost.
If it affects our insurance, I might regret not paying now and doing it myself, though someone had a good point about accidently setting off the seat belt explosive charge. They mentioned if I did that the front airbags (or sides) could potentially deploy, which wouldn’t be good.
However I don’t really have the time, and I wouldn’t have had a garage this week to do it, so all in all, going with an insurance claim and repair made sense this time.
We decided to let the pros replace the seat belts and do the other repairs and file a claim on our insurance. We called our agent, who’s a good friend, and after talking with her, it made more financial sense to actually file the claim, pay our $500 deductable, and get everything fixed. Between the seat belts and door panels, I’m probably looking at $1000 in parts, so this works out better. Supposedly it won’t affect our insurance, but who knows.
My wife called the other day to file the claim, and what was interesting was that this wasn’t the strangest claim filed. Some woman had a rat eat her electrical wiring, and ended up with a fairly large fill getting things rewired.
I’m aborting for now. I think I could replace the seat belts, but I don’t have the right part at this time, so I’m going to stop and not do this halfway.
After our incident with Deuce, I called a couple dealers this week to get an estimate. One didn’t bother to call back, and one told me it was $226 a seat belt and then $200 install for each one.
Wow.
Apparently these seat belts have some electronic integration and an explosive charge that goes off when an accident occurs. And then they have to be replaced. I wasn’t sure I believed him completely, sounded like large-car-manufacturer FUD to me. I’m sure there is some charge in there, but I’m not sure it’s needed or that it works substantially better than older seat belt technology. Maybe, but I’m not convinced.
We decided to try it ourselves. After all, we’re engineers, geeks, we can do-it-ourselves!
So today, after a lazy morning, doing some playing with Kendall, I went out to try and open up the old seat belts and see what I was dealing with. I started on the back, thinking those were simpler, but the trim was a bigger pain, so I moved to working on the front driver one. After wrestling with trim for about 30 minutes, I figured out how to get it loose. Actually I could have done it sooner, but I was tentative about breaking things. Once I pried a little and could see around the edge, I realized what I needed to do and applied a touch more elbow grease to get it loose. Once I did that, I saw this:
Once inside, I could see a seat belt integration mechanism, and sure enough there’s an electronic connection. My guess is this works something like the Saw-stop wood saws. However it’s still about 4 bolts that need to be removed and replaced. I called Tia out to look since I didn’t think the generic replacement belts we’d gotten would work and she agreed. Likely they wouldn’t fit in the space and allow the trim to close.
I couldn’t get the electrical connection to come off, and wasn’t even sure how to get it. Since I didn’t want to a) break it or b) leave it hanging loose), I bolted the belt mechanism back in and decided to leave it for now.
Tia’s going to call the insurance agent and discuss the impact to our policy if we just have someone fix it. If that doesn’t sound like a good idea, I think I’ll order the $226 parts myself and just bolt the belts in.
We did debate having someone sew up the belts. I didn’t think anyone would do it because of liability, but it’s something to ask about. Looking at how the belts are put together, they’re sewn anyway at the connection point, so maybe someone would do it. Or at least do the middle one in the back.
Our second major repair will take place on the Prius, and once again it’s a cosmetic item. In fact, we’ve had 3 incidents in the Prius, none of which has affected the mechanical or electrical systems. It’s 2 years today what I bought the car, and so far we’ve had:
The first incident was a mistake when backing out of a space. It wasn’t me, but it resulted in about $1100 worth of replacement panels on the read of the car. The second incident was me. The car slipped coming down our road, I had no control, managed to slow and just slide into part of a ditch and hit the vinyl fence I’d put up. A year earlier and I’d have just gone into the pasture. The front quarter panel snapped one tab and so it doesn’t quite fit flush, and we lost part of the lower grill around the fog light, but no damage. Alignment was even fine.
This is the latest incident.
Our dog got accidently locked in the car one night. My wife was going out, opened the car to turn out the light, didn’t see Deuce race in (he hates to be left behind), closed the car and didn’t find him until about 8am. It was a cold night, Deuce is fine, and we can’t blame him at all. He tried to get out, as you can see, and also ate through part of a seat belt that I think we need to replace. This door panel will probably be a nice charge as well.
In the 2 years, we’ve had just oil changes and a 30k service for maintenance. I think we’ve averaged close to 50mpg year around in this car across almost 44k miles. We’ve driven a lot, and with the tax credit we got, I think we’ve covered any “hybrid tax” that we paid. We’ve also replaced the tires.
The car has worked out very well for us. For a family of 5, it’s a little small, though we can all go to out for the night in it. We can carry quite a few groceries in the back, and while gas mileage suffers, it works fine.
This winter I even went skiing 6 or 7 times in the Prius. I took the little kids (7 and 10) a few times and piled in my snowboard, my son’s small one, and my daughter’s skis along with a big bag of clothes and we did fine.
Overall, a great purchase for us.
I found a cool video on the 37 Signals blog that showed the Audi A4 production process. It’s relatively low budget, not background noise or narration, just clips of the car being assembled.
A nice marketing move. For owners or potential customers, to feel a little closer to the car.
You can see it here on YouTube.
When the weather is cold, the Prius performs much worse (relatively) than it does when it’s warm. It makes sense with the need to run the engine to heat the car, but it’s disheartening to someone like me that watches the mileage.
I filled up the Prius the other day in town and immediately headed home. Since I’m climbing uphill, immediately I ended up getting home with a 42mpg average for the 10 miles. Still good, but not great. I was careful for a couple days, but it was cold, so I only managed to get to 45,8mpg as the average.
When we left for baseball practice, I was careful and we got to practice, a good downbill fall of 5-600 ft across 20 miles with 49.1mpg average. We made it back around 48.6, and since then we’ve managed to creep around, getting to karate, the store, etc. and we made it to 49.9, but down we’re down to 49.3 at about 320 miles for this tank.
I’m determined to get to 50mpg as an average with the warmer weather, and I think I will when we head to scouts tonight.
As we try and evolve our automotive industry, and perhaps our energy policy, to move into the future in the US, one of the big things that is being looked at is electric cars. Now I am a car guy, and in many ways I think electric cars are a good idea. I think my Prius performs really well, and I'm really happy with my half-electric car.
I found an interesting article that talks about the plans to move forward with more electric cars. With this very high price of oil in the US this past summer and the automotive bailout after our economic woes this fall, moving to a new technology to reduce our oil dependence is important. It might not be the most efficient thing we can do, but from a PR standpoint, it's important to move this forward.
Years ago I worked at Virginia Power, owned by Dominion Resources. They had some electric cars at the headquarters in Richmond and specific charging stations set up. The cars weren't for IT peons, and I'm not sure who they were for, but I thought that was cool and that it would take off. You couldn't necessarily commute with them, but you could run errands or go have lunch.
That didn't take off, even though I heard from CA utilities were doing that as well. I'm sure the cost of so few cars made by GM and so few places they could be used limited the usefulness of the program, but that's an area you have to invest in, not look at a few quarters and give up. And you have to partner to make these things sell.
I think utilities have a great interest in moving these things forward. They could set up charging stations in shopping malls, park and rides, etc. and then charge people by the minute to top off their cars. If you set it up in smaller areas, selling the program on high density areas, perhaps incentives to families that might be willing to try and support the infrastructures, and grow the program.
Electric, hydrogen, or any alternative fuel vehicles, including natural gas, are in a chicken-and-egg situation. Neither car manufacturers nor utilities want to invest in infrastructures or cars without the other. Which means we need government helping to promote these ideas. It's not just about profits for these companies, it's about moving the entire country forward.
