I like showing my full size SUV friends the mpg on the van’s display. Right now sitting around 33mpg. It’s sometimes as high as 36mpg. How’s that cool tax treating you, bud? Feeling cooler at the pump?
Self-deprecating Prius Humour
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Ack! That should have been self-deprecating (not self-depracating) in the title. Blush.
Once owned a Civic DX that had 178k when bought it as a beater, it had lived a life that would make a BITOG member wretch. I was getting on the interstate giving it everything it had and laughed when I noticed the Prius on the ramp ahead of me was easily pulling a gap on me; I called it a hybrid synergy fail getting beaten by one.
The Prius is one of my favorite boring cars, buddy with an adrenaline addiction even owned one of the larger slower ones and loved it as a perfect appliance doing what it was designed for. I was looking at one, then I sat in it with my substantial frame and decided it wasn't meant to be.
The Prius is one of my favorite boring cars, buddy with an adrenaline addiction even owned one of the larger slower ones and loved it as a perfect appliance doing what it was designed for. I was looking at one, then I sat in it with my substantial frame and decided it wasn't meant to be.
I put a cooler on ours and kept the fluid pristine with 15k fluid changes via vacuum pump but it still only made it to 140k.
Edit: this was a long time ago, so hopefully they're a lot better know.
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I bought ours with 199K km (c. 124K miles) on it. There's a good chance it was rebuilt before we got it.
It's now at 267K km (c. 166K miles) and has been good.
I use only a dedicated ATF+4, but I imagine you did too. Anyway, hoping for at least another year out of it.
I went through some old paper work and ours was a 2000 with a Mitsubishi 3.0l engine.
Knowing what I know now, I wouldn't have towed out Coleman tent trailer with it. We didn't do it a lot but I'm sure it didn't help.
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Those Mitsu engines were often real oil-burners. I know the Ultradrive transmissions from that era were also known for having problems.
Friends had a '96. They said that when the transmission started having problems around 2004, the conversation with the transmission shop went about like this:
"Hi, we're phoning about our 1996 Dodge Caravan."
"Yup, lemme guess, ya lost 3-4, and reverse is on the way out. See those all the time, $1700."
*******
As I recall, the transmissions in the SWB Chrysler minivans had a much better track record than those in the extended vans. That says to me that the transmission was underbuilt for the weight of the longer and heavier Grand Caravan.
We went to a lacrosse tournament with temps in the 80’s and 90’s and humid. We left the car [2013 Prius V] on all day (parked in shade) so it would stay cool to sit in between games.
Over 8 hours we used about two quarts of gas.
We get about 36mpg highway 40 city.
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I’d take a 1st gen Honda Insight over any Prius. A good number of the Insight hyper-milers with the manuals have put up over 100mpg on trips. They’re also so small almost nobody will notice you in it!
What do big ladies & mopeds have in common? They’re both fun to ride, but you don’t want your friends to catch you while on either one!
Fixed.
Thank you!
It's strange they woukd use the same coolant, but I guess the only difference is the 2 systems work on different temperatures.
Usually, the electrical system uses a waterless coolant (especially if the battery is liquid cooled). Short circuit protection I guess.
Yes, electrical system are cooled from and to a different temp than the engine. I guess they don't want to stock another coolant type for nothing and risk people pouring the wrong one in, it doesn't cost too much anyways.
Thing about the Prius V is, it was designed as a 7-seater in Asia if using lithium ion battery instead of NiMH, so it really has LOTS OF ROOM. I think for a family of 4 not needing the 3rd row seats it has probably as much cargo room as a small mini-van like Mazda 5 with the rear row fold down. Flat trunk space so you can use it as a table to change diaper too, or use it as a flat bed truck if you need to haul something very long. I got mine for $22k new as a left over model back in 2015, and it gave me 40mpg day in and day out.
I couldn't be happier except I am worried about the engine life, hopefully when I need a new engine it will still be affordable from a Japan junkyard pull with low miles, or lasted long enough that the battery is also worn out at the same time around 18-20 years.
A tent trailer would have been well within the tow-rating, I'm pretty sure, especially without much frontal area.
That does sound more like a poorly designed or built transmission.
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