For every 159 Vermonters, there exists one Prius in this state, the highest per capita concentration of Prii in the country. Heavenly.
Showing posts with label pictures. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pictures. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
The most Prii per capita - Vermont :-)
It just so happens I'm in Vermont for the summer for work, and it just so happens I see a Prius anytime I'm within a stone's throw of any street at all. What typically happens at this point is that I attempt to conceal a hybrid squeal/cry of delight.
For every 159 Vermonters, there exists one Prius in this state, the highest per capita concentration of Prii in the country. Heavenly.
Three Prii - none of which are even mine!
For every 159 Vermonters, there exists one Prius in this state, the highest per capita concentration of Prii in the country. Heavenly.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Drive through the mountains to Vermont
Got the car all packed, left just a little past 5 in the morning. Had a huge bag, my bike, a fan, a lamp, loose clothes on hangers, a bag of shoes, another bag of stuff, my computer, my work bag, and other shtuff. I wish car reviewers would stop calling the Prius a compact :-)
Now the trip. Oh là là.
Everything was going smoothly. MPG starting out was a little lower than usual with all the extra weight in the car, but I was hanging right around 70 mpg for the first couple hours. Roads were also wet in some places creating some unwanted friction, and I did get some rain, but not nearly as much as I thought, which was great. Pulse and glide, pulse and glide.
A big percentage of the trip was at 50-55 mph. Surprisingly, even with mountains, this returned very nice results. Holding steady on somewhat flat or rolling parts of the mountains (ignition timing 13/14, throttle position 17/18) at 55 mph would show an incredible 80-90 mpg instant when battery was around 61% state of charge. The technology is really just staggering when you sit back for a second and think about it.
There were some very steep and high RPM mountain climbs, but everything seemed to sort of even out. My Scangauge mpg had fluctuated some, but was back between 68 and 69 about 150 miles into the trip. I really thought Andy was gonna win the Facebook contest for guessing my mileage (he guessed 67 mpg).
And then disaster (was that dramatic enough?). On Route 103, the Vermont DOT had closed various bridges, completely blocking the entire route - WITHOUT PUTTING UP ANY WARNINGS OR DETOUR SIGNS. You can guess I was swearing profusely as I had to throw away all my momentum, turn around through a little neighborhood, and drive back the other way. Keep in mind this was on a 50 mph road, so it's not like I could just pulse and glide for 100 mpg the whole time.
I then had to stop and ask directions, and luckily the locals knew of the crazy backroads to get around it. Problem solved...
...or not really. I had to spend three miles on a dirt road for the detour. Since it was wet outside, it was really a mud road. In just three out of the 150 miles I had travelled so far, my mileage dropped 6%. There was no traction and the engine really had to work to push the car along. Gliding was almost useless since the mud would slow the car 5-10 mph in mere seconds.
Muddy Wentworth
Grr.
Anyway, I was able to get a little bit back over the rest of the trip, but I was quite (and later downgraded from quite to a little) ticked that Vermont DOT's lack of consideration (or competence?) caused me to drive about 22 miles extra, wasting a third of a gallon of fuel.
End result:
65.7 mpg over 245.5 miles. In reality this would be around 67 mpg or so. Tank down to about 68 or 69 mpg from 74 the other day.
In other news, to clean up, Wentworth just had his first carwash, and looks sparklin' clean right now. Here's the before:
I was told the construction blocking route 103 would be complete by the time I come home. I wonder if 70 mpg is possible back through the mountains...
Now the trip. Oh là là.
Everything was going smoothly. MPG starting out was a little lower than usual with all the extra weight in the car, but I was hanging right around 70 mpg for the first couple hours. Roads were also wet in some places creating some unwanted friction, and I did get some rain, but not nearly as much as I thought, which was great. Pulse and glide, pulse and glide.
A big percentage of the trip was at 50-55 mph. Surprisingly, even with mountains, this returned very nice results. Holding steady on somewhat flat or rolling parts of the mountains (ignition timing 13/14, throttle position 17/18) at 55 mph would show an incredible 80-90 mpg instant when battery was around 61% state of charge. The technology is really just staggering when you sit back for a second and think about it.
There were some very steep and high RPM mountain climbs, but everything seemed to sort of even out. My Scangauge mpg had fluctuated some, but was back between 68 and 69 about 150 miles into the trip. I really thought Andy was gonna win the Facebook contest for guessing my mileage (he guessed 67 mpg).
And then disaster (was that dramatic enough?). On Route 103, the Vermont DOT had closed various bridges, completely blocking the entire route - WITHOUT PUTTING UP ANY WARNINGS OR DETOUR SIGNS. You can guess I was swearing profusely as I had to throw away all my momentum, turn around through a little neighborhood, and drive back the other way. Keep in mind this was on a 50 mph road, so it's not like I could just pulse and glide for 100 mpg the whole time.
I then had to stop and ask directions, and luckily the locals knew of the crazy backroads to get around it. Problem solved...
...or not really. I had to spend three miles on a dirt road for the detour. Since it was wet outside, it was really a mud road. In just three out of the 150 miles I had travelled so far, my mileage dropped 6%. There was no traction and the engine really had to work to push the car along. Gliding was almost useless since the mud would slow the car 5-10 mph in mere seconds.
Grr.
Anyway, I was able to get a little bit back over the rest of the trip, but I was quite (and later downgraded from quite to a little) ticked that Vermont DOT's lack of consideration (or competence?) caused me to drive about 22 miles extra, wasting a third of a gallon of fuel.
End result:
65.7 mpg over 245.5 miles. In reality this would be around 67 mpg or so. Tank down to about 68 or 69 mpg from 74 the other day.
In other news, to clean up, Wentworth just had his first carwash, and looks sparklin' clean right now. Here's the before:
I was told the construction blocking route 103 would be complete by the time I come home. I wonder if 70 mpg is possible back through the mountains...
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Monday, May 30, 2011
Beantown
Boston and back. It was a long but rewarding trip. I was coming from work, even farther from the city than home, so I drove about 77 miles, almost all on back roads. I took the highway for a small portion where I knew the speeds were quite slow around Providence, so I could go 50 mph safely in the right lane.
The start, averaged about 75 before getting on the highway:
I knew I'd lose a little, but 9 miles at 50 mph versus 25 mph would be a nice little chunk of saved time. I only got down to 71.8 mpg or so after that stretch, and quickly bounced back up near 75. But then the streetlights came - lots of red ones. See the couple bars on the left? There were more like them:
Somehow bounced back to 74 for the trip - helps that the last bit of Washington Street/South Street is downhill, I could make sure the SOC was decent enough (actually was in 60s at end, even with all the pulsing and gliding!) for the final crawl up Huntington.
Wentworth had a good view of the city all day.
Hanging out.
Awesome day of hanging out and eating Ethiopian food with my sister and some friends. Wish I had more than a cell phone cam for stuff like this, but check out the sailboat in the Christian Science Center reflecting pool.
The start, averaged about 75 before getting on the highway:
I knew I'd lose a little, but 9 miles at 50 mph versus 25 mph would be a nice little chunk of saved time. I only got down to 71.8 mpg or so after that stretch, and quickly bounced back up near 75. But then the streetlights came - lots of red ones. See the couple bars on the left? There were more like them:
Somehow bounced back to 74 for the trip - helps that the last bit of Washington Street/South Street is downhill, I could make sure the SOC was decent enough (actually was in 60s at end, even with all the pulsing and gliding!) for the final crawl up Huntington.
Wentworth had a good view of the city all day.
Hanging out.
Awesome day of hanging out and eating Ethiopian food with my sister and some friends. Wish I had more than a cell phone cam for stuff like this, but check out the sailboat in the Christian Science Center reflecting pool.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Wentworth's first oil change
As the original intention of this blog was to document my ownership in addition to my fuel economy notes, here's a rundown on Wentworth's first oil change.
It happened to be my first solo oil change(!). A friend who's building his own car and likes to do some racing showed me how to change the oil on one of his cars. That same weekend he also showed me how his car can go 0-60 in about 4 seconds, and what it's like to travel over 100 mph (which was awesome!), though of those three things the oil change seemed the only thing in common with the Prius that I could try myself.
I should mention that this thread on Priuschat was also a great resource.
Clearance is quite low on the Prius, and being difficult to get to the car's floor jack point(s), I forewent my neighbor's borrowed hydraulic jack and instead bought a pair of Rhino Ramps 8000 for about $47 total with tax, which I'll be able to use for many years. It was easy to get up on the ramps, and didn't scrape as far as I could tell.
This last pic also shows Wentworth's wonderful makeshift grill blocking. Better contains heat in the engine and allow it to warm up faster in cooler weather - for better mileage, of course!
I needed a 14mm socket for the wrench. (don't bother reading the computer screen in the background, it's just this post in the works!)
Now under the car we can see the oil drain plug (and a bunch of rust, that's for another day, though).
This thing was on tight. I believe it had only been previously changed at the dealer by the first owner, and being the skinny, opposite of brawny sort of guy I am, after struggling with it for awhile, I had this terrible feeling that after buying the filters and "crushable" washers in bulk that I'd have to go to the dealer anyway to get it changed.
My dad suggested gently hitting the end of the wratchet wrench with a hammer, or warming up the engine for two minutes, but luckily I found a slightly longer wrench before I had to try any of this. All it needed was a little more leverage, and it came off no problem.
I then saw why Hobbit suggests unloading the suspension on the driver's side for an oil change. It took forever to drip out, what seemed like much longer than when my friend showed me on his car, and would've drained much more quickly if it were tilted a little bit. Not an option with the ramps, though, so no big deal, just took longer.
Then came the filter. I had bought an oil filter wrench which conveniently attaches to a ratchet.
Oil filter and filter wrench (and Mac!).
On the ratchet.
Fits right onto the filter.
On the car, the filter's really wedged up there. Not really knowing what the hoses around it do, I just tried not to touch anything else!
At first it wasn't working too well, and there were a couple minutes of medium level panic when I thought I wouldn't get the filter off after draining the engine of all its lube (ruh-roh!), but in the end it worked out. There's no possible way that would've come off by hand - the oil filter wrench was essential.
I also learned a valuable lesson (which I'm sure all of you know - humor the newbie with some laughter): push UP on the oil filter while unscrewing it to keep the gasket sealed so that it doesn't drip all over you as you continue to unscrew it. Oil covered hands after the filter...
Drain plug back on with a new washer, new oil filter with a little oil smeared around the gasket snugly hand tightened to avoid the über-tightness of the dealer, and in went three quarts of 5w-30 up top. Since it's almost summer and since my engine has been used to it for almost four years, I'm going to stick with that weight even though we've heard recently 0w-20 is alright even on older model Prii. No need to make my car the test case.
I then ran the engine for a minute, then let the oil settle so I could check the level and add a bit more.
Cleanup as I waited for the oil to drain into the pan:
The oil ended up so light on the dipstick that I couldn't tell where it went up to, so I may skip this in the future. I put in another half quart. Today after I drove somewhere, I checked it and found it slightly below the top dot, so it appears 3.5 quarts is absolutely perfect for the 2004-2009 second Gen Prius (mine is 2007), I'll just aim for that in the future.
All done!
Such a cool little beast under there. Can't wait to try the transaxle fluid at some point...
Altogether a good deal. Took me way longer than everyone else in the world, being my first time, but learned a lot, and it didn't cost much. Filter from a pack of 10 was $4.80 total, and $1.40 for the drain plug washer. Oil was oil. Easily under $20 for the change, and was a lot of fun!
It happened to be my first solo oil change(!). A friend who's building his own car and likes to do some racing showed me how to change the oil on one of his cars. That same weekend he also showed me how his car can go 0-60 in about 4 seconds, and what it's like to travel over 100 mph (which was awesome!), though of those three things the oil change seemed the only thing in common with the Prius that I could try myself.
I should mention that this thread on Priuschat was also a great resource.
Clearance is quite low on the Prius, and being difficult to get to the car's floor jack point(s), I forewent my neighbor's borrowed hydraulic jack and instead bought a pair of Rhino Ramps 8000 for about $47 total with tax, which I'll be able to use for many years. It was easy to get up on the ramps, and didn't scrape as far as I could tell.
This last pic also shows Wentworth's wonderful makeshift grill blocking. Better contains heat in the engine and allow it to warm up faster in cooler weather - for better mileage, of course!
I needed a 14mm socket for the wrench. (don't bother reading the computer screen in the background, it's just this post in the works!)
Now under the car we can see the oil drain plug (and a bunch of rust, that's for another day, though).
This thing was on tight. I believe it had only been previously changed at the dealer by the first owner, and being the skinny, opposite of brawny sort of guy I am, after struggling with it for awhile, I had this terrible feeling that after buying the filters and "crushable" washers in bulk that I'd have to go to the dealer anyway to get it changed.
My dad suggested gently hitting the end of the wratchet wrench with a hammer, or warming up the engine for two minutes, but luckily I found a slightly longer wrench before I had to try any of this. All it needed was a little more leverage, and it came off no problem.
I then saw why Hobbit suggests unloading the suspension on the driver's side for an oil change. It took forever to drip out, what seemed like much longer than when my friend showed me on his car, and would've drained much more quickly if it were tilted a little bit. Not an option with the ramps, though, so no big deal, just took longer.
Then came the filter. I had bought an oil filter wrench which conveniently attaches to a ratchet.
On the ratchet.
Fits right onto the filter.
On the car, the filter's really wedged up there. Not really knowing what the hoses around it do, I just tried not to touch anything else!
At first it wasn't working too well, and there were a couple minutes of medium level panic when I thought I wouldn't get the filter off after draining the engine of all its lube (ruh-roh!), but in the end it worked out. There's no possible way that would've come off by hand - the oil filter wrench was essential.
I also learned a valuable lesson (which I'm sure all of you know - humor the newbie with some laughter): push UP on the oil filter while unscrewing it to keep the gasket sealed so that it doesn't drip all over you as you continue to unscrew it. Oil covered hands after the filter...
Drain plug back on with a new washer, new oil filter with a little oil smeared around the gasket snugly hand tightened to avoid the über-tightness of the dealer, and in went three quarts of 5w-30 up top. Since it's almost summer and since my engine has been used to it for almost four years, I'm going to stick with that weight even though we've heard recently 0w-20 is alright even on older model Prii. No need to make my car the test case.
I then ran the engine for a minute, then let the oil settle so I could check the level and add a bit more.
Cleanup as I waited for the oil to drain into the pan:
The oil ended up so light on the dipstick that I couldn't tell where it went up to, so I may skip this in the future. I put in another half quart. Today after I drove somewhere, I checked it and found it slightly below the top dot, so it appears 3.5 quarts is absolutely perfect for the 2004-2009 second Gen Prius (mine is 2007), I'll just aim for that in the future.
All done!
Such a cool little beast under there. Can't wait to try the transaxle fluid at some point...
Altogether a good deal. Took me way longer than everyone else in the world, being my first time, but learned a lot, and it didn't cost much. Filter from a pack of 10 was $4.80 total, and $1.40 for the drain plug washer. Oil was oil. Easily under $20 for the change, and was a lot of fun!
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Fill-up, Tuesday, March 1, 2011
392.9 miles
7.126 gallons
$3.299/gallon
55.14 mpg
4.27 L/100km
Wentworth's complete fueling history
With the recent Middle Eastern-instigated spike in oil, you might notice that I fill up more on Tuesdays, when I happen to be across the border in Massachusetts, aka Magical Land of Lower Gas Prices. I realize many folks don't have extra money to spend on gas, but in an imaginary world where people wouldn't have to choose between gas or food, I'd be happy with gas prices continuing to rise, it would be nice for all of us as a hint to use less energy. But I digress...
A relatively disappointing tank, but largely due to circumstances beyond my control. In fact, it's not the tank, really, since that was good for the conditions, but more the individual trips, and the feeling of constantly seeing lower mileage on every single one of them compared to the recent past. I had several highway trips that I never usually take that brought down the mileage quite a bit, seeing mileage as low as 50.1 mpg on the display for some of the shorter trips (yeah, I know, that sounds...whatever, it's low for me!). I also had some torrential downpours and winds (gusts of 40 mph), and a trip of freshly fallen untreated snow and slush, that I managed to get through with 58.7 mpg over 38 miles.
A little trip to New York revealed a wonderful fleet of NYPD Prii.
Now if only we could get around the warm-up in the first five minutes...
7.126 gallons
$3.299/gallon
55.14 mpg
4.27 L/100km
Wentworth's complete fueling history
With the recent Middle Eastern-instigated spike in oil, you might notice that I fill up more on Tuesdays, when I happen to be across the border in Massachusetts, aka Magical Land of Lower Gas Prices. I realize many folks don't have extra money to spend on gas, but in an imaginary world where people wouldn't have to choose between gas or food, I'd be happy with gas prices continuing to rise, it would be nice for all of us as a hint to use less energy. But I digress...
A relatively disappointing tank, but largely due to circumstances beyond my control. In fact, it's not the tank, really, since that was good for the conditions, but more the individual trips, and the feeling of constantly seeing lower mileage on every single one of them compared to the recent past. I had several highway trips that I never usually take that brought down the mileage quite a bit, seeing mileage as low as 50.1 mpg on the display for some of the shorter trips (yeah, I know, that sounds...whatever, it's low for me!). I also had some torrential downpours and winds (gusts of 40 mph), and a trip of freshly fallen untreated snow and slush, that I managed to get through with 58.7 mpg over 38 miles.
A little trip to New York revealed a wonderful fleet of NYPD Prii.
Now if only we could get around the warm-up in the first five minutes...
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Welcome
Welcome to Mike with a Prius' blog!
Last month, in December 2010, I bought my first car ever after sharing cars for essentially my whole life with family members. The 2007 Toyota Prius had 34k miles on it, and having been bought and regularly serviced at a nearby dealer, it seemed like a good deal from someone who had traded it in for another new Toyota. Although the goal of this blog will doubtless change with time, my main goal is to hopefully help out someone who stumbles across this site while researching the viability of a Prius or hybrid as a long-term purchase. In the last year or so there has certainly been plenty of pretty wild and sensational publicity for Toyota (and not in a good way), so it seems useful to get some facts from a Prius owner's personal experience.
A second goal (which will hopefully take up a lot more space than articles about repairs!) is to document and teach others ways to get good, better, or even (wait for it...) the best mileage out of their vehicle, hybrid or otherwise. There are incredible resources out there on the internet to this end, but many articles are either oversimplified or, on the other end of the spectrum, too technical for laymen to understand. Since I know little about the inner working of cars, but plan on learning an awful lot, it makes sense to share that information in more accessible but still detailed terms for everyone else out there who's in the position I'm in now.
And naturally, I have a third goal in order to properly cover my bases - which is to talk about whatever else I feel like talking about at the time :-)
Now, there's some very important business to take care of before you start reading - lovely as is the Toyota-assigned name of the car, my Prius, purchased after a fairly dense watching of all the Prison Break episodes on Netflix, has been named Wentworth.
See you soon.
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