Anybody Else own a Hybrid?

[dogfriend]

I once had a 82 Toyota Pickup that I put over 70k on in about 3 years, but it only had 99k when I sold it.

For some reason, I tend to sell them when they get over 100k. I think out of boredom, rather than mechanical issues.

I had a 72 Ford Courier during college sold with 120k after I graduated.

The 82 Toyota truck was next, sold with 99k

I bought a 89 Ranger new and kept it until 99, sold with 120k.

I bought the 97 Explorer in 99, planning to keep it for awhile, it has 116k

Getting ready to sell the 93 Toyota that actually belongs to my GF, it only has 84k.

 

[BrooklynBay]

I guess you plan on holding onto the Prius until the batteries start to get old?

 

[dogfriend]

I guess you plan on holding onto the Prius until the batteries start to get old?

I'm planning on testing whether the battery will outlast the warranty.

 

[Maniak]

The explorer ('92) has the most miles.. it just cleared 350k miles this week.
The '95 dodge neon we just gave away recently had 305k miles on it.

The only other high mileage vehicles we have had were my old honda's.. my '73 had 330k miles on it when I blew the motor and my '82 accord had 220k miles on it when I gave it to my brother.

The Mustang is going to be a high mileage vehicle.. Its getting 36k miles/year (50k in 18 months).

~Mark

 

[BrooklynBay]

That is incredible! I put on about 4k a year which is nothing compared to this. It reminds me of an article a couple of years ago I was reading about a traveling salesman which had over 850k on his Mercedes. It had the original engine, but the transmission was replaced at 350k. I think he put on about 50-75k a year. There was a recent article about another person which had over a million miles,a nd his car went into a museum. The company gave him a brand new car to replace his old one for free.

 

[dogfriend]

I put on about 4k a year which is nothing compared to this.

My GF only drives about 4k per year. I average about 12k per year, although I'm ahead of that pace with the new car.

The ones who really put on the miles are the drivers for some of the largest coast to coast trucking companies. With a two or three person driving team, they can put on 100k in just a couple of months.

 

[tdavis]

It is possible to run completely from the electric motor at speeds up to 41mph.

Yea, I've noticed the HOV lanes around here now run at about this speed.

Prius drivers get in it, and decide to run at 40mph. Get the #@$#! out of the HOV lane if your not going to do the speed limit!

California never, ever should of passed the law allowing a hybrid with a single passenger and the "sticker" into the HOV lane. I80's HOV lane is now congested because of that law; it made things WORSE in my mind, not better.

 

[Maniak]

Out here (in AZ) you can't run < 45mph on a freeway (you get pulled over).. Course running 50mph in a 75 zone is insane anyway..

I have to drive <65mph (more like 60) in the big truck, and its scary when people don't notice your not doing 80mph like they are and come up on you fast.

~Mark

 

[dogfriend]

California never, ever should of passed the law allowing a hybrid with a single passenger and the "sticker" into the HOV lane. I80's HOV lane is now congested because of that law; it made things WORSE in my mind, not better.

They stopped issuing the stickers sometime late last year, so at least they won't continue to have more.

I have to agree with you; the HOV lanes should only be used by vehicles with 2 or more passengers.

I also agree that you should try to drive at the same speed as traffic for safety reasons. On our trip down to San Diego, I started with the CC set @ 65mph on I-5. By the time we got to Stockton I was up to 70 just to be at the lower edge of prevaling traffic. In LA, I was driving 72 -75 to keep up with traffic.

Speeds just below the 41 mph are the best for Fuel Economy in the Prius, but I find that it isn't possible to drive this speed in most situations. Even on streets marked for 40mph, most traffic is traveling about 10mph faster.

 

[tdavis]

it's funny but the hybrids with the HOV stickers are worth more now than non-stickered.

 

[dogfriend]

it's funny but the hybrids with the HOV stickers are worth more now than non-stickered.

I was originally intending to buy a used Certified Prius (for the warranty coverage) but I found that with the tax credit, there was no price difference between a used Prius with 5k miles and a new one with the same equipment. The sticker may have factored into this.

The sticker wasn't a concern for me because I don't have any HOV lanes on my commute

In So Cal, I stayed out of the HOV lanes because the regular lanes were moving just as fast. We timed our trip to avoid commute hours through LA.

 

[dogfriend]

I love Ebay. Where else could you buy an Electronic Supercharger for a Prius? I can get at least 16% more HP for only $157!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Supe...6QQihZ001QQcategoryZ33741QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

 

[dogfriend]

Thought that I would add an update. I have over 5200 miles on the Prius and I'm now getting over 50 mpg as long as I keep the speed below 65 mph.

From other info I have read, the mileage should get better as I get more miles up to about 10k. Warmer weather helps too; we haven't reached 100°F yet this year.

I did the first oil change at the dealer; I will run dino oil until the next change @ 10k then switch to synthetic. Probably Mobil 1, but I may try AMSOil because the car only holds 3.5 qts, so the cost difference isn't all that much.

 

[bwingler]

My Hybrid is a hydrogen fuel cell that i built. Just installed it. Will have a mileage report at the end of the week. See my post for video link.
1993 4x4 explorer with 186,000 miles. Hope my mileage increases. right now i get 17 miles per gallon before the hydrogen.

Barry

 

[dogfriend]

My Hybrid is a hydrogen fuel cell that i built. Just installed it. Will have a mileage report at the end of the week. See my post for video link.
1993 4x4 explorer with 186,000 miles. Hope my mileage increases. right now i get 17 miles per gallon before the hydrogen.

Barry

Can you add a link to the video here? I don't know where your post is.

 

[bwingler]

http://www.nature-powered.com/hydro the first video is fuel cell_0003 and the second one is fuel cell part 2

Barry

 

[BrooklynBay]

According to this article, hybrid popularity is "going down hill": http://autos.aol.com/article/genera...070719145609990001?ncid=AOLCOMMautoDYNLsec000.

 

[dogfriend]

According to this article, hybrid popularity is "going down hill": http://autos.aol.com/article/genera...070719145609990001?ncid=AOLCOMMautoDYNLsec000.

That's a strange article.

Fifty percent of new vehicle shoppers surveyed said they are considering a gasoline/hybrid electric vehicle. That's down from 57 percent last year.

So, half of the people buying a new car are considering a hybrid? That means they are unpopular because it was almost 60 percent last year?

I would think that the fall off in interest is related to the price of gas coming back down (temporarily). Someone actually plotted Prius sales vs. gas prices over on PriusChat, and they track pretty consistently.

I don't know, but today on my way home from work, I was waiting at a stoplight and a guy motioned for me to roll down my window. He started asking me about my car and whether I liked it; he said he was considering buying one. He was driving a Lumina minivan and said he was getting about 18 mpg. I told him I was getting 49.6.

He isn't the first one, I have had about half a dozen complete strangers ask me how I like the car. I've also seen a lot of new ones (with the dealer logo plates) since I bought my car. They seem to be pretty popular in Northern Cal.

I had the alignment checked after the 5k service because I noticed a pull and other people have reported having alignment problems (the dealers don't check as part of the pre-delivery prep). Sure enough, the rear toe is out of spec. The dealer isn't acknowledging the problem, so I'm going to shim it myself and take it to a good alignment shop to check it out again. I'm curious what my mileage will be when I'm not dragging the RR tire around anymore.

Alignment is the only issue I've had in 8200 miles.