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Originally Posted by BrianMaher
Hi Folks,
I picked up my new '06 Prius monday evening (replaced an '06 Matrix which replaced an '03 Civic Hybrid, Matrix had bad blind spots .. almost had 3 accidents in 4 months).
My impressions so far are that I should have bought this rather than the Matrix from the beginning.
I love the way it drives and am getting 39.5 MPG so far (103 total miles on the car and it is still cold here in Massachusetts). The smart key system is so wonderful that I find myself wanting to find places to drive just so I can not use the key again. 
One question I have is regarding the climate control. In looking back at old threads I get the impression that I should leave the "AC" in auto mode all the time and just set a temp via the buttons on the steering wheel and just forget about it. Is this correct?
Another question is on what the graph on the left side of the "Consumption" display really means. Does anyone know? Does a higher bar on the graph mean good or bad?
I have found myself setting the touch screen to the "Energy" screen (the one which shows the car wheels and engine stuff with the arrows) and adjusting my driving based on a combination of the arrows and the MPG indicator. Does anyone else do this?
Brian |
Congratulations on an excellent purchase! I use the energy screen exclusively. The only exception is during extended cruise control periods. Once it warms up you will be able to control forcing your Prius into EV mode easier as you'll be able to see the results in real time. I have my tire pressures even higher than Bob's. His other suggestions are great too. I usually keep my climate control to OFF as much as possible. I'm in the Dallas, Tx area so it's much warmer here. When it has been cool to cold I have taken to dressing warmer and using heat when in ICE mode only (accelerating and over 41
mph), which has helped a lot. I see much less ICE activation/increased EV operation this way. I don't have any hard facts on this though.
The rest of Bob's suggestions are great too. One thing I have run into is that my dealer wouldn't fill my oil at oil change to lees than the FULL line. I emailed Toyota though and they have changed their tune. I expect to be able to ask for 3/4 over minimum at my next oil change without a problem. Some owners have reported no improvement in mileage with less oil but I am looking forward to trying it. Also, expect your mileage to improve 5-10% after the break in period of 8-10k miles and another 5-10% when it warms up for Spring, and another 5-10% after you really learn how to drive it. Congratulations again and enjoy it.