Hi AndyTiedye:

___Nice catch! At 60K on the clock, that is a whole different ball game.

___Phil, bargain for $9K and take it home with you tonight

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Waynegerdes@earthlink.net

 

hm i'm going to see if the dealer wants to trade for that 01 prius for my 04 civic that has 32000km. maybe i can get away with a clean trade (I wish!) considering his car has almost 100000km. although is asking price is quite high... 17900... i think my car only has a value of 15000 or even lower.

although that ad has been there for awhile ****!! i want a hybrid so badly T_T

 

Go ahead and get it! It is absolutely great in city traffic and also very reliable. The only thing that has happened to my 00 (7 000 km now) was something with the ECU which they replaced for free. Otherwise, not a single problem! I enjoy it every time I drive it. Works great in winter conditions too, even if mpg suffers.

 

I'm new to this and hopefully not messing up too badly.

I thought I saw in one of the posts that you were going to use mother nature's fuel. I can't seem to find that post now. Assuming that post is actually here somewhere, and you are talking about ethanol, I was told to absolutely not use that in my hybrids. They are apparently not flex fuel engines.

Is the information I received exaggerated?

I couldn't imagine a much better vehicle than one that runs off alcohol and electricity.

If I messed this up in some way, I'm sorry, but was trying to contribute.

 

Hi Alfanes:

___I am not sure where the Ethanol discussion came from but many Midwest states here in the US are mandated to sell E10 by law. I have no way around this in my local We are not talking E85 but straight up E10 and all cars on the road can handle that small a %.

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes

 

The Prius is not rated as a flex-fuel vehicle, in other words the ECU will throw an error light on if you use E85 in it, however it has been tested in a Prius I and the control systems operate the car at the correct mixture once the car is warmed up. Before the oxygen sensor is warm it can't detect the mixture settings and has to rely on the programmed warmup cycle that ends up being lean for E85. There may be issues using E85 in a Prius II because of the bladder, although I would doubt it since it has to handle some ethanol.

As far as I know we don't have any E85 stations here in BC, just some lesser blends at some stations, and they won't cause any problem at all... as xcel said all cars have to tolerate at least 10%, and most are rated good for 15% - 20%.

However... The Prius sips unblended, unleaded 87 octane gasoline for the best mileage, so unless there's cheaper blended 87, it's not worth getting since it will cost you in the fuel consumption department without any reward.

 

but you'll lower emissions right? i mean that's why we bought a prius in the first place

i hope i can talk to this guy tommorow, personally I think I should be able to get away with a clean trade 04 civic (33000km) vs 01 (96000km) prius. I wonder which arguments can I use to sway the favor in my deal... I mean that prius has been sitting there for awhilie and he just cut the price. I'm sure I can convince him my car is easier to get rid of than mine

 

Hi Philmcneal:

___Not necessarily. The lesser Carbon content of Ethanol drops FE in ~ the same proportion as the greater Fuel amount consumed to drive a particular distance. GHG’s from the tail pipe are ~ equal per mile traveled. There are HC’s that may be reduced somewhat but again, at 10% by content and burning another 2 - 3% more fuel, it is pretty close. On the ethanol manufacturing side, if its Corn based (most US Ethanol is), you have one hell of a dirty diesel harvesting that stuff. GHG wise, 10% has to be less GHG intensive but on the Smog side of the equation, that is another matter altogether? I would not say Ethanol is “cleaner” just as I would not guarantee Ethanol is energy balance positive when made from Corn as it is in most of the continental US? Sugarcane in Brazil, Hawaii, or Florida? You bet.

___Update on the possible Prius I purchase? I have sat in one but never driven one and I bet the P&G technique works just as spectacularly in it as it does in the Prius II. Maybe even better because of the few hundred #’s in weight savings … I am considering the Pulse phase only as no vehicle is particularly efficient in that phase of the cycle.

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes

 

hm it seems that prius with almost 200k is on sale again... maybe the guy who bought it thought it sucked?

and now another one show up... and only has 50000k! but 2001? how the hell is that possible? why wouldn't you want to explore the city in the car like that? these priuses has been sitting for awhile T__T

 

It's quite possible, ours only has about 70K on it and it drove across Canada, and back, so that was like a year's worth of driving in one shot.