Baymule’s Journal

[Bruce]

How many does a Prius seat? @Bruce is there room for car seats?

5 seats. I suppose car seats would depend on how huge they are I suspect it would be a tight fit to have 2 car seats and the 14 Y/O all in the back. Oh, wait, she can ride up front can't she!

45 on a tank would be winter mileage in a regular Prius with the cold and snow tires up here . I regularly got 55 full tank in the summer in my prior Prii (2004 & 2009) and hit 60 MPG a couple of times with 95% backroads; DW and DD2 get similar in their 2006's. The newest generation gets better MPG than the second gens (2004-2009) and the 3rd gen (2010-2017). And of course the Prime beats them all by a lot. At one point in my journal I posted my 70 miles at nearly 80 MPG without a precharge. But that was all 50 MPH roads. Won't see that doing 75 on the interstate. Of course it also depends on how you drive (same as any vehicle, just more obvious in a car that gets great MPG). If one is the type that powers to each red light then hits the brakes so they can sit and wait for a green, top MPG will not be attained. And they get to replace the brakes much more often.

But no spare tire in the Prime, the big battery is there. No spare in the all electric Leaf either which I don't understand. It's batteries are in the floor, there is room for a mini spare in the back. They don't even give you a jack, the Prime has one. Both come with a "flat repair kit". Basically a pump to put sealant in the tire if you get a nail, no good for catastrophic failure.

Also, are Prii allowed in your part of Texas Bay? They are far from being a truck

Google says the 2022 Hyundai Ioniq hybrid should get nearly 60 MPG.

 

[Baymule]

@Bruce I have seen Prius with my own eyes on Texas highways. There is no law against them nor is there a reduction in social standing. Lol

No spare tire? That’s crazy.

I’ll google the Hyundai Ioniq and take a look at it. @Margali do they plug in or generate power as you drive? Does it have a spare? LOL

Haha @Cecilia's-herd i have a truck. It’s a 2004 F250 Lariat diesel. I love the truck.

 

[Margali]

@Baymule The Ioniq is not a plug-in. I run middle grade 89octane fuel. It charges the battery by regenerative braking or running the engine. During the freeze last year it was great. By watching the display, I could cruise around town on electric motor only using no gas when none was available. When the battery got down to a third, I hit the highway and cruised in "hybrid" mode where it charged the battery back up and charged my laptop too. The 45 mpg is doing 70 - 75 mph by the way.

Like most new cars today, it comes with Fix-a-Flat and road service. Not even a donut...

 

[Cecilia's-herd]

Haha @Cecilia's-herd i have a truck. It’s a 2004 F250 Lariat diesel. I love the truck.

They make me feel powerful LOL. I love trucks. Can’t have more than 2 kids though.

 

[Alaskan]

No spare tire? That’s crazy

The crazy thing is most new cars do NOT have a spare!

Also.... I got a Subaru... last Subaru I had was a 2000 or 2001.... anyway... they switched the kind of tow hooks to the useless ones the Mercedes use. The screw in hook.



What the hey is a "great on off road crud" car/SUV doing with a useless tow hook and zero spare tire????

Anyway... bought it anyway... the Subaru still has excellent all wheel drive.... and good ground clearance (it was crazy how the vast majority of cars in the SUV category had 5 inches or less of ground clearance).

But... when I was looking at new cars last spring, the new car loan interest rates are crazy good. I didn't get a 0%, but I got a .9%.

So... it is a great loan. Made it better than getting a used car.

 

[Baymule]

They make me feel powerful LOL. I love trucks. Can’t have more than 2 kids though.

Get a 4 door crew cab. I have one with a 6 1/2' bed. Good for hauling kids, groceries and pulling trailers.

Had a 1 ton with long wheel base, it was not parking lot friendly. LOL Husband had a 1 ton dually at the same time, both were gas engines. I tell you what, I can back up a truck! When we had our furniture store, i was real good at backing the box delivery trucks and often went to Houston to pick up orders. I love trucks, but I need a car that is not a gas guzzler.

 

[farmerjan]

So how are things progressing at your son's house where you are going to go? Any progress with the "leaned up against the hole plywood" door? Sounds like this is going to be more of a push for you than you had originally planned... which may be good or may not be.....

Can't advise on the car situation. I see where there is such low financing costs that a brand new one might be the best way to go. Used vehicles are so high right now that they are just not economically feasible unless you find one at an estate sale of some sort. But the computer stuff on the new ones is totally ridiculous. That is why I put a new engine in the forrester and will have the transmission done too... and I am going to have my engine on the outback redone as they cannot find a good used one so redoing the heads and timing belt and all on mine is going to be the best way to go. They are 2000 and 2001 and the outback especially will bring more than I will have in the heads and work done on it... which is the one I would sell anyway. Once I get the transmission on the forrester done it will take a year or so to get it to where what I have in it to be worth it... But that is just me. I have rented and driven several different ones over the years, and would probably go with some sort of a smaller type SUV for the room for the kids and the newer ones get pretty good mileage. My vehicles all run in the 23-26 mpg range with the outback being the lowest. I can get 27-28 on my little ranger p.u. on the highway with the 5th gear. The others are automatics.

 

[Baymule]

Son got the shipping containers moved Sunday! Saturday we will jack them up and block them to get them off the dirt. I'm thinking positive--should be able to do that Saturday. Not bleed over into Sunday. Then I can get all that stuff out of the living room floor, finish painting the walls and get ready to move stuff in. Got to unload flatbed trailer and can bring it home and load it back up!

I packed a few boxes yesterday, can kick that in high gear now.

 

[Bruce]

they switched the kind of tow hooks to the useless ones the Mercedes use. The screw in hook.

I think they've done that on most cars. I'm not sure the tow trucks ever bother with the "hooks" anyway. I think they attach chains to the frame somehow and pull the car onto the flatbed.

Story on NPR this morning about the "no haggling" on new car MSRP now. People pay over instead of getting a better price from the dealer. Shortage of new cars you know. Some guy contacted for the story bought a Kia Telluride which the journalist said was not a particularly high end vehicle. Google says MSRP starts at $32K. The guy said what should have been a $50K car (I guess he wanted everything??) ended up being a $70K car. Proof that some people have a lot more money than brains.

Hopefully the chip shortage will be sorted out soon and they can build cars again.

By watching the display, I could cruise around town on electric motor only using no gas when none was available.

Be aware that the speed the hybrid car will stay in electric mode is limited as is the distance you can go before the gas engine kicks in. A Gen 2 (2004-2009) Prius hybrid will kick in the gas engine if you go over 38 MPH. And the range on electric, on the flat, if the battery is "full" is only about 1 mile. Non plugins CAN run on electric only but aren't designed with that in mind. And you can't force it into EV mode. Well, you can on DD2's 2010 Prius but that is "parking lot" mode, it will kick out at about 5 MPH. The Ioniq hybrid probably has a different battery (maybe lithium?) so it might have more "if you drive carefully" EV range.

The Prime, being a plug-in, and I assume the Ioniq plug-in is similar, can be forced into EV. In fact the Prime will ALWAYS start in EV and you have to put it in hybrid mode if you want to save your electrons for city driving after hitting the highway. The Prime will do 82 MPH (so they say, I have no personal experience) in EV mode.

 

[Margali]

@Bruce With my Ioniq, electric only mode seems to be based on torque not speed.So on long slight downhill grade it will stay in electric only while I'm doing 70mph. As soon as I start up next hill, it will switch to hybrid mode.