...Unlike MB, which has never sold a car on the basis of badge cachet.

Actually, I see half a dozen or more Priuses on the road every day on my way to work. They're starting to look pretty mundane to me.

Turns out that, when they pulled the codes, daughter's IMA light was coming on because the battery was overheating, not necessarily going bad. Codes cleared and light not on....today. She also found out that it will NOT fail inspection in VA because of emission related lights. But certainly need to get the overheating things figured out....at least keep an eye on it.

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14 E250 Bluetec 4Matic "Sinclair", Palladium Silver on Black, 157k miles
06 E320 CDI "Rutherford", Black on Tan, 175k mi, Stage 1 tune, tuned TCU
91 300D "Otis", Smoke Silver on Tan, 144k mi, wastegate conversion, ALDA delete

19 Honda CR-V EX 70k mi
Fourteen other MB's owned and sold
1961 Very Tolerant Wife

Using a unique platfrom makes sense for a hybrid because of the packaging needs of the battery pack. I bet it's accidental on the part of Toyota, but it's also brilliant marketing to make the car so distinctive because many buyers of the Prius do want to show off their green cred.

They're not. Wife was due for a new car about a year ago. She dragged me to the Toy dealer to look at and drive a new Prius. We both hated it. Wrong side of $30K, not well equipped, cheap feeling, noisy, slow - there wasn't much to like about it. She couldn't wait to get out of the dealership.

Or just get it inspected during the winter. I wonder if there is a cooling fan for the battery pack that has ceased to function?

There's a company called Re-Involt that specializes in aftermarket hybrid batteries (mostly for the Prius). They have a list of recommended independent mechanics as installers, and one of them is in Virginia: Mac's Service in Ashland. Perhaps Mac would be an alternative to the stealership for your daughter if his shop isn't too far away.

Could be old filter on the cooling fan is plugged up. The escape has one.

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CC: NSA

All things are burning, know this and be released.

82 Benz 240 D, Kuan Yin
12 Ford Escape 4wd

You're four times

It's hard to

more likely to

concentrate on

have an accident

two things

when you're on

at the same time.

a cell phone.

www.kiva.org It's not like there's anything wrong with feeling good, is there?

You should try the 2001-03 model. It's a tin can that closely resembles Toyota's Echo. No cruise control. A 100-mile trip was agony. My spouse liked it, though (she prefers small cars), and I didn't need to mess with it much in the 80K miles we owned it. I did replace the inverter coolant pump and a couple bulbs, but that's about it.

Yes, I talked to them. They now make a battery for the Civic for $2595. Installation is $281.

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14 E250 Bluetec 4Matic "Sinclair", Palladium Silver on Black, 157k miles
06 E320 CDI "Rutherford", Black on Tan, 175k mi, Stage 1 tune, tuned TCU
91 300D "Otis", Smoke Silver on Tan, 144k mi, wastegate conversion, ALDA delete

19 Honda CR-V EX 70k mi
Fourteen other MB's owned and sold
1961 Very Tolerant Wife

Reminds me of the study done a few years ago that found that a medium-size dog has a larger carbon footprint than an SUV driven 1000 miles a month! (All that's in involved in making dog food, transporting it, etc...) Love sharing that one with uber-green people with multiple dogs!

While we're on the topic, I also wonder about recycling. Has anyone calculated the carbon footprint of the recycling truck, SEPARATE from the trash truck, that drives around our neighborhood?

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14 E250 Bluetec 4Matic "Sinclair", Palladium Silver on Black, 157k miles
06 E320 CDI "Rutherford", Black on Tan, 175k mi, Stage 1 tune, tuned TCU
91 300D "Otis", Smoke Silver on Tan, 144k mi, wastegate conversion, ALDA delete

19 Honda CR-V EX 70k mi
Fourteen other MB's owned and sold
1961 Very Tolerant Wife

you're looking at recycling from the wrong angle. look up the percentage of budget of your municipality taken up by garbage pickup and disposal/removal. with recycling, at least they recover some of that cost instead of your property tax just increasing.

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1982 300sd from craigslist $800 greased on one tank with NO CONVERSION in the Hot Texas Sun. (currently dead & awaiting engine damage investigation and/or longblock swap)
new daily: '03 vw 5speed jetta tdi wagon. bagged&chipped

In Canada, Prius are used frequently as taxis in many cities. I always ask drivers about their reliability and they only get rave reviews. I've been in several with over 400 or 500 thousand kilometers which have only had routine maintenance. The only complaint of the owner-drivers is the cost of dealer maintenance as there are very few indies with the equipment and knowledge to work on them.

I test drove a 2012 when I sold the 300SD and was not very impressed - a lot of body roll on twisty mountain roads and a great deal of tire noise. Front seats were not good for a tall driver, but that seems to apply to most Toyotas. In the end we decided we did not do enough annual mileage to make a hybrid pay off and got a Golg Wagon.

But the Toyota Prius does seem to be reliable and long lasting despite the comments of many folks to the contrary - none of whom seem to own one!

I have driven a 2001 model, my father in law bought a broken one and put a used battery in it to get it back on the road. (used battery cost $1400, almost 3x what I paid for a complete OM601 diesel motor + trans) He's into it 2x as much $$ as my 190d conversion project cost me, and gets less MPG than I do....in a car 1/10th as safe....I've driven it, its "ok", generic feeling, no soul. And the engagement of the engine with the motor is far from seamless, its a very distinct jolt/additional noise. I am betting it won't go very long without more trouble, it already has over 200k on it and is rusting.

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-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

Tonight I was following a volt and both me and my friend (electrical engineer) realized the taillights don't illuminate at the same time (!!!). Some guy probably did the math on the percentage or people who noticed the 50ms difference and calculated no financial difference. Woah though, totally noticed if behind.

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TC
Current stable:
- 2004 Mazda RALLYWANKEL
- 2007 Saturn sky redline
- 2004 Explorer...under surgery.

Past: 135i, GTI, 300E, 300SD, 300SD, Stealth

We are literally the first people on the Internet to notice this

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TC
Current stable:
- 2004 Mazda RALLYWANKEL
- 2007 Saturn sky redline
- 2004 Explorer...under surgery.

Past: 135i, GTI, 300E, 300SD, 300SD, Stealth

Sounds like something's not right -- but you probably know that. The transmission is not exactly a CVT but it should act like one, with seamless acceleration. We'd generally get 40 mpg to 44 mpg in mostly rural driving -- mileage would improve in town.

I see them on used-car lots occasionally. Dealers are still looking for $5K to $6K and up for them if they're in decent shape.

and how old where they? its a fact all matter in the universe breaks down with time. you can take pretty much any new car and run it non stop and get 500k. thats how they test them at the factory. in general the faster you put miles on something the more trouble free miles you will get out of it.

15yr old car with 50k on it or a 1 year old with a 100k chances the 1 year old car will be more reliable or something like that

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1987 300sdl
Engine 603.961