Prospective owner

Same here, including the climb from San Bernardino to Barstow and the 17 mile climb onto the Colorado Plateau north of Camp Verde, AZ.

The engine sound is strong at full power, but remember that the red-line is artifically limited by the MG speeds in the hybrid system. I don't feel bad running it hard uphill. Even in the Arizona summer it has done beautifully.

Mike

I have a full set of metric sockets... with 1/4, 3/8 and 1/2 inch drive. A friend showed me his new 23mm wrench, and it measured exactly 11 inches long. I can get to anywhere "metric" measurements are standard by flying at flight levels measured in thousands of feet and at speeds measured in knots. Dunno about recent semiconductors, but historically IC lead spacing has been specified in thousandths of an inch. How much of the imperial unit system are you using? Are construction materials there measured entirely in metric, and your ceilings 2.44m high?

This is one of my pet peeves: the French created several weird "base 10" systems in the aftermath of the revolution, including a calendar with ten months (today is the first day of Floreal CCXIV) and a day with ten hours, but it seems only the metric system caught on. (Although renaming holidays after vegetables and such instead of saints has an odd appeal...) It really is a terrible idea, compounding the Romans' mistake of using a base 10 number system. Base 12 is far more useful, since a dozen can be divided by

2, 3, 4, or 6. 10 can only be divided by 2 and 5. That problem carries over into mechanical engineering, where measurements are divided by 3 or 4 more often than they are divided by 5.

It could have been worse, I guess - it could have been base 11. Anyway, the world would be a better place if the French republic had worked to replace the base 10 number system with base 12, then to correct the oddities (like the mile) to match.

Mike

Over in GreenHybrid.com, we've got a FAQ that describes the techniques The Prius is actually two vehicles in one, an electric and a gas car. Once you realize how to optimize the best characteristics of each, you can get outstanding mileage.

In the Prius groups, we know that was wishful thinking in the early and later Prius. Attention to these details goes a long way.

Bob Wilson

I agree, Bob. Besides, we paid for the instrumentation so we might as well use it.

Why is it that odometers are marked in tenths of a mile (at least the trip odometers are; total-distance ones seem to have dropped the fractions), but highway signs are in quarters and halves of a mile?

Because we have yet to find intelligent life in the universe. Thank goodness I have an English/metric crescent wrench.

I wish I could identify with the areas you speak of, but I have taken a trip up Pike's Peak and tooled around the Rockies, stopping for a moment at the Continental Divide rest stop. Maybe it's a little unfair to criticize the bad emissions of other vehicles I had to contend with as we trekked 19 miles up 14,100 feet because not all of Colorado requires vehicle emission testing. But at the entrance of Pike's Peak a sign says you should have at least three quarter of a tank of gas before proceeding. I kinda knew what to expect when I read that. It was fun for awhile cruising 75 miles an hour (on interstate 83 believe) and be legal! Sometimes I had to hold it at 85 mph just to keep the truck driver behind me happy. The wind turbulence when they pass is quite forceful.

I don't see any FAQ there. When I drive I see anywhere from 52 to 57. When my wife drives she's able to top what ever I was getting. I think I gave you guys the wrong impression I was getting low mileage. We're only 200 ft above sea level so for me to get really lousy mileage I'd have to be carrying a ton of dirt in my trunk. LOL Last Fall we spent the day in the Berkshires and I drove 25-35 miles an hour and I waved many a pissed off driver to pass. One refused to pass. She preferred to harass me with hand signals. Anyway, I refueled where I started and had a remarkable 64 mpg. I didn't "short" the fill-up.

mark_

Screw the truck driver. You have no obligation to waste fuel on their behalf.

Word has it that the police don't bother them unless they're doing 90. I was

1200 miles away from home and felt I had no friend in sight. I felt like a guest in my own country. "when in Rome...."

This should help:

Are you doing pump / trip-meter measurements or just the multi-function display?

Good deal. You're driving an 04-06 model (NHW20)?

Bob Wilson