Selling My Cruiser

[Gottasmilealot]

Well, it seems all good things must come to an end. My Pt has been my trusty companion since 2002, and has probably been the most practical and fun car I've owned. But, faced with some near future repairs and high fuel costs, it was time, so I just purchased a new Toyota Prius.

Oh well, life goes on.... Happy cruisin' out there everybody! Enjoy your ride!

[2004PTCruiser]

Sorry to hear about your cruiser But I just got my 2004 for the gas milage it gets around 18 - 20 around town and 25 mpg on the interstate and that is better than my ford F-250 powerstroke that gets 12 around town and 16 on interstate I guess you have to just love this little car.

and diesel is .70 cents more a gallon


pt cruiser = .1725 per mile
F-250 = .3458 per mile
so its half as much to drive the cruiser than the ford truck but I still need the truck to pull the camper

Happy Cruising

[comPuTer]

Originally Posted by Gottasmilealot

Well, it seems all good things must come to an end. My Pt has been my trusty companion since 2002, and has probably been the most practical and fun car I've owned. But, faced with some near future repairs and high fuel costs, it was time, so I just purchased a new Toyota Prius.

Oh well, life goes on.... Happy cruisin' out there everybody! Enjoy your ride!

Gottasmilealot,

I get the best of both worlds. I have my 2001 PT Ltd and my wife has a 2007 Prius! You'll love the Prius. We are consistently getting 50 mpg for her mix of highway/city.

[ucantcme]

Originally Posted by comPuTer

Gottasmilealot,
We are consistently getting 50 mpg for her mix of highway/city.

Lucky!

[mjb457]

Why doest Chrysler make the PT as a hybrid??? Same size and shape as Prius,,,, are we really dumb in this country??? I may also sell mine because of the low MPG & get a MINI- fun and 32MPG highway,,,,,,,, any thoughts.....................

[mjb457]

Another spin..... my neighbor has a 2001 PT & he just turned 200,007 MILES!! I saw it myself on the odometer..The body is in great shape,,,only real problem was tranny-automatic went at 190K..He claims his MPG isnt bad because I think its always moving..the PT isnt a good short trip car,,it certainly does better over the long haul............he said it has many more miles to go!!

[soonercruiser]

Originally Posted by mjb457

Why doest Chrysler make the PT as a hybrid??? Same size and shape as Prius,,,, are we really dumb in this country??? I may also sell mine because of the low MPG & get a MINI- fun and 32MPG highway,,,,,,,, any thoughts.....................

In the car world...Chrysler seems to be the recent "Dunce" of the auto industry!

[comPuTer]

Originally Posted by mjb457

Why doest Chrysler make the PT as a hybrid??? Same size and shape as Prius,,,, are we really dumb in this country??? I may also sell mine because of the low MPG & get a MINI- fun and 32MPG highway,,,,,,,, any thoughts.....................

Even though we have both my Cruiser and her Prius, I am not disappointed in the mpg I am getting on the Cruiser. For my mix of highway/city I am consistently getting 24 mpg. Considering the poor aerodynamics and weight of the PT that's not bad at all.

In fact, driving the Prius has affected the way I drive the Cruiser. The folks at Toyota told us we when we purchased it we would have to re-learn somewhat how to drive if we wanted to get the best possible mpg. Most of us pick up bad driving habits over the years that translate into many lost mpg. Things like slow but steady acceleration from a dead stop, coasting to an upcoming stop whenever possible, planning your route as much as is reasonably possible to avoid stops and/or left turns, etc.

The gas engine in the Prius won't kick in under 35 mph unless the computer detects that you need additional power for acceleration, the A/C, or other needs. It has become a challenge (even a game of sort) to see how little you can cause the gas engine to kick in when under 35 mph. This has affected the way I drive the Cruiser and I am sure it has bought me 1-2 mpg.

The amazing thing is that there is a company in CA that has perfected a mod to the Prius where they are consistently getting 100+ mpg! They have quite a few cars on the road for almost a year now. They added another large lithium (I think) battery so that you are running on pure electric under 35 mpg. The additional battery is charged by hooking up to any available 120 wall socket. Because it is still so new, the custom mod costs about $7k but Toyota is looking closely at it. If they put their blessing on it and add it to their mass production, it will severly lower the price of the mod.

<soapbox>
So, the answer to the question "are we dumb..." is NO. There are lots of folks in this country that are serious about weaning us from dependence on fossil fuels. I hold the large oil companies responsible for why the country is so far behind in this respect. They have overtly (and covertly) sabotaged efforts in the past to protect their mind-boggling profits. Their day, hopefully, is coming to an end soon.
</soapbox>

[ucantcme]

Originally Posted by comPuTer

Even though we have both my Cruiser and her Prius, I am not disappointed in the mpg I am getting on the Cruiser. For my mix of highway/city I am consistently getting 24 mpg. Considering the poor aerodynamics and weight of the PT that's not bad at all.

In fact, driving the Prius has affected the way I drive the Cruiser. The folks at Toyota told us we when we purchased it we would have to re-learn somewhat how to drive if we wanted to get the best possible mpg. Most of us pick up bad driving habits over the years that translate into many lost mpg. Things like slow but steady acceleration from a dead stop, coasting to an upcoming stop whenever possible, planning your route as much as is reasonably possible to avoid stops and/or left turns, etc.

The gas engine in the Prius won't kick in under 35 mph unless the computer detects that you need additional power for acceleration, the A/C, or other needs. It has become a challenge (even a game of sort) to see how little you can cause the gas engine to kick in when under 35 mph. This has affected the way I drive the Cruiser and I am sure it has bought me 1-2 mpg.

The amazing thing is that there is a company in CA that has perfected a mod to the Prius where they are consistently getting 100+ mpg! They have quite a few cars on the road for almost a year now. They added another large lithium (I think) battery so that you are running on pure electric under 35 mpg. The additional battery is charged by hooking up to any available 120 wall socket. Because it is still so new, the custom mod costs about $7k but Toyota is looking closely at it. If they put their blessing on it and add it to their mass production, it will severly lower the price of the mod.

<soapbox>
So, the answer to the question "are we dumb..." is NO. There are lots of folks in this country that are serious about weaning us from dependence on fossil fuels. I hold the large oil companies responsible for why the country is so far behind in this respect. They have overtly (and covertly) sabotaged efforts in the past to protect their mind-boggling profits. Their day, hopefully, is coming to an end soon.
</soapbox>

I'm curious - How many miles do you get on one gas fill up? Do you plug your car into an outlet at night sorta thing...or what?

[comPuTer]

Originally Posted by ucantcme

I'm curious - How many miles do you get on one gas fill up? Do you plug your car into an outlet at night sorta thing...or what?

The standard Prius that is marketed today is not capable of being "plugged in". What I mentioned earlier was only the modified concept version that I was talking about. The standard Prius recharges its onboard battery in several ways -- any time the brakes are used charges the battery (like a dynamo) and when the gas engine kicks in it also charges the battery (if needed). The onboard battery can store a charge for up to several hours running time (can't remember what the maximum is).

I haven't really checked to see how many miles we can get on a tank of gas primarily because I don't believe in running it until the tank is almost empty. Vehicles today have the fuel filter in the tank and it preserves the life of the filter by keeping it completly submerged at all times. For any of my vehicles I never let the tank get below 1/4 full. The Prius has a 11.9 gallon tank. If I remember correclty from readings I've seen in the past months, it will be close to 600 miles per tank. I am positive it is over 500 miles per tank.

The computer on the Prius computes average mpg over a period of time (which can span multiple tanks of gas). You can reset it any time you like and it will recompute.