Traveling

Also, I live in Indiana and we have some cold weather. I would be driving this car every day, Would that be a problem ?

I remember seeing quite a few messages on long distance trips with a Prius, probably on the toyota-prius yahoo group. I believe all the postings were positive. If you're concerned about cold weather, visit john's site. He has more than enough data in that regard.

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I drive my Prius on a 500 mile round trip about once a month, never had any problems and usually average around 45mpg... at least I did all winter when it was cold, the average is going up now. I live in upstate NY where it's not unusual for the temp to reach -20 in the mornings (and not get much better than that during the day) and had no problems with the cold at all other than the expected decrease in milage.

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My wife and I just took our 2002 Prius on a 1387.5 mile road trip from Cleveland, OH, where we live, to Hiawassee, GA this past weekend (4/20-4/22). We drove 6 hours the first day, 12 the next, and 6 the final day. We had no difficulties, were never lacking performance (even in TN and GA mountains), and averaged 49.4 mgp. The trip spanned a large range of temperatures, too, from 37-84 degrees F. We got the car in March from a dealer with 4300 miles on it and have put an additional 3000 on since then. Cannot say enough good things about it. Hope this helps.

I have 15,000 miles on my Prius and have travelled from Michigan, to Toronto , to where I live now in Louisville, KY. No problems other than my own error of running out of gas. The car is fantastic.

For me, winter in Michigan did effect the car's mileage slightly, but never ever did I get below 40 mpg in a tank.

I've got a warning for everyone: Fill up when you get down to 2/10 of a tank!!! Don't try to get your 600 miles on the one tank! If you run out of gas, the hybrid system automatically shuts off. Even if you put more gas in, you won't be allowed to move until the certified TOYOTA service man looks at it. That means TOWING!!! It cost me $70.

Does anyone know where we can get the Prius repair/ maintainence manual?

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I've taken no more than a couple-hundred-mile trip, but had no problems. I also have had no issues with reasonably cold weather (0-ish) although as noted, the MPG goes down, especially for short trips. In fact, the car starts heating faster than any other car I've had. Must be the electric auxiliary heaters.

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I too love the Electric Heat, the Electric A/C, the electric Power Steering, and the Electric R.G. power brakes! Heck, my 2,100 sq.ft house plus 4 car garage 2 1/2 ton Heat pump only uses 3.6 KW, and the 80 gallon water heater 4.5 kW, at 240 volts Heck, steeling a little bit from the 33kW battery ain't no big deal!!!

regards,
Don Good (Retired & luv it)