[hyguy81]

I plan to use castrol syntec which I use now in my 1985 celica GT-S

 

[mrv]

oil type

Still in the free maintenance period
that comes with all new Prius...

So, the brand of oil and the oil
weight is whatever junk the dealership
puts in. I hope it's the recommended
5W30, but you never know for sure...

 

[hyguy81]

most oils are even for 3000 mi in mid temp condition but it makes me wonder they say that short trips are hard one ice engines the prius starts and stops all the time what happens to oil pressure and temp you would think the oil gets hot and cold quick cool oil is thick and can hurt mpg > does anyone know if toyota uses a synthetic oil or not . And does anyone know if the 1.5 in the prius is the same as the 1.5 in the echo the use the same oil filter and spark plugs but the echo makes 108 hp insted of 78hp I think they maybe the same

 

[RSnyder]

I believe they share the same engine block, so simple replaceable parts like the oil filter would be the same. The moving parts and computer controls are totally Prius though, designed for much higher efficiency, resulting in lower peak HP, so the electric motor makes up the difference.

 

[hyguy81]

Im not sure but it seems to me that they could have made the prius ice at 108 hp and still been close the same mpg the prius is only 10-15 mpg over the echo and the elec. motor could have made that up with the echo engine for a little more pep and I think they may have did that with the new one does anyone have a for sure hp rating on the ice and elec. one other thing the echo is not sulev it's only ulev or lev that could be the differnce.
Someone said the new prius is going to be about as powerful as a 4cyl camry and they have a 130hp 1.8 4cyl so it could be a 100hp ice with a 30hp elec. or something like that. Or it could be the same ice with 78 hp and about a 50 hp elec. Toyota said the new synergydrive was a more powerful elec. motor and batt. that could run on its own longer than the current one that means more what I like to call free driving (no gas) .

 

[Ken]

Other Synthetic

I've used Mobil1 0W-30W synthetic (yes, that really is zero weight) since I got the car. It pours down to about -58 degrees. The dealer is quite happy to put that in, and I like it for subzero starts in Alaska. If I was in lower America I might use synthetic 5W30. But the engine should be happy with any high quality 5W30. :mrgreen: