The MPG Mystery

This post has nothing to do with Toyota's current issues of floor mats, brakes and gas pedals. This has to do with my little Prius, Adam, and BIG business. :)

About a month ago, Adam's little gauge that tells me how many miles per gallon he is getting started dropping. We also noticed that we were putting in more gas than we had been. Irv said that with the cold weather, warming Adam up some mornings and running the heat could all lower his gas mileage, but the gauge kept dropping and we kept filling up the tank. I had been getting 49.5 MPG and now Adam's little gauge said 45.3. We decided to check the mileage ourselves and were shocked when our calculations showed that Adam was only getting 37.8 MPG!

Oh no.......was my darling little Adam sick?

We stopped at the Toyota dealer so Irv could run in and talk to someone in the Maintenance Department. I waited in the car and after about 10 minutes Irv came out.

Adam wasn't sick. The drop in miles per gallon is normal for a Prius during the really cold weather. The gauge takes a long time to come down to the mileage you are really getting. Blah, blah, blah....it has something to do with the cold and a bladder in the gas tank and blah, blah, blah. I don't get all the technical automotive lingo.

First of all, shame on me and Irv for not doing our homework so we knew that fact before we purchased Adam. We would have still bought him, but it would have been nice to know that. I am not complaining over 37.8 MPG. Here is the kicker though.....

The guy told Irv that he had probably had 50 Prius owners in over the past couple of weeks with the same concern.

What ?!?!?!

I said to Irv....if this is something that causes that kind of negative response every winter, why on earth wouldn't they just tell people about that when they are looking at the car and talking about the gas mileage? "Just so you know, the gas mileage on the Prius does drop a bit during the really cold winter months." That's all they would have to say. If the person asks how much it drops....tell them it varies. If they press, then tell them whatever the average is for goodness sake. It isn't that big of a deal!! It's still great gas mileage!!!

Irv said, "They aren't going to tell people that because then someone might not buy the car."

Good point....in this world of BIG business, I guess it is better to sell 50 cars and then have 50 upset customers than it is to risk a couple less sales.

Not the way I would do business, but then I am not a car dealership in a slumping economy either.

Adam's Adventure

We were cruising along on our first leg of our trip to Telluride. Adam was doing a fine job. We were constantly watching the little MPG graph to see what kind of gas mileage we were getting. We hadn't had Adam very long so we were still in the "get acquainted" stage.

We were in a nasty construction area when a little alarm went "ding"! It was telling us that it was time to start thinking about getting some gas. The manual said that when the alarm goes "ding" you have about 3 gallons of gas left. In a car that was getting 45 mpg, we figured we would stop at the next big town.

About 20 minutes later Adam started slowing down. He wasn't accelerating properly at all. We were losing all of our power! Construction area....one lane each way....no shoulder.....a long line of cars behind me...UH OH! We saw an exit and signaled to get off. My speed kept decreasing no matter how hard I stepped on the gas. 50-40-30-crap the exit is a ramp...an up hill ramp!

Putt, putt....20-10....we're OFF!! We glided over to the shoulder. Now alarms were going off all over the place and lights were flashing! What the hell was going on with my brand new car?

The sweat was pouring off of me. All I could see is us sitting out in the middle of nowhere waiting for our cute little hybrid to be repaired. So much for our vacation!

Irv pulled out the manual only to read all of the horrible things that might be wrong with Adam. He checked the part again about the gas gauge alarm and yep...it says you have three gallons of gas left so there was no way it could be that. We hadn't even gone 40 miles!

I tried staring Adam again and the sweet boy started right up. We could see a gas station and decided to make a "run" for it. It would be safer than where we were pulled over and then we could call the Toyota dealer and ask him WTF might be wrong.

I started up the hill to the intersection and of course the light turned red. Oh, hurry up...I do NOT want to get stuck here!

Okay...green light....we went through the intersection and pulled into the gas station. Irv had me pull up to the pump since we were going to need gas anyway. He filled Adam up and I pulled him over to a parking place alarms still sounding....then one by one....they all stopped!

Are you kidding me? Could we have really run out of GAS????

We let Adam run for a while as we gathered our composure. My stomach was in a big knot. Adam seemed to be a happy little hybrid again, so we decided to get on the road and see what happened. Irv drove because I was too upset. I was mad at the gas tank, mad at the alarms, mad at the manual, mad at Adam, mad at the the dealer, mad at Toyota and I was mad that I was mad.

Not another problem the entire trip!

Yep, we had run out of gas...even though the gauge said we had plenty of gas left. We now fill Adam up LONG before the little three gallon alarm goes off because we now know that the alarm really means...fooled you!!

Chee hoo!!

:)

Uh Oh.....Look What I Did

Remember the funny saying, "The devil made me do it!" Well.....he didn't. I did it all by myself!

I had the option of buying my leased Camry this month, however it had 40,000 miles on it already, needed new tires, already needed some repairs and by the time I financed the buy out and paid on it for another 5 years, I would have paid way more for that car than it was ever worth.

So, I did this instead. This is my new, darling, non-gas guzzling little Toyota Prius! I know three people that own them and love them and are getting 47 mpg. That will be awesome for me since I drive 20 miles each way to and from work.

I haven't named her/him yet, but I'll let you know when I do.

:)

Car Problems Part 2

Remember when I told you that the kid where we get our oil changed said our trans was leaking? Then we took it to the dealer where we bought the car and they ran a diagnostic test and said it was the power steering and not the trans. Remember how they were going to charge us $1000 to fix it and then decided to "cut" the price and that price was still more than our mechanic charges? Then we had to pay the dealer $100 for the Diagnostic test whether we had the work done there or not because the problem we had was not something that was under warranty.

Well, we paid them their stinkin' $100 and had the car fixed at our own mechanic. When we picked it up, he said that it was a problem with the power steering, but that the trans WAS leaking fluid! Irv called customer service at Toyota and because we didn't have our car serviced when Toyota recommends and because the car was over that part of the warranty, there was nothing he could do. We get our oil changed regularly, but we have never ever taken any of our cars in for the recommended service that always ends up costing you $500...and we have never had a problem with any of our cars because of it.

So, Irv took the car to our local Toyota dealer where we know one of the service guys. He checked it out FOR FREE and said, "Yep, the trans is leaking."

Irv is picking up my repaired car....repaired under the trans part of the warranty so it is FREE.

Tomorrow I will be writing a nice little letter to the dealer where we bought the car telling him that I REALLY want to believe that it was just a little mistake on their guy's part...the fact that he could only find a $1000 non-warranty problem and didn't happen to see the warranty trans problem that everyone else saw.....and I WANT MY $100 BACK!

UGH!

Car Repair Part 2

The guy at the Toyota dealer said, "I'll check and see if there is anything we can do (on the $900 repair cost) and I'll call you tomorrow." The guy didn't call, so Irv called him. Oh, he's off today! Too funny! The guy Irv did get to talk to was a bit snippy and said he really doubted they would do anything, but he would call him back.

It must have been our lucky day and the Goddess of car repairs was looking upon us with favor, because lo and behold, they will do the repair for HALF PRICE! Wow! Now our $900 repair was going to cost $537...that is 1/2 price and includes the $100 for the diagnostic test they ran. What a deal!


Irv had talked to our personal mechanic and he was putting together a quote, so even though Toyota was giving us a "deal" I told Irv to call Bob and see if he had a price for us yet. That was the right thing to do. So Irv called Bob and told him what Toyota was doing it for and Bob laughed. He said, "They aren't giving you any deal! My price is $397!"

Can you believe that? That is the kind of thing that really ticks me off...like paying $5.00 for one Tylenol in the hospital! I am such a patient and understanding person, but I find this kind of stuff pathetic to the point that if I think about it too much, my blood pressure goes up! Just kidding, but man does that make me mad!

So, needless to say, Irv is at the Toyota dealer to get my car. My car will be paying a visit to Bob, the auto mechanic next week! We do still have to pay Toyota the $100 for the diagnostic test whether we have the work done there or not, but oh well...what are you going to do?

Irv wanted to go yell at the manager, but I told him to let it go. It won't do anything but get him more upset. We still have to deal with these when our lease ends in 3 months, so I would rather not make any waves.

Rolling of eyes......

Trying To Smile

Well, Irv took my car in for an oil change this weekend. The guy there said my transmission was leaking. Irv took the car to our mechanic and he said it looked like it and to go to battle with Toyota. We are 2500 miles over our warranty. The car is leased and the lease in done in 3 months. He called Toyota and they said to bring it in...that the transmission would be under the 5 year warranty. Okay, so that was good news.

Toyota called today though and said it isn't the trans that's leaking, it's the power steering and now whatever I need will run $900. ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? The guy told Irv he will talk to the boss when he comes in tomorrow and let us now what they can do for us.

What they can do is fix the darn thing for FREE! I am not spending $900 to repair something that shouldn't be breaking at 38,000 miles! UGH! Anyway, I am trying to be calm and wait to see what the guy says tomorrow. Then if it isn't the news we want to hear....Irv will be calling someone else at Toyota.

Then just as I am about to walk out the door at work, the place that I ordered my canopy for the craft show from calls. Sorry, the canopy you want is out of stock and we won't have them in until June! JUNE???? ARE YOU KIDDING ME???? The show is May 17th. They would be happy to sell me this other one that is actually a better canopy than the one I ordered for less money. Oh, really?? I went home and looked at it online. NOPE...it isn't better. I want the other one.

So, I found it somewhere else and ordered it. It says it's in stock, but I won't have it until the end of April or the beginning of May. That was not my plan. I wanted it early so we could practice setting it up and I could see if my lay out works. I am NOT happy, but I really am trying to be calm. Getting hysterical really won't fix my car or get me my canopy any sooner, so I'll deal with whatever happens.

It was a less than wonderful afternoon. Now I am about to start making the zillion pillows I cut out last night. Here is a sneak peek at some of the other ones I have finished that I probably won't be listing on etsy. I am really lovin' the pillow thing right now!

Breathe.....stay calm.....happy thoughts....smile.....go make some pillows. :)