driving a new 2012 prius to the states?
 

hey, my uncle just got a new 2012 prius, it has less then 100km on it and hes thinking of going to states with it cause it will be cheaper on gas although the manual says:
Do not drive at extremely high speeds.
• Avoid sudden acceleration.
• Do not drive at a constant speed for extended periods.

what do you think that means
"high speeds"
"constant speed for extended periods"

since the engine hasnt been broken in yet, would it be a bad idea to use it to go down to the states

what would be considered "high speed"
and for constant speed well, just dont use cruise control and it should be fine right.

I really don't know.

Taxi drivers drive the shit out of Prius all the time, so sudden acceleration shouldn't be an issue.
Constant speed for extended periods? I don't know why either...I'd be curious to know.

I probably wouldn't drive to Seattle at 200kph. Going to Blaine or Bellingham would be fine.
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well at high speeds Prius tends to lose the benefit of hybrid, maybe that's why?

yeah ive seen taxi drivers rip the shit outta those little buggers. I dont think it will be a problem

I think iKayChow is asking about the break-in period. The taxi drivers are well-after the break-in period.

yeah but taxi drivers dont care about their cars lulz. :alone:

iuno just thats part of the break in period that should do that, so would it be bad to use it since its so early into the break in period

Most cars nowadays are broken in from the factory. A nice, long drive will do it more good than harm.

My cousins and I drove a 2012 Prius from Los Angeles to Las Vegas round trip without any problems. Averaged maybe anywhere from 70 to 80mph the whole way on the 10 and 15 Freeways.

Going uphills however... :badpokerface:

The Toyota manual states the following...

To extend the life of the vehicle, the following precautions are recommended
to observe:

Forthefirst200miles(300km): Avoid sudden stops.
Forthefirst600miles(1000km):
Do not drive at extremely high speeds.
Avoid sudden acceleration.
Do not drive at a constant speed for extended periods.


... But seriously, it's a Prius that gets over 40 MPG, do you really need to jet down to the states to get $1.00 a litre gas? Just wait until the car is fully broken in... Some say its no longer required but why not wait a few months just in case. I avoided highways for the first 2000km in my last new car, did it make a difference in gas consumption? Probably not, but it helped with peace of mind.

the electric motors shut off on the highway, you're basically running it on all gas power. also part of the charging process is in the braking, when you step on the brakes, it engages the generator to charge the electric motor. it's heavy enough to stop the car, you use very little of your pads. taxi drivers really do rip the hell out of the Priuses but they're basically designed that way as the perfect city car. but their wording does scare me a bit rather than 'avoid driving at constant speed' they use 'do not'
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As bcrdukes stated most cars nowadays are pre-broken in prior to arriving at the dealerships. With that said, take your normal routine driving on the highway like you would with your used car. by normal I assume you'd be driving 60-80mph like the I5 highway suggests, and not redlining your prius(if that's possible)

Lol @ this thread.

Go drive the car normally and your uncle will be fine. Don't think too hard you might hurt yourself.

Driving to the states would be a bad idea. Your going to be beating the fuck out of that 90hp engine .

i think he means that he is using the Prius for the trip as opposed to another one of his cars because the Prius is better on gas

It means no heavy foot. On gas and on the brakes.

Quoting for life.

Oh and your ideas on break ins are retarded.

Constant speed means constant engine speed. As long as he tries to vary revs, he should be fine.

at first i thought he wanted to go down to the states to get cheap gas for his prius

Just drive it normally! It's just a prius and under warranty~

You actually get more fuel mileage from driving in the city with a prius imo. The car uses it's electric motors in stop and go and regens power when braking.

Relatively speaking, your gas-powered car has better mileage in the states than the city.