The Automotive Thread

Professional Engineer & PE Exam Forum

Help Support Professional Engineer & PE Exam Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
when we thought the wifes car was dead we looked at Pilots, I really like them but man they are proud of them..$$

wife is actually wanting now to get a Tacoma 4 door so she can move around in the snow easier.. of course those are not cheap either..

So I am not sure if I updated the wifes prius drama..

  • last month her (fat ass) parents came to visit, they drove the prius to Aspen to "look at the one color fall leaf in CO"
  • Prius battery (hybrid ) appears to die in Aspen
  • Tow car back to Denver - paid for that AAA membership for sure
  • Sweat having to get rid of a useless car for a while
  • Learn that the hybdrid battery is OK but 2 years ago the first hybrid battery died, it was still under warranty so Toyota replaced, but they did not replace the fans that cool the battery, so the battery was "fine" but shut down driving up the mountains.  Toyota actually owned up to it and gave us a new hybrid battery and replaced the fans, have to admit I was a little shocked they went that far.
  • So now we are making a plan to sell the prius since it has new hybrid battery that "should" be good for 4 more years, but were just trying to be extremely picky selling it since there are ALOT of them in this area..
I have good news! Almost as good as the PE results coming in tomorrow ;)   -  I no longer have a F'n Prius in the driveway / garage.  After getting the new hybrid battery we put that sucker up on craigslist and took $6K from some hippies in Boulder for it. That was pretty good money for a 11 year old vehicle, but only around 85K miles.

Sad news is now we have a new to us / used car payment.  Wife didn't really like the Pilot, I was surprised I though she would have liked them, but she went and got a 2011 Toyota Highlander, but only 50K miles though.. (I think its the step down from the 4 runner) but this one has a 3rd row seat and the middle was bucket seats which is a big plus..  But the price was right for her....Our main goal was just not to have a $700 car payment..

I am still stuck with the leaking oil Tahoe for a while until I figure out what to do with that, but now we don't have to drive it up to the mtns so much...

 
After getting the new hybrid battery we put that sucker up on craigslist and took $6K from some hippies in Boulder for it.
Did they pay you with a wrinkled up paper bag full of 10's? :dunno:

 
Last edited by a moderator:
it is so funny how everyone hates that car, even if I am doing 85 on the interstate people would get on your ass and basically flip you off (even here with too many hippies in this state)

once my wife stopped to help a friend whose car broke down in the snow and someone drove by and flipped her off and laughed at her cause they thought she was stuck.. people are so ******...

 
Maybe it's different in CO, but in WA the Prius drivers are the ones cutting people off and riding *****. They're just unreasonably aggressive/careless. I've narrowly avoided being hit (both as a pedestrian and while driving) more times than I can count. And there's always that air of pretension about them...just the worst.

 
even with Boulder the Prius owners our outmatched by the sheer number of trucks from the Oil & Gas Industry, General CO country folks, construction, etc..

 
In case anyone's interested, I have a '06 highlander hybrid limited with a bunch of miles for sale.  Replaced it with a '13 Explorer.  It was quite the upgrade.  Explorer is the limited AWD version and we love it.  First car I've owned with bluetooth.  I'm afraid I will have to upgrade the G35 this year too.  Its got 190k miles. 

 
Yea, me too.  Not that there was really anything wrong with it, but everything about it was weird and for the SUV the minimal increase in mpg didn't justify the "weirdness".

 
Yeah, and then it leaves you on the side of the road. 

(not bitter)
Hey guess what kind of vehicle my in-laws inherited from my grandfather-in-law? I warned them of what happened to you, but they are driving it till it dies.

 
Riddle me this: 

The wife's car got new tires at Costco a few months ago. At Costco they fill the tires with nitro.

Earlier this week (when it started getting cold) the TPS went off.

Granted we will be taking it back this weekend to get it checked out but I thought nitro (if it doesn't leak out) won't have the pressure changes as air would in the winter.

 
Hey guess what kind of vehicle my in-laws inherited from my grandfather-in-law? I warned them of what happened to you, but they are driving it till it dies.
Tell them to be careful near Breckenridge. I hear the ghost of a 2006 Ford Escape Hybrid haunts that section of I-70. 

 
Riddle me this: 

The wife's car got new tires at Costco a few months ago. At Costco they fill the tires with nitro.

Earlier this week (when it started getting cold) the TPS went off.

Granted we will be taking it back this weekend to get it checked out but I thought nitro (if it doesn't leak out) won't have the pressure changes as air would in the winter.
That's what they say, but I noticed that too when I had nitro filled tires.  
Same here so I just quit using nitro. IMO, the TPS sensor design is a bit too sensitive and should be using some sort of averaging algorithm.

 
Back
Top