Posted by David T. Johnson on April 16, 2011, 1:24 am
Elmo P. Shagnasty wrote:
>
>>>> Non-hybrid vehicles all have a transmission that requires periodic
>>>> servicing. A Prius does not have a transmission.
>>> You throw that out, and yet those two sentences have absolutely nothing
>>> to do with one another.
>> One requires maintenance...the other does not.
>
> So it is your assertion that the mechanism that transmits the power from
> the engine to the wheels on a Prius never needs maintenance.
First, there is no 'engine' that is the source of power in the Prius.
There are actually 2 electric motors and one internal combustion engine
that all supply power to the wheels. Second, the 'power split device'
has no recommended maintenance interval by Toyota. That is the fact,
not my 'assertion.'
--
Posted with OS/2 Warp 4.52
and Sea Monkey 1.5a
Posted by Elmo P. Shagnasty on April 15, 2011, 8:13 pm
> > And yes, the Prius absolutely does have a transmission. It's not
> > mechanically the same as what's in a Chevy Malibu (for example), but
> > there is a mechanism to transmit--get it?--power from the power source
> > to the wheels, accommodating the needs of both.
>
> Well, the Prius has what Toyota calls a 'power split device' that uses a
> planetary gear and pinion gears to drive the wheels with the gas or
> electric drives but there are no step gears as the Prius has only one
> 'gear ratio' due to its electric drive. Most importantly, there is no
> clutch or torque converter in the Prius as there are in non-hybrid
> vehicles with 'manual' or 'automatic' transmissions as the Prius wheels
> are always connected to the planetary drive setup. This reduces the
> mechanical inefficiency and consequent heat generation. As for
> maintenance, there is no Toyota recommended service interval for the PSD
> on my Prius although some owners have been concerned about the change in
> PSD fluid appearance after a certain number of miles. Toyota switched
> to a new PSD fluid for newer Priuses that may be better suited to the
> PSD operating conditions. Time will tell.
So you're saying that the Prius "transmission" (to use a convenient
word) fluid never, ever needs changing.
Ever.
Maintenance free.
Dude, I know all about the Prius. I own one, have for 4 years/77K
miles, and spent quite a bit of time looking into the entire thing.
Some of the tidbits of information you say are entirely correct, but the
conclusions you claim are generally completely wrong--because you know
lying in the only way to make your case.
Posted by bwilson4web on April 20, 2011, 11:13 am
> . . . As for
> maintenance, there is no Toyota recommended service interval for the PSD
> on my Prius although some owners have been concerned about the change in
> PSD fluid appearance after a certain number of miles. Toyota switched
> to a new PSD fluid for newer Priuses that may be better suited to the
> PSD operating conditions. Time will tell.
You're mostly right but it is a little more than appearance. There is
a measurable, cold weather effect when the older Type T-IV ages. It is
one reason why I'm running a long term study of Type WS, the new oil.
http://hiwaay.net/~bzwilson/prius/pri_T_cold.html
It is not an effect that shows up as a gross mileage improvement but
it is detectable in a cold-weather, hill roll-down test.
Based upon multiple oil samples my recommendation is:
30K miles - Type T-IV, Toyota recommends 60k miles
60K miles - Type WS
Bob Wilson
Posted by DA on April 19, 2011, 7:51 pm
responding to
http://fuelzilla.com/prius/1-millionth-Prius-sold-in-the-USA-11498-.htm
DA wrote:
Elmo P. Shagnasty wrote:
> But the fact remains, the price premium for a hybrid doesn't pay off for
> a very, very long time--enough time that most people don't have the car
> anymore.
Use it for business, then take standard mileage deduction at tax time. A
brand new Prius never breaks (well, OK, I personally had not problem with
two of mine - someone else's experience may differ), Toyota has 5000 miles
oil change intervals, breaks never wear off, etc. - the car is VERY cheap
to operate for the first two-three years at least. If you drive it for
business enough miles (20K+/yr), you'll have your gas cost/maintenance
difference pay for difference between hybrid/ICE-only car in one or two
tax years. After that any savings on gas that Prius provides is all your
net positive, you can enjoy it knowing you didn't pay too much for it.
-------------------------------------
Posted by Elmo P. Shagnasty on April 19, 2011, 8:42 pm
dirs_at_1-script_dot_com@foo.com (DA) wrote:
> > But the fact remains, the price premium for a hybrid doesn't pay off for
> > a very, very long time--enough time that most people don't have the car
> > anymore.
>
> Use it for business, then take standard mileage deduction at tax time.
That's what I do.
A colleague of mine went the route of buying a diesel VW. Same idea.
Actually, we get reimbursed partially, so that's even better. The
remainder, we deduct from our taxes.
>>>> Non-hybrid vehicles all have a transmission that requires periodic
>>>> servicing. A Prius does not have a transmission.
>>> You throw that out, and yet those two sentences have absolutely nothing
>>> to do with one another.
>> One requires maintenance...the other does not.
>
> So it is your assertion that the mechanism that transmits the power from
> the engine to the wheels on a Prius never needs maintenance.