Well, I have had my Prius for one week now. (I still love the car and am glad I bought it.)<br><br>I am, however, disappointed with my MPG. The dealer gave me my car with a full tank of gas. I had a half a tank left after driving 240 miles. I went to gas station and my car took exactly 6 gallons. That equals only 40 miles per gallon. (My display, reset after I took delivery of car, says I got 43 MPG.) I was hoping to get closer to 50 MPG. Oh well, 40 MPG is still very good. I am driving equally on Freeways and regular streets. Hardly any uphill driving, which would eat up more gas, of course.<br><br>I have read similar posts where Prius owners are saying they're getting slightly over 40 MPG.<br><br>Luckily, I have not had any power steering failure warnings pop up. (I hope it stays that way.)<br><br>I'm driving on Bridgestone tires, and so far none of them have blown.

Be patient. All new cars need a break-in period. MPG does get better once this occurs and once you learn to "baby" the car more. One thing that hurts MPG is jack rabbit starts and riding the break pedal. Just some thoughts.

Be sure to check your tire pressure with a good/accurate tire pressure gauge! As delivered, all of my Prius' tires were about 30psi. According to the owners manual, they should be 35psi front and 33psi rear. Check them at least twice a month as tires loose about one psi per week! <br>Also, I have noticed that using the headlights causes a slight decrease in mpg. YMMV!

You wrote that "using the headlights causes a slight decrease in mpg".<br>This is because TOYOTA is using low efficiency halogen lights.<br>If they'd mounted more efficient "blue" lights it would save you some MPG.<br>The probable reason for that is that these lights are tooo expensive for TOYOTA and ofcourse - you will not be able to upgrade them at all / same goes for GPS, cruise, CD etc/.<br><br>Robert<br><br>P.S. I assume thay the famous "gift" manual that some people received will not be given to them when they receive their cars :-))

If you do have multiple manuals (gift+came with car), might be a market on e*bay...or you could be generous and donate it 1st come-first served to one of "we who patiently wait."<br><br>p

I donated mine to the dealership so that they can be a little better informed for their future customers. They seemed genuinely grateful too!

I read recently that the fancy gas discharge headlamp systems cost over $1000. That's why you ususally see them on expensive cars. At $1k, that's 5% of the price of the Prius.<br><br>I think this would have been a cool gee whiz feature, but I wouldn't have wanted to pay $1000 for it.<br><br>MJS

I for one would like a spare Prius manual. Will pay postage!<br>ewmcshc@...

You can order it from TOYOTAs manuals - it is around $10<br><br>Robert

Thanks for the great tip on getting a PRIUS manual. I have months to wait for my PRIUS and now I can start learning about all the details you guys have been discussing. Here is the details about getting one:<br>Call Toyota at 1-800-622-2033 (7 - 4:30 PST)<br>Ask for the PRIUS 2001 Owners Manual (part number 00400 OM 47401 U)<br>Cost is $13.97 with tax and shipping (outside CA probably lower with no tax)<br>about a 1 week delivery.<br><br>Now I have something to look forward to in the NEAR future!<br><br>Craig

So now /or after 3-4 months/ you will have 3 copies of manual: one for home, one for work and one spare /like PRIUS keys/ :-)))<br><br>Robert