SOMEONE ELSE'S GOT MY NAME

You won't be able to convince rlpiv that's true because he didn't have to drive backwards in his non-hybrid ... and in his/her mind that means it must be the car. Prius owners make the same "no it isn't yes it is" a problem comments. For those who haven't tried mongo snow tires, they'll never know. We drive Mt snow / ice / hilly terrain and the snow / stud tires make all the difference.

Wow! Seldome do we all get to experience so many varied "positively certain" - type opinions ~ that are diametricly opposed. Not wanting to get my feelings hurt here, ( ) with stern contradictions about B mode ... I'll only say, "ask your service tech". I'm guessing he knows what he was talking about, when he told me that, "B mode does such & such". I'm such a coward.

Too bad, rlpiv ~ that you chose to 'take your marbles and go home' so to speek. If I may add to wwest's pearls of wisdom; Can you spell, "SNOW TIRES" ? We experienced the same issue with both our Prius, as well as our 400h. The proper tires on ice/snow (and in MT we're allowed to run studs) make all the difference you'd ever need. So you gave up way too quick, without seeking advice at a great place like this forum. Fact is, if you ARE in a wheel spin situation ... and the car stops ~ regardless whether its because the VSC stops you ... or whether you're stopped due to wheel spin, you're still stopped. There are nut jobs out there who'd just as soon rev their spinning wheels to 5Krpm. That can play havoc to the hybrid system. If you DO need better results ... and trust your self to not over rev when wheels break free, and can't afford the proper tires you OUGHT to be using in ICE/SNOW, there IS a way to over-ride the VSC / ICE cutting out. It's as simple as unplugging the modular sensor connectors (but I didn't tell you that :whistles: ). I got that gem from a Toyota tech who shall remain nameless. It works, in that flash storm situation, prior to having a chance to get the studded set mounted.

Hi duffman, Didn't note if anyone raised the issure of miles/kilomer conversion/accuracy. Presuming that's ok, most mileage conscious folks (much more rare here, than on the Toyota Prius chat pages) note that cars DO tend to do better after about 3 or 4 months of breakin. During those times, one tends to get a better feel for the cars, and has more practice at 'anticipation' driving, etc. The Lexus crowd tend to appreciate 'ride' above mileage, otherwise I'd suggest increacing tire pressure slightly. It made the difference on my Prius. Went from 55mpg to a best of 61.7mpg. Had some increase on the 400h as well. Good Luck! ... and welcome the the u.s.a. site.

There's a fellow out there doing a sweet home brew mod'ed version ... incorporating old functions that allow over-ride functions to remain. Apparently, once upgraded, the override screen normally becomes disabled.

I'm 6'5" and would have to agree . . . you must have MUCHO short legs / relation to torso, as the 400h has a mile of headroom for me (and especially compared to the RangeRover we unloaded in its place). As a tinker'er though ~ I did manage to move the seat back an extra inch in a manner that doesn't affect air bag deployment / etc. Normally the leg length isn't a big deal, but on those occasional drives between CA and MT the extra inch of leg room is more important.

Like another post'er wrote (re: 1st year MB squeeks / kinks / etc) sheesh, what do you expect for 1st couple year's vehicle runs? As for the gizmo MFD, we who DO drive conservative enjoy being able to gauge when using gas / electric power, to improve mileage (we're up to 26mpg after 18K). As for driving lead foot and not getting EPA estimates? Does the work 'estimate' really need "your mileage may vary" written behind it? Most recent EPA estimated DO show what lead foot drivers get, BTW. As another poster also wrote, it's always amazing that other car's mileage being horrible doesn't seem to bother folks, as it does with a hybrid.

I don't think he meant page 13. It's on pg. 10 (if you aren't counting the intro junk).

Maybe little pieces of the cabin air filter? Have you ever had one out? If so, you can compare the material to what ever it is you see blowing out.

My wife (whose 5'-7") gripes about blind sponts in our 400h ~ but being taller (6'-5"), from my angle it's no big deal.

The book says the cargo area only looses one inch (higher floor) due to battery storage.

NO WAY should ANYBODY put up with that. Most states have lemon laws, and big ticket things like that are exactly what the lemon laws were meant to cure. Curious. What is your wife's reasoning for wanting a Range Rover? She like the RR's visability better . . . being 6-5 I don't notice any issue though, myself.

Intermittent? LOVE it. Satisfied w/ how they work? LOVE it.

THIS is the MOST important screen for anal mileage drivers :D as this is how you can obseve that you are driving with NEITHER the ICE nor batteries being used ... and thus obtaining highest mileage. On a serious note though, you'll find that if you'e merely sitting in traffic on a hot day w/ the AC running, the batteries will run down to the low point, forcing the ICE to come back on to recharge.

Yes . . . but it's my wife's primary car. She'd still rather have the gas guzzlin' under powered, break down prone Range Rover that we unloaded (thank God) just 60 days before the warranty went away.

Welcome! 2. The batteries like to stay under 80% SOC and above 20% SOC so don't fret about that. 5. NEVER, let me rephrase, . . . NEVER buy junk that you don't have to, from Toyota / Lexus. Can you spell OVER PRICED? Whether it's the Cabin air filters, the extended waranty, you name it. You can find it for less than half of the dealer cost, by searching the web. 6. See # 5 :) Your 400h will give youi tons of enjoyment.

We use both on occasions. Some of the cheezy regular in MT will cause pinging. When up there, we use mid or high test to avoid the knocks.

Er, your link is NOT right ~ sends you off the a gmail account. :P

I"m working on a marketing a portable meth lab. LOL Tom You'll need WAY more amps from your 115 plug, than the car can provide ... errr so I've heard ... ok so i've worked for the public defenders office ... that doesn't mean my customers were necessarily experts on the subject, right? :whistles:

Wow! You layed tile on your garage floor? I suppose you could'a REALLY gone nuts ... maybe used travertine.

While your !Removed!'n . . . how many warnings do you have to get before you're banned (as if that's an admirable goal)? Or is it a sliding scale?

I too will be looking for whatever brand pans out to be the highest mileage / lowest rolling resistence tires. The Goodyear stockers (as other posts coroborate) are WAY worn, at only 18K miles. You'd think my wife was doing brody's in the parking lot.

I thought you go down into a valley, and UP a hill. :^) that's just me. On earlier versions (prius, for example) . . . even the regen arrows (going from ICE to battery) would turn green when it was recharging. The Lexus regen arrows though, are kinda yellow. For me that's not as regen looking . . . but again I guess that's just me.

Not only correct, but discussed on numerous posts already . . . the search tool: a wonderful (and not often used enough) thing. :whistles:

I drive our 06 very anally & can consistently get 31mpg. But since my wife drives it the most, our average is 25.4mpg over the 18.5K miles total driven since we bought it. In the same vein, the new EPA mileage statistics are out that reflect LOWER mpg for all cars ... seems like I read somewhere about 15% lower on the average. Anyway here's the government's web site: http://www.fueleconomy.gov/!Removed!/calculatorSelectYear.jsp You can check you gas guzzler's mileage as well!