SOMEONE ELSE'S GOT MY NAME

some of THE worst shade tree mechanics, unfortunately, work for the aftermarket tire joints ... and they'll jack the nuts down with a rattle gun like there's no tomorrow. You'd think everyone would use a torque wrench now days, but nooooo. I watch 'em like hawks to make sure they rotate & reinstall the lugs properly. Even so, we had a stud on our Prius fail, and the dealer replaced it under warranty. .

Perfectly doable and I have done it. Ty On the RX hybrid? really. Pictures?

Isn't the fluid good for 90-100K miles? People have that many miles on 'em already?

I specifically asked the local Dealer to call me if/when he got a 450h in stock. so it get a call. First thing I notice after I get there? The so-called 'hybrid' demo ... No badges. (in so many words i said) This aint got no stinkin' (hybrid) badges! I know for a fact, it'll have a ton of 'em ... they LOVE to advertise that. I know for a fact that he said the HYBRID was in as well. The guy says oh yea, this is the straight ICE model ... but it's the same in all ways except for the electric motors. Already familiar with TONS of different things on the hybrid, I left .. since at that junction I knew he was a scammer, already has two lies deep. Is it any wonder that I try to do all the easy maintenance myself?

+1 Well I at least like the NAV equal to our Garmin, almost. I think it's just personal preferance ... like handling/ride. Put one person in & they hate it ... put another person in & they love it.

I'd imagine you couldn't go wrong with the new Ford hybrid sedan, either. Everyone that's tried it has nothing but good to say about it.

We do the same ... during winter the big 'O' steel rims with studs go on. Then the Michelins in the summer. It lengthens the life of both sets, but only to a certain point. Once so many years pass, many tires will start to rot/crack ... turning on what kind of environment they're used/stored in.

Not just oil activates the message ... it'll activate for tire rotation, cab & ICE air filters, etc ... what ever you want to set it up for. What with all the different intervals, the light'll be on quite frequently, as it's difficult to schedule everything to need service at the same time.

Until recently, (LRR) low rolling resistance tire data was very difficult to determine ... as though it was some kind of national security issue. But since autos are now being forced to obtain higher mpg's / smaller carbon footprint, the LRR topic has become a real hot button. You think Dunlops cost a lot? Michelin REALLY takes the cake ... but on the other hand, they were one of the 1st to publish their LRR data. Other manufacturers are more recenly getting on board. Here's a nifty web site for that kind of data: http://www.michelin-green-meter.com/main.php?cLang=en Funny thing is, tire manufacturers know what side of the bread their butter is on. Often they'll state WAY lower tire pressures on their side walls than you'd really want to run. Granted, your ride will FEEL better, but although it sounds counterintuitive, higher pressures can actually deliver a greater degree of road to tire contact ... besides less rolling resistance, and longer tire life.

My guess (from experience ... and from that of other hybrid drivers I've asked) is that pad wear is more related to driving "style" ... than highway vs "stop & go"-city driving environment. After all ... even in a regular ICE car, if you simply coast up to the red lights (anticipatory driving) in the city ... or drive slower on the freeway/highway where you don't have to brake for others in front of you ... then your breaks wear less. Now, put re-gen into that equation, and the anticipatory driver simply doesn't use the brakes as much. btw, the pad & caliper maintenance is laid out in the pdf up in the sticky of this forum. Gawd ... I think it took me the better part of a day to blend all those pdf's into one giant adobe doc. Once again, a sincere "thank-you" dcfish, for those files

You may want to try this: Remove the DVD from the DVD box With the 400h turned off, disconnect your 12v battery (simply unhook the ground cable ... that's all that is necessary) With the battery disconnected, turn the ignition key all the way on, as though you are trying to start the car up. Turn the key switch back off Re connect the 12v battery With battery re-connected, turn the ignition switch on to accessory mode. Insert the proper DVD and your system may now recognize it. Sometimes your car can hold memory, and by disconnecting the 12v battery and turning on the ignition switch, all stored memory will be drained out of the car's system. Good luck .

In case we'd want to do the same thing ... did you take any shots of work in progress? ... eg; sanding out the original clear & stain? ... showing the wood's color unstained? ... stained look, prior to clear coating? etc. Also, can you post the brand of stain? ... color tint code etc.

It's pretty easy too, to make your own re-usable cabin filter too, with a few sites like this one showing what's best to use for filter material & how to cut it to shape etc. For us, the $15 on line price has never broke the bank, so far ... so for us ... we do it the easy way and simply buy a couple at a time. .

carfax tracks paint damage?

Isn't if funny - how we're all programed by the auto / fuel industy. We drive around with 10 - 20 gallons of deadly toxic liquid explosives every day ... each gallon with the power of more than 30 sticks of dynamite ... where EVERY day in the U.S. ... we average 2 fatal gas related burning to death car fires ... some of those autos with multiple occupants. Seldom does it make the news. We're programmed that somehow, the benefits of cheep fuel outweigh the day to day to day tragic results. But try & switch our society to batteries and WHAM ... suddenly we have something to freak out about. To me? It's an irony.

It just dawned on me ... our membership number never changes. Shouldn't there be some kind of accomodation for people who "un-join" vis a vis a lower number ?? ... or is that never possible ... so we never gain any sort of 'membership seniority'. Not that it'll increase anything. Just wondering ... food for thought.

http://www.aeolus-online.com/catalog/pics/..._Seat_Cover.jpg Buy a set of these. You don't even have to install 'em. As suggested above, just stuff 'em in back some where. They're PVC. The stink of their off gassing is what most associate with new car stink. It'll be like walking into a brand new mobile home ... all the fermaldehyde, and polyvinalchloride off-gassing that's legally alowed. Yum yum :P

If you're on the screen with the energy display (shows battery / ICE / spinning wheels / direction of energy) and look close, the only thing different will be the spinning wheel animation will look stationary. No big deal. After you throw your switch, the display goes back to normal. Actual mileage isn't affected as this signal simply indicates motion ... and not distance/speed. If you disconnect the actual speed sensor(s) at the wheels ... that's a different story ... but the speed sensor disconnect is an easy way to fool the system if you're on a steep - slick - ice covered road and you don't want the system to disengage from a little bit of wheel spin on ice. That said ... once we got our lockpick device ... we didn't need to splice into the motion sensor wire behind the mfd any more ... but of course the lockpick is a more expensive way to go.

The earlier, the more likely ... and the EU / asian versions are more likely too. Your deler has your vin. If your model falls w/in theparameters, they'll let you know. Ours was done about 2 months ago, and they told us most all are done now.

I'll buy that easily enough, as our 400h has over 40K & the front pads hardly look worn. If only the original tires (prior to the new Michelins) would have held up 1/2 as well.

+1 Now, the bumper to bumper extended warranty? Well, THAT's one we did buy. Only because the prior 2 that we bought paid for their self (Range Rover & Prius). Heck, the last use on the RR was a little yellow dash light, "Maintenance Required". No symptoms. The dealer called to say, "we're replacing the tranny". That alone would have cost us $6,000 back in 2002. The hybrids had flakey MDF's when they 1st came out. Ours was done out of the origianl 36K warranty, under the extended one. Again ... paying for itself. Admittedly, it's a crap shoot ... like in Vegas ... sometime they pay off ... other times you spent your money for nothing. So even if we never use the 400h extended warranty, we're still batting well over 600.

heck ... if I'm NOT having to wait for triple-A to drag me into Lexus, after I thought it'd be ok to see how far 'EMPTY' really is ... THAT's a good day

Oh sure! It'll getcha home, for CERTAIN . . . IF: Your ICE is warmed up to S4 (157 degrees f.) Your traction pack is on the top blue line, or in the green, and, You're less than a half mile from home, and, Your drive is on level ground. Now, do you REALLY feel any better? Run the traction pack down to where you get a (red triangle of death) full on shut down, and your recharge will NOT be covered by your warranty. And there's always that embarrasing phone call where in essence you have to call for assistance, in essence admitting to being a couple sandwitches short of a picnik.

The 2010 is heavier than the 2009, because it's bigger ... appx 5% more cargo room ... plus a heavier battery load, along with the heavier body. So when you consider bigger & heavier, the fact that the 2010 is less than a half second slower in the quarter mile ... is it really such a big deal? Do you really need to get to the next red light any faster than a 7.6 second Zero to Sixty mph time? It's weird. Folks are starting to whine about gas prices back between $3 and $4 a gallon in several areas, and over $70 / barrel oil prices ... but what's a body to do. I do agree that the new body style will have to take some 'getting used to' ... at least for me.

Hmmm . . . 1 post only. Troll? Never know. Our aux battery died at 36K miles. Dealer had a new one in as quick a you could believe (plus car wash). Back out we went. And we'd left the lights on several times prior ... so they could have made an easy argument it was from our own neglect ... & we'd have understood (minus the fact the lights OUGHT to all go out after a certain amount of time). It'll be interesting to see if the 2010 has a better design ... whether a bigger battery (for programming the bluetooh etc) or a system that kills all power (except SKS signal reception).