Question: Toyota Prius 2003, how do I find and remove the cabin air filter?
Misplaced my owner's manual and can't find the doggone filter.

Answer: OK, the cabin are filter is behind the passenger side glove box. You must empty and remove the glovebox to easily access the cabin filter tray. Replacement is easy from there on. Also if the cabin filter is really dirty with debris, make sure to clean out the duct and blower fan area so as not to have any debris cause noises when caught in the blower fan cage. Good Luck!!

Question: HELP!! Need to charge my 2003 Prius. Have 2-amp trickle chrg but don't get how to hook up and manual is vague
Manual says to disconnect 'ground cable' as tho I know what that looks like! No illustrations, no examples. Can anyone walk me through exactly what I need to do? Everything I read makes it sound easy but then suggests I have something as volatile as a little nuclear reactor in my trunk if I do this incorrectly.

Answer: Yeah, a lot of the old 12v accessory batteries on the older NHW11 sedan Classic Prius (2001-2003 model years) are starting to show their age, and may need maintenance or replacement.

The first 5 photos taken during my cruise control retrofit kit installation on my 2001 Prius should help you in identifying the 12v accessory battery on the left side of the trunk and where/how to remove the ground cable from the chassis. The ground cable is a separate wire and should be pretty obvious.
http://www.kluge.net/~felicity/pics/inde...

The instructions in my US 2001 Toyota Prius Owner's Manual does have diagrams in the "In Case of Emergency - If your car does not start" section showing how to correctly connect up jumpstart cables if you need to jump your 12v battery. The instructions were easy enough for my grandmother to point it out to the AAA driver when she needed to move my stored Prius whose 12v battery went dead from unuse... I thought that the 2003 manual was fairly unmodified from that in my 2001...

Mainly, you want to avoid sparks, just in case your 12v battery is in poor shape and releasing hydrogen gas in an enclosed space... The warnings are there as a CYA lawyer protection clause in instruction manuals. If done carefully, you shouldn't have any problems. (You also want to avoid connecting the polarities backwards, as well! nasty things happen to the electronics and the battery if incorrectly hooked up...)

Do be aware that the only user serviceable battery is the 12v lead-acid accessory battery. (This is similar to one found in every car, used to power the electrical accessories like the radio, clock, alarm, power windows, fan, and power the car's computers.) When you start your Prius, the 12v battery has to have just enough juice to boot up some computers - then the computers flip a relay connecting up the high voltage hybrid traction battery which powers the electric motors, and it is the hybrid battery through the electric motors that start the gasoline engine.

Should you need to replace your 12v accessory battery (no longer holds a charge for a long enough time), take a look through: http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/toyo... for replacement suggestions.

(Oh, and as for the "chatroom" comment... besides not being properly attributed to Betelgeuse from the online Prius forum http://priuschat.com/forums/prius-main-f... , it is also referencing the incorrect model of Prius. Betelgeuse's comment is about the NHW20 hatchback model Prius, 2004-current model year, and not about the Classic NHW11 Prius model that this question is about.)

Question: Is the Toyota Prius 2003 a good used car? Is maintenance expensive?
I'm thinking of buying a Toyota Prius, but I cannot afford a new 2007 model. I'm worried about buying an older model and want to know if they are holding up well.

Answer: Get comfy, one of my usual looooonng answers...

Maintenance on a Prius consists of:

1. oil and oil filter changes every 3000 miles (keep to that schedule, never go 4-5000 miles on any vehicle, no matter what the ads say)

2. rotate your tires every other oil change (every 6000 miles) to prevent uneven wear

3. buy a digital tire gauge for $10-15 and throw away the cheapy $2 stick gauge, then check the tire pressure 2X a week using the pressure off the sticker on the driver's door frame, not the tire itself; tire pressure for the Goodyear Integritys on a Prius is 35 psi front and 33 psi rear, a couple pounds over won't hurt

3. do your 15,000 mile services at a Toyota dealership (if a person can't afford those major services about once a year, they are buying too much vehicle; this is not meant against you, just people in general), the guys at a dealership will have the latest service bulletins, recalls, or other specialized info and tools that the local guys or even national chains may not have

4. replace the air filter when it's dirty (easy to check yourself, look in the owners manual for how to pop the cover off), it's like you trying to breath through a dirty rag while running hard

5. don't use more than E85, the higher alchohol content from more than 15% ethanol will cause the engine to misfire, your mileage will go down because alchohol is less dense than gas and will not burn as well, and other economic and political reasons we won't go into here

6. read the owners manual, it's like reading the phone book, I know, but there is a lot of very useful info in there and they wouldn't pay for it to be printed to give it to you if didn't matter

Having said that, here is some reassuring bits of info for you. Assuming that the Prius has been driven as a regular car and not as a cab or other abuse:

1. the first tune up on the gas engine is done at 100,000 miles

2. the warranty on the entire hybrid system is 8 yrs/100,000 miles, with the expected life of the batteries is 150,000 miles however, the current record for a Prius is 360,000 miles with the original batteries (not a typo)

3. the steering, braking and accelerator are electronic systems, so there is no steering pump or belt; the regenerative braking system does most of the braking so the brake pads should last well past 100,000; there is no accelerator cable, so you will not get cable stretch lag from the cable going slack with age and wearing out the accelerator linkage

4. electric motors do not wear like ICE (internal combustion engines), there is not the issues with friction and wear and tear like a gas or diesel engine

5. there is no automatic or manual transmission to wear, and the continuously variable transmission unit does not require fluid changes like a regular transmission does (it is a sealed system and is not serviced as often)

6. Prius are the flagship hybrid vehicle for the entire world, not just the US; these are scrutinized and abused much more by Toyota than by anyone else and have a massive reliability record. Consumer Reports has rated the Prius the number one vehicle in consumer satisfaction for four years in a row, I believe the number is currently 94%, meaning 94% of the people that bought a Prius would buy another.

I hate to not be objective, but you could do a lot worse.

Question: What is the cruising speed and top speed of Toyota Prius 2003 or 2007?

Answer: 108 mph is set in the computer, but I have gone to 110 mph with the momentum just over the top of a hill.

No. This car is not built for that speed.

You don't feel it going as fast as other car due to the fast back windshield.

You will not be able to stop as you think it should at that speed as you wouldn't felt it was going that fast.

Drive Safe!!!
Test Safe!!!!!!!!!

Cruising speed sould set at between 55-65 mph
At 40mph or less, you can cruse with the engin off.
Longer range can be done at 30 mph or so before the engin kicks in.

Good luck, holp it helps.