Happy & Healthy Times

In a never ending quest to live a more sustainable life, we are embarking on purchasing a more ‘environmentally friendly’ car.  At the top of the list is the Toyota Prius.  However, there is a lot of bad press or rumour milling about the Toyota Prius’ batteries and how many years before you will have to spend $1000’s of dollars to replace the batteries.  We have heard that you will need to buy new batteries every 7 years and it will cost up to $10,000 to replace them.   And at the other end of the scale, owners of Prius’ have told us that the batteries have a lifetime guarantee and that to replace the three batteries is only $200! 

So we thought why not go straight to Toyota’s Head Office in Melbourne and see what the story is.  When we called Toyota and asked the question as to how many year’s warranty the batteries have, a very helpful customer service operator told us that the batteries have a ‘5 year warranty’.  Then when asked what the warranty covered, we were told that the warranty covered ‘manufacturer’s defects’ and that to date they have not replaced any batteries under warranty. 

So that tells us what will happen if due to a manufacturing defect the battery implodes, but not how long the batteries should last.   But, we were told that the batteries are a high quality ‘commercial grade’ battery.  Not sure what that means in terms of longevity?   Then the question was asked of the operator, ’What does a new Toyota Prius Battery cost to buy?’  The operator told us that although he couldn’t give an exact figure, it would be about $2,000 to $3,000.

So…….we have rung a local Toyota Dealer’s Service centre and asked them to give us a price on a new Toyota Prius.  They will get back to us and we will get back to you when we know more. 

And finally we are off this weekend on a family outing to inspect some second hand Toyota Prius’.  We will definitely be taking a closer look under the bonnet.  The bottle/cup holders will also be inspected to see whether or not they hold our Klean Kanteen stainless steel water bottles, as we can’t leave home without them!

We will let you know more after the weekend.

If there is anyone out there than can enlighten us further, then please do so.

Last week, I took a walk up Masseys Creek, or rather a stumble up the Creek with my trusty 40oz (1.2litre) Klean Kanteen Stainless Steel Water Bottle in it’s Built NY Red Neoprene Cover.  It is a rather rocky walk, but filled with nature’s wonders - crystal clear rock pools and rainforest gullies, fresh mountain air, what more could one ask for?  

To begin with I carried my stainless steel water bottle by the loop at the top of the cover in my hand.  But after a few stumbles and with the use of only one hand, I realised that this was not such a good idea.  So I then looped the clip of the neoprene cover around the belt straps on my walking shorts.  Whilst the bottle was a little heavy and pulled down on my pants, it was a lot better than holding the stainless bottle in my hand and not being able to stop myself from falling.  I must say that the neoprene cover did it’s job as my Klean Kanteen did not suffer any dints!

On the weekend, the whole family decided that they wanted to take a look at Masseys Creek also, that is Mum, Dad, Jack 6 and Ellie 4.  This time I decided that I would take my Klean Kanteen in its Klean Kanteen Black Carry Sling.  Now this was a much better idea as it meant that if I had a stumble I was able to correct my balance and not land on my bottle.  It also enabled me to have hands free to stop, unscrew the loop cap and have a drink without too much trouble.  Dad decided that he wanted to carry a few kilo’s of water and the other Klean Kanteen water bottles in his back-pack, but I think that this was also partly a weight training exercise.  The children did a wonderful job of 3 hours hiking up and back down the Creek which was quite rocky and steep in parts!

Wow, I just used Fantastico to install WordPress for my blog and, not only did it work first time but it only took five minutes - well when my Web friend kindly finished it off for me!