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fjef

SnowJapan Member
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Posts posted by fjef

  1. Hi Slow - Kaz and I just got back from Hakuba - skiing was great on top and more snow is expected for the weekend!

     

    The problem with the bus system seems to be that only a select bunch of places can make the tickets available so if you are staying somewhere else and/or decide to go out to a restaurant or bar without a ticket or understanding the system, it will be very disappointing when you are not allowed to get on the bus! They need to rethink this I think!

  2. As I learned yesterday in Hakuba, tickets will only be available at a few places - this is truly nuts - if you need to use the bus, you have to go where the tickets are sold to be able to ride it - they will not be available for sale in most hotels and restaurants that will make the service useful - like when you decide you want to go out. They will not sell tickets on the bus so if you see the bus and want to jump on, you're out of luck...

     

    ...can anyone post the list where tickets are going to be sold?

  3. Many of the ski racing families of Kitzbuhel, Austria still live in farm houses on the mountains - the Hinterseers, Sailers, etc grew up as kids needing to ski to school and live - it was great to visit their homes and see the trophies and pictures in their living rooms when I lived there. It was those kids who made the sport happen so many years ago and most of them still rock...

  4. Used snow tires are fantastic value in Japan - you can find them on the net and your local mechanic will probably know of a source. I got 2 studdless tires for my Delica with rims for 4,000 yen (for all 4) The tires are in almost new condition and all I paid for was an extra wheel balance and installation. Not a bad deal at all!

     

    You can also rent snow tires cheaply if you can't justify or store an extra set.

  5. If you have a look at the major Prius forums (priuschat.com and others), you'll see that people very quickly adapt to the small rear window (properly adjusted mirrors will take care of it) and very few people have any problems with rear vision while driving. I helped my mom (she's 70) buy one last year in Canada and although it was a comment she made at the dealership, it has never been mentioned since. She loves the car but now hates my father because he steals it from her every chance he gets.

     

    The strangest thing about owning a Prius is when you are in a 'normal' car and think 'WTF?' when the engine is running and you are not moving...

     

    You'll also find in your research that the Prius is coming in first consistently in owner satisfaction surveys in Japan and in N. America and has a very low total cost of ownership due to low maintenance and repair costs. The engine is designed to pollute far less than a similar sized car - and with the electric and gas engines combined, you have far more power than a regular 1.5L car.

     

    It really is an engineering marvel...

  6.  Quote:
    Originally posted by Ocean11:
    fjef, the old version don't come with a plug do they? When you're actually selling your old Prius, I'd be grateful if you'd give me a shout, because I might be interested. I prefer the old ones to the new ones.
    No plug - no Prius' come with plugs although a lot of people wish they did as the battery would always be at full charge after plugging in rather than relying on the gas engine to provide the charge...

    You can get conversion kits from the US which do allow you to plug in and increase your mileage dramatically over short distance trips.
  7. Why would you think a Prius is horrible? Its the best vehicle I have ever had. I average 24kms/litre with the older version - the new ones like Mr. Wiggles has are even better. They are almost maintenance free and are good in snow.

     

    Waiting lists are so long in Japan that they are probably not available to lease - so you are right about that part being horrible!

  8. You need to go into your router and open the ports so that the remote software (VNC?) can connect.

     

    NTT router interfaces are very messy and make normally simple tasks very complicated. Best not to muck around unless you really know what you are doing or you might disappear from the SJ forums for a while...

  9. I can get great deals on the Toyota Prius from an auction dealer friend- otherwise they are very hard to find/expensive. They are heavy in the front because of the extra engine and are good in snow. I am about to order a new one and will have my 2002 model (in excellent shape) for sale...

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