Just got my 2010 Gen III for a few days. Finally I figured out how to use the trip setting so I tried it out for a day. Here's what I got. I drove for 31 miles in the city and got MPG of 57.4. All data from the car info display. This is only a day's result, but I'm feeling really good about this. I will be keeping records from now on to see if this is normal.
Thana, What octane levels and grades fuels are available to you there in Thailand? Does your fuel have any additives like Ethanol? Glad you have gotten your car and are enjoying it. Welcome to the club.
I was using 91 octane with 10% ethanol. In Thailand fuel with ethanol mixed (we call it gasohol) is cheaper than regular fuel due to government subsidies, so it is an obvious choice for me.
One thing you should be aware of is the overestimation of the HSI fuel consumption, usually around 3% to 5%. But that's still a great number to start off your first tank, congrats! I have been exclusively using BP 95 RON ever since I have my Prius for almost 1 year and have been getting around 4.54l/100km in winter (51.8 mpg US) and 4.4l/100km (54 mpg US) in summer given we don't have too much of a summer so far.
Congrats on the great numbers. I wish I could get close to that with my Gen II. Right now in the winter I don't even get 30mph for a tankful.
Here in Thailand, everyday is like a summer compared to the US. So great mileage all year round. Until the monsoon season comes...
lol! Seriously, how does the monsoon, heavy rain and flood affect the car? Is it even safe to drive in the flood with the battery and electric motor and all?
Heavy rain increases the rolling resistance of your tires making the car work harder to push forward and reducing gas mileage. As far as driving into deep water, don't do it. That's my rule with any car whether it's a Prius or not. I will not hazzard a guess as to what depth can be driven safely because unless you get out and walk it, you never know how deep it really is.
Same as any other car. The flood water will float the car off the road surface, then the flood's flow will push the car downstream, where it will eventually sink and drown the occupants. Or they can bail out and get trapped in the waterborne debris and drown separate from the car. Electricity is the least of one's worries in this situation.
How much cheaper? You will get much better mileage on regular fuel then gasahol. So it is just a matter of pay less and go less or pay more and go more. What the delta is between the $/mi you will need to calculate but it isn't cut and dry.
You must be thinking about the kind of floods that make international headline news with the whole town under water and people drowning and such. I'm actually talking about heavy rain and about 5 inches of water on the road, or around ankle deep. Worst case scenario being flood water about a foot deep. Sorry for the misunderstanding...
That is a great point. I know I won't be going as far with gas/ethanol mix. But I'm still on my first tank so I can provide anything on the $/mile. BTW, the difference between regular and ethanol mix is around $0.22/liter.
Our local floods usually don't even make national headlines, let alone international. The national news here has a very strong bias towards east-half weather problems. But in this country, many people die trying to get through flood waters where the water flowing over the road is under a foot deep. They don't realize the temporary buoyancy of the car's floorpan and force of moving water. In these cases, the car does end up off the road in water much deeper.
