Upon taking delivery of your new prius, take the 20 lbs of Toyota Prius literature out of the glove box! Man!.. that is heavy stuff.. take it in the house.....
An even better tip is to read it. Sadly, every day we get posts asking something clearly explained in the manual.
Best tip? Slow down. I read the manual on line the weekend before I picked it up. Combined with the additional NAV book, it was nearly 1,000 pages!!!! Take out all the BS lawyer warnings and it would be 43 pages........
Couple tips for you; 1, Check your tyre pressures and adjust if required. One low tyre, even a few psi, can make a big difference. 2, Drive carefully. You will now get great mpg's. But the Prius isn't magic. Drive like a lead footed nutter and you'll get poor mileage.
Off the subject a tad, but nonetheless a "useless disclaimer" i came across in the showroom the other day. posted clearly in the showroom next to the parts dept. in an effort to improve safety in your Toyota. step 1: take the mats out of the front of the vehicle drivers side Step 2: Place the mat in the trunk. Literally this is what it said!!! haha i was laughing .. are they serious?
I don't think weight is that large a factor in MPG. If your tires are at max sidewall air pressure, which is 44 to 51 PSI, you may loose 1-3 mpg, but you would loose a lot more if you were just by yourself and it was pouring down rain with standing water, temperature at 40 degrees, and wind from 15-30 mph. That what half of the winter days are like in the northwest; With those conditions you could drop 10 mpg, a lot more than with 4 people in the car with 70 degree temps, no wind, and dry roads. al
Best single thing I can think of is to keep your tire pressures fairly high, not to exceed the max load pressure on the sidewall of course. I took a 3500 mile trip about a month after I got my car, all kinds of highways, speed limits ranging from 55 to 75 mph, quite a bit of mountain driving, used cruise control most of the way. Mileage for the entire trip was 47.6 calculated, 49.7 displayed. My mileage would not be quite that good now because I replace the OEM tires with high performance tires and lost a couple of mpg. But I don't worry about mileage to much. The difference between 45 and 55 mpg for a 1000 mile trip is only about $16. Even at the lower number you are still getting better mileage than almost anyone else out there.
nooooooo, you didn't just say that did you? weight is not a factor? I will add 400 lbs to your trunk.... lets see if your mileage goes down.. my bet is ... IT DOES... weight is a HUGE HUGE factor... one of the biggest
Best Tips I have Tires 42/40. Only drive the speed limit. Drive like you have no brakes. Anticipate slowing traffic and stops.
Excellent advice! Drive like you have no brakes. Scan far ahead and resist the rush to the red light. Let the others fill in the gap. It's their road too and if they can't see ahead, that's their problem, not yours. You will be far less likely to get in to a crash. Leave three seconds in front of you and most likely, people will leave more space beind you as well.
Reminds me of the joke where 2 people are being chased by a bear. One stops to put on his running shoes. The other guy says, "you can't outrun the bear." The first guy say, "I don't need to outrun the bear, I just need to outrun you." And sorry for hijacking the thread. Mike
