All I gotta say is that some of these 2012 drivers are kicking my rear when it comes to posted mileage! Good Golly Miss Molly!
There ought to be a minimum mph for this to be fair. Something like at least 40 mph, then a comparison would be valid....
Re: minimum speed. If you get on a flat track and drive in circles at 12 mph you can easily get over 100 MPG tank average. I guess he is worried someone will do that just to make the list. See CleanMPG World Fuel Economy Championships - Records smashed! - CleanMPG Forums for some MPGs in a 16 mile run and imagine how much more efficient it would be if you did it on purely level ground (they didn't), and ran it for a full tanks worth.
Well, it's their gas. As long as they have pics to prove it. I challenge you to do it actually. I would be impressed if you could. What is your best MPG so far?
It's true that one can *design* a trip/route to get great mpg that wouldn't reflect or be practical in a real world (road trip/commute). For example, you design a route where you can drive down a mountain and let gravity assist your Prius and you'll gets over 100 mpg for that route/trip as long as you dont account for the fuel use to go up that moutain road in the first place! Unfortunately, while speed is an important factor in fuel efficiency, it is not the only factor in getting high MPG - other things like the weather, the traffic, road elevation, traffic lights, speed bumps, stop signs, how smooth the road surface is, and even how twisty the road is can affect your MPG. There are a couple of tricks that you can do like pre warm up your car before doing the MPG run with an engine block heater, over inflate the tires, or block your air intake grills in the winter ;however, in the real world - the driver's skill and creativity in dealing with his/her own real world variables plays a significant factor and I think that it is such insights that makes such accomplishments even more compelling. One of the reason, I'm on PriusChat's forum more often than Cleanmpg's forum is because Priuschat members tend to reflectsmore on the real world driving experience and I find these challenges more interesting. Cleanmpg forum and its members are more theoretical - where I look for the conceptual basis and upper limits which are important foundation for hypermiling.
This spring on an interstate super highway trip going eastbound on I-70 through Illinois/Ohio(speed limit is 75 mph), I drove my 2010 Prius HSI at a median/average top speed of about 75 mph to 80 mph - but my HSI average speed display was only 46 mph ( btw - going at 80 mph in the rain dropped my mpgs to only 44 mpg on that tank)! An HSI display average of 40 mph translates to about a real world median/average top speed of 60 mph for that tank of gas (and would limit all record holders to highway speeds and thus mainly highway commute/trips). An HSI display average of about 30 mph translates to a median/average top speed of about 50 mph. Since my normal commute is only in a slow-n-go stop-n-go city-suburb driving environment, my median top speed is closer to 35 mph but my 2010 Toyota Prius HSI average speed display will hover between 16 mph to 18 mph. Even when I try to boost my median top speed to about 45 mph my HSI average speed only jumps up to about 20 mph to 22 mph because there are so many traffic lights and traffic jams that I normally can't maintain that top speed for too long.
My personal best for about 350 miles was 69 MPG displayed (probably more like 67 MPG actual) but I use my prius for all my short trips so I can get near 70 MPG for 4 or 5 days and then take a trip to the grocery store 2 miles away at 35 MPG (I don't know the actual MPG for that trip I'm just picking a lower number), and then run out to the post office, or the library, or to get a haircut (all within 2 miles of my house) and it drops the MPG for the tank average before I finish the tank. I just can't afford to drive just to make the record books. I don't have the money to burn. I suppose this fall when the weather is just right to get high 60s MPG I could use the Saturn for all my short trips to try and preserve the MPG on the Prius to make a run for the leaderboard but I won't make a special effort to do it. There isn't an area around here to drive at 12 mph on flat ground and still get anything practical done. I'm just not willing to drive in circles just to get 100+ MPG. Document your MPG by doing this! | Page 3 | PriusChat has a pic of my car at 60 MPG after 300 miles or so.
Fwiw no one active on this forum is averaging anywhere close to 100 or even 90 mpg. Most of the highest tanks out there have been done via everyday driving, not driving 12 mph like you presume.
careful there buddy, I didn't presume anything. It was tedjohnson that brought up the minimum speed concept, I was just discussing it with you.
Can you afford to NOT drive, to make the record books? Walk or bike those 2 mile trips, and you will be home free.
He said there ought to be a 40 MPH minumum, which I don't agree with but your grand response was all of "???" so I tossed something out there to discuss. It was a soft pitch, no accusations about anyone in this thread, you are the one that started replying to me as though I said something negative that had to be defended. Go back an reread the thread with a neutral frame of mind and consider that I had nothing negative to say in any of my posts. Then take a look at http://hiwaay.net/~bzwilson/prius/pri_2010_800.jpg lower speed = higher MPG it's not something I said, it's just the way the world works. For some reason that makes you want to say I'm way off the mark. I'm not saying anything about how the people in this thread made the top 20 list, I was saying something about how speed affects MPG, if you can't keep an open mind about that and discuss it in a neutral tone I'm not going to reply any further.
I know what the chart says. I'm simply saying real world that no one (active on this forum) is getting close to 100+ mpg, regardless of what their avg speed is.
The low average speeds cannot be interpreted or normalized because it includes standstill time. Kudos to everybody getting 70+ mpg tanks! Justin, can we just knock off say 7 mpg from your results for cheating with tyre ringers ?
I have the same problem. I might get +70 mpg on my 16 mile each way commute (75 mpg to work then 65 mpg from work, as estimated by my ScangaugeII ) but add those 2 mile trips to the supermarket and the post office during the weekend where I only get from 22 mpg to 30 mpg and the overall MPG drops. One way I try to mitigate the effects of short trips is I either do them before or after my commute or I string my short trips together. When I do them before my commute - these short trips pre warm up the engine for the long commute and I get a 10 mpg boost to my commute for that direction so instead of 75 mpg to I get 85 mpg to (work during the summer) or when I add them before my 65 mpg commute going from my pt job - I might get a boast to 70 to 75 mpg (in the summer). When I do short trip in close succession within about 10 to 20 minutes apart (especially during the summer) the residual energy use to warm up the engine in the previous trip helps with the warm up phase of each sucessive trip so each trips gets incrementally better fuel efficiency (the gen2 Prius Coolant Heat Storage does an even better job at fuel efficiency than the 3rd gen Prius when it comes to stringing together short trips). You'll also notice that most of my hi mpg tanks are generated by emptying the gas tank too. Each gallon of gas is about 7 pounds and a full tank weighs close to 77 pounds more. While 77 pounds doesn't sound like much - those 77 pounds are directly under the rear axle/wheel which contribute to higher rear wheel friction -when the gas tank is near empty - the Prius can get about 5mpg more on the last three gallons of gas by coasting a bit longer because there is less friction on the rear wheel/axles. I don't have a second car to do my short trips, but there are some people who do just that. There are some people who don't drive their high mpg vehicles during the winter and so they avoid the mpg drop that normally comes from driving in cold temperatures. Almost all the of the top 50 high mileage hybrid vehicles listed on the Cleanmpg.com mileage logs are achieved under special marathlon conditions - with the 2nd gen Priuses (w/ plugin conversion and some regular ones as well) easily beating out the 3rd gen Prius. Personally - I just want to see how far I can go given my own circumstances - I don't have to be the top dog. It's great to have a real world reference point like fuelly.com. How other people approach and deal with day to day energy cost makes fascinating reading. I like testing out new approaches and driving techniques that I've read about - to see if I can incorporate them into my daily commute. It's taken me about two years to become a "skilled" hypermiler - which basically makes me a Hypermiling padawan - the lowest recognized skill level on Cleanmpg.com. But - I'm having fun and that's what really matters. The Prius is currently my favorite toy. Yeah, while the Prius doesn't have the same social status as some of the very expensive +$50,000 luxury vehicles that I see on the roads here in the nation's capitol, the Prius' very high fuel efficiency and my extra driving skills gives me the ability to drive a bit longer - and that's also more money in my pocket.
RTFLMAO! So can we earn handicap MPGs for walking to the grocery store? I knew that pedometer would come in handy some day!
Bob has done a wonderful job with charting out the MPH vs MPG relationship. While lower speeds = higher MPG- in the real world there are other considerations that are equally as important. For example, If your regular commute is under 15 minute long - it won't matter what your average speed is - the Prius' MPG will be low (unless you ve got a PiP and you are using mainly electrical power)
