Here's my great realization after 3 months driving the v. You may not want to hear it if you like to hyper-mile. First off, I love the car - everything about it. And I am really impressed with how it performs on all counts. It's a great value all around. But when it comes to getting 48, 49, even 52 MPG on it, (Which I did on a couple tankfuls) while possible for some other people in certain conditions, and even achievable by most people by employing several good hypermiling techniques, the reality is you have to drive much slower than you ordinarily would on the open freeway, (i.e. 60 instead of 80) and in the city, you will need to advance slower and smoother instead of jack-rabbiting forward - to get their faster. And that's what it all comes down to; your time. What's it worth to you? And where do you need to be - or want to be now? I've done a lot of soul searching with this existential question - and after changing my driving habits for 3 months, and after making some calculations - here's the upshot; Pros and Cons of getting 40MPG versus achieving 50MPG on a Prius v. This is the bracket people. And here are the pros and cons. PROS Getting 50 instead of 40 gets me/you an extra 100 miles on a tank full!, which translates into $8 a fill up, or ~$384 a year, (i.e. a friggen car payment in a year) Wow. This was an amazing find with my Prius V. That just changing my driving style, paying attention to the gauges, hills, cars, trucks and traffic patters - made a 20% increase in fuel economy. That is huge. If your highway only lets you go about 50-60mph, then you're in the sweet spot of both worlds - but as soon as you jump into the high 60's, 70's forget about the 80's you're MPG is going way down - and say bye-bye to your high-scores on the dashboard. (The MPG score on the dashboard makes you want to do better.) CONS Costs me an extra 2 hours a week in my commute of 100 miles R/T. And if you take that across a year, I've spent 12 extra working days of my/your life (8 hour days) in the car - instead of being where I am are headed. What's my time worth? What's your time worth? This was equally huge in discovering how only 14 extra minutes in a one way commute, would add up to many days when added in aggregate over time. CONCLUSION As you will see from my historical posts that before I bought the Prius v, I was wondering what the fuel economy would be for a fast driver like myself. And everyone on this forum told me that I would slow down after getting the Prius and my driving habits would change. And I relished that possibility. Well, I did... But not for long. After realizing how much extra time that keeps me on the road. (Back to existentialism for a moment; why do we go anywhere? And how much time do we have on this planet? What do we want to do with our lives? Are you doing it now? And if you are on the road more time than not - does it really matter in the long run? ) My driving habits have changed once again - but this time, strangely I enjoy driving the Prius veven more. After 16 fuel ups so far and experimenting with different driving styles and methods - I've come to this conclusion; Drive as my soul dictates at the moment, - fast and furious on Fridays, tranquil and tame on Tuesdays - or however I feel like driving at the moment. And rest in the delight that ON AVERAGE, I am still getting better than 39MPG. The fact that you CAN drive fast and furious with a Prius V and GET 39MPG is pretty friggen amazing. Don't you think? I mean, really, what other car on the road can you do that with besides an all-electric Tesla Roadster? So there you have it. I'm no longer in the right lane, drafting behind the semi-trailer looking at the MPG on Trip A. I have that shut off - so I only see the miles driven. I'm dodging and weaving on the rolling freeway, cutting-the-chicane to the nub, blasting the Prius V's high-beams in your rear-view mirror if you've fallen asleep in the left lane, I'm gunning it up hills, and letting the little Prius v 1.8 engine sing-up louder than my classic-rock sattelite radio preset stereo is playing. You'll see me as a blur out of the corner of your left eye, passing you on the road - - - or parked on the right shoulder in front of a cop car getting a speeding ticket from a NYS State Trooper. Either way - I'm good to go. Thanks for listening. Comments anyone? Notes: I am in NY Upstate - and my driving environment 80% open highway, 20 %city. I generally drive the the AC on. There are hills and steeps often.
Interesting observations. The great thing about the Prius is you are going to get a lot better than other cars no matter how you choose to drive. I am driving a bit slower with my Prius v, but a few minutes extra on my commute each day means nothing. If anything it is a more relaxing drive and good for me. I am still learning how to improve MPGs. On my current tank I'm at 54MPG indicated so far so I'm thrilled.
Or you can move into the same area code in which you work... I bike to work mostly, and spend about 15 minutes/day on the round trip, while waving and saying hello to folks in the 'hood. Then when we take the Prius, we generally go the slow method. When pushed, it is nice to get decent mpg at the higher speeds. Enjoy your v!
Nice write up and observations. I went through a similar situation as you and for the first few months was really adjusting my driving style to push my MPG as high as I could. My best tank full was about 50 MPG and my average was about 46. But like you said, you do have to work at it and I just dont feel like doing it anymore. Living in Southern California and its high housing costs usually means you have a decent to long commute to work so you can afford a decent house. Highway driving is a requirement and 60 MPH wont cut it in So Cal where most cars are going at least 70 on the highway. So now I just try to drive like I would normally drive and I even have it in Power mode 75% of the time since I like the better throttle response. After doing this for a few months I average about 42 MPG which I am perfectly happy with. Even driving the v "uneconomically" is still so much better than other cars. I still spend less in fuel in a month with my v then I did in one week with my SUV and with Southern Cal gas prices averaging some of the highest in the nation, I love my v more every day.
I have a Prius V for the week and am getting over 50mpg in town with conservative driving. I get similar improvements over EPA in our Prius and Highlander Hybrid. I find it rarely costs me much time around town in my typical driving. I usually catch up to the people who race to the next stoplight at some point . Sometimes I lag behind what amounts to one stoplight and I'll get a 1 or 2 minute penalty on a 20 or 30 minute trip. Not a factor for me, usually. An extra minute or two now and then around town listening to music isn't a big deal personally, but it does add up over time depending on your commute and driving habits. On the highway, it can certainly add up quickly if you drive 20mph slower. You can easily add hours to a long drive. For some, not a big deal. For others, a really big deal. My personal preference is to stick pretty close to the speed limit or higher to be consistent with most traffic, but many drivers drive slower or faster for reasons of their own.
Nice write-up! Interesting to note that just one speeding ticket can really take away over 1/3 of your annual gas savings. I've found I'm now driving much less aggressively in the V than I did in my Grand Cherokee -- I can't "muscle" anyone out of my lane any more. And you know what? My stress level during my 30-minute commute is WAY down now. So perhaps the 5 minutes more a day I'm driving is adding 5 minutes more to my life because of it. I can live with that.
Finally, a car where you can have your cake and eat it too. You have the utility of an SUV. Inside roomyness of a larger vehicle. A car that were I can put my seat in one place and don't have to move it because the person sitting behind me has no leg room. If I want to put in a big box, I can. If I want to drive softly I can acheive high gas millage, if I want to stomp on it I can but still get 38+ mpg in the city. I don't know of anything that can do that. I don't own one, but did take one out for a spin, when my current vehicle kicks the bucket, I don't have to think about it, this is 100% for sure my next vehicle.
Good write up. Thats pretty much what Ive gone through the past 2 months. Im back to PWR Mode most of the time, drive with the flow of traffic on the freeways (in my area thats 75 -85 mph) and getting 40-43 mpg. It doesnt have the power of my previous car but its still getting twice the mpg and Ive got a lot more storage space
when i bought my prius, i wasn't looking to - what they call hypermileing, i saw that first hand in the early 60's when gas was 25 cents a gallon. we vacationed in upstate ny, and my brother used to load the car up w/his freinds, everyone would chip in some change. (for gas) and we would head for the swimming hole a few miles away. only it would take us 2 hours to get there, braving the sweat box w/no air !! he would creep up the hills, then put it in neutral, and coast down other hills. and he did this wherever he went, drive in, store, whatever. i drive my prius, just like always if i save gas great, if not. at least i get more than 22 mph with my old car!!
The OP is absolutely right about 50-60 MPH being the sweet spot for this car. As it happens, on the roads around NY City where I drive, this is usually the highest practical speed in any case. On my commute to work (60 mile round trip), I usually get about 52 MPG!
- And if you drive 80 miles per hour, you may not be on the world too much longer, nor may the other auto victims that get crashed into be here too much longer, whether pedestrians or other drivers. Ask any Highway Patrolman who causes the accident - the person who drives 80 or the person who drives 55. He aint scraping the 55 mile per hour person of the highway. It's all a matter of whos needs get priority I suppose. SGH-I717R ? 2
Yes, it is an interesting statistical number, but not very useful as it is not additive as saving up, lets say $12 on a fill up that you can bank. That 2 hours at the end of a week is just a number that you cannot use to go and see a movie on saved up time, in my opinion, of course Or, extend a vacation or whatever. Just a statistical number.
I believe most Prius owners went through this process one way or other. I think the 80/20 rule apply here nicely. By change your style conservative way, with a Prius (whatever), you already have 80% savings in pocket. Some people try to go extreme, achieve the other 20% for fun, for bragging rights, and they can have it too. I found by driving conservatively, you save a lots of other things related to maintenance as well, such as break, tire, struts, bearing... For example, I pulse and glide my Lexus LS 400, a V8 engine car. Not only I achieve 27mpg average (spec is 18/25), the Viva 2 tires look like 70% new after 40K miles. This is one of the reason I do not sell it and buy second Prius, because this car is super in every aspects, other than that it is not hybrid. At 181K miles, the engine is still not burning oil. My 04' Prius burns 1qt/2K miles since 150K.
