Phase Two - Drive Normal

LOL, I had to laugh. I too watch for the guy who will trip the light for me. Owning one of these makes a guy kinda wierd. My wife used to tell me to slow down. Now, "can't you drive the speed limit?" Just can't win but I sure have fun. Love this car more every day.
Dan

 

This puzzled me as it's not the conventional wisdom, so out with the manual.
'Fraid it says ( under 1-1. Hybrid system: Hybrid vehicle driving tips, p.43)

Warming up before driving
Since the gasoline engine starts up and cuts out automatically when cold, warming up the engine is unnecessary.

The ICE is going to warm up quickest when its got a bit of work to do, and the gas it uses will also be propelling you down the road, reducing your distance still to travel and thus contributing to your fuel economy.

 

Well, I'm certainly willing to give it a shot. Maybe if I turn the radio on right away, the sound the engine makes won't bother me as much. Mornings are getting much colder here, so I'm already seeing a slight mileage decrease which I assume is due to a combination of the colder air and me wanting to run the heater a little bit.

Sorry about the duplicate post below, seems the site was having server issues for a moment there...

 

Well, I'm certainly willing to give it a shot. Maybe if I turn the radio on right away, the sound the engine makes won't bother me as much. Mornings are getting much colder here, so I'm already seeing a slight mileage decrease which I assume is due to a combination of the colder air and me wanting to run the heater a little bit.

 

HEATER!!!!! just how cold is a Vegas morning in October?

 

When I left for work this morning it was around 62 degrees. Admittedly, I am a total wuss when it comes to personal temperature comfort zone. Anything under 79 and I'm chilled. Also, I don't run the heater full blast... only about 1 or 2 ticks so there is just a gentle warmth, not blasting hot air.

Oh, and Revan, if it makes you feel any better after I "dropped a 90" (LOL) I only managed 81.6 on the drive home yesterday, and only 72.1 on the drive in this morning (that's a 9.7 or 9.8 mile trip).

 

I guess living the the chicago land area my whole live has hardened me to the cold or maybe its my Icelandic genes. I have yet to even think about using my heater and most morning its been around 35-40. For real the thought had not even popped into my head once until your post.

 

I find that when I visit an "extremely" cold climate, I can adjust after a few days and have even enjoyed romping in the snow a time or two. But living in a place where the temps might range from 50 to 110 in a single day is too much for my metabolism. I am happiest between 78 and 84... maybe I'm part reptile.

(oh, i tried to send you a "private" message, but not sure if i did it right) ("private" because it wasn't car-related)

 

The Eco screen has helped me learn how to drive a Hybrid, in town I still use it, on the freeway no screens at all just drive it at 60-65 mph with cruise control.Average Freeway MPG- 55-62mpg.

 

I have started driving the car without bothering to allow the ICE to warm up. I still dislike the little shudder it makes when I first start driving (it reminds me of the shudder I make when I taste something really nasty)... That being said, I noticed no change in performance, sounds, mileage, etc. by not allowing the warm up cycle to complete, so it really would appear that I was accomplishing nothing practical for the car by allowing the warm up. Thanks everyone!

 

RocMills, congrats on the 90! Just wondering, but when you got the 90, had you reset the trip meter after you had warmed the car up, or was the warm-up period part of the average? The best I've been able to get on my relatively flat commute is 72 mpg while driving through the "city" with little or no traffic. Keep up the good work!

 

The only time I ever reset the trip meter is when I put gas in the tank. And when I report mileage for a given trip, it is based on the reading I get from the screen when I first shut off the car at the end of the trip. So when I was warming up first (which I stopped doing a few days back), the gas used during warm up did impact the MPG for that trip.

 

Boy, the wind is a killer on the interstate. Got 45 mpg heading down to Memphis, in a head wind. Got 54.6 on the way home. Lots of 70 plus instant readouts on the Ultra Gauge coming home. Hey, that is good stuff. Anything on the north side of 40 mpg is something to shout about in my book. My dash readout is about 1 mpg higher than my calculated mileage.
Dan

 

Wind and cold. We've got fierce winds this morning, and 60 degrees when I left home. Only managed to pull 55 MPG instead of my usual 70.

 

I drive my Gen II Prius like I stole it and still get great milage. Acceleration is less important than decceleration. I accelerate hard but don't rush to red lights and brake hard. When you accelerate you are getting something in return, speed, when you brake only a fraction of the energy you invested in gaining speed goes back into the battery, the rest is lost as heat in the conversion. Smash the throttle but put a raw egg on the brake pedal. Of course in an emergency you will break the egg so have good quality Toyota floor mats fitted.

 

That would be half the problem with my husband. Sometimes it's all I can do to not say "Um, honey, you do realize that light is red, right?" He doesn't remove his foot from the gas, let alone start to depress the brake, until he's about 4 car lengths from impact. Sigh.

 

I think that is a guy thing, fear of stopping too early.

 

I agree, John, 100%. Which is why I wish he would drive the *other* C more often.

 

^ Wait a sec: you have two C's? Guys cannot resist a challenge: challenge him to a mpg contest. You'll likely mop the floor with him, but it'll get him thinking.