You won't save much money by hypermiling

The point is that city driving rarely (if ever) yields 60mpg. City driving is less efficient. To be accurate, the average commute is around 7 miles and it OFTEN takes an hour or more. 20 miles is pretty far out in the rural collar counties! And congratulations for your attempt to insult millions of city dwellers, you must be so proud!

 

Time for Snack Man ?

 

There's a difference of where you live that effects your MPGs. I don't live in a big high cost of living Metropolitan crowded city. That's why I'm able to get 60 MPG. But was lucky to get 50 for two weeks in backed up traffic that dropped from 60.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.

 

Where you live and work, usually determines your long-term mpg. Drivers who choose (gawd forbid) to live in the city AND decide to hypermile and/or work far away and/or use traffic-free roads are probably going to get better mpg than those who don't. The math is not complicated So let's keep the lingo simple: 40 miles per day is NOT city driving, it is mostly highway driving.

Worst commute is near Washington DC:
Dale City worst commute in the country, study says | WJLA

 

First of all, if I was a bit hard on you, sorry.

If you have been driving a Prius two weeks, you don't know it yet. I hypermiled a decade before getting my Prius and still had a learning curve. And it's changing your driving mentality. Hypermiling is not like playing a baby grand piano. When I heard people in a 2000 Honda Insight getting 75 mpg while I was getting 53, I was almost in disbelief. It took awhile, but I finally got it. Maybe the best way to learn hypermiling is when few cars are on the road. If you let the pack of cars on the highway influence you, hypermiling will be very hard. I try to avoid rush hour and busy roads when practical.

Pedal pressure is a lot of hypermiling, again practice when there are few people to tailgate you. From a stop you can get to 35 mph in EV if you are very gentle, but from a practical standpoint, in traffic I'd give it gas before reaching 10 mpg, then at cruising speed, attempt to EV. Suddenly releasing the accelerator rather than easing up somehow kicks in the EV mode much better.

Part of my response was from the provocative title of your thread - I have saved significant money over the years. It's harder with $1.70 gas, but the savings go beyond gas. Most car parts will last longer (a few might wear out quicker.) There is also the defensive driving aspect that can avoid accidents.

 

You are miscalculating by counting all the time spent hypermiling. A proper calculation would count only the journey's time difference caused by hypermiling. Some things add a bit of time, other hypermiling actions add nothing.

No kidding! With hypermiling, I arrive at my destination considerably less stressed, thanks to the calmer journey. My blood pressure measures these days are down significantly, avoiding medication. While not a result of hypermiling only, it certainly is a contributor.

 

For over ten years, I have seen these posts: "Hybrids don't save enough to pay for initial costs", "Hummer greener than Prius", "Hypermiling is DANGEROUS", "Hypermiling is not worth the savings." I have had hybrids 15 years and hypermiled for over ten years and know they work. From my standpoint, some of these types of articles or posts seem to come from drivers that are threatened by this kind of car and drivers - I might not be able to speed anymore. Already mentioned hypermiling savings include reduced repairs and accident avoidance. On a daily commute, a hypermiler becomes very aware of downright stupid driving: racing to red stop lights, suddenly changing multiple lanes without knowing they are clear, weaving in heavy traffic, distracted driving, extending idling in parking lots even in good weather. I look at cars with dings and say to myself no wonder - look at how they drive! Can't help to believe a lot of people are tearing up their cars by the way they drive. Drivers that may not be in high school, but definitely act like boys with an overload of testosterone that don't think.

 

I wasn't attempting to insult millions, just you I live in Minneapolis, but I'm sure that you'll find a way to mock that as being a non-metro area because it's not big enough.

I think you should take a longer look at who comes across as more insulting (read: condescending) in this thread.

 

Good conversations here. OP, I especially like your comment of preferring to have conversation with your son while driving rather than focusing on hypermiling. Of course my daughter and I have good hypermiling conversations while driving.

A side note on saving money and the planet. We would all do well to encourage drivers who are getting 20 mpg to bump it up to 25 mpg by changing vehicle and/or driving habits. At 15,000 miles per year that would save 150 gallons. I would need to increase my Prius mpg from 50 to 100 to save that much.

 

Someone in this thread asserted you can't get 60 mpg in the city - I've done 65 in fairly congested traffic in areas typically posted at 45 mph. If that poster was talking about congestion approaching gridlock, fuel economy is going to be poor, but that's extreme city driving.

 

Because not many people are budget conscious and thinking this through. If there were, you would see more two-seaters, motorcycles, bikes. Lots of Americans buy a larger vehicle they need a few times a year and don't really think the vast majority of the year they would be better in a smaller vehicle. Only 1/3 of Americans are not overweight...they buy bigger clothes and bigger cars. And of course, a lot of drivers have a need to project power by tooling around in a larger vehicle or one with speed.

 

Because not many people are budget conscious and thinking this through. If there were, you would see more two-seaters, motorcycles, bikes. Lots of Americans buy a larger vehicle they need a few times a year and don't really think the vast majority of the year they would be better in a smaller vehicle. Only 1/3 of Americans are not overweight...they buy bigger clothes and bigger cars. And of course, a lot of drivers have a need to project power by tooling around in a larger vehicle or one with speed.