Yes, you read that right. I've spent 3 years behind the wheel of my '05 and now '10 prius, and I've babied the throttle and brakes the entire time (often with spectacular results). The highest mpg tank I've recorded to date was 56 mpg in my '10 during its first tank. Now I'm interested in another record. Just how low can someone really get their MPGs in one tank? I'm going to attempt to find out. My gas gauge is down to one pip, and tomorrow I will fill up. I plan to accelerate quickly from stop lights and stop signs, brake later than usual, make plenty of short trips and speed excessively on the freeway. I don't plan on punishing the car, I just want to see what kind of fuel economy a really aggressive driver could expect from it. This little test will last one tank, and it will take all of my will power not to pulse and glide late at night through my neighborhood, but I think it will make for interesting results. I'm not going to be very scientific about it; I'll just be using the computer MPG readout and skipping any calculations. It's just for fun, just this once. Call me crazy and wish me luck!
You might want to look up some of the original road trip tests done on the Gen III. One of the drivers did that same thing, floored it from a dead stop, braked hard at the last possible instant. Ran the car with all the windows down and the AC on full blast. He got 29+ mpg for his leg of the trip (everyone else was doing between 60 - 70 mpg....it was an ideal course Toyota picked for max MPG's in Sonoma).
What a great idea! I've been wondering how much of my improved gas mileage comes from driving slower. Perhaps if the mileage isn't too low I can drive like a maniac again...
I can tell you the answer now for Gen-II. My wife took control of our Prius. She drives very short trips for busing kids around schools, local workshops, etc. Most of them within 1-3 miles. Poor Prius. I worked at home now. I no longer need Prius for commute (used to get 45+mpg). Once in a while I check the trip computer, it usually shows 38-39mpg. This is for SF Bay area nice weather. Can't imagine what you will get in cold weather. My wife does not have lead foot on gas pedal. It could be worse, certainly.
In the few weeks that I've owned my '10, I got 54.8, 58, 54.1, and now I'm at 52.something. The first couple of weeks I drove like Granpa, and even got 65.1 for the first two days of one fillup. Now I drive it normally (which around here is driving like you stole it ) and it's hanging in there at or above the EPA rating.
Gen II - my wife does short trips and lots of A/C in the AZ heat - she's gotten it into the low 30's. Also, because she has MS, she doesn't have fine motor control on the gas pedal and ends up doing alot of "pulsing" which hurts FE as well.
Maybe not the "worst" the Prius will do but my wife makes NO effort to maximize the milage. While in the TCH I could beat her by 3 mpg on the same trips, I'm only beating her by 1 to 1.5 mpg in the Prius. Our first tank was about 48.5 with her driving it most of the time and mostly interstate driving at or above the posted 70 mph limit. I did check the trip yesterday that she takes because she's only getting 48.5 on that trip. When I was at the bottom of the hill to my house I was at 50.5 and knew from experience that I would lose 0.5 getting to the top of the hill and thus only beat her by the 1.5. I decided just to drive by the house and on into town, on a rural 2 lane, flar at 45 mph and was able to bring my milage up to 52 when I returned to the bottom of the hill. By the time I got to my garage I was at 51.5. Bottom line is I can make my trip averages better if I play games and drive further on the flat near the end of my trip, but ultimately I am burning more gas in doing that and defeating my purpose in driving the Prius, and that is to use less gasoline.
That's quite interesting. That's something I was thinking about. I have a really fat, heavy, lead foot. I drive it like I have diarreah and my next destination has a beautiful bathroom. haha. I wondered what my mpg would be like. I live in Miami, there is quite some traffic at time which i know the Prius is known best for, but I do mainly highway driving. So I wondered what kind of mpg I'd be getting. The sales guy at Kendall Toyota told me that if i floored it everywhere I went. I couldnt get any lower than the EPA posted mpg minimum, which was 40 hwy and i think 42 city ? something like that. So basically, from those of you getting into the 30's....even if you ran this car like it was a Vette, you'd still get better gas mileage than any other car out there. haha. i love it. cant wait to get mine. if the ever F&#$ing find one =\
A Detroit area auto reviewer did the same thing in Napa CA at a Toyota event. The article is interesting in that he notes that to Detroiters, the Prius is evil. In the end he really gives Toyota a lot of credit for the third gen Prius. I especially liked this comment by him: "If the first generation Prius was a gimmick, and the second generation a threat, the third generation just might be a punch in the gut for anyone trying to catch it. It's scary good." This review was in the Detroit News on 03/25/09. His attempt to drive the mileage as low as possible resulted in 26.8 mpg. If you're interested in a Prius review with a twist from a Detroit auto guy, check it out. Toyota's revamped Prius hybrid gains higher mileage, better interior | detnews.com | The Detroit News
I don't know how he did it. I'm driving like a complete idiot and still getting 40.9 mpg. I can't get below 40 to save my life! Looks like this car beats my old second gen by leaps and bounds.
I have the worst place to drive for mileage (I get 44mpg). The road I have to take to work (8mi) has a traffic light (really a stop light) every 3/4 mi with a speed limit of 60mph. You accelerate from each light and climb up ~400ft while trying to get to the speed limit (or get run over. Then you go down the other side of the hill regenerating the battery to a stop at the bottom 10 times. I think I could easly get to the mid 30's MPG if I tried.
it EXTREMELY hard to get below 29mpg.. the only way i can manage numbers that low is if i'm speading.. say.. around 100mph all day long or the car is loaded down with about 1,000 lbs of weight... with bikes on the rear hitch.. with all the mods you see on my signature. the only time i ever see numbers that low these days (it's been well over a year since i've done the high speed long distance trips) is while i'm towing my trailer.. mpg drops like a rock...
I finally got below 40mpg last night. As of this morning, I'm at 39.3 mpg and I'm calling it quits. The urge to hypermile is too strong within me. It's been fun!
All I could get out of my first tank was 38.8 mpg. I wasn't racing around, either. I guess I need to practice my technique.
Racing around in 100deg temps plus my uphill (1,000) commute has dropped me down to 38.8mpg over 69 miles. Even so, todays 120mile commute on flat land will have me well into the high 40s by the end of the day.
