Eco mode vs Power mode in the City: MPG stats

Very short trips are mileage killers. At least your climate is relatively mild, which helps.

Tom

 

Your car is not even warm at the end of your 3 mile trips. Consider the plug-in Prius when it comes out.

 

Your mileage using eco is similar to mine using mostly eco and normal
I also have generally short trips and hilly terrain
On longer trips on flat terrain I notice much better mileage

 

I have posted several threads/posts over the past month learning the ins and outs of my new 2010 Prius II... I live in Seattle which has similar hills and climate to SF, and I also take mostly short in-city trips. My mileage on my current tank is at about 44 MPG. I have seen a big improvement by driving the first 5 minutes or so very gently.

Why are you pushing the ECO or Power buttons? Just start the car and drive. The engine will determine whether to go into PWR mode temporarily on steep hills or fast acceleration, then automatically goes back into ECO mode when you let off the accelerator. I find that ECO mode is totally useless until the car is properly warmed up.

I agree with Much More Better, the plug-in Prius will be a revolution for those of us who take lots of short trips in hilly cities.

 

I use eco for inner city driving as it gives lots of control over the throttle and a smoother ride. In busy cities I get much better mileage using eco than normal/power, probably partly as I don't use pump & glide much. I'm not that interested in changing my driving style for better mpg.

On my heavy traffic 10 mile commute I average between 45-55mpg, with AC on most of the time.

Out of the city I use the normal/power modes.

 

(As someone from San Jose, CA and used to go to SF frequently...)

Yep re: the short trips. If he drives in hilly parts of SF, that really hurts too. The traffic in much of SF is also of no help.

SF is also a bit on the colder side. I suggest not using auto on the HVAC system at all. If you have the temp at any point above LO, turn the fan totally off, unless you're accelerating hard enough that the ICE (internal combustion engine) is needed or if you have to be above 42 mph, where the ICE must run. Looking at 10 Day Weather Forecast for San Francisco, CA - weather.com, I think you might want to consider blocking the grille, for the time being.

3rd gen owners, please chime in if I'm wrong on the 42 mph threshold. I've seen some references to 46 mph here.

 

Well, all I can say is that I can throw in a somewhat different case which supports your numbers ... as I watched (without my comment to it differently) my son drive our Gen III in light city traffic in power mode. He zipped right along, in and out, etc., but then again, he did make all the lights in a row going down Michigan Ave. And, his driving did pull the tank average way down from the ~50 mpg it had been at before he took the wheel.

 

What mileage were you expecting and why? If you want fuel economy help, please start a new thread and answer the questions at http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...-answer-these-questions-esp-if-youre-new.html.

But, we've already established you're probably driving in hilly conditions, in likely bad traffic and very short drives. The last is killing your mileage.

These links might be insightful:
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/cars/new-cars/buying-advice/most-fuelefficient-cars-206/index.htm
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/...-fuel-economy/best-and-worst-fuel-economy.htm
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/...st-city-highway-mpg/best-city-highway-mpg.htm

Also, as with any car, it's best to avoid wasting energy by starting and stopping. I don't know if you already know about which SF streets have timed lights, but if it's conducive to your route, try the timed ones at http://books.google.com/books?id=Pu...ge&q=timed lights san francisco gough&f=false.

 

Mileage on short trips

Unfortunately I got the same result as you in normal mode :
Toyota Prius III Luna (LG) - DefiConso

 

Car makers supposedly can only legally advertise EPA numbers. (I've seen VW break that rule w/one of their online ads for one of the TDI models. Unclear if they broke the law.)

See http://priuschat.com/forums/other-c...uth-about-epa-city-highway-mpg-estimates.html for some details about the EPA tests. If you care, if you download the 2010 datafile from Download the Fuel Economy Database, you'll see that the 2010 Prius got "71.9537 mpg" in the old city portion of the test. This is before being fudged downwards and being further adjusted by additional tests that started getting counted beginning with model year 2008.

I seriously suggest start a new thread and answering the questions as I've requested, if you want help in improving your mileage. But, don't expect huge miracles w/your short drives.

 

I just got my GenIII a month ago and I've been reading and browsing the net (including this forum) trying to learn how to obtain good mpg. Combining with my own experiments and experiences (I am 57 years old and was an Engineer), these are my findings:

1. Forget ECO mode, the gas pedal response is so bad that it made me hate my Prius, not to mention other drivers following me!
2. Standard mode (no ECO or PWR buttons pressed) is ok but still, there's a better option, please read on. You can use standard mode instead of PWR mode if you like and traffic in your area is light.
3. PWR mode is the best. It makes the Prius drive like a sporty car, yet, the fuel consumption can still be VERY GOOD, I mean 55mpg good! But you must follow my EV/PP/CC/NG technique:

EV - press the EV button whenever the car stops, so that the first few seconds of your next startup from stand still will be powered by battery only. You'll have to press this EV button every time the car is stopped. The car burns most gas when starting from stand still. So if you start from stand still in EV mode every time for even a very short few seconds it still saves you a ton of gas. Also use EV mode whenever you are looking for a parking spot. Using gas engine in a parking lot is a mpg murderer. (Do not zoom to fight for a parking spot, this will not just murder your mpg, your blood pressure, but also your car as in a collision!)

PP - Power Pulse, set the PWR button the first time you start the car to set the car to PWR mode all the time. Accelerate from stand still tapping the gas pedal gingerly so that the car starts moving in EV mode only for the first few seconds (3-5 seconds depending on the rate of acceleration of the car in front of you). Once the car is up to around 8 mph, step on it normally so that the car accelerates crisply keeping up (sometimes exceeds if you are leading) the speed of the rest of the traffic. This way your Prius reaches the desired speed very fast, leaving a longer distance before the next stoppage for CC/NG. The EV mode would also be cancelled automatically, ignore the warning.

CC - turn the Cruise Control on right after you set the PWR mode at startup so the CC is ready all the time; also (if your Prius has this option) press the radar button on the steering wheel twice to set it to short distance for city driving, leave it at long distance for hwy driving. Every time after you Power Pulse to the desired speed set it to Cruise Control (by tapping the CC lever down) and take your foot off the gas pedal. Do this no matter how short distance you are before the next red light. I find that the CC chooses the highest gear ratio possible giving the best mileage un-obtainable by foot on the pedal.

NG - Neutral Glide: look ahead, far far ahead for red lights or stoppage. At around 1/3 to 1/2 a mile (depending on the speed of your car and slope gradient of the road) Turn off CC (by pulling the CC lever towards yourself) and wait (about 1-2 seconds) untill the immediate fuel consumption (semi-circle) bar disappears indicating the gas engine is stopped. Then put the gear into neutral by pushing the knob towards yourself and hold it for 2 seconds. This has the same effect as attaining the "sweet spot" of gliding of the Pulse&Glide technique where the car is not drawing nor regenerating power from/to the battery. This is way easier than trying to ease off your foot from the gas paddle untill the arrows disappears ,blah blah blah, in the P&G instructions. You can even put it to neutral when the car is still under CC as long as you are sure the gas engine is off. It will turn off CC automatically once it's in neutral. VERY IMPORTANT: keep your hand on the gear knob all the time when the car is in neutral gliding so that you can put it back to "D" anytime. In fact you'll have to put it back to "D" about 100-200 ft just before the red light so that the car slows down using the electric motor regen. Don't forget to press the EV button again once the car is fully stopped, getting it ready for the next take off.

This might take a little practise but you can do it one step at a time, like, for the first week only get used to the EV, the next week get used to EV+PP, the next week EV+PP+CC and so on. I'm already driving the Prius this way like second nature for the past month.

Using this technique I'm driving my Prius like a sporty car, eliminating hate stares and angry cut-offs from other drivers, and still getting good mileage. I'm averaging between 52 to 56 mpg in my 3 gas tanks of driving the new Prius. It might seem that this technique makes you pretty busy while driving. I actually find it refreshing instead. It makes me busy so I don't fall asleep. It makes me constantly sweeping for traffic situations, thus keeping me alert all the time. I don't think this is any busier than driving a standard manual gear. One more bonus, when you routinely practise putting it to neutral, you won't panic "IF" the Prius "accelerates out-of-control". NO, IT WON'T FLIP THE CAR OVER!

One big CAUTION: DO NOT PUT IT TO NEUTRAL in long DOWNHILL slope, or at HIGHWAY speed (except in emergency like, you know, the case of Mr. Sikes)!

Happy Prius-ing!

 

Last 3 months have been exclusive PWR mode use, and 'spirited' driving behavior, but not blatantly trying to reduce mpg.

Avg mpg for 3 months and still going: 49.5mpg

Fun + great fuel economy = I wish PWR mode was on by default.

 

Out of curiosity, does putting it in neutral in a GENIII still keep the fuel injectors active (i.e. using fuel) as it would in the GENII or does it turn off fuel consumption like it would during a standard glide (no arrows either direction).

 

From what I observe, neutral gliding a GenIII Prius turns off fuel consumption. 1st, the instantaneously FE bar drops to 0. 2nd, all the arrows disappear in the graphics display. I also felt a tiny surge forward at the point of putting it into neutral, then of course the car starts to slow down, but at a slower rate of dereasing speed comparing to just taking your foot off the pedal or disengaging CC.

Oh one more thing, once I was able to glide on a slightly downhill slope for a whole minute and the every-minute fuel-consumption bars actually shows no bar (zero) for that minute, and the average mpg increased by a couple immediately.

 

It's not just more fun in PWR mode driving, but also you get a kick when you see the surprise faces of drivers of other cars around you. Once a Mustang driver reved his engine repeatedly at idle at a red light next to me. I took the clue and he gave me a thumps-up after my Prius kept up with him accelerating right up to the next light.

I totally agree that the PWR mode should be default. Maybe Toyota should allow owners to customise the default settings. Some people already discribe the GenIII Prius cockpit as an airplane cockpit. Now I feel more like flying an airplane when I have to push a lot of buttons before taking off.