I Beat the EPA--Post 'em here

here's my third tank. Would have been a couple higher, but with the heat, my wife had to feed the baby during trips with the A/C running. saw the battery gauge turn purple and the engine turn on.

caluculated mpg was 57.8mpg

Also, both of my last tanks saw a major loss in mpg during the last 3 bars of gas. How is the computer mpg measured? amount of tank full/empty, or fuel injected into engine? If i could have stopped at 400 miles would have been 61, but maybe that would be deceiving because the calculated average would have been less.

can you see the picture? how do you display the attachment. I can't seem to paste it

 

nevermind about attachment

 

Way to go Matrum. I love to see this from a new owner. Keep up the good work.

 

Had my prius for almost a week, and first tank was 51.1 I couldnt really have expected better since I was still learning. I used to commute and I figured out long ago the benifets of driving a steady 65 and letting all the other drivers pass me. I could commute 50 miles and only be 3-5 minutes later then if I had hurried, and I would be so much more relaxed. After hearing all the complaints about the EPA mileage I'm glad I found that they can be beat. I hope to have some good mileage to report in the future!

 

That's so true! The other time I was driving in my Prii and my gf driving in her Corolla. She's the type of person that drives in a hurry, and she always complain I drive slow (tried to convince her many times not to drive like that, but didn't work). While I am coasting up and down the rolling hills with no arrows showing on the MFD, she went up the hill at 70mph. I am right behind her when we arrived at the destination. Then I am like, do I really drive that slow? She goes, I never said u drive slow! :roll:

 

Here's my 4th tank and best. It would have been even better, but it's been so hot and there were a couple long trips in which we had to stop to feed the baby, This was further damaging to the MPG because I just tinted the windows near the end of this tank and I had to leave them shut for at least a week, which carried over into the present tank. (59.3 mpg so far). I wanted to break 700 miles, had a gallon of gas ready in the back, but we had to go on a long trip and my wife would have killed me if we ran out of gas.

If I was single, I think that I could get 65 MPG easy. I love this car.

Driving was mostly chicago city driving and Highway (which could be stop and go quite often. I also did try to follow trucks sometimes, but never went under the speed limit, went about 5-10 over.

I won't be able to break 700, this year. School starts soon, and i'll be handing over the reigns for the weekdays. My wife already said that she's going to turn the computer off when she drives.

matrum

 

Way to go Matrum. Don't worry about what your wife said. My wife said the same thing but she now gets 54 MPG.

 

yeah, I just have to make sure not to push it or talk about it and she'll probably be curious and learn on her own.

 

You have guts! My fuel gage is not accurate on its best day! When I got to the last bar (it wasn't flashing), ten more miles and that was all she wrote. Out of gas and out of ideas. She doesn't run long on battery power alone.

 

11th Tank
MFD Mileage: 57.0 MPG
Calculated Mileage: 55.38
Odo: 5929
MFD distance on tank: 567
Fill up quantity: 10.25 gal
Temp Range: Hi 30's to mid 70's
Oil: Mobil1 Synthetic
Tire pressures: 40 front / 38 rear
Notes:
(1) Pulse and glide at every opportunity
(2) Mixed driving

 

The best tank I've had so far was 56mpg by the computer, but a whopping 57.5mpg by my calculations. I usually average 52-55mpg.

I'm still trying to learn the tricks to maximizing the mpg, but it seems to me the best way to go is to try maintaining a steady speed and to hell with the leadfoot. Any other suggestions?

Cheers - Mattus

 

1st tank - 55.1 MPG Working on tank #2.

 

I finally did it 62.55 calculated 61 on the computer. I am using a new rout to work all under 40 mph and am driving everyone else crazy by not speeding, but I am with in 4 mph of the limit. Pulse and Glide. This is also the flattest rout over all for me with the least elevation loss or gain. I did get the block heater and that helped. I know it won't last this time of year. I think the ScanGage helped by controlling my acceleration better as well. Temps in the high 40's low 50's in the am and upper 50's low 60's in the pm.
*** Edit ***
Turns out the 62.55 was a short fill. I dropped one bar at 53 miles on the next tank and was getting 57 mpg on the MFD. I think that my favorite pump has been "fixed" because on the next tank it cut off and I tried topping off to be sure of a complete fill and when I got in the car I was 2 bars short of a full tank. As 99% of the time my calculated is a bit higher than the MFD I will claim the 61. BTW I drove down the street and "topped" off my tank putting 2.3 more gallons into the tank and I got 59.93. I think the engine block heater is part of it but most of it is the new rout I am taking to work. Lots of gentle rises and dips in the road with a 35 mph speed limit rather than the 40 mph and 50 mph that I had on 3/4 of the previous rout. I am in power mode 20-20 % of the time and gliding the rest!! It is truly amazing how much better it is. I drove down to Portland and hated how much the M.P.G. was dropping at 70 mph on I-5. I did head over to the Rt a slowed down a bit! :lol:

 

Evan, et al: One thing seems to be missing from all these mileage computations: the terrain in which you do most of your driving. Evan, I assume that where you live is pretty flat? Ditto for most of the drivers in the midwest. I, however, live in Seattle which rivals San Francisco for hills. Western Washington is generally has more hills than the midwest, and hilly terrain eats into mileage. I notice my mileage drops about one mpg going up a hill, but doesn't recoup the total on the way down the other side.

Folks comparing their mileage with that posted on this forum should consider the terrain factor before concluding that they are driving inefficiently. I think it's nearly impossible to drive a Prius inefficiently compared to what we all drove before we bought one.

Temperature effects mileage too, as we all know.

Bob

 

Last September, I had a tank that was 61.1mpg displayed, 63.45 calculated across 579 miles. No climate control use, practically no highway driving, tires @ 44/42psi, just me in the car going between 35-42mph almost entirely on quiet, country roads to and from work. I'm around 230 lbs. nowadays.....

best,
Rich

 

Mileage Database

 

Latest tank-
703 miles @ 60.3 MPG.

This is the 8th or 9th tank that is over 700 miles and over 60 MPG. There have been many more that were close. My Lifetime MPG is higher than the EPA estimate and that includes a 2000 mile trip to the mountains, fully loaded and driving 76-81 mph that averaged 41 MPG. It takes alot of tanks above 55 MPG to overcome that one trip.

I don't think there are too many drivers that I share the road with that know I'm driving to maximize fuel economy. I drive the speed limit and a little higher when the traffic demands. I generally just maintain a slightly longer following distance than others might to avoid having to hit the brakes when the person ahead suddenly slows down to turn.

I don't think that other drivers should be given a reason to be annoyed at Prius drivers.

This used to be a popular thread but has been cast aside as the site has shifted to a more mainstream membership and away from the hardcore enthusiasts that used to make up it's ranks. It's all good though. I thought now would be a good time to run it back through the recent posts. Is anybody else still trying to get good mileage here?

 

My GOAL is a 60 mpg tank. Cold weather has hindered me.....and maybe I haven't perfected my driving yet. The past few days have been mild and I am at 58.6 mpg with 103 miles on this tank. The forecast is for more cold weather so my 60 mpg may have to wait til spring.

 

My rolling 12 month average is 59.5. I'm keen to hit 60 over the next month as the weather warms up.