2010 Prius III, Blizzard Pearl Traded my trusty Subaru Forester and am happy so far. Been reading PriusChat for a bit and got lots of info, thanks to all that participate!
Congrats and welcome to PriusChat! :welcome: I never liked white cars until I saw the Blizzard White Pearl Prius. That's a beautiful car. Trust me, after several years, you will still enjoy driving it.
Last two Subies weren't white and really missed that. Had to go white with this and glad I did! Looks real sharp with the black accents -- just need to tint now!
I probably need to spend more time just driving it than watching the ECO bar move around. Not too practical to keep it in the bar when accelerating from a stop sign, particularly around here
i think watching that eco bar will make you become the slowest driver ever (its made me). sure it annoys other people but i could care less. I would've suggested you make the dealer throw in free tint for you. Save about $200 =)
I quit earthing the ECO bar this morning. I did pay attention to how the mpg is affected however and think I'm getting the hang of it. I accelerate to where I need to be and through regular driving (vs stop and go) I was able to get it to move up so I'm happy. Still on my first tank, about 90 miles (including the 21 that were on it when I got it) and I'm near 42 mpg. That's with some testing, my wife driving it, piddling around, etc.
Expect low mileage on the first tank and improved but low for a few thousand miles while it breaks in. A basic suggestion is, where reasonable, to accelerate in EV up to 15 mph and then accelerate on gas above that. That's on the flat of course, on a hill you need to get on the gas earlier while downhill you can use EV to a slightly higher speed. Heavy EV use is bad for fuel economy. It's best thought of as a way to keep the engine off during periods where you need very little power. And you can stay out of the red zone and still accelerate at a reasonable speed (in my opinion) unless you're on a significant incline. Top of the Eco zone seem to be about 1.6 gallons per hour once you're warmed up, which'll give you 25mpg at 40mph or 40mpg at 64mph.
