My family came to visit today and my father took us out to dinner. He drove my Prius of course because he looks for any opportunity to drive it. He dropped us off at the entrance as a bunch of people were coming out and then drove off to park. The car was running in stealth mode and a couple of people did double takes. One guy stopped in his tracks with a look of confusion and watched it drive off. I have to say, I was impressed myself as I've never been outside the car while it was in stealth mode. It was creepy! And I was quite proud of all the stares it was getting. Good thing I added those gas-electric decals so the confused stares turn to jealous stares! Btw, the temperature was up to 75 today and my avg up to 54!!! That's the best yet. Been steadily climbing since the 42mpg I was getting when I took delivery in the dead of winter. Can't be sure what's break-in and what's due to temperature but it's doing far better than I expected considering my short commutes (9 miles to work).
I was at the WVU blue-gold spring game this weekend and I realized that I had to roll through the crowd with my stereo turned up so that everyone walking up the driveways to the parking lots could hear me coming from behind. Imagine what people in the crowd must of thought when they saw five pretty big guys sitting in this car that was moving without an engine and the stereo blasting.
I had a similar experience in Vegas this last weekend. I was backing out of a spot at the Suncoast, and a lady stood there stunned. She asked me to roll down the window so I could tell her why the car was so quiet On a different note, the car also did 50.5mpg going out and 51.5mpg coming back on a whole w/ cruise set between 70-75, and some congestion on the I-15.
just above 2000 miles now. anyone know if there's a cutoff when break in no longer affects increase in mileage? There have been warm days before without such a leap in MPG so I can only assume the car's just getting better at it.
Have found that when driving in parking lots people will literally walk infront of the car because they didnt know it was there.
Yes, I come across this quite often. My most recent experience was with a fellow walking down the middle of my street at night, dialing his cell phone. I followed him for about 100 YARDS waiting for him to move. I didn't want to honk my horn because it was close to 11 PM and that would be rude to my neighbors. I flashed my high beams several times, but still he didn't waiver from his "middle of the street" gait. Eventually he glanced behind him (I think because of the slight hill he saw the headlights and my flashing). I probably could have rolled down the window and yelled at him but I was feeling slightly devilish and kinda liked the idea of sneaking up behind him. Still, he didn't seem in any hurry to get out of the street and barely moved to one side for me to pass. I'm not sure if I credit this to the stealth of the car or his possible inebriation.
Or just plain stupidity... Once for fun in my Classic I snuck up on a bunch of friends, got within a couple of feet and just laid on the horn... now that *was* fun
I haven't noticed a difference though it hasn't been very hot. I've heard you get better MPG by using the air conditioner rather than opening the windows and ruining your aerodynamics. Though I imagine this depends on how fast you go.
A great comprom ise on A/C is to use a temp higer than 75-76 degrees F. It cools the air somewhat, but doesn't run the compressor nearly as much which helps improve MPG. My drive out to Vegas and back never saw above the upper 70's, so A/C wasn't much of a factor. I either kept it at 74-75 degrees or had the A/C "off", letting the blower direct the cool air from outside into the car. I didn't drive w/ the windows down. This resulted in an overall tank mileage (per screen) of 51.3mpg when I finally got home yesterday. I'm still driving on that tank today at 2 bars on the gauge (and 350 miles). Yeah, I've got capacity issues too. :-/
Yesterday was our first really warm day here in the Chicago area (87 F), and so I put on the air for the first time on a drive of about 40 miles along the Chicago expressways and on several arterial streets, including some stop and go on the xway and heavy traffic on the streets. I set the temp at 76 F. I started out at 56.4 mpg at about 360 miles on the tank, and ended at 56.3 and about 400 miles on the tank. So, I guess I'd have to say, having it on wasn't a factor. The biggest hit I took on mpg was when heading into the very strong winds we had yesterday, but gained it all back on the return trip with the wind at our backs.
Maybe what we need is a special stealth horn, activated by a small button near the steering wheel. My suggestion would be for a low, sort of purring, but quite audible "Priiiii - uuuuus. Priiiii - uuuuus." What's yours?
:rofl: or a little speaker and sound generator that makes a noise like a 357 hemi? maybe it could be combined with the one that "beeps in the back when you're in reverse, too?"
OK, here we go -- how about this for your "Prius Stealth Mode Alert Noise": the Martian probe noise from War of the Worlds? Very appropriate for prowling through the mall parking lot and inciting panic.
The one luxury accessory that I'm still waiting for Lexus to introduce is the "Courtesy chime". It's the "Nice horn" for when you are overtaking a bicyclist or alerting the kids playing in the driveway behind your car. It could have a pleasant doorbell like sound.
