People are starting to lie about MPG.

My honest mileages:

I sold my 2004 Nissan Maxima SE getting 19MPG city for the Prius. So far I am getting 47MPG in the Prius and just now putting in my second tank of fuel. Temperature here are 50's right now. I'm very pleased!

The Maxima was a beautiful car. I had it 2 years with no problems. But the Prius is just easier to drive and more fun. 98% of my driving is city.

 

Oh sure it can sometimes be true. If it is true, Ford should offer that guy $150,000 for his Explorer, take it apart down to every last nut and bolt, and then try to figure out how to make all their vehicles that way.

I noticed there was a general air of disbelief in that Explorer forum when he reported his fuel economy. Most reported a fairly consistent average of 14-16, which is what you would expect.

Hey, I know why he's getting that fuel economy: the Zaino is repelling the air from the thing when he's cruising down the road. Like a Deflector Shield from Star Trek.

Oh and in case you think I'm taking a s*** all over the Ford Explorer like you thought I did with that emissions thing, I had a 1990 Toyota 4Runner 4WD that I purchased new. It had the 3.0 V6 and 5 speed stick

The best I ever got out of that thing was 19 MPG. I usually got 15-17 on the Interstate in Utah and Nevada, in mixed driving in SLC and Park City around 12-14. Some 4Runner owners routinely told me they were getting 25-30 but when I asked them to PROVE it, dead silence.

That 4Runner was very gutless in stock trim especially in mountain driving. So I put on a K&N intake, Downey crossover to eliminate the constrictive factory crossover pipe, large Downey Y-pipe, Downey headers, free-flow catalytic converter, and Borla cat-back. The headers, crossover, and Y-pipe were ceramic coated.

Even driving gently I still got the same fuel economy, but it had WAY more punch.

 

:lol:

I LOVE sarcasm!

 

I guess it depends on how "indoctrinated" those folks are. If they have always believed in the "bigger is better" and "cheap gas at any cost" - yes that's an oxymoron - then you clearly represent a threat to them. These folks are peers, not managers, right?

Assuming you work at Hill or at Tooele/Deseret, that’s a fairly long commute for most of your co-workers. Your fuel bill is probably 1/3 or 1/4 of what they are paying. I wouldn’t rub it in, they’re in enough pain as it is, never kick a person when they’re already down.

Is it a Patriotism thing? I'm a Dual Citizen and sometimes have fun when a Dodge Ram Quad Cab owner knocks me down because of my "jap crap." I then open his driver door, point to the VIN/Build label, and comment on his Taco Truck. How about the sad Chevy Aveo, proudly made in South Korea by Daewoo?

At work, when I first got my Prius the co-workers thought my penny-pinching had turned a corner to Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Lot's of good natured and friendly teasing. When gas hit $1.19 a litre, they kept telling me what a "smart" fellow I was, if anything a great deal more respect at the office.

Like I wasn't respected to begin with!

Several of my co-workers are regular visitors to my hobby farm, around 2.5 hours from Winnipeg. One has a new Range Rover HSE Supercharged, the other has a Nissan Murano SE, and another has a 2005 Lincoln Navigator (Replaced a 2004 he was leasing, this one is a purchase).

I like riding in the Rover and the Navigator, the air ride independent suspension is a dream. I don’t like to feel bumps and in those two vehicles you do NOT feel bumps. These folks also bluntly tell me they wish they had my fuel economy. A round trip to the hobby farm usually costs me $35 Canadian in gas, especially with the Navigator it’s more like $110.

 

I'm a Dual Citizen and have actually heard from Canadians that - thanks to The Metric System - nobody knows what anything means anymore. Folks appear to have figured out temperature (Super hot is +35 C, bitter cold is -25 C) but meat is still quoted in pounds, and fuel economy in MPG.

To add confusion, a MPG in Canada is NOT a MPG in the United States. Imperial gallon is 4.54 litres, U.S. gallon is 3.78 litres.

 

Yeah... that's confusing. :huh:

 

As an example, on Aug 26 of this year I drove to Duluth MN just for a drive. On the way back I had headwinds, so my fuel economy was so-so. I stopped in Warroad, MN to gas up.

The MFD claimed 4.7 l/100km or 60 MPG Imperial gallon. I put in 6.769 U.S. gallons, and had 519 km on that tank. Works out to around 48 MPG U.S. gallon.

Driving at 55 MPH and no winds, on smooth pavement and even terrain, I can usually expect 4.3-4.5 l/100km or 62-66 MPG Imperial gallon, or 49-54 MPG U.S. gallon.

 

Jay,
It's nice to hear from you again. How's the weather been in your neck of the woods? Getting cold yet? Do you grow produce on your habby farm?

Regarding my earlier post, you could say that folks in my office are my peers. I am senior to most of them, however. The individual who seems genuinely interested in my Prius does work for/with me, but I'm pretty certain that he really wants to know about the car and isn't merely sucking up.

I don't think patriotism factors in here. Everybody's military so yes, duty, honor, and country weigh heavily in personalities and day-to-day activities, as you would expect, but five of the six (myself included) drive foreign cars.

Here's the breakdown:
Person 1: Camry and Toyota Extra-Cab 4WD pickup
Person 2: Camry and Chevy van
Person 3: (Michael) Volkswagon diesel Jetta with 200,000+ miles on the odo
Person 4: Kia
Person 5: (Interested in my Prius) Dodge Stratus and Dodge Ram 4WD pickup
Person 6: (Me) Prius and Ford F-150 SuperCrew 4WD pickup

Obviously, my office has no aversion to owning and driving foreign cars. I think their cool reaction boils down to their pain, as you mentioned above, the powerful medicine I was able to find and apply to my pain (my Prius), and their inability or unwillingness to apply that same medicine to their own affliction.

Human behavior can be so predictable and yet so unpredictable at the same time. One thinks one knows how he, or a spouse, or a friend will act or react when presented with a new and foreign situation but the truth is that no one really knows until they are actually plopped into that situation.

In the present subject, it turns out that many, many people attempt to discredit MPG gains of the Prius to soothe their pain in two ways: 1) they spew venom at the "Prius Donna" by saying that Prius owner's high-mileage claims are false, or the vehicle is unreliable, etc. and 2) they outlandishly claim dubious MPGs in their vehicles that, by design, could not possibly be achieved.

What's weird to me is the sense that all of this seems to fit into the sub-culture realm of PC versus Macintosh or even this religion over that religion. Separating the "greenness" of the Prius out of the equation (if that's possible) doesn't seem to rectify the differences between Prius people and non-Prius people. That difference seems to run far deeper. Otherwise people wouldn't need to doctor up their mileage claims.

 

I think that's the reason. Much like ex-smokers who can kick the habit.

 

"Fast-Forward to 9 months from now. Camry-Hybrid sightings will begin to become common. The most popular car in America will have a hybrid system. It will undeniably mark the end of the gas-guzzler age."

Well, maybe. From what I'm reading, the manufacturers seem to be more interested in adding power than mpg. If we look beyond today's Toyota/Honda models, the other hybrids appear to me to get marginally higher mpg, but lots more horsepower.
In the words of an old PP&M tune "When will they ever learn, when will they ever learn..."?

 

25mpg in a Corvette on the freeway is totally believable. The 500hp Z06 is EPA rated at 26 or 27mpg freeway, and the base engine get 1 or 2 mpg higher. Lots of cars with big V-8s, but small frontal area and decent aerodynamics loaf along about 1750rpm on the freeway get mid-twenties or better mpg. Pontiac GTO, Ford Mustang GT, Chrysler 300C/Dodge Charger Hemi, they all have V-8s and get 25+ mpg on the freeway.

On the other hand, your father is lying his nice person off about your mom's Grand Cherokee. Large frontal area plus the aerodynamics of a brick equals crappy highway mileage. I did manage to average 26.7mpg once for several miles in my 6-cyl Grand Cherokee (it has instantaneous and average mpg readouts), but that was at 55mph drafting about thee feet off the rear bumper of a big rig (I had left the house without my wallet and realized I had no gas and no money when I was about 50 miles from home). More typical is 20mpg at 65mph (doesn't improve much at 55mph), and quickly dropping to 16-18 mpg when driven between 70 and 75mph. City driving is 14mpg or less; my average over several tanks is usually right around 17mpg.

 

Yes, many did not believe him, but after three years of consistent results, everyone now does.

I gave no dead silence. In fact I gave multiple pages of proof, yet you still don't believe it. He has no reason to lie. I have no reason to lie. He posted about his Explorer to other Explorer owners, not Prius owners, not Insight owners, not Highlander hybrid owners. He was not trying to prove anything to anyone, only to give tips on how he achieved 30 mpg in his Explorer.

You asked for proof, I gave it.

 

The claim is just so incredible that I'd be unwilling to take anyone's word for it--no matter how tenaciously they stuck to their story. I suspect the fellow has a Sasquach friend who pushes him up the hills so he can coast down.

 

Can't imagine what that guy does that got his 30 mpg + mileage in a Ford Explorer. I had a 1999 like his, now that one did OK it could get 20-22 MPG and I did a run from Texas to New York, and did do that. At the point the truck had 77,000 miles I decided to get a newer one, so I traded in and got a 2002 with 11,000 miles on it. It was a sport model, only 2 doors, but the same engine, and was lighter then the 1999., and had a smaller tank. The net (expected gain in MPG) was NIL., got worse and never saw 20 mpg, even with good "granny" like driving habits like me. Never did high speeds, used cruise at 70., and never saw 19 MPG., best it would do was 18.5, then in stop and go and heat it only got 14.5 to 15 MPG!

That is when I decided to get the Prius., granted I have yet to see the 50 and 60 EPA and board claims., but I have seen about 49 mpg on a long trip to Ft Hood from Port Arthur (300+ miles), and may get to test it again on 10/29/05 to Dallas for a Prius Meet, that would be about 400 miles each way. So..yes people are professing better mileage. Although that guy made these claims in 2002., I still doubt very much he ever had 30 mpg in that vehicle, on a steady basis.

 

And PS..yes I had synthetics, and also a K&B intake filter modification for "improved" mileage !

 

I'm very glad to see movement toward the "end of the gas-guzzler age". I just saw an ad for some Mercury SUV model that is a hybrid.

It is frustrating when potential MPG is sacrificed in favor of horsepower. Some vehicles definitley need more but others could strike a better balance. I guess they figure that's what the people want.

It's similar to what's going on in the world of HDTV. Given the increased bandwidth of HD, we could have a single channel with a magnificent image or 5 "better than standard def" channels (with potential for more ad revenue). Guess which direction the industry is pushing.

 

I took my '92 Corvette on a road trip between St. Louis and Red Wing, MN (600 mi each way) in the fall season a few years back. I drove round trip on two tanks (1 up and 1 back), without using the A/C and I drove the speed limit. It came out to 30 MPG each way. The car has a 30 gallon tank. I turned off the A/C and used the instant MPG display to guide my foot. I took it easy up the hills and coasted as much as I could going down the other side of the hills. The Corvette is very light (fiberglass) and aerodynamic. It creats a lot of torqe at low RPM, so keeping the revs low helped a lot. Now if you want to talk about safety or quality of the '92, that's another story.

I don't have the Vette anymore, but I do have a 2006 Prius on order. I rented a 2005 for a couple of days this fall and fell in love with the Prius. I noticed 65 MPG going to work and 47 MPG coming home. That's 56 MPG roundtrip for my daily commute. The technology of the car, its fuel efficiency, and its utility sold me instantly. I can't wait for January when my new Prius will arrive. I'm selling my 18MPG SUV for a fully loaded '06 Prius. This car will reduce my fuel bill by 67%, not to mention the emmisions reduction as well. After driving the Prius, all other cars seem very outdated burning gasoline while stopped at a traffic light, and their trasmissions having to switch gears. The HSD and CVT technology of the Prius is just awesome (not to mention all of the gadgets available to the driver).

 

hence the saying Priustoric.