....now that I've had my car for 3 months, and I'm finally learning how to drive it. Last tank was 53mpg average. I didn't want to push it too much, but I drove about 40 miles after fuel pip started blinking. 529 miles for the tank, and filled up with 10 gallons exactly. I believe the ODO is now at 2,900 miles. Using ScanGuageII I'm getting MUCH better numbers for trips. Yeah, my commutes are short, about 20 miles one way... but I'm learning some better routes to take to increase fuel efficiency. I really need to learn how to use the SGII better, but it's good for now. Seeing some #'s in the low 60's (from a cold start) finally on trips to work. Tire pressure is 42/40. Was thinking about going down a little on the tire pressure, 38/36 just to see if there's any difference. The time frame that I inflated the tires to 42/40, and the time I started driving a little slower (55-65 highway) was about the same, so I'm curious to see if the tire pressure made any real difference. The temperature here has been 70's-80's during the day, and cool nights. It does get quite windy from time to time. Highway terrain is very hilly, city is really flat. It took me some time to get use to driving in the slow lane at 55-60 and letting people pass. Now I love it! It's so nice to be able to relax and enjoy the drive... and it's very easy to enjoy the drive in this car. Man, I love this car!! My only regret is that I didn't buy it sooner.
This very common for new Prius owners. I used to be one of those people flying by in the fast lane and being stressed out because people were in my way. Now I just relax and cruise. Driving is so much more enjoyable now.
Both slowing down and raising tire pressures will have an effect. With the tire pressures, 40/42 sounds ok for 15". With 17" 38/36 is better, or the ride gets pretty harsh, and seems to have little/no effect on mileage. Play around with it for sure. Reducing speed has multiple benefits: 1. Improves your odds of avoiding an accident, or reduces damage/injury. Within reason: going too slow: the leadfoots start freaking... 2. Reduces the duration of acceleration. This would seem dead simple, but it's novel to some. If you're constantly pulling the speed up, and then having to decel (for a light, turn, or whatever), if you can clip 10 km/mi off your top speed, it will improve your mileage. 3. On the highway, if you stick to the right lane and drop your speed a bit, you will get better mileage. Fuel efficiency quickly tanks as speed climbs, due increased revs and wind resistance. There's a sweet spot. Again, play around with it. And again, within reason, if the lead foots are following...
I used to do the same thing. Feels good to drive by police or state trooper and not have to worry about slowing down. I don't think I've ever been able to totally relax while driving, but now I do, and it feels great! It will be even better when I do a stereo upgrade :rockon: Thanks! It was a big, painful transition. I quickly found out how fuel efficiency climbs as speed increases. I've also been staying out of the power area, staying just below it in the ECO area. Although I'm still tinkering with moderate/fast acceleration (in the power area) vs. slow acceleration (in ECO area). Gradually accelerating seems to keep the consumption down a little, but it's a little painful to do that sometimes My Prius came with Bridgestone tires, and the max sidewall pressure is 44. I didn't want to push it to the max.
JP Your experiences directly mirror mine when I dropped my speed on the freeway (even before I got the Prius). Once you can psychologically master the emasculating effect of having.every.friggin'.car.on.the.road.passing.you, driving becomes very pleasurable. Ditto that for not worrying when you pass police cars. For accelerating, if I can accelerate in the ECO bands, I'll do it, but for getting up to speeds (like some shorter merges onto the highway), I'll go into the power band. My overall tank may suffer 0.1 mpg because of this, but it is definitely outweighed by my choice of top speeds. The MPG game is addictive.
Yes, it's quite addictive. It's really hard to stay out of the power band, especially when accelerating from a dead stop. I guess that's where accelerating briskly and getting up to speed quickly pays off. I think it would help if I took some drives other than my usual route. There's a nice country road not too far from me... really nice drive by the river, and a 45mph speed limit. Might have to start taking the scenic route home more often.
