Haha! Yay! Congrats to you too! That is funny, they probably are mad that we're getting 50mpg! Just haters I haven't dealt with any aggressive drivers just yet, hoping to never deal with them but then again that would just put me in fantasy land right? I came from a 4Runner, so I've only rarely dealt with very aggressive drivers, don't know how scared I'll be in a Prius that's much smaller than what I'm used to! Good luck dealing with those gas hounds! Today was my first drive to work and I was pretty impressed that I sped up and kept up with traffic so well. Loving my Prius!
Congratulations! I just bought my 2012 Prius Three 2 days ago and I put about 200 miles on it driving it all around; from the edge of Long Island to NYC letting my sister see it and then bringing it to my parents place to let them have a look. It was so exciting once I hit 50 mpg ! I did notice that I needed to change up my driving style; and I learned it very quickly. I try not to drive in the left lane anymore and I can care less if people are annoyed if it takes me 3-5 extra seconds to get to speed after a red light. I leave ample room for people to pass me if they really want to. I do get super vexed at red lights now... I am coasting along so nicely and having to come to a full stop chews into my efficiency high. hahaha
Great - I picked my Classic Silver one up last Thursday night - have fun it really is a great product. I cannot believe that all cars are not this way ;-).
Hahaha. I'm on an efficiency high right now too! I'm all about trying to get my mpg average up up up up! Yes! I hated red lights when I was in my old 4Runner and I hate the red lights just as much now! They should just all turn green when a Prius comes around How awesome would that be! I have also been driving less in the left lane. This car is a lot of fun. I haven't hit the 200 mile mark yet, I think I may have hit 100 though.
People are such idiots when it comes to driving! They will leave a red light like a rabbit, even when you can see the next light a few blocks away is already turning yellow. And why do they ride my nice person when I coast up to a red? Do they think it will turn green faster if we race up there, then apply the brakes hard & sit and wait? Bunch of nuts! Enjoy the new car(s)! They really are fun, aren't they? Of course, the best part is complaining to your friends how it cost you nearly $16 to drive 200 miles! I have a buddy with a VW Tourage who's going nuts because it cost him nearly $100 to fill his tank.
We just got ours a few days ago and I feel the same way. It completely changed my driving style in a single day. Keeping the eco bar within limits is like playing a video game except this game saves money. I honestly think it helps to make me more of a calm driver too.
Hahah it really is like a video game!! It's so addicting to try to stay within the bars and stuff. I definitely think this has made me a MUCH calmer driver. I was just driving home thinking dang, usually I would have been racing home already! Is this my avg miles per gallon?? If so, being that it's only my 2 1/2 day of driving I am doing pretty good right?
Same here! I had a '97 4Runner, it was a great vehicle for sure, but you'll appreciate the Prius even more. Once again, enjoy!
Woah there! What are you doing getting 56.7 MPG with only 2 1/2 days of experience in a Prius? Have you found a way to drive downhill all the time? That's way better than great MPG for a beginner! You're must be a natural... from an SUV to a Prius and instantly in the high MPG game. Nice going!
Heheheh! Thanks for making me feel even better! I WISH I was driving downhill ALL the time!! I LOOOVE gliding! I was never a lead foot in my SUV. I have a really compulsive personality and I did NOT like going past 2000 RPMS on my 4Runner. lol! If someone else was driving my 4Runner, I would stare at the RPMs and see what if they were getting past that (I didn't want to hurt my baby.. I know I know they can do more than that but I was always scared of over doing it). So I think the fact that I always had a light foot helped me transition better to a Prius. Another thing (well the main thing) that helped me get such high MPG is the video RadioMan posted on the fuel economy forum how to pulse/glide. I was on these forums for a week before even buying a Prius. I guess I was imagining myself driving/owning it. So maybe that helped too since I kind of understood the basic concepts behind how to work your Prius the most efficient way. I think if I would have went into the car blind, I would have had a LOT more trouble understanding the way the car works and how to get the most out of it. I'm also trying to get backlash against the stereotypes that girls can't drive efficiently Oh quick question, is that the screen that shows your lifetime MPG? Or is that just per trip? I was getting the "consump." thing mixed up because you have a choice of trip A and trip B. So I wasn't sure what the difference between the summary that I posted and the one that I see on the dash when I'm driving.
Be sure to try out Power Mode on rolling hills if you have any (isn't half the country flatter than a pancake?)
Haha! I will definitely try this! I actually haven't gotten off ECO mode yet, scared it's going to hurt my MPG, but that's just because I don't fully understand it yet. What should I expect from power mode on rolling hills? Will it feel like a roller coaster? haha, as a kid and even as a grown up I LOVED the hills where you went up and it felt like you were on a rollercoaster. Yes! I said to my bf the other night, "Man why can't all roads just be downward sloping?? How much more fun would it be driving a Prius then!"
Just goes to show that a little education can really do. Learning how this car works and how to get the best out of it, definitely rewards with the kind of great MPG you're already displaying. One thing you don't have to worry about in a Prius is over revving the ICE. The car is set up to only allow a fairly low RPM limit, no matter how anyone drives it. It's pretty smart. Keep doing what you're doing. It's obviously working really well. You'll probably get even better MPG as the car breaks in, too. Keep us informed!
13 years of driving, and you only managed to rack 139,000 miles??? Anyhow, congrats and :welcome:. Prius IV is a big jump from C III, funny how things work out like that.
Haha, actually the car is a 1998, I only just started driving in 2001 when I was 16 (sorry bad math when I said 1999, I must think I'm a lot older or something!). The car had one owner before me, but yes, it's a 14 year old car with 139,000 miles I'm a very compulsive person, and this was my only car too so I honestly don't know how I managed to keep it so low. Yes! I swear, I went up from a Prius C III to a Prius II to a Prius III and RIGHT after signing papers for a Prius III went up to a Prius IV after a test drive. =/ Compulsive but indecisive, can you tell?
Yes! I think everyone who buys a Prius should definitely learn a little more about it than just on the Toyota website. I never knew there was this much stuff with the Prius until I came onto these forums and just lurked and studied these boards. I was actually wondering about this revving up thing today when I had to run an errand on my lunch break and there were tons of hills/etc. When I press on the gas and the meter goes into the "power" section, is that like "red lining" for a Prius like it is on a normal car? And if not, if I take the meter to the very end of the power bar, is that a bad thing? I've stayed away from going into the far end of the power section so far.
My turn, my turn! My beloved '03 Matrix XRS finally bit the dust on March 25th, after 213,138 faithful miles. By the evening of the 27th, I was driving home in a shiny new Prius. It still doesn't feel like part of the family (we haven't had enough adventures together yet), but I sure do love driving it. Boy, it's a different experience though! I went through a lot of exhaust parts in the Matrix, owing to my leadfoot penchant for spending a lot of time above 6,000rpm. Guess that meant a lot of still-burning dinosaurs flying down the manifold. Oops. (At least I hated using the brakes. Gas spent heating up brake pads is gas not spent on fun!) In contrast, the Prius has that bar-of-shame display that makes me regret every gram of unnecessary pressure on the go-pedal. Driving it is part video game, part biofeedback relaxation exercise, and part contest. I was just competing against myself until I started looking at people's signatures here in the forums! I do not know, I got 93 today coming back from the dollar store. Cumulative average is something like 51, though, because I do a fair bit of highway and rush-hour. Is it supposed to take a lot of learning to get into the hybrid mindset? I did a lot of reading about hybrids years ago, and I did notice myself adopting some habits (notice red lights way early and just roll up to them, for instance) which seemed to make sense even with a traditional powertrain. So, I guess with the addition of the shame screen, I've had an easy transition. Although sometimes keeping it in the "eco" band feels so sluggish I want to get out and push... $4/gallon is persuasive!
That looks like your MPG for that specific trip. Notice you were driving for 17 minutes and 11.6 miles. I reset a trip odometer for each fill-up to track the mileage per tank. The display seems too generous, unfortunately. I also track my real MPG on my phone (Gas Cubby).