I Beat the EPA--Post 'em here

if you are talking about the ICAD congress in Palais des congrès de Paris, I'll be working there too so if you want you'll be able to see a french Prius II I'll be happy to show it to you…

 

Love to.

Am planning to spend Saturday through Thursday at the meeting (my talk is Wednesday), and will rent a car Saturday (23 July) and spend a week with my family (I'm thinking Paris then maybe Blois and the Loire).

So Thursday or Friday (21, 22 July) look distinctly possible.

 

It's been "forever" since I've been here, but I thought I'd share some recent "beat the EPA" info ... even though it doesn't compare very favorably with some of the recent posts on this thread.

First of all, I just completed a five fill-up trip to up-state New York and back. Driving conditions were quite favorable for the bulk of the trip and, even though I drove much faster than usual -- 65-75 mph much of the way on four-lane highways and such -- Mithril managed to average 55.1 mpg for the entire, 1,790 mile trip.

Second of all, for the last TEN fill-ups, Mithril has just set a new "personal" record. Those fill-ups covered a total of 3,176.7 miles -- I usually fill up with two or three "pings" remaining -- and required 58.444 gallons ... for an average of 54.355 mpg for the last ten tanks. That's about 18% above the combined EPA rating for an '08 ...

NEW edit / update follows: As of 13 October 2011, Mithril set a new "personal" record for the last ten fill-ups. They covered a total of 3,443.2 miles and required 61.515 gallons ... for an average of 55.974 mpg ... which is about 21.7% above the combined EPA rating for an '08!

 

What I did for my 2008 Prius with 100,000 miles:
1. Increased tire pressure to 42 PSI in 51 PSI tires
2. Use the recommended octane
3. Use a top tier gas (see toptiergas.com)
4. Use full synthetic oil
5. Use a K&N air filter (lightly oil it)
These are in order of least to most improvement. Items 1-4 were made this year.

Best results thus far with all 5 changes:
• 71 MPG city
• 57 MPG driving 55 MPH
• 56 MPG driving 65 MPH
• 55 MPG at fill-up with a mix of city and highway driving

I use cruise control for most of my highway driving. I have no results for any speeds over 65 MPH.

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The basics of my city driving:
• Normal acceleration from a dead stop to get to the speed limit.
I do not baby it, but I do not hot rod it either.

• Use the Consumption monitor to know when to ease up on the gas pedal.
I want to get the best MPG and maintain speed.
This applies when NOT driving up a hill.
MPG is pretty much out of your control when going up a hill.

The purpose of using the Consumption monitor is to cause the ICE to stop running and the electric motor to take over, or to at least enable the ICE to get the best mileage possible.
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A word on tire pressure... I believe low rolling resistance (LRR) tires are the better option. Consider LRR tires when you need to replace your tires. You should do some research to find good tires. I found where some tires marketed as LRR actually hurt the fuel economy (inautonews.com/test-best-low-rolling-resistance-lrr-tires).

 

Lifetime ave for 04 is about 48mpg, and 50 for our 08. Peaks for both about 55mpg. Took us awhile to learn the best ways to maximize mileage which is why the 04 has a lower average. Surging really works. We live in a hilly area with many stops up and downhill or we'd get better mileage.

 

Recent trip (bone stock - newer Prius), Thanksgiving '11, DC Metro area to Sumter SC. Going down 52.1MPG but... coming back 58.3 at 460 miles each way. All I-95... meaning mostly at 65-70 (speed limit - mostly on cruise).
Why the difference? Going down was 15% Ethanol... coming back was almost full tank of "pure" (non-E) gas, which is prevalent in that area.

 

I had to pick up our 400h Lexus AWD SUV hybrid today (open sunday!) ... for alignment issues. Its EPA is 30mpg. I decided that while driving it around the city today - checking the alignment -, I'd spend a good 20 miles, just to see how much I could hyper mile it. Best I've gotten over an entire tank has been 35mpg. so ... here's the result for my 20+ mile loop:

Seems I not only beat the AWD RX-400h EPA ... I even beat the Prius Gen 1 and Gen II EPA ! !

Woo Hooo !
I do love me some hyper-mile'ing !



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No scientific value really, but have to smug somewhere Had been struggling a little lately with mileage, just put on a used set of OEM tires, aired up to 44/42, and had my traction battery replaced under warranty. Did a round trip to Tucson with family of 4 and all our weekend trip gear. Averaged 54.5mpg on the display for 351 miles, almost 100% highway at 65-70mph. That's more like it

 

Based on the consumption chart, I had a good drive into work yesterday. Normally the trip takes about 30 minutes. Never seen this before:

Then to top it off, I filled up to a 56 MPG tank on mileage today. I am in a 2007 with about 80,000 on it.

 

I am new here, and just bought a 2008, with 48,000. Why is the mileage per gallon different when done manually, and compared to the miles per gallon shown on the screen? The miles traveled match, but not the miles per gallon. Also I must have gotten a smoker's car, something I did not notice in the test drive. Any ideas how to get the smell out. It is cloth, not leather interior. I probably paid to much when I see some on E-Bay now with all the high end options, leather, Nav remote Start, live a learn.

 

I don't think I've ever managed more than two consecutive 99.9+ mpg bars with Mithril; my '08 with about 35K ... NEAT image, thanks for sharing, and congrats!

 

2007 Prius, 80k miles, 53.17 lifetime mpg (spreadsheet calculated), last tank 57.1 mpg, .05530 lifetime cost per mile. Still have the OEM tires.

 

Try doing a search on mileage differences --- loads of threads on the subject. The screen display is usually off, really depends on the car because they all seem to be different (other than generally higher than the calculated values).

:focus: Just filled up and got 53.0 for the tank (487 miles). Half of this tank was city commutes (56.3 mpg on the display when I turned it over to the wife for a trip up to Phoenix), the other half was freeway speeds (>70 mph). Still performing well after eight years.

I would try taking it to a good detail shop and ask them to do a deep clean / deodorize. If they can't do it then they should know of someone who can.

 

Hi Son of Gloin--

With properly pressed up tires, decent weather, and some pretty aggressive pulse and gliding, it's possible to fill the display entirely with 99.9+ bars The best I've personally done isn't even close, but here goes:

 

I just don't see how you guys do this. I am in awe of you're hypermiling techniques. I have been trying my best and I'm getting a paltry 50.5 over the last 537 miles (MFD not calculated) in my '06. I will keep trying to play with the big boys and girls though (lol).

 

Hi all--

I found the picture I was looking for.

 

^^^ That's pretty cool. But 3 miles in 30 minutes? Did you get out and push the car??

 

This is a known spoof. If you have the time, sit in a parking lot... lurch forward on elec only... wait 5 mins until the graph skips forward ... creep forward until bar graph fills... wait 5 mins.. etc until you get as this display shows... more of an April fools joke than anything else.

 

Hi Beelzel--

No spoofing necessary. Here's another occasion, with some more distance.

 

That's a little more impressive than the 3 mile trip. I see that you have two Scan Gauge units. Are you using a splitter cable from your interface connection?


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