I finally got to fill-up the Prius and drive it the next day on my commute to my practicum site. So what did I do? Naturally, I took my digital camera to take pictures of the screen for proof of what is possible city mileage under good conditions. Commute: 12-13 miles one way, 25-30 minutes Conditions: 55-65 degrees from MFD, 10.5 miles of 35-45 mph with stoplights 2.5 miles of 65 mph highway. Ah natural (no a/c) Very little elevation change Gusty crosswinds (not sure how much 20-30 mph I think) 5W-30 Oil 42 front/40 rear (last I checked) Just a note: No special techniques were employed, only anticipating stoplights and driving the speed limit. Acceralation is generally pretty brisk (I don't floor it, but I try to get up to speed quickly--faster than the 30-40mpg pulse). I had actually filled up the night before, so there is an extra mile in there. P.S. The bar in the middle right at 50 was when I accerelated to try and make a stop light, but didn't. I normally coast to it as I rarely ever make it, and would of had 4 bars at 75 mpgish. :angry: EDIT: Placed emphasize on under good conditions.
Maybe this also demonstrates the advantage to living where you can find a trip with VERY LITTLE ELEVATION CHANGE. I'm having a devil of a time trying to get my mileage up but seems like I'm always driving uphill!! I don't think the advantage of going down evens out when you look at the mileage trying to keep normal speed going up. PS I'd be embarassed to post a screenshot of my average MPG right now. I think I'm at about 38 after 150 miles of driving, trying to drive Prius-smart!
Take a quick trip to Minnesota or the upper peninsula of Michigan sometime in the next week and see how it goes. You are lucky to be having warm weather. :angry: Wait till this summer! B)
There are some tricks you can try and do to minimize the impact of hills, but hard to do with much traffic or with many stoplights. The winter here is pretty temperate, but even at 20-30 degrees, I still get 55-60 on the commute. P.S. I posted that this was under good conditions twice in the post times to make sure that people didn't misunderstand that I thought this could happen everywhere. If you missed that then you missed the whole point of the thread.
28 miles! Heck... I've seen 78+ MPG with just that few miles on the trip ODO. No kidding. Try to average those numbers over a couple hundred miles... or six hundred miles! Now THAT is impressive.
Actually, I have averaged close to this for over 500 miles. Last Christmas break, when I drove it exclusively for several weeks, my average was 61.3 at 552 miles (this was before we had the digital camera though). Even better, that tank was mostly 10-15 minute trips as I hadn't started the longer commute to this practicum site. Would you have preferred me to post that without any screenshot of proof? However, my tanks are always in the 50-55 range in the city, since my wife drives it 3 out of the 5 work days and almost all of her trips are about a mile and less than 5 minutes. I could post a picture of a tank from NM to Lubbock that we got 69 mpg for 350 miles or so at 70mph most of the time. That's not really fair though, it was a decrease in elevation the whole way. I felt this screenshot was fair, as this would be pretty close to my actual tank mileage under my normal driving conditions if I drove it every day to that work site.
The only restriction I would put on super-duper-trip-mpg happiness is that it be round trip. Otherwise it is too often wind at your back results. This comment is not directed at you Michael -- I see your numbers consistently in good weather. BTW -- hills are fine, unless the kinetic energy is burned at a stop sign at the bottom.
Just in case it wasn't clear, this was round trip. One mile from the station to my house, 13 miles there, and 13 miles back. After just one segment, going there, the mpg was actually worse (61.0 mpg). I completely agree EricGo! That's why I didn't think it was fair to post about the 69mpg trip going down the mountain.
Best I have gotten was 52 on a trip to Solvang. I understand that many folks in the LA basin where there is little elevation change can get routine 55+/- but anywhere you have hills you are going to suffer a decrease. I, also do not believe that the downhill section makes up for what you use going up.
With rolling hills, I try to gain speed on the downslope and coast on the upslope. This probaby gives me 4-5 mpg better than just cruise. It is difficult to do though with traffic or if you are worried about getting a speeding ticket. Or if the hills are too far apart.
Nicely done michael. i can get bursts of MPG like that in limited circumstances. I've got the "short-trip" problem with only about 3 miles worth of driving in one direction every day... if i lived a few more miles away i'd see much better mileage. oh well!
An objective mileage test of a particular technique definitely requires at least one round trip -- preferably two, one without the "change" [be it different footwork, some hack you're installing in the car, etc] and then one with. Under the same temps/weather. And maybe one more without just to confirm the negative of any perceived changes. . It takes time. I haven't had a chance to do this with/without my warm-air intake hack, for instance ... I'd need a consistently cold day, and the lack of several other projects barking for attention.. . But in keep with the o.p., yes, it is amply possible for 60+ on secondary surface streets. Just ask the marathoners. . _H*
Thanks! It can be frustrutating with those short trips. Each time I get the car back from my wife, I inwardly cringe when I see how it has dropped. It is so hard t keep it up high with short trips. I felt like it was important to let people know what is possible, because it seems like many newcomers think it is impossible to get the EPA without special any special techniques like pulse and glide. An Update on the Tank. After several trips around town (including one less than ten minute trip early in the morning--40 degrees) 62 miles at 61.8.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(priusham @ Jan 27 2006, 03:20 PM) [snapback]198732[/snapback]</div> Thought I would respond to this once more once I had a chance to get a digital picture of a tank that I had driven most of it instead of only driving it a couple of days a week. (It's a bitch to have it driven in multiple trips that are less than 5 minutes 3 or 4 times a week). 65.0 Mpg at 554 Impressive? BTW, the first 100 miles when I drove it four days in a row was above 68.X. The tank does include at least a dozen short trips (1-2 miles).
keep trying? ok but I doubt I'll get there. Right now I'm at 17 in the city I think, I just go by what EPA tells me as no guage tells me my effeciency.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(micheal @ Jan 27 2006, 02:43 PM) [snapback]198764[/snapback]</div> Or if the hills are so steep they have to carve steps in the sidewalk. Around San Francisco there is often little possibility to use this trick, although I do it when I can. (Mostly on the freeways.) Since the weather has been warmer lately, I've been getting much better mileage. I'm finally routinely breaking 47mpg. I kept hovering between 42 and 46 for a long time. I think it also helps that I no longer work at such a convenient 1.2 mile commute from home, and that hubby hasn't been driving the car as much. I would allways have my mileage nice and high . . . then he'd take it for a spin and bring it back .5-3 MPGs lower. I know the cringe Michael is speaking of. Great mileage by the way! And I do feel the need to point out, that while hybrid mileage suffers on the hills, so does regular combustion engine mileage. When I was living in LA, in a fairly flat area, my old car routinely got 26-28 MPG. When I moved to Santa Cruz (and then back to San Francisco) it dropped drastically to about 21-22. That's nearly a 20% decrease. If you look at the average 44MPG I was getting in the Prius, compared to the 55 people in flatter areas seem to get, it's also about a 20% difference. It would be great to see a reigonal gas mileage comparison by car model.
