I have Bridgestone Ecopia tires on my Prius. It's great. The mpg went up by 1-2 mpg. It's way better than the Yokohama Avid S. The traction on the Ecopia is phenomenal but you will have to break them in for the first thousand miles. On certain highways when you are going 70+ mph you may notice you car moving sideways but you just need to break them in. Besides that I love these tires. They perform exceptionally all year round. You will notice great traction in the rain. I currently have 16,000 miles on my tires and I'm sure I will get 60,000 miles off these tire. The only other tire besides Bridgestone that is good is Michellin. Hope my post helps.
I have had my Prius getting 35-40 mpg consistently but it does depend on what tires you have on your car. I had the Bridgestone Potenza on just to test them on the Prius. It felt like my Prius was glued down to the road. That resulted in low mileage. If you replace them with another set of LRR tires then your mpg will stay around 50+ mpg. Tires have a hug impact on your mpg. I now drive with Bridgestone Ecopia tires and I'm averaging 55+ mpg. Ask you friend if their tires are low rolling resistance tires.
I only got 32 and below when I had performance tires, gassing it, and the was around freezing temp. If you are driving you car normally with normal tires in temp. above 50 degrees then you should roughly get 42+ mpg. Not sure how your buddy gets 32 mpg consistently. Maybe one of the other Prius may know.
I've tracked every mile on fuelly.com and looking it up, my Prius III worst was a 381 mile drive stretch in the middle of 2012 tropical storm Debby giving a lowly 37.5 mpg. That was a bitch drive. I've never driven so long in such poor visibility, from Alabama to Tampa it was a downpour.
I clocked in 100 miles in my new Persona and I got about 38mpg per computer. Not close to 32 nor was a feathering the throttle.
Our Prius now has 94,000 miles. Purchased new in May 2009. The lowest calculated mpg for a tank was during the first winter we had the car. We had temps down into the teens which is unusually cold for the somewhat mild climate here in the northwest. Calculated lowest mpg was 40.8 mpg. Our current tank today is running at about 57 indicated mpg or about 53.5 true due to dry weather with temps now in the upper 50's to low 60's. The mpg gauge is usually off by 3 to 3.5 mpg higher than calculated.
Looking at my Fuelly data, the worst in "good Prius weather" was when I first got the Prius and wanted to see what mpg's one would get driving hard as most other drivers seem to do in the DC area - that lead me to 45mpg vs about 54mpg on the tanks before and after the test. A 17% hit. The absolute worst was 42mpg this past February, my first winter with the Prius. Cold weather and winter gas paid its toll, even with conservative driving. Given the 17% hit with fast driving the previous May - that would have meant about 34mpg maybe.
Jesus. I love this thread. 92 mph and still getting ~34mpg. Currently in a v8 muscle car looking for a reliable DD for my 17k miles per year commute. Looking at Prius and Prius V and I want it to last 10 years.
True, it's not what you're driving but who's driving it. It took my several cars and years to get ready for Prius.. I went from around 300hp to this.. lol.. ouch..
Yeah, I'm going backwards. 90 mustang - 90hp 88 honda crx - 88hp 93 buick - 160hp 95 maxima - 190hp 05 mustang gt - 340hp (modded) 11 mustang gt - 450hp (modded) Now I'm about to trade in the 11 gt for a Gen III Prius. Kids seriously make you change.
I see it as forwards... when did you "need" those 450 ponies? I think kids change you for the better. In the pursuit for power, when will it ever be enough? In high HP cars, I notice the differences aren't apparent till 110+mph. How is that remotely close to a "need". On a track or Autobahn I can see that but here in the US, I just don't see it. Even on the track, it's not the HP, it's the driver, at least for me I enjoy road course and not drag. Now I focus on my own HP though road bike racing.
I drag race. Power and launching are king. Plan for me is a cheap to maintain DD and a street legal 10 seccond car (no fast and furious pun intended) on the side. Wife says I have to wait a few years and I'm okay with that.
that makes a little more sense. your drag car is far from a good DD. at the same time, Prius is far from a good drag car.. agenda's..
Worst full tank: MFD: 5.4L/100km (43.6mpg) Calc'd: 6.11L/100km (38.5mpg) Dist: 562.3km/351 mi Fuel added: 34.375 litres / 9.01 gal Avg Spd: 33km/h / 21mph Remarks: This was when it hit -40 during the tank and stayed near -30°C/-22°F for a week Worst partial tank: MFD: 5.8L/100km (40.6mpg) Calc'd: 6.19L/100km (38.0mpg) Dist: 460.8km/288.0 mi Fuel Added: 28.512 litres / 7.58 gal Avg Spd: 81km/h /51mph Remarks: Must've had a strong headwind as this is the worst mileage recorded on this highway trip that I do every March. Oh and I had winter tyres on steelies on whereas in previous years, I would've done it on factory alloys with Ecopias.