I love my PiP, but can't catch a break on gas mileage. After 3 months of low mileage (50 mpg) due to multiple 5 hr long trips at fast speed, I thought I was on my way to a new personal best. I worked my way up to 25o mpg after 4 weeks of mostly electric commutes. Only 2 gallons spent. Loving this. I'm in the top 10%... Then last week, we take a week long family vacation and leave the PiP home. Mother-in-law calls, frantic - her car won't start...can she borrow mine. Um, well, maybe, sure...just be careful. You've driven a Prius before, right? "Yes, my sister has one. Driven it lots of times." So, I watch eco dashboard on my iPhone app for the 2 days she drove the car - and see that each day mileage was around 50 mpg. Guess that won't hurt too much. Then we get home from vaca, and I plug in the charger...won't charge. I notice a big wet spot under the exhaust pipe. I check the interior, and map and other lights are on. Mom hit 'Park', but not 'Power'. So, for 4 days, the PiP has cycled ICE on and off. used about 6 gallons of gas. Mileage is back to 70 for the tank. Thankfully, no carbon monoxide in house. Cats still alive. Air filter probably needs changing. Maybe next month....
Although I wouldn't bet my life on it, my understanding is that newer cars, not just hybrids, have very low CO emissions, and it would difficult to get CO poisoning from them even if one wanted to.
Yes but low CO emissions coupled with only running on a few percent duty cycle means even less CO. At least everything's OK.
That's why no one "borrows" my car - I don't care what the reason is. Unless of course they happened to own one exactly like mine, but at the moment I don't know anyone that does!
According to this ad, it's not possible even if you tried. Toyota Prius: Happy, Shiny, And Hard To Kill Yourself With | The Truth About Cars
