NJ 2014 Prius Three

Heh... Was the salesman in the car? What did s/he say? When I was test driving, I always thought it was funny to hear the salespeople feign enthusiasm for the Prius whether they liked them or not. ("You turn it on with this power button - isn't that cool? Hear how quiet it is!")

Anyway... welcome! I'm not a mega miles driver so I'm sure others will have more input on the MPG questions. In general though, I think you'll find that you'll get much better mileage than your old car without doing anything special. My hunch is that it's all those addictive little MPG/Consumption graphics on the screen that create most of the motivation to "win" the mileage game against yourself by learning various tricks - but you don't really *need* to do anything to get very good mileage, assuming your tire pressure is good, your batteries are OK, etc. The only thing I do a little different in the Prius is take my foot off the accelerator earlier / more often because the LRR tires rollllll on their own... but this was almost an automatic adjustment for me as I got used to the way the car drives.

You'll discover that faster you drive on the freeway, the worse your mileage will get - but unless you drive at "running from the law" speeds, it still will be good. The short trips still "kill" the mileage, but this is relative - they'll still be much better than in a gas car (never thought I'd be distraught at seeing only 34 MPG on a run to the mall....) If you combine your short trips it reduces the MPG loss since the car will be warmed up, but obviously you only have so much control over when you drive. So I'd say, don't worry much about optimizing MPG at first, and have fun laughing at people with "F your Prius" bumper stickers and very high gas bills.

 

RootBreaker, welcome.

Fuel economy is going to depend on your route & speed but you should be able to get at least mid 40's without doing anything special or different.

As for decals, there's Calvin pissing on (insert competitor's emblem here), "If you can't Dodge it, Ram it", and "I'd rather push a (insert my brand here) than drive a (insert competitor here). Glad to see the Prius got enough attention to warrant a decal.

Enjoy the FE office banter with the other guys. The real competition isn't one upping your co-worker (although that's fun). The real competition is in improving your own game.

The important thing is to habitually sock away the savings. Ally Bank has the highest interest rates around.

 

After one month's ownership of the Prius my guess is your fuel cost will be about $225. That's a lot of savings, and you have the right idea in saving the money for later purchases. Heck,, you might be saving enough fuel to drive the price of gas down in your area. If you remember in high school it's all about supply and demand. Good Luck

 

Congratulations & welcome to you and your f'n prius.

 

If it's a long trip of just highway (without traffic), then you won't get too great a benefit from using a hybrid. Hybrids shine when driving in stop and go traffic, or waiting in stopped traffic. The gas engine shuts off and does not restart until the battery is drained or you start going fast. It is not particularly hard to get significantly more MPG than the MPG rating of the car, but it depends on driving habits and conditions. If you're driving 65 on a highway, the hybrid system won't help much with MPG. You'll just be using the gas engine to propel the car and the hybrid system will be little more than added weight. If this is the case, and you want a new car, perhaps you should look at the Nissan Versa. I doubt you will save enough in gas to make it worthwhile to get a new Prius.

125 miles x 5 days x 52 weeks = 32,500 per year. Let's round up to 35,000 / year, which is 280,000 miles for 8 years.

Prius is rated for 50 mpg, but let's assume 60 which can be gotten easily.

At $3.5 a gallon and 60 MPG, that's $16,333.33 fuel cost.
Versa gets 40 MPG highway, so let's say $24,500 fuel cost.

That's only savings of $8,166.67 in an 8-year period. Prius retails for $34,720 (starting MSRP) and Versa retails for about $15,000 (CVT).

That's about a $20,000 difference! So you can either save $20,000 now or $8,000 later. In other words, Versa is $12,000 cheaper. Don't forget sales tax, insurance and financing costs: all are worse for the Prius.

Also, don't assume you can get the entire tax credit just because they advertise it. Ask your accountant if your tax situation will allow you to utilize all of it.

 

While I'm not sure how insurance works in NJ, here in VA, if you have current insurance, a new car is automatically added and covered by law. Dealer will contact your insurance company by the next business day.

Congratulations on a wise decision and your new Prius purchase. You'll realize just how much starting today. I couldn't imagine a more extreme change in transportation.

 

Welcome to PriusChat and enjoy the big savings associated with Prius ownership, your MPG will double at the very least, possibly triple depending on your driving style!

 

Well that's certainly a better deal. At 23k you'll probably break even on the gas/price after 8 years as compared to a CVT Versa with a traditional gas engine. I guess I'm not convinced since the taxes, insurance, and financing will still make the Versa more economical.

Just curious, but why didn't you go with a Prius C? Cheaper and better MPG. Might even be more economical than the Versa (maybe).

 

That's good. I have to go on a trip of over 100 miles to get that.

 

Short trips will almost always result in lower MPGs. The car's engine and components are colder and not as efficient. You get most of the efficient driving after a few minutes of driving.

To drive efficiently:

1. Don't overapply the gas. If you have to brake, you likely overapplied the gas. Energy used up not by traveling but by braking is energy converted into heat, not motion. Hurts MPG. Applies to just about every car and truck out there. This is not always possible, however, so in some cases it is just an inescapable reality.

2. Pulse and Glide. Do a quick gas engine boost to a high speed, then glide (no gas engine, no battery power usage, no regen-braking) to a lower speed. Gas engines tend to work more efficiently when used at the high end of their capacity. I noticed this first when researching gasoline power generators. In general, if you need 900 watts of power, you'll want a 1,000 watt rated generator. A 2,000 watt rated generator working at half capacity (even a good generator with scaling capability) to generate 900 watts will use more gasoline per watt hour generated.

3. Try to avoid using the battery (electrical motor) to accelerate. This avoids unnecessary gasoline -> kinetic -> stored electrical -> kinetic conversion. Gasoline -> kinetic tends to be more efficient.

4. Be decisive. Either decide you cannot make the light/beat the car turning and stop, or keep going without braking if you can make it. Slowing down for no reason or pressing on the gas when you can't make the light, and then braking to a stop, are not efficient. Also avoid bad habits like stopping at a stop light right before the top of a hill, letting your car roll backwards 2 feet, accelerating up 2 feet, and repeating. Just coast to a stop at or near the light and brake to a stop until it turns green.

5. Use electrical components like A/C sparingly.

6. Keep tires inflated. I recommend inflating to max cold PSI of tires.

7. Roll windows up at highway speeds to reduce air resistance. Also, avoid driving at speeds above 55 MPH, EXCEPT when you reach them due to rolling downhill. If you're on a 65 MPH limit highway and your car gets to 65 MPH coasting downhill, just let the speed come off as you coast. Don't brake to lose it unless necessary for some other reason (laws, collision avoidance, etc...).

 

Headwinds and tailwinds could be a factor....

 

My average mpg 54.3