Anyone get 60 MPG city driving?

The Prius gets better highway mileage than the Corolla (or any other car except the two-seater Insight) because its small, efficient engine does not have to be sized for full acceleration power. Instead, MG2 provides the torque for acceleration. It gets better mpg in city than on highway because the effeciency losses from stop and go are much less than the wind resistance at highway speeds. Other cars are backwards because they are so abominally ineffecient in the city with their oversized engines and their brakes spewing out lost energy every time they slow down. The Prius, with its smaller engine and regenerative braking wastes less energy when it accelerates, and recaptures some of its kinetic energy when it slows down.

The EPA "definitions" are a simulated "route" going set speeds for set distances, with set stops, etc. Google EPA to find their web page, and they'll have the specs for their tests.

I think DaveinOlyWA beats the EPA figures, at least some of the time. Probably others do as well. But the EPA test is so unrealistic that few people can achieve that in real-life driving. I think the EPA "highway" test is much slower than real-life highway speeds, and above 50 (???) mph or so, wind resistance increases exponentially, and therefore mpg drops rapidly.

 

All my best MPGs are highway, if you define 'highway' as any route mostly covered by the state maximum speed limit for the type of road you're on. I got 58MPG once driving 64 miles, and 54MPG over 110 miles. Drove back from Florida yesterday, and showed 53.7MPG over about 300 miles (60MPH max because I had the time) since I filled up while approaching the Florida border on the way down through Georgia. $2.71 a gallon didn't seem cheap until I got home...

 

In mild weather, I can easily get over 70 mpg in suburban driving just by staying off the highways and keeping speeds under 45 mph. It is not even hard. My record trip was 78 mpg using some pulse driving.
Normally I just go and let the car run on battery as much as possible.

I don't get this kind of mpg all the time because I often do need to go on the highway at 65 and also take some short 4 mile trips. These bring my tank averages down to 55 mpg in the summer. Also using AC when it is hot prevents getting the mpgs over 60.

I'd say the 60 epa rating is very conservative for city driving.

 

I consistently get 42 mgp driving around town. Short (under a mile) trips, in very hot weather - with the AC running full blast most of the time. I always late (mom with kids - what can I say) - so I'm jack rabbiting all over town.

When I visit the coast - speeds 55-60 I get above 50 mpg. If I just take one trip to the coast - 2 hrs thre and back - my mpg for the whole tank is upped.

 

It seems to me that the negative reports from the press on the Prius hav not been researched at all. There are hundreds of members here reaching or exeeding the EPA estimates. Ther is also NO comparison of the Prius (a ground up built Hybrid) to the Corolla. It's apples and oranges! With my very first tank of gas in my 2006 Prius that was delivered last week is now at 48.3 MPG in MA with AC on and with 140 miles of that on the highway driving between 67 - 71 MPH. Can't wait to see te mileage after the car breaks in and I change oil to synthetic.

 

The last tank I got around 61 mpg. This tank I'm at 62.5 with about 400 miles. I'm getting pretty good at the pulse and glide and don't ever gun it. As well, 85% of all my driving is city.

Ken

 

I am at 60.5 MPG (accordin got the MFD). About 75% of that is highway. It would be higher but my city driving really drops it. On the highway I can glide along at 99.9 MPG until the batteries drain and has to recharge. Then the cycle starts all over again.

 

I don't know why, but in about 1,500 miles (over a one-month period), I've never managed to get above about 43 mpg on a tank. I haven't driven especially fast (never usually much over 70 mph), and much of it has been in bumper-to-bumper traffic in the DC-Baltimore area where I was only running off battery. Furthermore, Maryland weather has been glorious the past month and I've only rarely used my heater/air conditioner.

That said, the mileage has been steadily increasing; I believe my first tank was about 35 mpg, second was about 38, and third was about 40. I'm hoping to break 50 regularly and I'll be happy with that.

 

What do you folks who get 60+ mpg in the city define as "city driving"? Is it on a boulevard with no lights (or well-timed lights) with speeds of 35 to 45 mph? Or is it driving with lots of stoplights?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(snowman83 @ Apr 17 2006, 11:46 AM) [snapback]240941[/snapback]</div>

Temperature plays a significant role in what you get for MPG. You will see an improvement as your outside average temperature goes up.

Cheers

 

I've had long stretches of 45 mph driving where the MFD consistantly read mid-60's, it was great! I particularly like when I need to drive about 10 miles south of here, and I take route 1 or Alt A1A instead of the highspeed Route 95. Even though there are a few traffic lights, I can stay in that 45-50 mph zone, and it always pulls my average WAY up! B) Even if I do hit a light, the power I regenerate while braking often gives me a mile or so of some ridiculous 70+ mpg mileage, so it almost averages out. I could see where someone who commutes in that type of traffic every day would EASILY get >60 mpg.

 

i take the highway pretty much every day. i get 54 mpg in the summer- current tank is 30 miles and around 53.2 mpg (iirc)

that's 1 mpg short of the epa combined rating.

now if i only had city driving, i can see that number easily hitting 60.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(bcmarks @ Apr 17 2006, 01:55 PM) [snapback]240953[/snapback]</div>

My city ranges from 35-50mph with some well-timed lights and other not so well timed lights. If I catch the light cycle correctly, I can go through several miles of lights without stopping. Streets that don't have well-timed lights I try to avoid if at all possible. Even on the good routes though, there are some lights that I will always get stuck at. The other thing going for me is that the streets are very flat, so I can usually see a red light or green light from 1/4-1/2 mile away to decide if I will make the light or not. So even if I have to stop, I can do a lot of regen and make up for the startup penalty. On most occasions, traffic flow allow me to do this for as long as I can, during high traffic times I try to glide to the stoplight more to keep a higher speed. On my commute to work (which does include some highway), if I catch the lights right, I can have 4 bars at 75mpg+. On the average day it is usually 2 or 3 in 75+ and 1 or 2 around 60+.

I pretty much always get above 60 mpg in the city, if the trip is at least 10 minutes and it is at least moderate temps (50 degrees or higher). I don't use the A/C or use it very sparing if wife is in the car. No pulsing and gliding, I just try to let the car do it's business. I do try to keep the battergy charge fairly high (at least 4 bars) and will give it enough gas to make the ICE run to not get the battery lower than 4.

My wife's trips at 40-45 mph for 5 minutes or less usually brings our total between 50 and 55. As of last night, our total was 61.3 at 300 miles. At lunch she said it was still above 60 after her multiple short trips. I suspect by tonight, it will be down around 59.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(bcmarks @ Apr 17 2006, 12:55 PM) [snapback]240953[/snapback]</div>

For lights you have to slow down ahead and try to time them so you don't stop or at least minimize braking with the disks. Some roads and traffic conditions make this difficult. I have about 10 potential stops on my 9 mile commute. (3 of these are stop signs too) My best mileage was a day I got through all lights without stopping. Probably will never happen again. Stopping once or twice a mile it is still possible to get over 60 but stopping every block won't likely work.

But at the exact point you get warm ( which you need a canview or other monitor to see!) it helps to stop to get to stage 4. Otherwise you may lose 5 to 10 mpg needlessly.

 

These claims of fabulous MPG's probably use the easiest method to "get" such MPG's - LIE. Perhaps report only a few miles of downhill, following wind conditions.

I have checked my actual MPG's the "old fashioned" way: Record the gallons pumped versus the miles driven over an extended period - in my situation now about 18 months. The computer MFD readout is interesting but usually just a little (like 5% or so) optimistic compared to the actual calculated MPG's. My actual results run 40-45 MPG around town, and 49-54 MPG freeway. I have found that significant crosswind will reduce my freeway MPGs noticeably, sometimes nearly 10%.

While I did not purchase primarily for the MPGs, the economy is welcome and averages about twice that of our 1996 Camry.

 

I drive 130 miles round trip to work and back. About 110 of it is tollway, 65mph.

I get a steady climb while on the tollway and on a 4 day drive, 530 miles, I'll get the mfd tank to be about 55 to 58 these days. The actual is 54ish at the pump.

If I'm 3 days into this and my mfd is reading 56, then I drive the weekend in stoplights and in town, my avg will decline. It definatly won't go up...

If I start out a fresh tank on the weekends in town (shopping, family, church), my average will be under 50 come monday morning. After 2 or 3 days on the tollway, the tank avg will be up in the mid 50's..

I can't do it on the streets... It's not too hard on the highway..

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Charles Suitt @ Apr 17 2006, 05:02 PM) [snapback]241074[/snapback]</div>

Why would you accuse anyone of lying about their mpg? It should be obvious to you that getting 60 mpg is easy! The marathoners in Pittsburg got over 110 mpg and it was witnessed and filmed. They drove back and forth so wind and hills were not causing fake results. Do you think this never happened? If not you should be able to see why anybody can get 60 and it is simply a matter of where and how you drive. If you don't choose to drive that way or on suitable routes that is your choice.

 

I get 50mpg on the highway do 65-75mph. In the city I get anywhere from 50mpg to +99mpg.