"This morning, I looked at the gauges on our 2003 Prius and smiled. They showed that we had gotten an average 47.3 miles per gallon over the last 215 miles we drove. The average actually rose slightly on the 14-mile round trip to the supermarket. That's pretty much what my wife and I have experienced in the 40,200 miles since we bought the car in March 2003. It took a few months to get the velvet touch, but since then the car has seldom gone below 42 mpg – through long-distance driving, high speed, wind and rain. And, try as we might, it seldom gets better than 49 mpg. We're not complaining. A typical refill for the Prius is about eight gallons, which costs less than $24. A typical refill for our SUV, a 1998 Toyota 4Runner, is about 20 gallons and costs nearly $60. Both vehicles go about the same distance between refills." He goes on to say why the new hybrids aren't selling, and recommends readers to purchase an efficient hybrid. It's a heck of a link, or you can just go to scottburns.com (which is redirected to Dallas Morning News), and navigate to his archives, 4/30/2006. I've seen this article elsewhere, but it has different headlines: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dw...n1.8fff7c7.html To sign in, use this tip from our friendly admin Danny:
Just returned from our fisrt road trip with our new Prius, received 54.0 mpg on the 218 mile trip, very very pleased here indeed. <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(nerfer @ May 14 2006, 11:39 PM) [snapback]255500[/snapback]</div>
49's the best they've been able to do? Sounds like recovering guzzlers or perhaps someone should refer them to PriusChat for tips on improving the good old mpg eh?
I finally got above 51mpg (57.6). Yes, it was just after a fillup. Yes, it was only 10 miles. But I think, if I kept driving that way, I would have maintained that number. Now, if I can only get my wife to drive that way. She normally hangs out in the 45-47 range.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(JackDodge @ May 15 2006, 08:13 AM) [snapback]255601[/snapback]</div> Note that it's a 2003 Prius. The EPA for the NWH11 (dare I say first gen? classic?) model is 46.5 mpg, altho according to evworld.com people get 45 mpg, only 2 mpg less than the NWH20 (aka Prius II, 2nd generation,?) My paper's version of the article that I read had it as "seldom betters 49 mpg for long." Not sure why the phrasing was changed in this edition.
Scott Burns used to have a 2004 Prius also. But he sold it last year. I think he made a mistake - the 2004 is so superior to the 2003. What was he thinking?!
