Today was first day wife has driven her new prius eco to work. Its 88 miles there and back home. I looked at today MPG record for the 88 miles. It read 62.5 mpg. I could have got 70 easy.
Giving such instructions to my wife is like throwing gasoline on a fire. Well, not that bad but she did make me promise to leave her alone about her fuel wasting ways in the Prius. Coasting is not in her repertoire so she generally gets about 10 fewer miles per gallon than I do (but I say nary a word).
I hear the same thing, besides, wife needs to keep her eyes on road and keep setting the cruise control just like she always has. I'm scared of her and scared to ride with her. Its like talking to a tree.
when i ride with my wife, the only thing i ask her to do is back off a little from the vehicle in front of us. and even that does not go over well. no proem for her to ask me to slow down though, 'but honey, i'm only doing the speed limit'. 'i know, but that's not like you'.
I would never take one trip as a sample - I had an identical trip every Sunday, similar time, similar temperature, similar traffic using DRCC, one week I had 3.6l/100, next week 4.1, next week 3.8.
I did drive wifes car 10 miles further this evening so got her mpg bumped up from 62.5 to 65.2. I went to walmart yesterday morning in it and got 85mpg over there and 85 mpg on the way back, it was a 25 mile trip. We have almost 300 miles on it now, its showing 68.2.
Remember, the real goal is to use less gas, not to get the best MPG, needlessly driving extra miles is not helping you use less gas.
The other thing - I'd fill the tank now. My experience with my last 3 cars is that somehow, the first tank's readings aren't representative - no idea why, but they can be quite optimistic or pessimistic. And my dashboard readout is about 5-7% optimistic.
I love to joy ride in our new prius, always love riding. I'm saving lots more money and can ride cheaper now. The little blinking light is amazing that lets you know when to fill up with gas.
Don't overdo the blinking light - I think it's best to treat it as a "WOOPS, I should have filled up yesterday" warning. TOYOTA regards it as a WARNING. Running out of fuel in a modern car can have serious consequences sometimes.
"Approximately" - which was very inaccurate when it happened to me (not a PRIUS) - and over $350 and 2 wasted days later ... . It's just a suggestion - stretching your fills right to almost empty achieves nothing. You might have a better chance in a new car, but the last part of a tank is where sludge and other undesirable contaminants hang out - which is what destroyed my fuel pump. Some Fuel Injection systems require bleeding if they run out of fuel, not sure if PRIUS is one of them.
Bob Wilson intentionally ran his Gen1 and Gen3 out of fuel more than 50 times, for fun / sport / engineering curiosity / testing. He never reported needing anything special to get running again, or any need for fuel pump replacement, but did report plenty of interesting technical findings that would have been impractical or much less accurate without his out-of-fuel runs. We did learn from others to not crank the engine too many times to attempt a restart before putting in adequate fuel. At some small number, the ECUs will lock out further attempts regardless of later added fuel, and require a reset.
I suppose not "serious" - but I didn't take $350 + 2 days wasted light-heartedly. (see post #16). I also had a friend quite a few years ago with a NISSAN where he had to get the Fuel Injection bled and that cost him more than my $350. Besides a tow, it needed a new Fuel Injection pump, recalibration, went through 2 fuel filters, and they had about 3 goes before it was running right again. Not worth the risk in my estimation.
Day 2 on same 88 mile commute, using cruise 90% of drive= 60.4 mpg. One 15 mile stretch she said she set the cruise on 71mph, the 55 zone at 61 mph. She was getting about 50-52 mpg with our 2015. This is pretty good for the way she drives. I would guess her average speed to be about 45-50 mph, not figured out how to check that yet. I notice she had the air set on 70 degree yesterday, she ask me what the note coming up on screen meant that she could change air setting for better mileage or something like that, go figure.
