Being a Prius owner for 5 years and sort of hypermiler for 11 years, here are "some" of the things I found that hurt mpg. In no particular order: Cold, rain, snow, wind, high speed, fast take offs, quick stops, red lights, ICE idle anytime, climbing hills. I'm sure there are many others, that I can't remember right now and will come up in this thread. Maybe we can help the newcomers and ourselves. I've had a 99 Solara SLE with 29.77 mpg avg for 350k+ mi. and a 2012 v with 51.6 mpg for 125k mi. trying to avoid some of these things (weather excluded ).
Thanks, that is one of the big ones for me. I've over-inflated my tire for years. My v was at 65 psi for all 125k. Taking it easy so far with my Prime, only at 50 psi. May try moving up soon. Not familiar with these tires yet.
Increased speed and decreased mpg go pretty much hand-and-hand. Anything that can help you avoid touching the brakes too, will improve your mpg. Keep a generous following distance, "eat it" during slow downs.
That way to much .. .you will be destroying a lot more than what you will gain with this type of pressure F/R 40/39 will be limit where once you go above this you will start destroying suspension and increased stress on other key components ... Nothing personal...just my opinion Posted via the PriusChat mobile app. And also your surface that touch ground is safety hazard..... Your four tire are barely make footprint of one tire that should have....with 40 or less Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
Yeah whoa there! First off, does anyone ride along with you, lol. Do an experiment: drop them back to spec, or at most a few pounds over, and leave it there for at least a tank. See what difference there is, and consider that, if any, vs the jarring ride, possible suspension/bearing damage.
I respect your opinion, but 11 years of experience with this has yielded no problems, only 100k+ on tires and better mileage. This is a topic for a hypermiler thread. Tires are different, that is why I'm being cautious with the Prime.
Long steep hills will hurt mpg, but smaller hills might actually help. They allow you to pulse and glide and drive a steady speed at the same time Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
So what do you really gain over 40 PSI on hot summer day....just wondering I can see benefits on cold days without winter conditions.... Summer days with hot road surface On my scenario my alignment is altered on grinding road surface and my rear is going all over the place if I go over 39 PSI My front is doing same if I go over 40 PSI This is on Prius Prime stock alignment and Bridgestone tire i have... So you must be fighting with your car non stop on some groved surface that is in line with travel Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
The ride is a little harder, yes. And no damage to suspension on either car except shock change on the v at 90k. and strut change twice on the Solara in 350k. I'm not trying to change any ones tire pressure, only reporting mine. Not all all, smooth ride. Just not as smooth as 40 psi.
I try to drive by the mantra of buy low, sell high. That is sell (or hold steady) speed on the way up hills and buy speed on the way down.
Driving primarily in EV mode while hauling the weight of a full tank of gas has got to hurt MPGe correct?
Barely. A car with a full tank of gas and one person weighs about 3600 pounds. With half a tank of gas, it would weigh about 36 pounds less, a reduction of only 1%. If mileage is 133mpge or thereabouts and 2/3 of the drag is rolling friction that extra gas would reduce your mileage by about 0.9mpge.
