I Beat the EPA--Post 'em here

Well the last bar started flashing at 622 miles so I decide to fill up. Total mileage 632 miles, but I overfilled the tank (so ashamed!) so I can't be quite certain about my manual calculation. The MFD showed 61.1 MPG and I put 9.7 G in before the 1st click.

Looks like I will have to spend another month trying!

 

First tank of gas on a 06 #3 Driftwood. Tucson,AZ. 58mpg average 621 miles!
About 50/50 hwy/town, some a/c. Great car.

 

Well I now have 3 tanks over 60 mpg and my last tank is my high. I now think that I can claim that I beat the EPA. Woo Hoo Did I mention that I am having a lot of fun!! PS don't follow me unless you are into getting the best out of the Prius!

 

It's pretty exciting, I am on my way to blowing past the EPA, if this tank holds up. I am currenlty at 68.5 at 119 miles after a couple of days of getting to use the car exclusively. I know it will go down next week when my wife starts driving it again, but I feel pretty safe to say we should be able to keep it at 65 or so. My last couple of tanks have been a little over 60, but I have lost my receipts. Once I find them again, I update those.

 

Best tank to date 61.6 mpg driving in late May temps in 40's AM commute, 70's PM commute.

 

Best tank so far 70.8 MPG 664 miles, I've been using pulse and glide as much as possible and high speed glide aka warp stealth for speeds over 40, very little driving over 60 MPH probably 50 % under 40 MPH 50% 40 to 60 MPH. Last 3 tanks have used a lot of pulse and glide all three over 60 MPG. LMPG 51 for 43900 miles.

Dennis

 

Way to go Dennis! Impressive numbers!


Just filled up on our best tank to date:


65.0 mpg at 554 miles!

My prediction was pretty close, but I was worried that we might not keep it that high.

No Pulse and glide, btw.

Picture

 

My 30th tank of gas (I bought the car Dec 2005). See the graph (bars are the mpg for the tank, line is the lifetime mpg).
[attachmentid=3961]
My daily commute is a total of 82 miles 1/2 highway, 1/2 the back roads and hills of eastern PA.

Smiles,

 

1100 miles roadtrip around CA. 90% highway @ 65mph w/ AC

54.3mpg ( I usually only average 48-49mpg).

 

I've been rather disappointed in my gas mileage.

My wife owns a '96 Corolla. She gets better gas mileage than I do overall. This is based on a trip we made from California to Arizona (she used less gas for the entire trip than I did). I averaged 41-44 mpg depending on terrain. It seems the faster we go, the better gas mileage she gets and the poorer gas mileage I get.

On a level road with no head wind, the best I've seen is around 58 mpg, and it averages closer to 51 mpg. With lots of stop/go city travel, it averages around 41 mpg.

My A/C is on AUTO all the time and I keep it at 76 F or 78 F. My headlights are on all the time. Where I live now, the terrain is fairly hilly, but driving conditions are light and there are few stops along the way. A typical drive for shopping is about 30 miles round trip (closest store is 6 miles away, but the better shopping is 13 miles away). I'm usually the first one off the mark from a red light (really now, I don't consider myself as being lead-footed - I'm used to driving a much hotter car), but I keep to the limit everywhere.

One time after filling up and traveling 10 miles back to home, I registered 86 mpg on the MFD - it was downhill almost all the way.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(gopher @ Jul 2 2006, 11:46 AM) [snapback]280151[/snapback]</div>

I wonder if there is somthing wrong with your car? I just got back yesterday from a 200 mile trip from Denver to Colorado Springs and back. AC on the whole way, speed between 65 and 75, temps in the 80s. MPG was 42 on the way to Colo Spgs, and 48 on the way back. Oh... and I was pulling a 500 pound trailer with my shifter kart on it.

Without the trailer I usually get about 52 on hilly mostly highway driving.

 

Well I finally think I have something worthy to post here.


[attachmentid=4206]

Final tally was 765 miles, 65.6 MPG on the MFD, 66.1 MPG calculated. Might have gone to 800 miles but the final 32 miles were with AC blowing, 98 degrees outside, and trying to get a certain brother of a certain site administrator to the airport in plenty of time via arterial streets . All this was in a real urban environment, Chicago city streets, 17.9 miles in the morning and 20 miles in the afternoon. Afternoon longer since I take the under construction 90/94 Dan Ryan part of the way, never under 60 MPG with all that traffic. Boy it was fun doing this tank.

Wayne

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(FireEngineer @ Jul 18 2006, 08:27 PM) [snapback]288526[/snapback]</div>

I am totally envious - and quite concerned about my own gas mileage.

I would like to know what your driving habits are. When you start out from a dead stop, how fast do you get up to speed? What speeds do you normally drive at to/from work? Are you in stop/go traffic a lot? What is your maximum speed that you drive and for how long a stretch?

I have a friend with a '06 Prius and she rarely gets better than 44 MPG. We both live in Prescott Valley, AZ where there are plenty of rolling hills and lots of 55 MPH travel involved.

 

Got my 06 silver pine Prius option #3 last Saturday. Two days each week I make the same 110-mile trip. Made the trip twice this week and experimented with cruise control effects. Ave mpg with cruise on = 43.5. Cruise off = 46.5. Will continue to monitor this over several weeks for reliability. A/C always on. It's hot here is south Texas!

I'm having difficulty feathering. The 110-mile trips give me lots of practice time but feathering allows highway speed to drop, and then the slightest foot depression kicks on the gas with decreased mpg. Have read all the sites on how to do it. Other suggestions?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Dr Ed @ Jul 21 2006, 06:05 PM) [snapback]290245[/snapback]</div>

What is "feathering"?

 

When commenting on gas mileage, it is helpful to mention tire pressure and other stuff. I now have 22,000 mi. on my 05 and have never seen mpg as low as 44 mpg for a tank load. I also keep track of mileage and gal. pumped to be a bit more accurate in lifetime mpg than averaging the mfd readings. However, I find the mfd to usually be within 1 mpg of calculated mileage.

My lifetime going into Dec. was 52 mpg. Tire pressure halways has been 40 F and 38 R. The alignment is pretty good as I find no wander at high speeds and it is very well behaved on the interstate.

In Dec. I switched to Michelin snow tires (not studs). I took a 2 mpg hit with cold weather and another 2 mpg loss with the snow tires. The winter average was the worst I ever got with a 49 mpg average. In March, I put the Goodyear Integretys back on and saw an instant jumpt to 54 mpg. That is combination interstate, secondary roads and some messing around town. My terrain is fairly hilly.

A week ago, we took a trip from WA to OR for a few days. Going south on the interstate we got a tank average of 53 mpg. Gassed up in Portland and found all stations had E85 blends. Returned to WA and struggled to get 49 mpg on Ethanol stuff. Ran the tank out and picked up some Shell regular near home. That tank jumped back to 54 mpg.

Believe (for me) the combination of 40 F and 38 R pressure is a good compromise for good mpg and reasonably comfortable ride. Oh yes, no noticeable wear on the Goodyears.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(gopher @ Jul 21 2006, 10:39 PM) [snapback]290310[/snapback]</div>

Feathering:

http://techno-fandom.org/~hobbit/cars/warpstealth.html

 

I'm getting the hang out of maximizing my mileage.

My last tank averaged 64.1 mpg---it calculated exactly the same as the MFD computed it this time. It was also my record distance on a tank---649 miles!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(gnagel @ Jul 23 2006, 04:46 PM) [snapback]291144[/snapback]</div>

Uh, huh. What are you doing? Pushing your Prius?
Joking aside, I would really like to know the secrets.
Even feathering as much as possible, I can't get my mileage above 46 MPG. Lots of hills around here and the MPG drops to around 20 just getting up the hills, and everytime I have to stop, the MPG takes a dive (down under 10) while I get up to speed again. If I try to baby it to avoid reduced gas mileage, I get in everyone's way. So just keeping up with local traffic drags my MPG down.

So maybe my Prius is broken?