I suspect it's the tyre pressures and the ECO tyres. I put some ECO tyres on my FIESTA diesel - they were certainly noisy, and didn't grip as well as the original Continentals.
Time for some fuel consumption stats: Today I drove to the centre of London to the park to go for some sunrise cycling and walking. It's a very warm and humid morning, and this journey would be about around 85-95mpg UK in the Gen 4, driving at the speed limit. Last night I charged the Merc (13 miles range showing, manufacturer claims a range of 19 miles) and drove at the speed limit, just normal acceleration like the Prius. I switched a bit between using the engine for faster segments of the trip and switching back to battery for the slower segments. So with a fully charged battery (probably about 50pence/70cents of electricity) - the mpg was close to what I would get in the Gen 4. If I had just driven in hybrid mode without charging first, I reckon I would have gotten 35mpg UK, which is good for a 2.0 petrol turbo with 279bhp, but also reminds me just how bloody efficient the Gen 4 is without you even trying as a driver to drive super efficiently.
That's a fair point, but I think it's also that the engineers deliberately put little or no insulation in parts of the car the car to reduce weight and optimise efficiency, compared to how they would add insulation in a regular Corolla for example, where maximum mpg was not the purpose of the car.
So, as I suspected, you'd have to try to optimise PlugIn kilometres to make it anywhere like as good as PRIUS.
Umm, are you're thinking "Active Noise Cancellation"? That'll be cool. Well I guess half of Canada lol. Canada is a lot wider than 6,000km.
Whoops. It seems I overstated my distance ( what? on the internet? never! lol ) I started in Toronto. 4,500km (with a detour to Drumheller).
From Toronto to Halifax is even another time zone. I've got Vancouver to Halifax on the brain because I did that by train in '68, headed for basic training at Cornwallis.
Yes, it was great coffee and chat!! I didn't travel anything like as far: (that's about 80.1 UK MPG - [67 US MPG])
I'd like that to be my average - but that's about what I usually get on a run to the Gold Coast or Sunshine Coast and back. Brings my averages up!!
How delightful that PriusChat connected me with a fellow Gen 4 owner all the way in Australia. That's too cool. In 4 days, I only saw one Gen 4 in that part of Australia and that belonged to @alanclarkeau ! Back to another comparison between the Gen 4 and the Mercedes. You know how I enjoyed the more solid feeling when closing the doors of the Mercedes? Well, having a heavy door is not always a good thing. For example, I took my mum (in her 70s) out the other day, and the car was on a slight slope so that if you open the passenger door, it won't stay open by itself. Anyway, I noticed mum struggling with the door of the Mercedes given it is heavier, whereas with the Gen 4, she never had an issue. More food for thought.
Yes, it was great to catch up with @raspy - we had a great morning. Not sure if I'll ever get to London - but if I do, we'll repeat!! Maybe this might have solved the door problem - forward to 6:30: Though - with the length of the Phantom - I doubt you'd ever stop because there is nowhere to park it - so you'd never get to open the doors. Or just hire a chauffeur when she's in the car?
The RR Phantom self closing doors are cool. However, later on in the video I saw a figure of 6.3mpg. Ouch. I stopped watching after that
Ouch - had to be some trade-off. I think we saw that car drive past us while having Coffee. Yes - we saw more RollsRoyces than Gen 4s. Even saw an Alfa Montreal.
I just heard the BAD NEWS. There is a 12+ month waiting list. The journalist said it's not RR's fault, but that there are just too many millionaires.
