It seams to me that MPG in Los Angeles CA might be worse than a midsized town or city. Anyone have thoughts on this? 1st: The HUGE traffic jams, initially seem GREAT for a Prius.. but it is not a long slow treck at 15 MPH, its more like 0 MPH then up to 40 FAST, then slam the bakes down to 0 again. If you take too long to get up to speed, you could literally get shot! Trying to leave a buffer is impossible... people will fill it faster than the red sea oh pharaoh's head.... I would almost end up going backwards. 2nd: There are hills is L.A. I often have to go over the hill into the valley and back... either by a long cury canyon pass or by the 405... which always is jammed. 3rd: Hard to time lights / guage the flow of traffic, because there are a million cars on the road and someone is always pulling out of a corner-mart, or suddenly making a left turn from the RIGHT hand lane.. its like Mr. Toads Wild ride.... and dont even start on LA drivers, there is no such thing. Most people here are from else where, so they really are NY, Detroit, Salem, anywhere but LA drivers... Anyway... it just seems like anytime I get a good pulse and glide going there is something ready to mess it up... I am only on my 2nd fill up, getting 46.8 MGP, I know I'll learn more, and get better, but I sorta thought I would be an instant hypermiler.... I mean I read every site before I bought, did the Pulse & Glide by instinct with my old stick shift car for years.... oh well... anyone have ideas on how to master the city of angels...
NO ideas icharry, but i enjoyed your reality check! How long is your commute? I've had a chance to live, work and vacation in a similar environment with the Prius, Sacramento, and it is possible to find those 40 mph roads and see 50 mpg's, that's a start, but not necessarily practical, eh?
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(icharry @ Jan 7 2007, 06:21 PM) [snapback]372294[/snapback]</div> I get my best mileage going from the West Valley to the west side on the 101 and 405 over the Sepulveda Pass. Generally in the high sixties. On the way to the valley it is in the high fifties. I try to coast on the downhill slope as much as possible. That often means keeping to the right. Not bad for your second tank. That is close to what I was getting when the car was new. I now rarely average lower than 50 MPG per tank, most commonly I get 51-53 MPG.
Until August, I commuted from Silver Lake to Calabasas for work. 26 miles (an hour on ave.) each way, mostly fwy, and my average MPG was about 51. Key was leaving enough space between me and the car in front to avoid quick starts and stops and learning to accept that people would inevitably pull in front of me. Most of my driving now is in town on surface streets. Mostly short trips, and on longer ones, when traffic is heavy it kills the battery regen and reduces 'glide' opportunities so my MPG is now around 40. On the bright side, I only have to fill the tank every 3-4 weeks. Really the only way to reduce dealing with traffic is to find your best routes on the "B" streets and time your travel to avoid the crush hours of 7A-10A and 3P-8P. Better mileage will follow. I know this isn't much help - why we need better mass transit (and bike routes).
In one year of commuting, 25,000 miles I'm right on 49.6. I do 45 miles each way from west San Fernando Valley to Azusa, on the 118 and 210 through the hills in Pasadena. I see about 10% stop and go, and the other time between 70 and 80 mph. I had a couple weeks over the 50 mpg, but its been 48.6 all winter, and just under 50 in the summer. I do almost NO city driving. I run the heat and A/C at a comfortable level, usually around 70. A gallon a day, each way to work, works for me.
I'm at the end of my first year driving from Simi Valley to El Segundo, ~ 23k miles. My average is 48.6. Going to work is much better than coming on. Gotta love the long run downhill on the 405. Ken
I drive from the hilly part of Echo Park to the 101, 170 to North Hollywood, about 28 round trip. In the winter I get about 42 - 43mpg, in the summer 46 - 48. I fill up about once every two weeks.
I drive from Oxnard to Simi Valley, on the 101/23/118 in to work, and then on the 118/23/Santa Rosa Road/101 on the way home (can't take the shorter Santa Rosa Road route in the mornings, as the school busses stop every 50 feet!) I don't pulse and glide, wax and wane or anything like that. I drive like I normally drive, and average 47.5 MPG. The only "special" thing I do is have my tires at 40/42 and make sure I don't get run over by SUVs.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(fshagan @ Jan 20 2007, 02:06 PM) [snapback]378323[/snapback]</div> TP should be 42 front/40 rear.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(JimN @ Jan 20 2007, 08:57 PM) [snapback]378536[/snapback]</div> Yeah, that's what I meant. Higher pressure where more of the weight is.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(berylrb @ Jan 7 2007, 07:57 PM) [snapback]372325[/snapback]</div> Someone who feels my pain. lol
I drive from the San Gabriel Valley to Irvine. I take the 710, to the 5, to the 605, to the 405. A lot of freeways, I know, but it's the best use of the carpool lane. Summer/Fall I was averaging in the low 50s, with the colder temps I've been averaging in the upper 40s to around 50. I find my best stretch of MPGs occurs going to Irvine, as it's pretty much all a gradual downhill grade (valley to the ocean). And the carpool lane definitely helps--both with MPGs and time--on the 405 south from the 605 to the 55 (takes me about 15 mins, while the electronic reader board usually shows a 30-40 min drive)!!!
I've had my 2007 prius for a week. I'm one notch above the 1/2 way mark & have only driven 135 miles. Mostly short side street trips in L.A.. It's very disappointing.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(amyprius-l.a. @ Jan 24 2007, 09:41 AM) [snapback]380127[/snapback]</div> The level of the "guess gauge" doesn't tell you much. How many MPG are you getting according to the MFD and what were you expecting? I've had it take as many as ~180 miles to go down 1 pip while at other times after that many I'm down several pips. You do realize that lots of short trips kills gas mileage on ANY car, right? BTW, what type of mileage were you getting on the same route and driving pattern on your previous car?
Just wondering how many miles are everyone getting for a full tank in Los Angeles driving conditions? I am getting around 350 miles for a full tank... seems low huh?
I'm getting about 450 and averaging 45.5 or so per tank. I commute daily from Corona to Torrance, which is about 45 miles one way and mostly on the 91 Freeway.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Homer_Simpson @ Jan 26 2007, 04:48 PM) [snapback]381438[/snapback]</div> My commute is about ten miles in each direction, about 50% surface streets and 50% freeway, at the rush hour. I rarely get less than 500 miles per tank (532.8 on the most recent fill-up) and I average between 51 and 54 MPG (53.8 MFD, 52.3 calc. on my last tankful).
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(IsrAmeriPrius @ Jan 26 2007, 05:54 PM) [snapback]381462[/snapback]</div> man!! that is totally awesome!! do you fill up when the last bar is blinking? I wish I got that much miles out of my car! maybe its teh way im driving it or something... oh well.
I guess the older the Prius, the better the mileage. I just bought mine and I got 400 miles on my first tank of about 10 gallons (40 mpg)...the display always says about 44 mpg. I drive about 70% highway in "The OC". During my first fill up, I spent an extra minute pumping up the gas tank bladder and squeezed in an extra $1 of gas at 10 cents per squeeze. I drove 150 miles before the first two blips fell off the fuel gage. I'm trying to use the hills and traffic to practice my "pulse and glide" technique. On the 405 i'm crawling at 5 mph and running off the battery...as the screen says 100 mpg. Then at the 5 minute mark it averages about 50+ mpg on the screen. Too bad it doesn't average 100 mpg in this traffic. Good Luck!
