Well, i got 53 in traffic, but i'm NOT gonna drive that way!

Martin,
Depending on whether your Prius comes with VSC (for bad weather) and how much you have to carry at the time you may find that your Prius may be the most appropriate vehicle more often than you think!!!

 

Re: Well, i got 53 in traffic, but i'm NOT gonna drive that

I still don't understand how city driving can be more efficient than highway driving. When I accelerate from a stop, the mileage starts at a very low 8 or 9 mpg, then creeps up as I get up to cruising speed (whatever it happens to be - 30, 35, 40 or 45 mph). But by that time, I'm more than halfway to the next light and the cruising time doesn't really make up for the acceleration time. And if I slow down my acceleration, it just extends the low mpg time period - doesn't really help. I seem to get better mileage on the highway, not speeding, just cruising and coasting as much as possible. I haven't made it over 46mpg either yet. I'm a little over 1,000 total miles. I don't know if I'm doing something wrong, or if my car is just not as good as others.

Sabrina

 

city driving can be much more efficient, but it is also much tougher to do.

it takes practice, patience, perseverence, and umm p-luck?? to get good results. the key is the same as highway and that is to drive as fast as possible without touching the brakes. that means knowing the lights, anticipating traffic, coasting sooner rather than maintaining traffic flow (dont get me wrong here. most of the time, maintaining traffic flow means you spend more time sitting at a standstill waiting for the light.)

the ultimate is be coasting up to the light just as the last car waiting begins to move. that is where the luck comes in.

also dont discount the value of cruise control on city streets. yes, it involves constantly adjusting the cruise setting for the most part. but constantly adjusting the speed forces you to pay more attention to the flow of traffic. you will get the best results when you can use the 1 mph adjustments for say half your speed changes.

keep working at it, it will come if you do.

 

charging

I don't know where to ask this question, sooo.
I'm getting my prius in about 2 weeks and ask the salesman if I can plug in to charge the big battery he said 'no can do'. I buy power for 2 cents per kilowatt after 9pm until 6am. and on weekends (soundes like a a cell phone). Is this for real??
Thanks

 

Larry,

Sorry, the battery system is closed - it's a self contained system of recharging via regenerative breaking and extra energy from ICE when in use. If it makes you feel better, even a fully charged battery (which is in effect, really only 60-80% charged) drained down to "empty" (which still has a capacity of 20-40% battery charge) doesn't get you very far anyways.

-m.

 

Larry, scrounge the forum, there are people trying to figure out how to add battery capacity and modify the car to be grid chargeable. At the electric rates we pay, I wouldn't even consider it. I'm sure every one's results are different, but generally speaking, when I pull into my driveway, I am a bar or 2 shy of full green (ie Maxed out). I don't live at the bottom of a long hill and I can stealth the 1/4 mile from the turn into my neighborhood to my house.

Plugging in a Prius will get you nowhere, even at $0.02/KWH. The engine is going to run for warm up every time you drive it anyway. Even if it doesn't need to move the car, it will run and charge the battery. I saw that just this morning. There is a signal about 1 mile from my house. I stopped, pressed hard enough on the brake to stop the "creep" feature that uses power from the battery. The engine was running and feeding the battery which, at the time, was full blue (1 step below green). If I do this when the car is warmed up, there are no arrows on the display until I take my foot off the brake and start driving.

 

Radar's first fill up 10/2: 9.53 gallons- $2.099/gal
Radar's second fill 10/10: 10.24 gallons- $2.359/gal

Since I did my economic analysis of monthly cost breakeven vs. my Sebring Convertible in first year based on $2/gallon and 1 major repair this year costing ~1200 for the Sebring (typical Auto Trans problems in 4th year of life) I figure I'm way ahead now with gas at $235-$2.40 per gallon and predicted to go up further before it goes down a little...

Peter+