My first post on Priuschat was a response to the diesel car getting like 70 mpg... I wrote about how I knew someone who got 85.7 mpg... I checked the Yahoo groups photos section, and lo and behold... he had a pic of his 967 mile tank. To the original poster: I told you so. The image is attached.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(DaveinOlyWA\";p=\"40189)</div> looks like it, but impressive all the same.
ok i guess looking at the picture, he has the hazard lights on. i need to see how he did this. did he post details on how he did this? i can do the same thing, but it wouldn't resemble real world driving at all, and im not interested in any results like this. this would be like the car the University of Michigan had a science fair i attended back in 1977. they had a car that got about 130 mpg. but it ran a track at about 8 mph...so ya... i can coast my prius around and get that mileage too. but what purpose does it serve? I think Rays 700 miles is much more impressive, because it was done when the car was serving a purpose. he was driving to work.
He ran out of gas going uphill... hence the warning lights (while going uphill). He had a gallon of gas in another container for the occasion. The triangular symbol is the Malfunction Indicator Lamp "MIL". Thats what you get when you run out of gas. I had to unplug the 12V battery to clear ECU. I don't recommend running out of gas. It's not pleasant. Dan
Get on a long,flat road and set your CC to ~35 mph. I can understand your skepticism. He did not drive 8 mph.... 30-40 mph is more like it (and on a vacation trip... I think... there were too many posts to sort through to find out the purpose of the trip... I think I remember that it was for a vacation trip). Here are some more details: ------------------ Thanks everyone on the many congratulations that I received. I see that there alot of questions. I will try to answer them. Could I do the same on the return trip? Absolutely! While it is true that I ended up about 500 ft lower elevation than I started, I had a 5-10 MPH headwind/crosswind the whole way. Assuming the same conditions on the way back, The tail wind would easily make up for having to climb 500ft. My MPG would definately be better. I don't have the extra 17 hours to spare this time so I will drive more conventionally. I expect low 60's. Did I really average 32MPH? What was your driving technique? You are probably wondering why it took 967 miles to get from Pittsburgh to Huntsville. Normally it is a 683 mile trip. All of my testing tells me that 35MPH is the optimum speed for an 04 Prius. With that in mind, I had to choose a route that was off the beaten path. My technique? Set the CC to 35 and try not to get bored. Keep the windows closed and do not use AC. When the internal cabin temperature gets up to 100F, treat yourself to the fan on medium. Yes, my average speed was 32MPH because I had a few stoplights along the way. Why drive in your underwear? Well it wasn't underwear really, just sweatshorts. The fan is more efficient at cooling your body when more skin is exposed. Extreme driving? Yes, this could be considered as a type of extreme driving. The reason I do it is to test the limits of the Prius. I just like to know what the limits are. For those of you who think I am crazy, consider this..... Do you think marathoners are crazy? I have a friend who runs marathons. Most recently he was in the Cleveland marathon. I asked him what he does if he really, really, really has to go during a marathon. Well I'm not going to repeat what he said here, but you could probably guess. Thats where I draw the line. Dan EMAXX P.S. I had two hybrid sightings during the trip. First was a 04 Driftwood near Jasper, AL. A pretty girl honked and waved as she passed me. The second was a Red Insight. I have now seen 4 Insights on the road and in each case they have passed me at blistering speeds. I guess they were feeling sorry for me and were trying to get thier MPG down to my level. -------- My tire pressure is high and I use 0W20 oil which I believe has something to do with the high mileage. I will be doing some testing later this month to determine what effect tire pressure and oil viscosity might have on MPG. If anyone is not convinced that the Prius is capable of 60, 70 or 80 MPG, please take the time and run a very simple test. Go take a drive out into the country on a day in the mid 70'sF. Find a road with a 35MPH speed limit that is at least a few miles long. Reset your ave MPG, accellerate up to 35MPH, set your CC and try not to run over any squirrels. When you get to the end of the road, turn around and go back the other way. If you get warm, turn on the fan, but not the AC. Try to go at least 11 miles (EPA uses an 11 mile test). It might take a few round trips. At the end, you should see at least 80 MPG. Don't be surprised if you see 90. My best is 93.6 on a 7 mile stretch that I round tripped three times for a total of 42 miles. You should see that the ICE alternates with the battery as your source of power. When the ICE is running it will also be charging the battery. Your instantaneous MPG will range from 50-80 while the ICE is running. When your ICE shuts off you will be getting infinate MPG running on the battery power. If the road is flat, this should be happening and you should see 80-90MPG. If you do, then your Prius is just as capable as mine. If you do not, then lets discuss it and try to figure out what is wrong. Dan EMAXX ---------------------
oh i have many documented examples of high mileage in my Prius so sure it is possible to get high mileage. getting that over a tank though is tough. i already know that a nice low steady speed will get high mileage, but i cant see any real world driving that would allow it. for you to make a 900 mile trip at 35 mph isnt what im interested in doing. i think we could get great outstanding mileage in a lot of cars doing that. maybe not 90 mpg but very impressive numbers. my highest mpg for any measured stretch is 111. 9 mpg for 21.2 miles however the speed was more along the lines of 10-20 mph. but i can see that your record wont be broken by me that is for sure.
No thanks! On the other hand, he points out that he was pushing the limits to demonstrate what the Prius is capable of in the extreme. He clearly is not suggesting anyone drive this way. He is not talking about real-world driving. He is an explorer, discovering what is out there on the edge. It's good to know.
Hi Folks, I recently drove from Reno to Grants Pass, OR via Susanville and Shasta. During the drive around Mt. Lassen, averaging between forty and fifty mph with lots of slowdowns related to construction, I regularly saw high seventies and low eighties. I ignored these reading because if I picked up the speed or hit any hills, I immediately dropped down to me usual low fifties average and at times (big hills) hit the forties. So I am not sure that I except these examples any more than I feel that an indication of 99 mpg is really significant for me. In the real world it’s a complete, useful trip average that impresses me. Still I am very happy with my mid-fifties mpg with out any driving inconvenience… And it's nice to know what's possible if for no other reason than to stop the whinning from the SUV set.
But won't the 10+ GALLONS of sweat that subsequently soak into my FLOORMATS AND CARPETING just weigh me down, thus negating the option of a cooling method with which I may "reward myself"?
The lights are there because he ran out of gas driving uphill... he had an extra canister with a gallon of gas.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(bradca21\";p=\"40433)</div> LOLOL :lol: brad you have a point there. speaking of which... now that the weather is starting to cool down here (i said here not Texas!!) has anyone got any insight as to the hit the mileage takes with the air on? i am working on it and it looks like it does affect mileage a bit... will have data in about two weeks or so. hopefully we wont switch over to winter gas and screw up my calculations. right now in WA we are having an early winter. i guess that is only fair since this past summer was about 4 months longer than any other summer ive seen up here in my 17 years.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(InTheWASide\";p=\"40433)</div> [pedantic=full]Where did that sweat come from? Your body? In which case you were carrying it anyway![/pedantic] Now where did I leave those helium balloons I fill the cabin space with to reduce rolling resistance?
Here's one I wrote last week on Priusonline, and got no response. Now I see the light. Thought I was going nuts.--Thanks, all! The title was "Wierd impossible" :cussing: Driving back from Showlow Arizona to Overgaard Arizona, a fairly flat drive, driving initially for about 20 minutes at 35 to 50 MPH in the town, observed the following on the consumption display: The four vertical bars were at or above 90 MPG, with most having several regen marks. How is this possible? Prior to driving home we had been in a traffic pile up for about 20 minutes at very slow, stop and go speeds, so the battery was near it's low charge level. As an aside we also were in a mild hail storm, which I'm sure had no effect on anything, except for our concern for body damage. Does the vertical bar length include the value of the regen icons somehow? I'm confused?? After reviewing most of the great material on this site I thought that I understood the system and displays pretty well, but I guess not. Arnie 04 Salsa about 2000 miles in the Arizona mountains
Your not giving us enough info to give ideas.. but here they go anyways. your battery charges pretty quick when cruising. If you just came out of traffic, your battery will still charge up quick. If you're a good drive, your battery will stay at a nice peaked 6 bars on the battery. This will make the electric motors kick in more and make your mpg go way up. It's awesome i get this all the time but half the time i speed too.. lol.. but cool air also helps. The engine runs better once warmed up. I'll have to bring my camera with me some time to show my mpg read our for 5 minute intervals. I get really high mpg when cruising but i jackrabit on starts. so. it stays around 40-50... if i had the patience for a slow start.. i could probably get really god mpg average.
