Go ahead and flip me off!

Ok, so I've had my 2008 Prius since 11/05/07 and I'm loving it. I live in the mountains of Western NC and have a 64 mile commute (one way) to work. The terrain is mountainous (probably not as pronounced as, say, Colorado) with lots of ups and downs and few plain old flat stretches of road.

Since I purchased my Prius, I've been reading this forum and pouring over all kinds of posts. Just thought I'd post my observations....don't worry, the provocative thread title will all make sense in a moment.

Back in early November, it was unseasonably warm here in NC and I got super gas mileage out of my car. I believe the temps were still in the upper 60's and even lower 70's in the daytime. I pulled very close to 600mpg out of my first tank of gas. Since then, the temps have now dropped and we are starting to get very cold nighttime lows again.

I've got an engine block heater on order and expect it to be shipped within the next week and a half. I've also blocked my front grill leaving only the bottom two slots open. I thought I would try driving the same route to and from work and test the mpg at various speeds. Just for clarification, I drive with the cruise control on. I have only a total of three stop signs in the commute. Almost all of the 64 miles are interstate. I don't start my car up to "warm up" the car before heading out. I use an ice scraper and then turn the air on the next setting up from low, set at 72 and on the "feet and defrost" mode. I do this until the windshield is clear (all ice melted and not fogged up) and then I turn it off. When the windshield becomes fogged again, which it eventually does, I turn the air back on the same setting, but on the lowest possible fan speed.

Driving 55MPH, I average about 54.5MPG on a tank of gas. I also can drive about 513-517 miles on a tank of gas before I feel like I'm pushing my luck with the last blinking pip on the fuel meter.

Getting tired of having everybody riding up my tailpipe and passing me, I thought I'd try travelling at 58MPH on the next tank of gas. I'd only driven about 130-140 miles before I'd burned through half a tank of gas. I averaged only about 47MPG. on this tank of gas. I had about three pips left on the gas meter and I'd driven about 320 miles before I filled up again.

On this current tank of gas, I'm driving 53MPH and I'm averaging 60.1MPG. I haven't finished this tank of gas yet, but I'm at 300 miles on half a tank so that's great, in my estimation. I was VERY surprised to find the difference between 55MPH and 53MPH. I'm seeing around or slightly over a 10MPG gain by driving 53 vs. 58. Just five miles an hour makes a big difference in the average fuel consumed. WOW! I'd never have guessed that. Funny how the Prius has totally changed the way I approach driving. I'm much more aware of my speed and even the routes I drive. I was also surprised at the difference in MPG I achieved by just lowering my speed from 55 to 53!

So why the title for this thread? I got passed by a grandmaw yesterday....well, I don't know if she was an actual grandmaw, but she was an elderly lady. As she throttled her Buick Riviera past me, her bony middle finger stuck up in the cabin of her car - the unmistakeable driver's salute - that indicated her displeasure with my cruising speed. However, looking at that 60.1 average (and at times in the life of this tank of gas, it's been as high as 62.4) I say, go ahead and flip me off. I'll laugh at you when I pass by the gas station and you're filling up!

As a side note, I don't think I'll push my luck and try driving any slower than 53MPH on the highway, but the posted speed limit for half of my commute is 55MPH, so I can kind of get away with it. The other half has a posted speed of 60MPH.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(apriusfan @ Nov 29 2007, 01:53 PM) [snapback]545750[/snapback]</div>

The last time I filled up, I paid $2.99 a gallon for gas. That station has since raised the price to $3.02 for regular unleaded. The highest I've seen gas yet around here was $3.17 a gallon. For those of you who use Apple computers, there is a gas widget you can install on your dashboard of your mac. I found the widget by searching widgets on the apple webpage. I forgot the exact name, but you'll find it if you search. For my neck of the woods, this widget has been very accurate. It lists the name of the gas station, the address and the prices for the various grades of fuel.

I like the $100 bill idea, but I don't know how many of the local yokels around here could count to a 'hunderd!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(subarutoo @ Nov 29 2007, 03:31 PM) [snapback]545810[/snapback]</div>

All it took was one look from where you live to understand your reaction. While, I must admit, I was a bit surprised to find such a caustic remark on this site, I must admit I'm new to this chat. I'm also new to the Prius. I feel like I just got my head taken clean off and that from a site where I thought I would be dealing with people that might at least understand where I was coming from.

That being said, I think you should understand that I'd rather not drive 53. Two cars ago, I had a Steeda Mustang with a Vortec Supercharger. I loved driving that car. I loved to drive it fast, Ricky Bobby! However, that car didn't make sense once I started working in Asheville. I got rid of it. I've actually factored in some more drive time for my ride in to work given that I'm not going 65-70mph. But, like a previous poster mentioned, nobody else is paying my gas bill.

While gas is much less expensive here in the mountains of WNC, I also don't have near the amount and level of traffic that you deal with in Los Angeles. My interstate is two lanes wide - two heading east and two heading west. I drive in the right lane. I've never been a "moving roadblock" and never even heard of that term before this thread. Of course, it doesn't take a rocket engineer to understand the meaning. However, like somebody else mentioned, I know I'm going to get "the look." I was immediately familiar with that look when the member mentioned it in this thread.

Today was a pretty warm day and I got a good look at what my driving style will net me when warm weather sets in or when the temps rise like they did today. I'm not going to pretend to understand the terse, if not hostile response you made, but, in general, we aren't wound up nearly as tight here in the mountains as you folks are in LA. People are still decent here to each other, for the most part. They say a picture's worth a thousand words, so here's a pretty convincing argument. This was taken on my 53mph ride back home from work. I'm even more convinced that going just two mph under the posted speed (remember Subarutoo that most of my trip is spent on interstate where the limit is 55!) is the way to go. So again, flip me off if you must, but these numbers speak for themselves!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(a priori @ Nov 29 2007, 06:14 PM) [snapback]545888[/snapback]</div>

Thanks. Well, something nerfer said really struck a chord. He mentioned how stressed he felt after speeding in to work. You really wouldn't think that dropping a few MPH off your speed could affect your stress level, but it does. Maybe subarutoo had a tough day, maybe it wasn't meant to come off as blunt as it sounded, maybe that's just life in LA - I'm certainly not going to begrudge his opinion. I'm not here to argue or get into drama and I'm pretty sure he's got to be a decent fellow Prius enthusiast. No harm, no foul. Anyhow, driving 80mph might be stressing him out! I did notice that I'm not nearly as stressed out by the time I get to work or home from work. I certainly haven't felt compelled to yell at anybody poking along in front of me so that stressor is gone! It's actually a very pleasant ride.

Knowing what I know now about the Prius, I'd never go back to the Mustang or the Expedition I used to own. I really love the Prius. It's a great car. It's a great road trip car with plenty of amenities plus, and I mean this with all sincerity, I feel really good about doing what I can to cut down on pollution. I know that sounds corny, but I live in a beautiful place and we see lots of tourist traffic in the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (I live about ten miles away from the Nat'l Park). Part of the reason the Great Smokies are so "smoky" is due to pollution in the air. Sure, I love getting the great gas mileage and saving money at the pump, but I also like saving something else.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(cuttooth @ Nov 29 2007, 06:47 PM) [snapback]545910[/snapback]</div>

It's definitely worth the wait. You'll love you Prius when you get it!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(cuttooth @ Nov 29 2007, 06:47 PM) [snapback]545910[/snapback]</div>

It's definitely worth the wait. You'll love you Prius when you get it!