We are soon to be getting an '08 pkg# 6 & was wondering if anyone has put the Fitch on their car? We had it on our '06 T&C minivan which it got 10% (+2mpg) better than before. Since I'm keeping the Fitch I was thinking of putting it on the new prius. Anybody have an experience with this? A 10% increase would be around +4mpg better. The whole reason why we're getting the prius!
My first reaction was to scream "SNAKE OIL", and mock you for being gullible, but in this case there is a tiny grain of real science inside a tankful of snake oil. Fitch fuel catalyst has been shown in some tests to possibly provide a tiny bit of benefit to poorly running diesel engines. The tests are suspect due to poor scientific method, but even if we accept the results, there is no indication that this additive will do anything useful in a properly tuned gasoline engine. Save yourself some money and don't buy any more of this dubious product. Tom
Interesting thoughts guys. But the question is has anybody tried it on a prius? If not I guess I'll have to be the ginny pig.
How do you propose to do a controlled study without controlled conditions? At the very least you need a good dynamometer and a lot of time. Driving around and comparing mpg is not going to tell you anything, except that mileage varies from tank to tank. Tom
I've said it before and I'll say it again: If this Fitch thing was so s*** hot, you'd see GM, Ford, and Dodge snapping up hundreds of thousands of the units to put into their pickup's - all of their vehicles - right at the factory. That alone would dramatically up their CAFE - if it worked Considering how the Big Three are drowning in red ink, the Fitch thing would be a lot cheaper than massive rebates, plant closure, and future uncertainty The biggest knock I have against these products is that they encourage a Placebo Effect. There was even a news crew that reported astonishing gains in their van. Is that due to the gadget, or due to the sudden awareness of fuel economy, and driving much more gently? With my FJ, if I slow down to 80 km/h, I can easily achieve 30 mpg, Imperial gallon. That thing will also happily cruise at 120 km/h, the one tank I tried driving like that I got 19 mpg As Tom stated, I want to see a carefully controlled lab test of a test engine, without the gadget to establish a baseline, with the gadget to see what - if any - "gain" there is, and then WITHOUT the gadget, to see if the test consumption returns to baseline The EPA has tested a lot of these gadgets. Guess how many actually work as advertised?
A lot of people never even think about their driving habits and are not likely to know the difference between driving efficiently vs inefficiently. Most people assume efficient means slow and that's it. I regularly get 53-55mpg on my commute to Fairfield (76miles) but the other night I got a call from a girlfriend and my mpg dropped to 47mpg for that same trip. Driving patterns make a huge difference.
Yep us guys can't help it. In that matter, speed is *everything* With age, maturity, and perhaps certain ointments, you'l be able to "slow down" and enjoy the ride. If you catch my drift nudge nudge wink wink
Hahaha I drive a Prius remember? I'm all about efficiency and helping others achieve similar levels of efficiency.
I agree that you need "controlled" studies to get exact numbers. My wife previously was driving the same route for 3 month. I also compared 3 months with the fitch. I've averaged the mileage of each of the 3 month session separately & that's how I came up with a 10% increase. I know that this is not as scientific as I would like, but there was enough envidence to show that there was an average of 10% increase. If there was a placebo effect it would have worn off with my wife within the first month. My wife is a hot rod-er. So I can't see that placebo effect even effecting the results. Especially when I didn't tell her that I put it on. Still no body has put one on a prius.... hmmm
And you can demonstrate that the observed effect is independent of ambient temperature, prevailing winds, and splash cooling of the catalytic converter, correct? Snake oil is only good for oiling snakes.
Bbald, That's a good point you make. I see that the ambient temperature, prevailing winds, and splash cooling of the catalytic converter, must have more of a factor in mileage in a prius than on the heavy town & country minivan. Otherwise I don't think that you would have mentioned it. The route that my wife takes is 90% driving at 40mph the other bit is at 55mph. Understanding that wind resistance starts being a factor in mileage more so at the 50mph range. I neglected the wind since there would need to be a 40+mph winds to make any change in mileage driving at the 35-40mph range. As for splashing the converter, on the Chryslers, they are covered by a heat shield and tucked nicely by the engine where if there was enough water to cool the converter, the car would have to be under water. Ambient tempurature was the only thing that i factored in. Just for an example; a 9 days check after I took off the Fitch & had her fill up the car at the end of an approximate 200 miles of driving the same route of driving. The temps were nearly the same in the morning, and daytime with "same" weather conditions. All within about 4 degrees of a highs & lows of each other. There was nothing subzero or below freezing. With in that time since taking off the Fitch the car lost -2.1mpg. That was with her trying to save gas by using P&G and coasting methods. She also stated, unscientifically, that the car did not feel as peppy with the Fitch removed. It may be "snake oil" to some. But I always like to see numbers before I make up my mind. I've learn more about the prius on this thread than reading throughout the forums. Keep it coming. Anything else that make a big factor in mileage with the prius?
Ahem, "Anything else ..." perhaps you might start by listing what you already have so we won't be repeating ourselves? If all you have is this "Fitch," the list gets long very quickly but I think we have some pointers to existing lists. I'm not trying to be coy but you can see how open ended such a question could be. Bob Wilson
Yup. Not driving it! So... are you #440 on the Tesla list? There's your answer for saving gas. An answer that's got some science behind it!
The placebo effect is free. Print out one of these and put it in your glovebox after reading it thoroughly, and you'll get 20% better fuel economy. All for just one piece of paper! The secret is that it aligns the molecules of your right foot and causes fuel to be injected in more sensible proportions. . _H*
