Revenge Of The Prius

IMO, at least part of the blame is on the catch-phrase "jack-rabbit starts" that we are supposed to avoid. Nobody has defined it.

Perhaps someone should define it as "over 70% throttle" or "over the throttle level to get you to the next light(s) without slowing".

I've been trying to mini-hypermile my old car this last week and I got only 16 MPG instead of 18 and I think it's because I was too light on the throttle.

The age-old wisdom of "go ahead and give her, as long as not too much and watch the top speed and lights" served me better than being gentle.

Wonder how many are wasting gas by being TOO gentle at times ?

 

Funny thing is, drafting a Prius with it's low CD and frontal area is LESS efficient than drafting a less aerodynamic vehicle. :juggle:

Hmmm, is there a reverse draft effect where a following vehicle helps to push you along ?

 

It would in most cases. You have to admit that passing a Prius would not result in better MPG.

 

This just happened to me today. I was at a stoplight in traffic. When it turned green I did an average acceleration start so that I wouldn't piss off anyone behind me. This honking Dodge pickup behind me did an eggshell start and quickly fell back. Freaky...

 

Hi Michael,

The fuel systems in cars put an extra squirt of gas when the peddle is quickly pressed. This is called "enrichement". The Prius does not do that, as I indicated in that other thread. This enrichment is that black puff of smoke out the back of a Beemer when the driver floors it. This is real bad for FE.

Wide open throttle, with the engine loaded is a good thing for FE. But in an automatic transmission car, that is not going to happen. The car will just stay at a lower gear. When you want higher. And its tricky to do in a manual without stalling the car. I figured it out in my Opel Manta, and my brother's Scirocco tho, but that was some years ago. One could just feel when the engine and the gearbox were matched, and let the clutch out quick. Then just go full throttle gradually, and being one gear too high, the engine would just hum and accellerate slowly. Some people skip up to 3rd gear, in a 5 speed transmission, then onto 5th. I would skip from 3rd to 5th in the Scirocco, and 2nd to 4th (or was it 1st to 3rd ? ) in the Manta. Its allot different than shifting for accelleration. The trick is to know how fast you need to be going to avoid lugging. DOHC cars are allot easier to do this in.

The Prius computer quickly puts the engine into a high BSFC range. And the Atkinson engine has a much wider good BSFC range than other engines. You have to do that yourself in other cars. And its a narrower range. Where the car has best torque, is where you want to be, but with the engine loaded. The torque peak in standard cars is where the engine internal aerodynamic design is optimized -getting the best "volumetric efficiency".

 

I'm waiting until I can see 'over' the car ahead... when the SUVs aren't on the road at all..

 

I think the same thing when I'm going up this big hill on the way home going 73 mph. I get like 39 mpg, which is better than my old 1995 Ford Taurus on its best day. At the moment I don't slow down when my husband is home waiting on me because I want to spend time with him. However, I did take a back roads trip that got 70 mpg and only took me an extra half hour. That was kinda nice.

 

Something new and recent are looks of longing at my car followed by the stink eye at me. :mmph:

Something else happening in the last few weeks: cruising at 55-60 in the right hand lane of the highway, convoys form up behind me with all types of cars/trucks/SUVs. At first I thought random chance had queued up a bunch of people taking the next exit, but this hasn't been true. I've had convoys follow me for the whole 10 mile stretch I take home. It makes me feel like a cult leader or something. Weird.

 

oh oh... better not let Wayne hear you say that!! he hypermiles in a regular ICE and i bet he can out do you in your Pri!!

 

Pickup truck drivers still fly down Utah freeways like there's no tomorrow but some SUV drivers seem to be slowing down a little. What I've really noticed is 18-wheel big rigs reigning in the ponies. Normal freeway cruise speeds for me have always been 65-66 mph; slow enough to keep gobs of air pressure from piling up in front of the Prius yet fast enough so as not to create a dangerous situation with other traffic. At that speed freight trucks used to pass me all the time. Now, however, it seems as though these ubiquitous vehicles have backed off and are traveling about the same velocity as I am.

I used to have to wait quite a while till I came upon a trucker whose chosen speed was compatible with mine so I could draft a little -- I stay back quite a ways from the rear of the truck but still manage to get a little mpg benefit from tailing them. Now most of these trucks are in step with my normal 65 mph cruise speed so I have more opportunities to boost my mileage. :dance:

Besides the drafting benefits, it's nice to see people starting to get the idea that they need to alter their behavior on the road to conserve fuel. I just wish that humans by nature would spontaneously choose the wiser (read long-term) approach to things in life and not have to be compelled into change by painful things like higher pump prices... Sigh...

 

All the bellyaching about gas prices is probably done by those who don't want to drive fuel efficiently. I want to get a sign that says something like Don't whine about gas prices unless you can drive fuel efficiently. :nono: Better yet U R the reason gas prices keep going up! :bounce:

 

It's funny... I have two other cars.. a 1965 wagon that gets 17mpg on a good day and a 94 convertible that gets a respectable 25mpg (driven hard like a convertible should be).. but I don't drive them that often, so gas is no big deal. My husband rides the bus 2 miles to work every day and I work from home, so... we don't even drive the Prius all that much really. Still... I FREAKIN' LOVE getting 57mpg out of a tank!!! I feel odd when I pull into a gas station in my Prius.. sort of like.. here AGAIN??? It's been once already this month!

 

Sure, I rebuilt a few carburetors, back in the days of carbs in the 70's and early 80's. I remember the accelerator pumps and I think some other form of enrichment for more steady-state high power. (Another jet ?)

Yes, I believe my old Stealth had a VE peak at around 3000 RPM so I usually tried to keep the engine there. Torque peak was actually higher due to the turbos; I think VE peak was where the engine torque would have peaked without turbos.

But for now, I'll just let the Prius computer decide, with some help from me to get the engine into the sweet spot about 40 MPH with no ICE running, and pulse to get charge back up and glide.

 

Ever hear about the Mobil Economy Run?

 

I think eliminating the accelerating into red lights before slamming on the brakes would help all vehicles.

However, I haven't seen much. I think most people would eat nothing but ramen noodles and live in their car before they'd slow down.

 

Since I got the prius and started to drive 55-60 on the freeway, I haven't passed a single car and loving it. Of course, I have been passed by hundreds if not thousands of SUVs whizzing by at least 75-80 mph. The bay area is too rich for those SUV owners to ever care about FE. I have yet to see one drive as slow as the speed limit unless traffic prevented them.

 

This is so funny, I've noticed it too! While driving on a one-lane highway the other day I put in on cruise control and drove the speed limit. In 'the old days' people would have been passing like crazy. This time, there was a line of traffic behind me, but nobody was making any moves to pass. People spread out to a safe stopping distance and everyone was going the limit.

 

Yup, It works in NASCAR all the time

 

I had to quote you because this sums it up so perfectly! I try to find some charitable way to explain the behavior I see, but I can't.

Prius driver seeks to deoptimize:

This week I was on US Highway 1 (NJ) traveling south at about 6:30 a.m. The road has lots of traffic lights. Traffic was moderately heavy but moving fine--perfect conditions for good mileage. A fellow Spectra Blue Mica Prius approached and I was excited since I had not seen another one in the state. It had temporary plates so it must be brand new. It passed me, a few minutes later I passed it, then it passed me again and I noticed that the nitwit driver of said other Prius was driving just like all the worst stereotypes of NJ drivers--tailgating, rushing up to lights to stomp on the brakes, lane weaving, just like about 30% of the people on the road. Shocking behavior not previously observed in such a vehicle. I guess as they become more popular it is inevitable that many of the new buyers will not come from a long background of thinking about fuel economy (or safety or courtesy) and related matters.

Or maybe the driver was collecting data on how bad you could make a Prius mileage using classic bad driver behavior? I hope they post the results

 

Hopefully, the Prius will train this driver in FE.
My Prius is still teaching me, I'm pretty sure the car is a tad smarter then me (my wife agrees)
:rapture: