This is my best tank (06/24 to 07/12) yet including about 80 miles on I95 at 62mph the rest are local 5-8 mile routes. No canview or scangauge were used. :second:
Congrats! I am 325 miles into my first 61+ tank. Two weeks ago I had my first 60+ (60.5 at 601 miles), so I am hoping to keep this one going. I have a challenge tomorrow, though, because I'll be out on the highway at those mileage-killer speeds. Oh, well . . . By the way: Can you tell us your driving habits, where you live, what year and package you have, etc.?
City driving: I live in Baltimore, the commute to work and back is 8 miles and most routes are about the same distance. The terrain to work is friendly (82 mpg) but the trip back is problematic because of higher traffic and uphill driving (45 mpg). I have only slightly modified my route but I reguarly come across about 8 red lights each way in my commute. I definitely look hard for the "no arrows" condition and aggressively try to push the engine to its final state by hitting the brake-and-gas pedals simultaneously to force the engine on and off about 3 times per trip. Recently, I recognized that the battery is drained very quickly if you try to accelerate even a tiny bit during startup, so I wait the initial phase out. I try to come to hard stops early on to force the engine off. I try to maintain the battery status to 6 bars and not overuse I don't use A/C or heating unless the temperature is above 95 or below 30 F. Finally when accelerating, I aim so that my mph is approximately 1.5-1.9 times my mpg. In 17 months I have save about $144/month from my V6 Camry and that's excluding maintenance and with gas at $3.50. Highway I use cruise control and set the A/C to 80F and the heating to 68F. I consider it somewhat unsafe and distracting to use fuel-saving techniques on the highway, because I live in the I95 corridor and it is really crowded here. I generally drive at 64mph on the highway.
My daily commute has me on a high-speed; limited access; divided hwy for 35 out of 40 minutes commute time. You should try 55; it will take some getting used to, but actually, get in the right lane, set the cruise and enjoy the ride. I was surprised at how stress-free this left me . Other drivers just pass. Based on their speed of 70+, they are in so much of a hurry, they don't pay me any attention, which is a good thing.
My 05 Prius I just bought (used; a bargan; lucky me) one month ago is giving me a steady 52-57 mpg. I'll need new tires soon: LRR. I've been reading up. Does anyone know what tire is the "13". I'm learning....
ystasino, your posting, #4 in this thread, fascinates me to no end. You can see from my avatar,<----, that I am a fellow Balla-moron. (Do you still "B'LIEVE," hon?") I know full well exactly the topo/driving conditions that you're dealing with. My typical daily commute is 14.7 miles from the NE corner of the city. I carpool, so I first go west across Northern Parkway, for a drop off on Falls Rd. heading into the city. Then its down Falls Rd. to I-83, and into Charm City. I typically see ~60 MPG on the way in, but that includes ~350 ft. drop in elevation. It is a lucky day indeed when I can complete the circle and return home at 55 MPG. For the past month, my commute route has changed, and the drop off is at the Dundalk campus of Baltimore County Community College, and the one way distance has increased to 17.7 mi. The route from BCCC to downtown has an initial drop of maybe 50 ft, and then is essentially flat, for maybe 5 mlles. The first few times I did it my MPGs took a monstrous hit. I was over-using the HV battery, and finishing the leg with only 3, or even 2 bars of SOC. I didn't know how to P&G because I usually don't see enough flat road to make the effort worthwhile. So I read up on P&G here and gave it the old college try. What d' ya know, the PSL is 35 mph, and by pulsing to 40, and no-arrow-gliding to 30 -- traffic permitting -- I am able to get 75 MPG for that leg, and ~65 MPG for the trip, with SOC sitting at five or six blue bars. However, on a very good day I am only able to hold on to 58 MPG for the round trip, home-work-home. Plans for the future? Why, move to Dundalk and see 60+ MPG round trips every day! (Probably not.)
I hung on to keep my 61 mpg tank, but I feel a bit cheap, because I filled up after only 466 miles. Still, I needed to get gas for some long driving tomorrow -- Hybridfest, if time permits, then on home to IL!
I'm jealous. My Chi-town area car is only getting 50mpg. See you at hybridfest a priori! Maybe I'll take a few hypermiling lessons while I'm there.
I'm sorry to report I am unlikely to be up there this weekend. I was in WI this week, but I returned home this evening. I stopped by the Fair Grounds this afternoon, but I saw no live beings. It looked as though someone was setting up tables and chairs, but that's all I saw at about 3:15pm. If my younger child is feeling better (quite sick tonight), then perhaps we'll make the trip on Saturday. Otherwise, we'll be staying at home! Enjoy Hybridfest -- I'm certain you'll find more than one willing soul to offer actual driving lessons for MPG gain! My round trip gave me MPGs in the low 60s, but this happened only because I had very little time at high speeds. Most of my driving was at 50 to 65.
Hi Geeky, Alot depends on your route. My route is about 23 miles. The first 5 minuts I get 25 mpg. The second 5 minutes over 100 (lots of downhill gliding). And then its onto the highway. The first 5 highway minutes are 45 mpg as its uphill, and the car is getting the battery up to highway mode state of charge. The next 15 minutes are at 70 mpg at 53 mph in super highway mode, and/or gliding into the slow spots. After that, there is another few miles of pulse and glide on a secondary road then 1 mile of gliding in the industrial park. End result - 68.7 mpg this week.
Congrats to ystasino, donee, and a priori for getting over 60 mpg, it truly is a wonderful feat. And if you do things correctly and efficiently, these feats can be done by all of us at priuschat.com(since we have an AWESOME COMMUNITY). I'm only at 54 mpg with my wife and I driving, but I've been up around 60mpg my last tank according to the scanguage. My wife brings my total mpg down a bit but it is far better than our impala that does about 30-35 being hypermiled (50% highway/town). Again, grats guys. If your above 60mpg your doing it all right and keep pushing. Reduce the amount of foreign oil and emissions. Rock on brandon
