I Beat the EPA--Post 'em here

I betcha the longer you drive on your trips the better gas mileage you get? I commute to work 45 miles each way on freeway with gentle up/down grades. I've had my 2008 Prius for 12 days, put 1035 miles on it, and I get from 50.9 to 56.8 mpg. It's been hot here in Southern California, so that's with the AC on all the time. I'll admit that I drive a lot slower than I used to on the freeway (57-59 mph in the slow lane) and a couple of big rigs have almost run up my tail pipe. Average speed on the Orange County to San Diego stretch of the I5 seems to be 70 to 80 mph.

 

2008 chevy NON Hybrid. 10 mpg and proud of it

 

This is the I BEAT the EPA, not I can get UNDER the EPA rating thread

 

Current tank: 52.7 mpg

 

With Ike about to hit, and all the gas stations running out of gas...
I figured I should fill up.
Another routine tank........

92% interstate driving at 60 MPH with cruise control.
8% other with emphasis on glide, and warp stealth.
Low fuel warning not even on yet.
10 gallons to fill-up

 

Last tank was 56.1 - 75% highway at 60-65 mph, the rest in town at 25-35 mph. Only used CC for about 40 miles, AC on all the time. My wife is getting 51.2 on current tank after 300 miles.

VW Beetle (my daily) is getting 24 (city). That's more than expected, but I still want that second Prius.

 

I guess where you guys live is pretty flat. Man, I envy you.

I'm checking my tire pressure tomorrow for the first time since I bought the car. Maybe I can squeeze another mpg out of it!

 

I finally broke the 100 mpg/tank barrier!:rockon: On 9/16/08 I filled up with 8.58 gallons after traveling 867.4 miles for 101.096 mpg.

 

B E A U T I F U L !

Think of what you could do with one of those fancy hymotion battery packs.....

 

Not flat where I am, and that's an advantage. I exploit the downhills by gliding. gotta learn to glide, that's where infinite MPG's are. And pump your tires up. 42f/40r works very nicely.

 

I know how to P&G, but I'm usually driving on inclines on the way to work so it's tough to sustain a glide. And when I talk about inclines, I mean incredibly steep and unavoidable. On the way home, I get about 60mpg.

 

I just got 64.3 mpg traveling 35-40 mph and hilly back roads up in N.H.!!! Temps are 75 degrees, The Grey Shark has 3180 miles on it so far.

Dbcassidy

 

DId your MFD reflect that also?

 

No, it didn't. But then again, it usually never does agree with the hand calcs. I have topped off for the entire 23K+ miles of the car and the MFD is usually one way or the other(high or low)compared to hand calcs. This last time I think it read 97.1 or 97.2.

 

That's *really* good considering it's not 9/16/08 yet! You even went into the future to get that mileage! (I just meant this in fun, not to be sarcastic -- just an obvious typo).

 

Oops!:redface: How does last Saturday 9/6/08 sound?:redface:

 

Much better! I am curious -- do you have a plug-in conversion to obtain 100 mpg? I barely reach half that (though I'm a new Prius owner). My best is 54.42 calculated/56.2 computer on fill-up, with higher short-term averages. I would be glad just to reach the 55-60 mpg range that some have reported. But ... I wonder if landscape has something to do with max mpgs as well as the ability to drive the Prius optimally. We seem to have a lot of long inclines that reduce our mpg's here (even though I tend to back off the gas and not use the cruise on those inclines).

EDITED 10/4/2008 w/higher mileage.

 

No, I don't have a PHEV conversion. I have done some figuring and have come to the conclusion that I would never need to use gas for my work commute and for most of my errands. My work commute is, for the most part, a straight line that runs east to west. There is only a 3-5' net elevation difference between work and home but there are several significant hills in the middle. The route is 11.0 miles long and, on several occasions, I have hit 100+mpg within 3.8 miles of leaving home. In those cases I can usually hold it the rest of the way to work.

Landscape has a lot to do with it. There are some routes I chose based on whether I'm going somewhere or coming from somewhere. For instance, there could be a hill real close to a stop sign. If the route was such that the hill came just before the stop, I can use that to help slow the car to the stop. If, on the other hand the stop was just after the stop, this would mean accelerating from a dead stop uphill. There are some errands where I can tweak the route to make the terrain work out better.

As for driving the Prius optimally, that helps but it also has a lot to do with when I commute/run errands. For most of that record tank, I was going to work at 5:00-5:30am and returning home 12-14 hours later. This helped to avoid the vast majority of traffic so I could P&G to my heart's content. I also use an EBH in the mornings all year long. I put it on a timer for 3-5 hours before I leave. I'm going to talk to my new boss about the possibility of plugging in at work if I pay him for the juice. The car is also garaged at home so I don't have to use the defroster to clear off the windows.

 

That's great. Well, good job getting it that high. I know it's possible because coming home through an adjacent subdivision I'm consistently able to hit nearly 100 mpg average. But the rest of my commute or runs for errands aren't so cooperative. So -- I'll be happy if I ever reach the 60mpg mark.

 

So, I checked my tire pressure and the rears are 32 PSI! I didn't have time to check the front but they can't be much different. I guess if I'm hitting 52mpg now it should be somewhat better with proper pressure.