New Car - Learninig to Drive

Welcome to PriusChat and to Prius Ownership.

As efusco suggests, read the "Sticky" on Fuel Economy. You also may want to read a few other valuable threads on learning how to drive to increase mileage.

BUT . . . Please try to take some time just to get acquainted with your new car. Many people have found that driving it like most any other car will produce fairly decent mileage. If you spend too much time looking at the screens right now, you'll find you will endanger many people on the road!

It is very important to learn to get the "feel" of the car. Please take time doing that. You should learn to hear and feel the times when the gasoline engine (internal combustion engine or ICE) is turning on or off. Get to know the point where the regeneration kicks in, also, because the touch on your pedal at that point (the "feathering" in) is what will allow you to get to the "glide" part of pulse and glide.

It doesn't come all at once. Don't worry. Enjoy this great car and keep posting your questions and experiences.

 

:welcome: Welcome to PriusChat pickjs!
Another thing to keep in mind now is that cold weather always lowers fuel efficiency, so don't beat yourself up if you don't make even the posted numbers. By this summer, you'll be an experienced driver.

 

Best advice for new people: just drive it. Put a thousand miles on it, THEN seek to improve your technique after seeing what mileage you get with normal driving. Master the basic controls, the feel of the car, the limits of handling, as well as the feel of the brakes (especially the transition at 7mph!).

Oh, and avoid using battery power to move.

 

That.s great you are learning driving. I hope you enjoyed it. I also want to join a training school in New York. Can you please suggest me the best one?


Stella

 

I have been driving my new 2009 for two months and love it. It seems to me that any time I am getting 99.9 mpg is good for my average. Why does it matter if I am gliding, coasting, or on battery if I am getting the max mpg? I like getting into the glide mode (no arrows - is this what they mean by stage 4?) but mainly want to maximize my mpg. It's been cold in Massachusetts, but I'm still able to keep it over 50 cumulative mpg and look forward to the summer months for better averages.

Thanks - these forums are great!

Edith

 

Why does it matter if you are using the battery when you get 99.9 mpg? It matters because you have to recharge the battery, and the recharge cycle is not free.

Think of using the battery as getting a cash advance from your credit card. You have more money in your pocket, which is good, but eventually you are going to have to pay it back, with interest.

Recharging the battery is paying back the loan. The losses in the recharging cycle are the interest.

Sometimes it makes good sense to borrow money. Most people do it for buying a house or car, but generally you are better off if you can avoid needless borrowing. The same thing is true with using the battery.

Tom

 

Thanks very much. I'm afraid I don't understand what the cost is in charging the battery. What is the cost in the recharge cycle? Or are we talking long-term wear on the battery? I've been reading around on this and haven't found an answer today - please clarify? I'd appreciate it.

Edith

 

I believe Tom is saying that running on battery alone produces good (max) mpg at the time, but discharges the battery quickly. Here is the cost - when the battery is low, the ICE (gas engine) has to operate to run the car and charge the battery which reduces your mpg. By "just driving" the computer will select the most efficient mix of battery and ICE. Edith - I hope this helps. Tom - I hope this is correct.

 

Re: New Car - Learning to Drive

How did you determine your l/km value? Don't judge your fuel economy based on number of pips used. The gas tank has a rubber bladder that does not always fill up completely. Fuel economy is also reduced in very cold weather and it is affected by your driving and route. Your l/km will be less for short trips of about 5 min or less.
You said you picked it up at 17km and drove 372km and the total is 389km - these all add up ok. The km shown on your display screen (MFD) may be lower if it was reset. I have accidental reset mine a couple of time in the short time that I have had it.
Read the sticky notes on the Newbie forum and use the search feature of this forum for more info on these things.

 

Edith,

What you may not know about 99.9 mpg on your in-car gauge is that you are actually getting more than 99.9 mpg when in stealth, dead band, neutral coast, etc. A reading of 99.9 mpg is not really "max mpg." Additional instrumention such as a Scanguage II will show you exactly what real-time mpg you are getting when your in-car guage is reading 99.9 mpg.

For example, most times when I'm in dead band or stealth mode in the 35-40 pmh range my SGII reads somewhere in the 3000-3500 real-time mpg mode. However, when I'm going 15-20 mph and in EV mode my SGII might only be reading 140-160 mpg. Obviously, 3000 mpg and 140 mpg are HUGE differences that affect your overall mpg (which you might track with your in-car instrumentation). If you haven't yet I would highly recommend purchasing a Scanguage II to monitor your real-time mpg. It really gives you alot of great info...a valuable resource to maximize your mpg.

I work in Danvers and would be happy to show you the SGII in my Prius and how it works...simple, simple set up and endless valuable information. I also have a couple modifications done to my Prius and would be happy to review those with you to help you get even better mpg.

Good luck with your Prius!

 

Just my $0.02 worth.

It's not hard to have the display show 99.9mpg but there are conditions where some 99.9mpg are better than others. Essentially the display is pegged out. The question is how much over 99.9 are you?

The ScanGauge can be very helpful in learning the ins and outs of how the car operates. One of the gauges that I have up is the fuel injector solenoid. If there is fuel flowing, it will show "closed" as in the circuit is closed and the fuel injectors are active. "Open" means that the circuit is open and the injectors are inactive and no fuel is flowing. It is possible to have fuel flowing to the engine and achieve 99.9mpg displayed and obviously it's possible to not have fuel flowing with the same results. I'd rather not burn any fuel, infinite mpg, rather than 200mpg with the engine running.

Just a note: Warp stealth (above 41mph) will have the engine turning to protect MG1, the injectors open - no fuel flowing, and drawing amps from the battery. MPG will, if displayed on the SG, will be 9999 or infinite.

The cost of using the battery is that will that you will have to "pay" it back. This is either done by the engine running the generator or regenerative coasting / breaking. If you know the upcoming terrain, you can help the car decide.

A couple other gauges that I have up are amps and rpms. The amps tells me how much battery draw or recharge is going on at any time. RPM tells how fast the engine is running. The most efficient mode is "0" rpm, engine off, and no arrows, stealth, on the MFD. Remember that even in stealth mode, there are going to be amps drawn on the battery to keep other systems energized. This can be anywhere between 1 and 7 amps depending on how much demand and at what speed your traveling.

I think of it as a game, to get the highest mpg. Last summer I had 8 tanks in a row over 60mpg with the highest being 65.2. Then cooler weather moved in. Mostly highway. I'm in the semi-mountainous mid-Atlantic region (US).

Enjoy your new ride and keep playing the game.

Kaos1

 

I have had a lot of fun with my car trying to get the best gas mileage. As others have said drive it as you would any other car for about 1000 miles to get used to it. Then read some of the forums missed. If you drive around town and most of your trips are short you may be a little disappointed in your mileage. The engine has to warm up properly before you will get that great mileage in town.

Best of luck on your new car!

 

THIS

Just drive it. The government didn't hypermile when it determined the fuel economy numbers for the Prius or any other car.

... Brad