JRitt, any chance of gliding down the hill, with your foot very lightly on the accelerator? If needed to maintain an acceptable speed you can have a small bar in the HSI.
For the Gen III to go into S4, you have to go slower than ~50 km/h for 5-10 s, not slower than ~10 km/h, like in the Gen II. In the Gen II, it would not go into S4 if you just lightly touched the accelerator during that 5-10 s period. For the Gen III, you can accelerate if you like, as long as you stay below 50 km/h.
The hill are ~4% grade and I have to stop at the bottom so gliding is out of the question. If on the rare occasion the lights are green then I will glide right through them and build up some speed (~70mph) before I need to start the next climb.
That would be awesome. I can't find a second source though. I found much speculation on Gen III S4, but nothing listed the 50kph higher limit. 11011011
It is awesome indeed. Actually, I don't pay any attention to the idling check ceremony anymore. My Prius goes into stage 4 usually 8 km into my daily commute at the roundabout just before entering the highway. There is a traffic light just before that roundabout that I always tried to use for getting into stage 4 in my Gen II. When the light was green at my arrival, however, I obviously couldn't. Now I can use the roundabout instead for getting into stage 4. A huge improvement over the Gen II.
That you have to stop at the bottom is a good reason for gliding. Why don't you glide when you have to stop anyway? Are the lights predictable? I always see if there are cars waiting. If that is the case, it will take some time for them to get moving after the lights change, so for me that is an ideal opportunity for gliding towards the last car waiting. Ideally I catch that car at the exact moment that it starts moving.
You cannot see the light untill you crest the hill and because everyone else brakes late you cannot even see any brake lights untill you crest the hill. I'm going to video tape and post this road so you can see what I mean.
I'm confused. I was thinking about gliding down the hill, not up. I thought the lights were at the BOTTOM of the hill, giving an excellent opportunity to glide down. Or is it a very short descent? EDIT: looking forward to the video!
I just came back from a 8.5-mile local round trip to Dick's Sporting Goods store, achieving 79.9 mpg. To get great mpg, you have to observe and predict traffic, gentle on the pedal, be patient. To me, the Hybrid System Indicator is the most useful tool to achieve high mpg.
Among Japanese 2010 Prius enthusiasts, it is confirmed that the idling check ceremony is done in 5-10 seconds during slow-down driving. We don't have the speed range data yet. Ken@Japan
I now have 800 miles on my Gen III Prius II. I currently am getting 54.8 while not doing anything special. Have had it for 2 weeks. Getting almost 3 times the mileage that I get on my Honda Pilot (18mpg)
Did better on my commute home tonight after reading some threads on here. Also this was taking surface streets instead of the interstate.
When I first reported my mileage I was getting 47mpg due to the terrain but last week I changed my route to work (a little more time but a slightly shorter distance and less steep hills) and on a new fill up I am getting 53.6mpg
I have 1080 miles on my gen 3, and am easily getting 53 mpg in the flatlands of west texas. I get better gas mileage in regular mode. I tried the eco mode and response was so slow I couldn't tolerate it. Check with your dealer. It could be something simple.
Do not forget your mpg dash guage is off by 2-3 mpg overly optimistic. Mine is always off for the last 10,000 miles. alfon
OBC read out on the Prius after 1923 km is 4.5l/100km 52.27US mpg Cortland Ny to Tom Rivers , missed most of the Poconos Mountions got 4.2/100km 56 US mpg driving around 110 km/hr Tom River NJ to Cobourg 847km, 4.4l/100km,53.46 US mpg that was driving though the Poconos Mountions with keeping at about 110km/hr Prius is getting much better hiway mileage then I thought it would get
Today I got a 3.3L/100km (about 71.5 mpg) on my 20km commute. Traffic was normal, with some stop&go, some traffic light, some constant speed at 50-70km/h with some slopes/ramps and flat roads. The best I could ever get with my 1.4L TDI Diesel Polo was 4.2L/100km. I wasn't expecting to get such a low fuel consumption without any particular driving effort compared to what I did before with my old car (mainly predicting traffic, "gliding" and avoiding strong accelerations, but not always). I am amazed. Oh yes, I wasn't even driving in ECO mode.....
My G3 Prius IV had it's first oil change a week ago. Before the oil change I was averaging 51 MPG. Now it is 30 MPG. Does anyone have any idea what could have caused this change?
