Well, the temps have dropped off a bit and my mileage has gone way up. My '09 Pri this time last year was giving me 48-51mpg - and it was still breaking in. Last summer it rose to an easy 52-56mpg with AC on (temps got up to 109 during the day). Now the temps are back into the 80s and I can easily get 63-64mpg. Sweet! I wonder if I can get 70 before the temps drop too far and then engine runs more to stay warm?
Thats crazy good, and I guess one advantage of living in Arizona. But you keep the AC on and you still get that kind of mileage? What other driving techniques/settings do you have that helps you get such high mileage, that may help us more northern folk?
I just finally got around to putting all my fill-up data on a spreadsheet and plotting it... I've had it since near the end of Feb, and there's definitely a linear trend to lower and lower consumption.... My lifetime average is only 5.1 litres/100 km, but I'm running more like 4.3 the last 6 weeks or so. A linear extrapolation of my data indicates that by the time I get to about 60Mm on the car (less than 3 years out), I shouldn't be using any gas at all! Woo Woo!
Well, Phoenix is exceptionally FLAT and there are almost NO curves anywhere in that city. I was amazed when I went to visit (I was born there, but didn't live there long, dad was USAF and we moved around a lot) family out there. I got on, I think it was Baseline Rd. You can go all the way across the metroplex in a straight line. That's foreign to me. Anyway, long, flat, straight roads lend themselves to good fuel efficiency, as long as there are not too many stops. Warm air is also good for economy, since it's less dense, and requires less fuel to reach stoichiometric balance.
We're already cool enough in southern PA that the defrost/defog runs in the AM and the engine takes longer to warm up. My morning commute has gone from ~48 mpg to ~43 mpg.
I'm not using AC anymore b/c the temps have dropped off. I think what does it for me is the following: 1. I don't lead-foot any start from a stop. I gradually push on the pedal until the car begins a reasonable acceleration rate 2. I watch the instantaneous consumption and try to maintain the S/2 method. That is, I adjust accelaration to maintain a fuel consumption (mpg) of 1/2 the vehicle speed - up to my cruising speed, then I: 3. I back way off the pedal and watch the mpg screen go get it as high as I can and still maintain speed. Sometimes, if there's a rise in the road, I have to push a bit harder to maintain speed or I'll piss off the cars behind me. 4. I also pulse and glide as much as I can. Most of my travel from home to work and back is on streets where I average 40mph. I can easily p&g here. If I have to get on the freeway, forget it. I just do #3 above. 5. I try to avoid stop and go. I pace my speed such that most traffic lights are green when I get to them. This, obviously, doesn't work all the time. 6. The temperatures are my friend. As I said in my original post, when the summer was here, my mileage dropped and typically I coould only get 54mpg at best. But now that the temps are 75 to 85, I can do much better. It will be interesting to see how it fares out when it gets colder, now that its broke-in. Finally, I'm actually developing a 'feel' for the car. I find I can often maintain high mpg without staring at the screen all the time. I accelerte and moderate through the seat of my pants. Furthermore, I get crap for mileage until the car reaches Stage 4 - and that usually takes a few miles down the road. What I notice is, although I always try to p&g and keep the instantaneous mpgs as high as possible, I can seem to only peak the mpgs arount 50 or 55. I'm not really successful at the higher mpgs until it reaches Stage 4 when I can easily get the instantaneous readings to peak as high as 90mpg!
