2010 MPG Stats - Post Them Here

Really? I guess I read wrong in the owner's manual.

I'll give it a try!

 

The owners manuals can be confusing.

Do some searching in the GENII Economy forum and you find a wealth of information. Start with the "sticky" threads at the top first.

Generally speaking it is better to lift off the throttle sooner then glide to the stop sign than it is to stay on the throttle for longer and then have to use the brakes to slow down quickly. On country roads you can sometimes go almost a 1/4mile or more just gliding which uses no fuel OR battery power. Anytime you are using battery power means you will have to regnerate it and succumb to energy transfer losses. In your case by braking early to regen battery power you stayed on the throttle too long and thus you used fuel to generate the power for the battery and you had energy conversion losses. Gliding is your best friend.

 

As soon as you know you'll have to stop ... let off the accelerator and coast (or glide if you can manage that). I try and do so as often as possible while trying not to make people behind me mad, but it never fails how many times someone flies by me all mad for 1/2 block and we are stopped next to each other. I hate to sound smug but if everyone wasn't in such a hurry to get to red lights we'd all use a lot less fuel, hybrid or not.

I mean ... I get that sometimes we're in a hurry and not everyone wants to drive like I do and it does make a difference in getting somewhere sometimes, but MOST of the time it's someone flying by me for a red light 1/2 block ahead only to stop next to each other at the light.

I used to be that person, so what can I say?

 

No problem ... the Diners, Dives, and Drive Ins segment is on BrewBurgers website as well.

If you want any more info, just let me know.

If traveling with child(ren), Omaha's zoo is really great ... probably #1 or 2 in the nation.

 

By now I think you've gotten the message: Don't brake unless you HAVE to.

Yes: Glide and Glide Farther! Do NOT brake except to avoid accident or injury.

Don't miss the stickies. They include a ton of very valuable information.

This is the key thing to remember: The energy to propel your car has to come from somewhere. That somewhere is the horsepower provided by a fossil-fuel propelled engine!

Here is where reading up on things will make a big difference. "Gliding" is not simply letting up on the accelerator and coasting to a stop. The "coast" is an artifice designed to decelerate the car much as any other car with an automatic transmission. The glide is something to be learned through practice. It allows the wheels to roll free from the incfluence of the ICE or the electric motors or the regenerative braking system.

Ah Ha! So that was YOU!

Truly, that driver was each of us, at some point, probably. It doesn't hurt to be considerate of the people trying to get somewhere in a hurry. I'm not going to speed for them (at least too often), but I'll try to get out of the way!

 

Hmmmm...so gliding is different than coasting.

Here is what I have been doing...

Approaching a 4-way stop. Let off the accelerator, coast awhile, ever so gently press on the brake so as to charge the battery more than while coasting, then when closer to the stop sign, depress the brake more to gently come to a complete stop.

I guess I figured that was gliding.

Comments?

 

Aye, coasting is essentially letting off the gas pedal but not applying the brake. You will induce regenerative braking and this will slow you down and reduce your distance covered using no fuel or battery power.

Gliding is when you life off the gas pedal but reapply just enough pressure to stop regenderative braking but not enough to kick in EV mode or the ICE. You will know when you are effectively gliding because you will not see any arrows on your screen. There is very little friction in this mode and if road conditions permit and your tires are properly aired up you can glide for long distances using zero energy. Doing this can really bump up your average fuel economy if you practice it any chance you get. The only difficult part of this technique is that other drivers will come up behind you and ruin the whole thing. lol

 

I have not had the car a week yet, but it has been fun exploring that the Prius can do. I feel that I have a lot to learn.

So far I am getting about 45-50 MPG, driving around hilly Seattle, mostly in ECO mode, sometime with the A/C on.

I get the difference between coast and glide, but it seems harder to find the sweet spot on the gas pedal on my Gen III than it did when I test drove a Gen II. Aside from practice, any tips?

 

Since first fill up the trip computer is showing 57.6mpg all in Eco mode. 3 days of me driving it was 57.4 but after two days of my wife driving she actually bumped that up to 57.6. This is really exciting to me getting more than EPA estimated. This car makes my Honda Fit a gas guzzler since it has only got 33mpg lifetime! Wow.

 

I have the same problem. I watch the display fairly consistently and try to maximize my fuel economy- I'm at about 57.4 right now (granted I only have a few days of experience in the car- but I am getting a sense for when the ICE cuts in and what stage the hybrid system is in and such...). My wife, however, just drives the thing, and usually increases the mileage by a few tenths of an mpg.

Perhaps this is because she is lighter than I am....?

 

Package V ... lifetime MPG over just over 1100 miles (just under half of them highway) is 50.2 mpg ... on this tank I'm getting 53.5 mpg and mostly city driving with occasional 5 mile trips on Interstate/highway ... in ECO mode.

 

Driving under 45 mph really helps maximize the time you can spend with the engine off ... otherwise I don't know what to tell you. Let off the accelerator if you see a red light ahead and get the engine shut off ASAP. Your probably know all of that stuff though. I use EV rarely, most often when pulling into parking lots/garages, etc.

 

Closing in on my first tank of gas and my results are not as impressive as others I see here. Best is 43.3 mpg. Looks like I'll get just over 400 miles out of this tank.

I'm in LA, so I'm doing a combo of every kind of driving you can do everyday. A mix of highway and city. Stop and go traffic and high speeds. Strong accelerations and sudden stops. I'm been using Eco, PWR, and normal modes depending on the driving situation. I live in a canyon so I'm up and down steep grades everyday. And I've been using AC much of the time. With all this, I'm not surprised at the mileage, but now that I'm getting a better feel for the car, I'm hoping to crack 50 with this next tank.

 

1st tank:
390.2 miles
MFD= 54.8 MPG

Have to say the tires were not even close to proper inflation for almost half of the tank. It's been raining here for most of the month. Shame on my dealer for not checking them!

 

I'm still drooling over these high figures.

Has anyone else been doing hand calculations to compare with the MFD? I'd like to see how the 2010 compares to the GenII with respect to MFD accuracy.

 

I don't have enough sample points, yet, to really have a firm estimate of the comparison. Still, I see a difference when I expected I wouldn't. I have filled the tank 5 times, but one was well after I had purchased the car, so I really think the past 4 have been the only indicators.

So far the MID numbers (no more MFD, remember) are showing about 2 mpg better than the normal calculation.

 

On my frist full tank...currently at 460 actual miles with the last bar blinking. Does anyone know if there is another light or warning before I will actually run out of gas? i.e. will the last bar disappear or what, or I will just run out of gas.

 

I've just passed 2,600 miles and today marks four weeks since I took delivery of my 2010.

Mileage seems to be holding fairly well. As the summer approaches, though, the A/C is going to start taking a chunk out of my MPGs.

Using the two trip odometers, I've been measuring City and Highway mileage separately. Out of the roughly 2,600 miles so far, 63% have been "City" miles and 37% have been "Highway" miles. For my purposes, a trip where I was going on a divided highway at 55mph or better was a trip that counted for highway miles. The other miles become City miles and include the rare 5-minute stint on a local expressway.

I'll continue to update my signature (for the time being, anyway) with FE data. As of today, here is what the info from my trip odometers tell me about fuel economy on my Prius V:

Lifetime City Mileage: . . . . . . . 58.5 MPG (Ave Speed: 19 mph)
Lifetime Highway Mileage:. . . 55.3 MPG (Ave Speed: 44 mph)
Lifetime Combined Mileage:. 56.5 MPG

For comparison's sake, my lifetime fuel economy numbers for my 2007 Prius are in my signature (52.2 MPG).

The above numbers certainly won't hold up over time, because winter will take its toll, as will summer A/C use! Still, it is amazing to me how well this car performs, particularly given the 17" wheels, the wider tires and the fact it is not even broken in yet.

BTW, the average speed numbers are calculated by determining the number of hours (miles/mph) for each trip and using the sum of those hours as the denominator to the total miles for the appropriate category.


1900