@40 MPG at 67??

How much have you driven the car at highway speeds? It seemed squirrely to me also for the first couple months, until my reflexes adjusted. Now it seems normal. Try merely giving yourself a little time before blowing a lot of money and cool on more alignments or new tires.

And BTW, 50 PSI is above the rating for the OEM tires. Not recommended.

Umm, come to think: have you checked the tire pressures and oil level recently?

 

Was the rear toe even and in spec? Post the printout if you can.

 

It looks like your rear alignment is ok. Ideally the numbers would be the same on each side, but yours is pretty close.

Your front camber was out initially and that might have some affect on the highway tracking by giving the car a tendency to pull to one side. The corrected values look good.

My car had both the camber problem and the rear toe problem. It seemed to me that the rear toe helped the most to eliminate the squirrly handling on the freeway.

I would drive it for a while and see if that helped. If it still feels unstable, they could increase the front toe in just a little bit. The dealer probably will not do that for free because it is now in spec, but a good independent shop would do it for you if you wanted.

 

trip to Montana, temps in 90 and low 100's AC set to 72. tires 42/40.... CC set to 70 mph... going there 48.5 mpg... coming back 49.6 mpg... trip i believe was 522 miles one way??

as far as wind, i could actually take my hand off wheel for up to 40 seconds at a time (ok on 10 hour drive across NOTHING, one does get bored!!) so no wind issues to speak off...

you need to get your Pri checked. there is something wrong... how you get gas mileage? go by MFD? manual reset on fillup?

 

Did you note a fuel mileage increase after the dealer did the alignment work?

 

Very curious to see your result. Thanks for keeping us up to date!

 

We demand results!

Actually, when you took it on the highway with the mechanic, you saw a low value. I was wondering how much it improved after the alignment (if it went from 37 mpg to 47 mpg for example......) Maybe it wasn't that much of an increase?

Let us know....

 

Someone else mentioned it earlier, but I didn't see an answer - have you checked the oil level recently?

Getting the front-left camber fixed will help with the car pulling on the freeway, but I doubt it will significantly affect fuel economy.

As others mentioned, bring the tire pressures to no more than 44 psi (or whatever the max rating on the sidewall is). The higher you go with tire pressure, the more squirrelly it will get on the freeway in cross-winds. You won't see much of an improvement in fuel economy once you get 40 psi in the tires, too.

 

I agree with Drees, pumping the tyres higher than 42 or 44PSI would have a very limited benefit while reducing tread contact. BT Tech make some nice accessories which improve tracking. I just got back from a trip across Australia where I achieved 5.1L/100km (46mpg) at 110km/h (68mph) on cruise control, just me and my luggage, 42PSI in cold tyres and Castrol 5W-30 synth oil fresh before the trip and now have 83,000km on the odo.

 

SAME HERE PAPARYNO!
Well I get better mileage in the hwy but it drops on streets.

I'm so bummed.

 

most hypermilers pump up to 50 psi, so there must be some benefit.

i dont do it because it does give uneven treadwear. i dont really notice a difference in ride to be honest with you. the only safety issue might be increased stopping distance as there is minimal risk of a blowout from overpressure

 

I second the vote for checking the oil level. It should be even with the dipstick mark, to 1/4 inch below. Are you sure it was 0W-30? Because 10W-40 is a known mileage saping situation in the Prius. And an overfill of 10W-40 would probably be very close to what you are seeing.

Also check for a sticking rear brake or parking brake mechanism. The parking brake mechanism when new is a little tight, and sometimes wont come all the way off. Make sure your foot is off the parking brake pedal before you move your foot sideways. Its best to use the parking brake as intended to keep things loosened up.

Even so, the rear brakes do not get used much, and may get rustier than we see away from the salt air. Check the drum temps, after a trip and I would expect them to be less than 100 F in 80 F ambient temperature on flat terrain driving, as long as no panic stops were made.

 

Hi Paparyno,

I mean the far left pedal. It has a cable in it that goes back to the rear brakes (i am pretty sure) and mechanically spreads the shoes. The rear brakes are not even used for electrical braking, which is all the braking above 7 mph. And being in flat terrain, having salt air, there could be rust between the shoe and the drum. Have you driven through deep puddles lately ? Once you get below 7 mph and the friction brakes are actuated, if there was rusty situation in the rears, the shoes may not retract fully.

Using the parking brake will help keep any of that rust from staying stuck between the shoe and the drum.

If you get the car on the lift, spin the rear tires and see if they spin at least one full turn after a good push.

 

Hi Paparyno,

Good to hear that you are interested in maximizing your fuel economy. On Prius Chat there are basically two different philosopies on driving the Prius. There is the "Just Drive It" people and the "Hypermiling" people. A lot of the advise you have recieved is from the "Just Drive it" group. There is nothing wrong with that it is just if you are interested in maximizing fuel economy they are not going to help you. There are several people here including JimboK, Diamond Larry, myself and others who are serious about fuel economy and are putting up atonishing numbers. My last tank was 70.2 MPG for 702 miles. This was mostly highway driving with some city driving in the beginning and the end. Needless to say, if you are going to put up numbers like that, you will have to change your driving habits significantly. I suspect your current numbers are not due to your car, but your driving habits. Pensacola is one of the best areas in the Country to drive the Prius for maximum fuel economy. I am jealous of your conditions. You may not want to do what is required to achieve exceptional FE. If you want a more detailed explanation and where to find some info PM me.