I Beat the EPA--Post 'em here

How can I measure true mpg?

The on board computer seems pretty close, but how can I know?
With the bladder gas tank I assume a fill up does not necessarily accurately measure the amount of gas used?

Thanks anyone who can help me here.

Tom

 

Did a round trip from SF Bay Area to Jamestown, CA ...

54.4 MPG's reading on the MFD.

I think I'm addicted to high fuel economy.


p.s. running tires 40fr/38r PSI

 

55.9 New Good year fuel maxes back and forth from work about 68 mph average speed.

Major aero mods done to bottom of car.

 

Divide gallons into miles driven ... trip after trip after trip after trip. When you get to 100,000 miles - let us know whatcha got.


Yep - a bladder makes it tough.
.

 

Just over 11,000 miles with a 50.3 mpg average. Dropped down to 50 mpg during the winter and now moving back up.

 

Last tank was 51.3 or so. Right now I am getting some great numbers (52.5 over 4 miles, 57.5 over 14 miles, and 59.6!!! over 35 miles). When I drive 60-65mph on the highway I really crush it in terms of FE, but my carpool partner and highway 101 don't really like going that slow, so I usually end up pushing 70 mph and I lose lots of mpgs that way I hope to get a personal best on this tank though.

 

I'm by no means a hypermiler - I bought the thing so that my wife and I can have an in-car picnic without the ICE running, and with the A/C blasting. But over the last 10K miles I got 48.1. Hey, that's still bustin' the EPA wide open! Just got me some Goodyear Assurance FuelMax's. Had to go from 195's to 205's. Right now it seems that I'm just about even on the MPG's than with my former tires.

 

Maybe I can improve that bleak prospect (for us PC OCDers) a little........

Here's my record for the last few months - thats when I started recording when the first pip fell for each tank (I was in Australia during most of July, and didn't use the car).

Filled on gas/miles calc MFD
5/31 6.61/438 (66.2) 68.9 pip 1 at 131
6/8 6.20/435 (70.2) 71.4 pip 1 at 165
6/12 8.59/491 (57.2) 59.9 pip 1 at 123
6/20 6.73/448 (66.6) 68.0 pip 1 at 160
6/25 6.70/480 (71.6) 69.9 pip 1 at 160
6/30 4.76/309 (64.9) 70.8 pip 1 at 130
7/8 10.44/583 (56.8) 62.5 pip 1 at 150 Severe AC
7/13 8.44/526 (62.3) 62.1 pip 1 at 179 Moderate AC
8/12 9.20/610 (66.3) 68.4 pip 1 at 160 Light AC
8/17 7.70/486 (63.1) 62.8 pip 1 at 168 Moderate AC
8/26 7.42/481 (64.8) 66.4 pip 1 at 153
8/31 4.72/373 (79.0 )!! 71.8 pip 1 at 151
Current tank pip 1 at 112 (!!)

Note that it was pretty consistent except on the tank AFTER when I had a tank over 70 MPG - which usually yielded a low pip 1 value.

I'm assuming that the bladder didn't allow as complete a fill as usual, accounting both for the anomalously high MPG relative to the MFD as well as the low pip 1 number on the subsequent tank.

If you subtract the difference in miles between the anomalous pip1 values and the mean value from the anomalously high tank, you tend to get a smoothed out calculated tank MPG number. For example, this last tank should have been about 71 MPG, not 79 (which is ridiculous - its been good, but not THAT good).

Maybe this is the way to beat the bladder?

 

:focus: Terrible

 

My last tank (2nd tank), the MFD read 52.6 mpg, but calculated going 499.8 miles on 9.088 gallons filled was 54.99, which I find odd because most people find it to be the other way around (calced mpg slightly less than MFD). About 70% city, 30% hwy.

Very 1st tank was 41.3 mpg, 395 miles, 9.56 gallons, but the onboard read 47.6 mpg. 60% city, 40 hwy. However, the dealer "filled-up" for me, so I don't know how "full" it really was. I pump till it shuts off and fit whatever I can after without spilling. With the Prius, I'm lucky to get another 1/2 gallon in. With my Taurus, I could easily put in another gallon or more after shut-off.

On mpgtune.com, I'm already 48th in all time best avg mpg of ALL vehicles with an average of 47.79 mpg. I also noted that of the top 100, 25 are the Prius. I am #10 for just the Prius alone. I found the top 100 interesting considering that ALL vehicles includes motorcycles. Maybe it is just the Prius drivers are more interested in MPG? Duh.

I read about hypermiling, and I do a bit of it, but I don't drive to piss people off either. I do brake around corners and turns. And, I have noticed that gas mileage is better on the hwy around the speed limit of 65. The funny thing is, for the most part, I don't drive this car much differently than I did my Taurus, but my driving habits fit well with the Prius and gets me better than EPA.

 

Hello!

I have two questions.....

How do I get that screen to appear? I've driven a Prius for over 6 years and I've never seen that screen before.

I have had a 2004, with pkg 7, since August 2004, I was on a waiting list for 9 months! I just bought a "new to me" 2009 Touring with leather, bluetooth, and navigation (I love it). Now on my 04, the mpg's would reset with each fillup. On the 09, the mpg's appears to remain as an average for the 36,500 miles. Is there a way to over-ride this or to toggle between the lifetime average and the tank average?

Any and all assistance will be greatly appreciated~~

 

Last summer I was 57.3 for a few seconds but 57.2 steady for a few weeks. My life goal for the car is 60 mpg. I drive highway almost exclusively, and there are a lot of hills here, so I don't know if that affects anything.

 

Driving back from San Antonio to OKC after the Alamo Bowl, all highway, 65 to 74 mph, a wonderful 20 mph tailwind blowing me home, 70 F day, no AC, no heater, no defroster, got 58.9 MPG for 501 miles (computer), my best tank ever by 4 MPG. Current total 45,000 miles. I had 50 F and rain and 15 mph headwind on the way down there and got 45 MPG. It really amazes me how much difference a headwind makes. Why isn't this car more aerodynamic?

 

When I drive slowly I can get 54-55mpg. When I drive aggressively it's more like 49.

 

Today i got 130mpg over 5.6 miles

 

Whoa, coming from the US, never thought about that, you want LOW bars, not high ones. Kinda like you like your toilet water to spin the other way, mindblowingly different way of looking at life

 

Hehe everything's upside-down here Mike.

Now I'll have to get my camera out an take one of these photos. The equivalent of a row of 100 MPG bars for us is just a row of little row of 2.4 L/100k bars, which somehow doesn't have quite the same impact.

 

We live in the mountains of Western NC. Yesterday we drove to Asheville and returned. The onboard computer is quite accurate. I drove normally, not slowly. The only concession was that while going up the two long mountain climbs at 60 MPH rather than 65. I spent quite a bit of time above 70 MPH on I-40.

There was no wind in the morning, and we had no cargo. Distance 130 miles. Actual mileage: 54.8 MPG.

Coming back we had a strong headwind from the SW and about 150 pounds of cargo.
We still ended up with an average of 52 MPG for the 260 mile round trip.

This is better mileage than expected, and pleasing. It is a very quiet and comfortable road car.

 

I just got back from a DC > Richmond > DC round trip with two passengers, two dogs, and overnight bags. Averaged 54 mpg on the 275 miles or so. Spent most of the time in the upper 60s lower 70s but on occassion crept into the 80s. There were a few stretches where I followed semi's, but I'm too chicken to really 'draft'. Even so, following at just under a safe distance seemed to really help.

I was certainly not driving conservatively, so I'm very impressed by the mileage we've been getting - so far this is the most efficient tank. The radio this morning said we'd be into the $5/gal territory by Memorial Day.

 

my prius EPA is rated at 48 city/45 hwy and 46 combined...

so this says http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/noframes/20934.shtml




well after 268 miles on the tank, i decided to top her off and see how much gallons it will take... In total it only took 4.5 gallons to top it off

So thats about 59 mpg (combined) :rockon: