LO

I'm still working on my first tank. I drove it almost a hundred miles before I RTFM to figure out how to clear the 150 lead footed miles the dealer had put on the car before they filled it up and handed it to me.

Now another 150 miles later, I can't seem to get much over 60MPG on the trip computer. At least 200 miles or so from now I'll have another full tank of gas and an odometer reading to add to my empty spreadsheet. A few of those, and I'll know what the mileage actually is. Probably a bit less than what the computer thinks.

I was driving a Ford Focus ZX3 for a while. It got 32MPG no matter what I did. Scanguage, driving slow. No difference. Highway, city, no difference. I had a Honda Civic HX before that. I used to get 50MPG tanks out of that car now and then. I should never have let it go. The 2007 Ford was a P.O.S., and accumulated rattles faster than it accumulated miles.

At least the Prius shows some promise of delivering better fuel economy than they showed on the sticker.

I like playing 'hypermiler' games. I'm still working out how to score on the 'all red lights are green lights' game. I used to award points based on what gear I was in when I went through the intersection, but now I have a CVT.

 

Yeah, that was my dad's reaction. "Only 60? Take it back!"

Realistically, the mileage won't be as high as the trip computer says. (notoriously generous as they are). It also misses a mountain trip... though I was getting 50MPG in the Honda with virtually all mountain driving. Probably had something to do with half the return trips being able to drop the car into neutral and go 10 miles or more without touching anything but the wheel.

The big problem I still have is 'Prius eyes'. I rejected the first two generations for having a big TV set in the middle of the console playing cartoons at me. Now I have an instrument display that does the same thing, only I can't see any of the 'red' parts of the animations in daylight with my sunglasses on. Anyway, I keep watching it a little too much.

Interestingly, I discovered that the 'B' gear appears to be absolutely useless. If you set the cruise control to the speed you want to go careening down the mountain road at (i.e. 55), the car simply maintains that speed no matter how steep the hill, and appears to get a more consistent charge on the batteries at the same time. Never once did it add power from the ICE to make up for the 'non-down' dips. Of course, maybe it did, but I couldn't 'see'. I leave it on the big charge<--->power bar cartoon channel most of the time, anyway.