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My wife, Maria Andretti

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Fuel Economy' started by NorwoodIV, Aug 16, 2006.

  1. Rancid13

    Rancid13 Cool Chick with a Black Prius

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Pale Alien @ Aug 16 2006, 08:35 AM) [snapback]304096[/snapback]</div>
    I think your first mistake is letting her drive the Prius in the first place (especially considering that you KNOW what kind of a driver she is). :eek: My husband has driven MY Prius a whopping 2-3 times in the 6+ months that I've had it; and he's ONLY allowed to drive it if he agrees that upon his return, the mpgs will be at or above what they're at when he first sits in the car to drive away. He's definitely a lead foot-I think our agreement has scared him away from driving it, because he doesn't want to piss me off by lowering my averages. :D :blink:
     
  2. NorwoodIV

    NorwoodIV New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jtullos @ Aug 17 2006, 11:23 AM) [snapback]304690[/snapback]</div>
    I think you're absolutely right. She had two stops that were less than a mile, so some of it isn't even her fault.

    I just like calling her Maria Andretti. :p

    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Rancid13 @ Aug 17 2006, 11:28 AM) [snapback]304694[/snapback]</div>
    Yikes! You're kind of terrifying. Kudos to you for ruling with an iron fist of authority. :D Poor fella probably has to sit down to pee now... :p
     
  3. Rancid13

    Rancid13 Cool Chick with a Black Prius

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Pale Alien @ Aug 17 2006, 09:32 AM) [snapback]304696[/snapback]</div>
    LOL, I'm really not that bad. I only rule my car with an iron fist of authority. He's free to do whatever he wants, whenever he wants with regards to anything (ok, almost anything) else. I'm pretty stern when it comes to my car though...that's why we each have our own. I told him if he wants to drive the Prius so bad, he can get his own. :D I wanted one, so I got it...he doesn't make my car payments for me, I do. :eek:
     
  4. F8L

    F8L Protecting Habitat & AG Lands

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Pale Alien @ Aug 17 2006, 09:32 AM) [snapback]304696[/snapback]</div>
    LMAO!
     
  5. NorwoodIV

    NorwoodIV New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Rancid13 @ Aug 17 2006, 11:37 AM) [snapback]304702[/snapback]</div>
    OK, I feel better now. You are close to my work in Garbage Grove, so I was starting to keep an eye out for a black Prius with huge dents in the hood from running him over. I didn't want to get on anyone's bad (or scary) side, so fresh into my ownership experience... :lol:
     
  6. prez1

    prez1 New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(terri @ Aug 16 2006, 06:19 PM) [snapback]304357[/snapback]</div>
    After I fill up the Prius, I just drive around town and around the local lake with my wife, getting the gas mileage up to above 60, then we go home and I tell her "Try to keep the average up, honey!"
     
  7. tmgrl3

    tmgrl3 Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jtullos @ Aug 17 2006, 12:23 PM) [snapback]304690[/snapback]</div>
    Most of my trips are around 1.5 miles! I only get above 42 mpg when I bunch my errands and have to add in a trip that's about 5-7 miles....so...I don't worry too much about being around 40....that may be as good as I get with my kind of driving...

    Hehehehhhh...but at least it's MY kind of driving....Guess we hate to give up control of our Prius.

    I have one of those packets of Valet Parking cards.....Duh....I can see the valet parker hitting the gas and pealing off to the parking lot....We go early, so I usually park my own car.
     
  8. Rancid13

    Rancid13 Cool Chick with a Black Prius

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Pale Alien @ Aug 17 2006, 09:45 AM) [snapback]304711[/snapback]</div>
    LOL!! :lol: :lol:
     
  9. molgrips

    molgrips Member

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    My wife tends to brake quite hard, basically driving like a normal car, and I worry about the average mpg.. But whenever she takes an extended trip, the car comes back with like 62mpg (UK) on the display.. I can't get close to that! I think it's longer trips combined with driving under the speed limit.
     
  10. NorwoodIV

    NorwoodIV New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(molgrips @ Aug 18 2006, 06:52 AM) [snapback]305238[/snapback]</div>
    Ah, you have it good I'd say. My wife doesn't use the brakes much, as they make it harder to clear the curb and drive down the sidewalks. :lol:

    Short trips so appear to be the culprit. Maybe she needs a golf cart...
     
  11. theorist

    theorist Member

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    I sympathize, Pale Alien. My wife has a much longer commute and so drives the Prius as much as I do.

    I take solace in the thought that at least she's doing much better than in a conventional car where her driving style would do some real damage in terms of fuel consumption. Still, I'm not able to stomach carefully tracking our fuel consumption. That'd just be too much for me, and soon for her with my unwanted 'helpful suggestions'. How could she call it nagging?!

    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(McShemp @ Aug 16 2006, 01:50 PM) [snapback]304186[/snapback]</div>
    Not quite. You can average the metric measure of fuel consumption, L/100km, but you can only average our mpg over the gallons consumed. If he and she drove an equal number of miles at 48.6 mpg and 37.9 mpg, the total mpg would be 42.6 mpg.


    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(McShemp @ Aug 16 2006, 01:50 PM) [snapback]304186[/snapback]</div>
    No, a correct formula if she drove 25 miles would be

    0.85 / 48.6 + 0.15 / her_mpg = 1 / 42.6

    If she drove 20 miles, she achieved 22.1 mpg. That's still quite a feat! I believe she'd do about as well cruising at top speed without any braking. I'd give her the benefit of the doubt though and assume that she is driving slower and braking. (I hope! :unsure: )
     
  12. NorwoodIV

    NorwoodIV New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(theorist @ Aug 19 2006, 11:10 PM) [snapback]306097[/snapback]</div>
    Good post theorist. Nice to know I'm not alone in the "best not to nag department." In following another Fuel Economy thread, I learned that the Max AC setting is a real hammer on mileage. She's pregnant and very heat intolerant. I figured out that she has been rolling with her usual driving patterns with the AC set between "polar ice cap" and "Khumbu glacier." She comes home and turns it off. Sneaky, sneaky...

    So I'll bet your numbers in the say mid-20s aren't far off...

    With cooler weather, I'm happy to report that she has only been dinging my mileage by a few tenths now. The bad news is, she's shopping away all of my gas mileage savings. Damn. :unsure:
     
  13. tmgrl3

    tmgrl3 Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Pale Alien @ Aug 20 2006, 11:29 PM) [snapback]306529[/snapback]</div>
    You gotta love it!! ROFLMAO!! I used to set my Camry at polar ice cap!!

    Now that I'm trying for higher mpg.....I keep it set for auto outside air....Never thought I would do that...(not all days...some days it's just TOO HOT!

    I am getting 40 mpg though in my short runs, 1.5 miles to 3.0 miles...lots of stop and go...

    I got 31 mpg on my first tank...I have now figured out how to keep my mpg steady by using my hills to advantage, P&G and coasting to regen to keep SOC at good levels so I can P&G when I have the chance.

    I guess this will be about it for me...40 mpg..unless car breaks in more and does better...I loved my 45 mpg on the day I went to the mall...on the same tank I am on now..second one...so maybeeeee......

    Now it's my hubby who's complaining about the AC not being cool enough!!! Life switched us around!

    terri
     
  14. supermuffingirl

    supermuffingirl Junior Member

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    This is Mr. SuperMuffinGirl.
    My wife wanted the car, I sold my Nissan Sentra so she could have it. As we all know a happy household is one with a happy wife. So I love the car right away and want one for myself, but I will settle for the scooter in a couple of months as I only work 4 miles from home. But I am totally consumed with getting the best gas mileage out of the Prius. When ever I get to drive it, (weekends and when driving her around) I notice that the MPG is lower than when I drove it last. I will get it up a couple MPG by the time I am done driving. Coasting when I can, slower stops, slower excelerations, when in our neighborhood, I always drive the last half mile on electric, cause it is so cool. Like a land speeder from StarWars. Anyway, this whole argument is one of chaning the minds of how people drive. Even if non-Prius folk started driving with a similar style they would get better gas mileage. We have to ween Western Society off their horsepower and need for speed.

    Anyway, SuperMuffinGirl needs to work on the driving or I may have to take it for myself. Of course, we know that will never happen. :lol:
     
  15. NorwoodIV

    NorwoodIV New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Super Muffin Girl @ Aug 23 2006, 09:05 AM) [snapback]308191[/snapback]</div>
    I can't beleive you identified yourself as "Mr. Super Muffin Girl." :D That's awesome. Degrading, but very funny.

    We all have a leash of some kind... :lol:
     
  16. Rancid13

    Rancid13 Cool Chick with a Black Prius

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Super Muffin Girl @ Aug 23 2006, 07:05 AM) [snapback]308191[/snapback]</div>
    I say take it away until she betters her Prius driving, LOL!!! :lol: :lol: :lol: Or put her on some sort of Prius probation until she improves the mpgs. :D
     
  17. hyo silver

    hyo silver Awaaaaay

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Pale Alien @ Aug 23 2006, 12:35 PM) [snapback]308272[/snapback]</div>
    This isn't directed at you, Pale Alien, but the sentiment. What's so different about 'Mr. Super Muffin' and 'Mrs. Stud Muffin'? Will women *ever* be seen as equals? Call me 'sensitive', but I prefer a woman with a mind who isn't afraid to use it.
     
  18. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(hyo silver @ Aug 23 2006, 02:43 PM) [snapback]308361[/snapback]</div>
    Especially if she puts her mind to cooking and cleaning! :p

    Tom
     
  19. NorwoodIV

    NorwoodIV New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(hyo silver @ Aug 23 2006, 01:43 PM) [snapback]308361[/snapback]</div>
    I'm married to a woman with a mind of her own who isn't afraid to use it. I wouldn't have it any other way.

    Teasing Mr. Super Muffin was more of a tongue-and-cheek questioning of his masculinity. Almost as if I were to call him "Sally" or accuse him of wearing a skirt. In other words, Mrs. Super Muffin wears the pants.

    On my planet, women can be and are often seen as equals. I was equating his situation to mean that she is the dominant force. Still, insinuating that we as men are all on a leash in some way could be construed as offensive... :p

    Uh, oh. Mrs. Pale Alien just came in. I had better set my phaser to "slightly crispy."

    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(qbee42 @ Aug 23 2006, 01:49 PM) [snapback]308366[/snapback]</div>
    Oh man, you are TOAST. ;) Hopefully hyosilver isn't as well armed as the Cool Chicks in Black Prius' club.
     
  20. supermuffingirl

    supermuffingirl Junior Member

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    Aww... poor Mr. Super Muffin.
    He does not have a Prius chat log on of his own, so he used mine, and he was differentiating.
    However, I think that he wanted to get to know you all a little better before using his real alias ~ The Muffin Burglar. ;)

    Anyhow...

    Just a little defense of my MPG. We are new Prius owners, bringing this one home on June 30, 2006. So we are both still learning.
    And I must contribute most of my MPG to these silly Florida drivers. My morning commute is only about 4 miles. I rarely go over 45-50 MPH. I am forced to "go with the flow", and these people around here are lunatics. I am not the slowest one on the road, for sure, but I'm not the fastest either.

    And, today, I left work at 43.6 and when I got to my destination about 3 miles down the road, it was 44.1 - so I got back 0.5 MPG in that short trip. So there!

    I also must note that we have not pressed the "RESET" button on the Consumption screen since we bought the car, and we have approx. 3600 miles on it. That might have something to do with it, especially since we did drive it to the mountains of North Carolina last month (see avitar) - and that really screwed with the MPG. Mountain driving was great - when you were coming down the other side of it! Going up - not so much. Also, the drive up and back was high MPH and occasional cruise control, that also screwed with the MPG.

    So... we have decided to push RESET at each fill-up and see how I do.
    I'm confident that it will be better.