Picked Up 2008 Prius: Amazing!

Congratulations on your new Prius. Your mileage does sound great so far. How many stops and starts did you do? That's what makes my mileage tank- stop lights and stop signs. As long as I keep rolling, then the mileage is great.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(littleprius @ Oct 21 2007, 11:07 AM) [snapback]528430[/snapback]</div>

Hi Littleprius,

What that means is you were down-wind in your travel home. 60 mpg is unusually good mileage, on a highway at 60 mph, for a Prius. But not at all unusual if you have a 15 mph pushing wind (45 mph airspeed) and traffic cooperates. I imagine your tires are already set to 42 psi front, and 40 rear. Which is de Rigour here on Prius Chat (PC).

Also, in that type of terrain, the engine will vary speed on its own using the cruise control. The CVT adjusts the ratio for the power demand. A PC member has a video on you-tube that shows this. At a steady 65 mph, the engine RPM went from 1200 to 2500 rpm, depending on wind, trucks, and hills.

One driving technique for highway high mileage is to not use the cruise control around hills. As you approach a hill let the car slow slighly, maintaining engine speed (pitch as there is no tachometer). Then as you crest the hill let the car speed back up to the flat terrain cruise speed. The cruise control will gun the engine up the hill, then over shoot the speed at the crest, and regenerate hard on the way down. This uses too much gas. On level terrain the cruise control does much better. You may have sumbled onto this technique in your desire to avoid taxing the new engine.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(littleprius @ Oct 21 2007, 10:07 AM) [snapback]528430[/snapback]</div>

Enjoy it because it won't last. There's a sticky around here thats describes the "First Tank" phenomena. Read up. I got the same thing with mine and then it quickly dropped to 40 then 38 the next tank.....till I was informed by the really nice people here how low my tire pressure was and now at 42-40 the car has leveled out to a very nice 47 mpg's over 3 tanks. I have Mobil One oil on board too. I'm getting 2 more mpg's than the MFD says I'm getting based on gallons in/miles calculation. I'm very happy with that and drive it like a normal car and keep up with traffic. I think the first tank you drive like the car is very fragile. The new car syndrome. Take off really easy...let cars pass you..speed limit...decelerate way before light changes etc. You know..drive properly! At least I did. But in the long run where I live that kind of driving is unrealistic. I'd end of getting rear ended and people were riding my butt all the time and giving me the stink eye when they passed me. Good luck with our awesome cars!

 

Drive and Enjoy !!!!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(donee @ Oct 21 2007, 10:51 AM) [snapback]528435[/snapback]</div>

If you were referring to my video, it is on google video if anyone is curious.

When I get time, I'll make another video with larger numbers.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(littleprius @ Oct 22 2007, 01:37 AM) [snapback]528448[/snapback]</div>

Strongly recommend that you raise that tire pressure. As you will see from a number of other threads, 42/40 appears to be the recommended best pressure for fuel ecomony versus ride/handling.