Some people do drive slow in Prius (for wrong reasons)

You're mostly correct. Pulse and glide is the best way to achieve high mileage. Egging the pedal won't help like conventional cars.

However, traveling at a slower speed will yield better mileage even in the city, as long as you use pulse and glide to get to that speed, the same way a faster driver would. The reason is because guess what, you used more gas to accelerate to your higher speed. Momentum won't carry a slower driver as far, but that's the whole reason they're going "slower." In any case the ICE is still off and they've saved more gas than you.

Anyways, I don't think how you drive makes quite as big a difference as temperature/where you live and slopes.

 

Yea, I like to call this the granny-syndrome. There was a granny who wanted to sue Toyota for getting poor mileage, because she drove the car very slowly, yet got very poor mileage. But in so doing, she operated the engine well below its extremely wide efficiency zone (pretty tuff to do actually).

The electronic throttle of the Prius opens the throttle all the way, if it can, as the motors are used to put an effective ratio on the engine to limit run-away RPM. If you go very low on the accelerator peddle, it can't do that, and the engine has allot more pumping losses. In traditional cars, going quick and hard on the peddle results in enrichment, which burns allot more gas. In the Prius, the best action has to be learned, its not real quick and deep, but its not slow and shallow either.....

 

i have nevr beaten another prius offthe line in accellerating. i don't have a scan gauge, so not sure best efficiency, but i get 65 mpg in good weather. 49 in this weather.

 

You lost me when you started dissing the lady for obeying the law. Just using the laws of physics, I'd bet she's getting better mileage.

 

Yesterday i saw two prius holding up traffic in two different occasions. Even i became frustrated waiting in a line of cars led by a slow prius. Although this happens too with other cars, it seems more prevalent with Prius owners (probably thinking they will achieve better fuel efficiency).

 

+1

 

(1) I wouldn't make this bet;
(2) we don't have a way to check the other driver's mpg;
(3) if your mpg really was higher, I strongly believe it was due to technique and possibly the vagaries of light timing, not higher speed. If you can get 68 mpg at 50 mph, then I believe you should be able to get mid-70s mpg by keeping max speed below 45 mph;
(4) Bob Wilson's steady speed MPG vs MPG graph shows 67 mpg at 50 mph, 80 mpg at 40 mph;
(5) most of my life has been in areas where 10 mph over limit is hazardous to retention of a drivers license.

 

This thread is silly. I saw a pickup truck driving slowly, a Gen 2 Prius was behind, got pissed, slammed the throttle, jerked around and went in front of the beater pickup. That was today.

As a Gen 3 owner, I didn't think a Gen 2 could accelerate that fast. The Prius drives just like any other car or pickup, the only other variable is how much you pump at the gas pump.

 

So has the Prius replaced the little old lady, wearing a hat, slowly driving a Cadillac with the left turn signal eternally on???

Keith

 

Couldn't agree more!
Well said!

 

No I disagree strongly here. People are predictable if you pay attention to them. If you look in your rear view mirror and see a guy in a pickup truck hauling down your lane, you bet can he's thinking "get outa my way prius.". He's going to change lanes and go around you. If you see approach a car that's crawling paticularly in a neighborhood you can bet they're lost. He's going to keep going slowly.

Occasionally both sides misjudge and that's when accidents can occur. But most of the time our brains do an amazing job at receiving signals and reacting appropriately.

 

Hi All,

I think the point is that one can drive too-slow for mileage. If your driving for the best mileage, accelerating correctly is important. Now, its a pretty broad range, but its not infinite.

And, accelerating near the top of the ECO range (as the OP indicated) is not that fast an acceleration at all. I guess its something like a 0 to 60 mph time around 25 seconds? Or less than 1/2 as quick as the car can go....

 

I've been behind those really slow Prius drivers...

I accelerate briskly, then allow Rudy to glide along at the speed limit. I don't get really high MPGs, but I'm pretty happy with the ones I get.

 

I'm a fairly slow driver by choice and just happen to drive a Prius...I seem to be in a third category from above comments.

 

Yeah I've been thinking I was the fastest out there for a while. Too many Prius owners are too conservative, but then again, there's nothing against defensive driving right?

 

Brisk acceleration for me. A solid 50 MPG average as a result... as well as usually being the leader from the light.

That's briefly going into the red/power zone. To be specific, hitting 3500 RPM.
.

 

I do believe from reading all the posts and charts, that setting a throttle position such that the engine puts out 20-25 hp whenever it is on, gets the most power for a given quantity of gas. I easily get 60 mpg summers 53 mpg winters using this approach. Check the Gen 3 Bhp curves.