Trying for the max

If you're getting 50 with winter fuel, in Boston, in winter and are a new driver I'd say you're doing about as good as can be expected.

If you read my thread in the Knowledge Base area it may give you a few more hints (tire pressure, alignment check, some technique stuff), but what you need to hit 60 is summer!!

Why don't I get the EPA mileage?

 

well neutral is one way. The other method to get the car to coast is the "no arrow" method. This requires a light foot on the accelerator to get it out of green but not into the yellow arrows.

If the downhill slope is steep enough, you might as well recharge your battery (assuming it's steep enough that you can maintain or even gain speed) rather than coast.

 

Tideland hit the nail on the head. The "no arrow" method is exactly what you describe.

Basically, when you are coasting without your foot on the gas, Prius recharges the battery.
When you are using the accelerator to gain momentum, Prius fires up the Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) to give you the boost (or the battery).
But if you do it just right, you can press on the accelerator enough to turn off the regenerative coasting but not enough to engage the engine (or battery).

Mind you, it feels really weird. The regen coasting creates a drag on the wheels. When you turn that off, the drag goes away and you feel as though you're accelerating. But just keep an eye on the MFD and you will realize that what you feel is "free coasting" with no arrows displayed.

Good luck and congrats on your excellent start.

 

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Neutral works fine, I've used it, but now I prefer to glide as described above (no arrows on the Energy screen with a very light pressure on the gas pedal to achieve it). The main reason is that it's very hard to make the glide end perfectly so that you roll to a stop right at the sign. If you have to use your brakes at all to stop (over 8mph) you get no regeneration if you're in neutral...thus that momentum is wasted as heat instead of being fed back into the battery. If I'm 'gliding' I just lift my foot off the pedal and use the regenerative coasting, or if I do need to use the brake I try to avoid using the friction brakes at all so that most of the momentum goes into the battery...that's just that little bit less gas you have to use later.

From the point you're already at we're talking about finding lots of little 1/10th mpgs in fine tuning technique...and waiting for summer heat, to really get your numbers up. Looks like you've got potential to be a "hyper-miler".

BTW, tell us about your commute/driving pattern and current driving technique.

 

Any of seeing rust spots on the front discs from the lack of use of the brake pads? cause I have them lol

 

Be careful what you wish for Tim, My commute is 20 mins to my university and that isn't enough time for me to recoup the lost mileage due to engine warm-up. Only if I make two trips (like I do on Thurs) do I recover some.