You will not get 50 MPG if...

Thanks for the quote! So true.

 

I was also getting 45 and less... Till I noticed that meter to the right of the speedometer. The instant mileage meter. With that you can tell how your driving impacts the engine in terms of fuel usage, and whether the engine is running or not. After I realized what that was, I understood better the comments about what pulse and glide were all about.
I'm still finishing my first tank, but now that I've adjusted my driving, I'm getting about 51 MPG (4.6L/100km for us Canadians).

Still looking for more tips to improve!

 

I generally averaged 19-20 mpg with mixed driving in my 95 Jeep, with 22-23 for long distance trips on expressways with speed 65-70. I just got my 2010 Prius yesterday. It had 117 miles on it (as the last II on the lot, it was the demo vehicle.

I just got to the gauges portion of the manual, so with the driving of others included, I am at 191 miles, 44.1 mpg, avg 21 mph. I reset Trip A odometer for my 55 mile rt commute tomorrow so it will be interesting to see if my Jeep habits (which gained me 2-3 mpg) work well in the Prius. I do track my tank mpg in a Palm app, and will be looking into some of the worksheets that others have used here to geek out even a little bit more

Robbin

 

I break these rules religiously and regularly get at least 10% better mileage on my partner's Volvo C70. In addition, my brakes last forever! Much to my aggravation, my partner seems to revel specifically in "following" these three rules. When I remind him of the "three second" rule, he tells me I'm just being a wimp and allowing myself to be cut off by more agressive drivers. He's oblivious to the fact that the three second buffer allows me to keep off the brakes where he'd be stomping on them to avoid a rear-ender.

I'm forever hitting the passenger side brakes as he drives per rule 2b. "Why are you accelerating into stopped traffic???" He says it's to avoid being hit from behind! Lame excuse.

And as for rule 2C, he's forever on and off the gas or brakes. I keep challenging him to find a speed and stick to it. When I drive, he can't tell if/when I am using cruise control. When he drives, I feel like I'm being pitched around in turbulence.

Of course, he's quite proud of his Daytona style driving and if I point out anything that would "improve" it, he gets defensive. I wind up riding with my eyes closed.

Stu

 

Thats because they live their life that way!
Get them to change their lives and their driving will be different!

 

I don't know, but I expect an increase above the average (not counting cold winter driving) if drivers employ hypermiling techniques.

I've heard opposite ends of advice. I've heard, don't worry about anything, just drive The Prius, and then I've read threads like this, outlining several "things" you need to do to get the EPA rating.

It's not any one thing, but when you start adding them up as a whole? The distance of the trip must be greater than X but less than Y. Hills and Inclines must be avoided. Engine needs to be warmed for efficency but warming up your engine before driving is bad. Inflate your tires above recommendations...."maybe" but not too much? Coast to stops...

If you start to compound all these "recommendations" you very rapidly leave the arena of "normal" driving.

I think the EPA needs different standards for and as automobiles change and apply new technologies. If the EPA say's the Prius is rated at 50mpg, then I'd hope, like it, if that meant 50mpg with what is comparibly "normal" driving.

The Prius, Toyota Hybrid's in general have been brilliant not only in design of machine, but in providing tools that retrain owners to drive differently. But to be honest I don't plan to adapt my driving style considerably. I'm not often a lead foot anyway but I don't plan to calculate my distance to every destination, be constantly looking a 1/2 mile to mile ahead and trying to predict opportunity to coast, or coast to stops. If I'm using the Prius as my car, then that means I'm going to be using the engine, so it's warm up is going to be it's warm up. If The Prius is your only or primary automobile you can't worry about am I driving it the "perfect" distance for it to be efficent. You just have to drive it.

I'd like to hear from owners that take a more utilitarian approach, and don't pay attention to the techniques. How close to 50mpg do you obtain?

By the way, this isn't meant as a slam against those that do apply "hypermiling" techniques or derivatives of hypermiling techniques. It's just that I would assume the EPA isn't applying these techniques in the EPA test. Plus if it is Toyota's contention, and Hybrid owners contention as well, that The Prius and Hybrids are ready for "mainstream" and now are logical and acceptable alternatives to any and all automobiles within a given class, then don't we need to move away form attaching 5-10-15- caveats as to why the machine won't get the EPA rating?

Otherwise, we just need a real world rating. Your mileage may vary, for any and all automobiles, but most automobiles don't ask you to over inflate the tires, avoid hills, and drive like a 75 year old Retiree heading back from prostrate surgery.

 

Let me translate that into flying airplanes. Scan the horizon and you will see everything in front of you as well as having complete knowledge of where your vehicle is relative to the rest of the world. It applies to all phases of flight, especially landing.

Any automobile high performance driving or racing school will teach you basically the same thing in that you look ahead to see where you want the vehicle to go. It keeps you in perspective. If you are driving on the edge and look at the road in front of you, you are toast. If you are landing any kind of airplane and look at the runway directly in front of you, you are burnt toast.

 

Yes, but for most urban driving there is a HUGE difference between driving in traffic and landing a plane. First of all, in planes, you have a Tower and protocal that is suppose to keep planes from being too close together.

Too often in Urban traffic you have no choice but pay pretty close attention to the car directly infront of you because there IS a car directly infront of you.

I understand what you are saying, but there needs to be a balance. As population increases and cities grow, urban traffic becomes more and more about paying attention to your immediate surroundings. Look a mile ahead in a big traffic jam and what do you see? More Traffic Jam.

The Prius isn't a plane, and it isn't flying in the untethered skies. The Beauty of The Prius hybrid design is it was created to reduce emmisions in crowded cities and is almost the "perfect" vehicle to be stuck in a traffic jam. Not an angle Toyota can really push, but it's one I consider since I live in the suburbs of a relatively large city.

Please understand that I aknowledge the value of driving and looking at the big picture, IE: what is happening not only infront of me and immediately around me, but keeping an eye on what might be happening ahead as far as a mile or more. To me good driving isn't focusing on one or the other but both.

 

Like many things..some things indeed take a huge footprint while others are so negligible its not worth the attention, distraction, hassle. Rather, Enjoy and focus on something else like your favorite tune, conversation, or favorite talk show!

Some things can be habit and can really help.. like you say... its the small, frequent things that really add up..... like if you are constantly playing with the brake pedal for instance.

Toyota gives you the tools to be a geek and go crazy if you want to gain the absolute max mileage, or you can just relax and let the computer do the work along with decent driving habits.

They don't want it to be "work" for you to drive, but only fun.

The guy that "works" to drive verses the same guy with the same driving habits that just forgets it and has "fun" and relaxes has mileage thats close enough that the difference is worth it in most cases.

Only get obsessed about this if its fun to do so... you can make a difference if you work on it hard enough, but I've found that I just drive mine for the most part and I still get within a few miles per gallon of anyone else.

Add up the difference in penny's, and My relaxations is worth it as I spend far more than that in the name of relaxation through other means..... Like my Two big screen TV's, Hobbys, 35K fishing boat, and 70K swimming pool!

I said all that to say... just have fun!

I bought my prius to double as a toy!

 

Never trust an air traffic controller or a dispatcher. When the weather is down you abide by ATC commands only to the point to which the modern airliner's terrain avoidance and aircraft avoidance systems dictate it's safe to do so.

I'm glad you said "pretty" because if 100% of the concentration was on the car in front you are charging him with your personal safety.

Good examples of where a driver must pay a lot of attention to everything around him would be the Interstate highways in and around Atlanta and Chicago where there is a lot of traffic, speeds far beyond the posted limits, and aggressive drivers. It is not only the driver ahead who is trying to get you killed. Whenever a car, any car, gets remotely close to me I scan their heads because where they are looking is nearly always where they are going.

On the open highway my eyes are on the horizon because in doing so anything unusual will be detected whereas if my concentration were directed at the rear end of the car in front of me I likely would not see much else. It works the same way in planes and I have 25-30k hours of accident free history.

 

semi real world numbers: :cheer2:
Fuel Sipper Smackdown 2: Which Car Gets the Best Fuel Economy?
The Back Roads
The champ: 2010 Toyota Prius with 47.2 mpg
2nd Place: 2010 Honda Insight with 44.1 mpg
3rd Place: 2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI with 41.2 mpg
4th Place: 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid with 39.6 mpg
5th Place: 2009 Mini Cooper with 38.5 mpg
This was the diesel Jetta's domain last year, but the all-new 2009 model falls back in the pack to a still-impressive 41.2 mpg due to a more powerful turbodiesel engine that did a better job tackling the extended grades through the Mojave and Death Valley. The all-new Prius, on the other hand, maintains its pace to take the first victory. As expected, the Insight came close to the Prius, but its mild-hybrid technology couldn't match the Toyota's full-hybrid setup, which features more battery power and a more highly developed ability to run on electricity only.
The bigger Fusion Hybrid showed an emerging trend of not matching its EPA estimates, but 40 mpg from a big, heavy sedan is nevertheless impressive. Similarly, the Mini was last, but its quick handling through the twisting roads into Death Valley proved you can still have fun in a fuel sipper.
The City
The champ: 2010 Toyota Prius with 48.7 mpg
2nd Place: 2010 Honda Insight with 43.4 mpg
3rd Place: 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid with 35.1 mpg
4th Place: 2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI with 31.6 mpg
5th Place: 2009 Mini Cooper with 30.1 mpg
As expected, the 2010 Fusion Hybrid moved up in the rankings and the Jetta TDI took a dive during the 200-mile city driving loop through suburban Las Vegas. Indeed, the electricity-boosted powertrains of the Ford, Honda and Toyota are intended to thrive in this sort of environment where frequent slowing and braking plows energy into their batteries for reuse. However, the Fusion's 35.1 mpg is a far cry from the EPA rating of 41 mpg, while the Prius also fell short of its EPA-rated 51 mpg city.
We obviously didn't follow the same testing procedures as the EPA, so this provides some evidence for our theory that these next-generation hybrids have been tuned specifically to thrive in the EPA test. The others, on the other hand, beat the EPA ratings.
There was more than just fuel economy revealed in this loop, though. The Insight showed the limitations of its mild-hybrid design, as its air-conditioner does not work when its engine automatically shuts off at stoplights. This happens when the climate control is in Auto and regardless of whether the car's in Eco mode or not. In a hot city like Las Vegas, this could be a deal breaker, as keeping the air-conditioner blasting would keep the engine running and worsen fuel economy. It's that or, as we discovered, sweat.
Although the back roads portion was identical to last year's smackdown, the city route was completely different, so comparisons are not recommended.
The Highway
The champ: 2010 Toyota Prius with 47.4 mpg
2nd Place: 2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI with 40.6 mpg
3rd Place: 2010 Honda Insight with 38.6 mpg
4th Place: 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid with 36 mpg
5th Place: 2009 Mini Cooper with 33.3 mpg
All but the Jetta failed to match its EPA equivalents, although our mountainous up-and-down route from Las Vegas to San Bernardino is hardly typical. For instance, the Insight lacked torque from both its battery and gasoline engine to help it up the long stretches of uphill, while its engine didn't shut off like the Prius and Fusion Hybrid on the equally long downhill stretches. On the other hand, the torquey Jetta was in its element with a turbodiesel engine that thrives over long distances and differing grades.

 

wondering how the driver drove. on my trip to Leavenworth, i crossed two 4000+ ft mountain passes including the 2nd one that was pretty much a 5-6% immediate climb and descent which hurt the Pri because the descent lasted a good 30 minutes and i regen the first 3 minutes and after that, the pack was full so lost all that momentum. but still averaged in the mid 50's for the trip....now granted, my speed was probably much slower.

the mountain roads are single lane and treacherous in places with speeds dropping to 45 mph in several places.

 

Stevens and Blewett passes? Treacherous?

I guess I drive Stevens so frequently that the Subaru stays at or near PSL unless traffic or snow force lower speeds. The Prius has crossed it only once so far, going slower only for some warp stealth. It managed 57 mpg on a tank that included Stevens, Rainy, Washington, Loup Loup, and Disautel summits, and two other steep descents that wasted considerable gravitational energy.

Blewett is not one of my regular roads, so I shouldn't comment about it.

 

I-90 is ok, but 97 is not a road to daydream on. dont drive that road often...probably the 2nd or 3rd time on that road, so maybe not treacherous in the extreme, but...

 

When you indicated two 4000+ ft passes, I thought that forced a trip over Hiway 2. I-90 is barely over 3000, and not enough regen to fill the battery. But 97 certainly would.

 

The EPA does NOT employ hypermiling techniques in their test nor do they drive the cars on a real road nor do they directly measure actual fuel consumption.

See http://priuschat.com/forums/other-c...uth-about-epa-city-highway-mpg-estimates.html if you want read more about the EPA test. Car and Driver published a very insightful article recently which I linked to.

Even the EPA admits that your mileage will still vary. See Your Mileage Will Still Vary. From that page:

 

Graphed:


Bob Wilson

 

I thought I was getting over 50 MPG. But the computer is not telling the truth...

 

Just think how many 2010 owners are just going by that figure the computer showing and not double checking it at the pump. It's a feel good thing. An Toyota's getting away with fooling you!