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Hybrid Vehicles Toyota Prius Toyota Prius MPG-Real World Numbers
767 messages, Last post on Sep 28, 2009 at 9:21 AM
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Replying to: prius2007 (Jul 06, 2008 3:31 am) Thanks, but I own a Ford Escape Hybrid. I follow the forums to get tips on MPG, stay up on trends, etc. Let me tell you how most people drive here in LA. They jackrabbit start up to around 40 MPH, then accelerate towards the light, only to hit the brakes when they suddenly (doh!) discover it is still red. They drive 70-75 on the freeways (even those posted for 55 MPH). If a person drove a Prius like that, it would most likely get 45 MPG, in warm weather. |
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Replying to: KarenS (May 16, 2005 12:53 pm)
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I wonder what is so special about how you drive? Every other Prius in the world gets 48-50mpg. As all cars are made the same, perhaps you can share with us your freeway speed, and around town speed. Do you consider yourself a 'normal' driver, doing up and down grades, accelerating 'normally' (slowly but not to hinder traffic).. or do you do something different. I'd like to get 58mpg also.. what is your secret? sc |
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Replying to: scottc3 (Jul 09, 2008 7:38 pm) I'm glad you're keeping an open mind. What you said about "Every other Prius in the world gets 48-50mpg" is not factual. Go to www.cleanmpg.com or priuschat.com for stats and great tips. The tips are from veteran Prius drivers that I learned from as I'm still a novice driver of the Prius. For starters what I found important: Even before you get in the car: 1. Consider increasing your tire pressure from the Toyota setting of 35/33 to 40/38. Some people go to the maximum of 45/43 as on the sidewall of the OEM Integrity tires ... and there are those who even go higher. Research tire pressures on www.priuschat.com. 2.Make sure that when oil change is done your oil is not overfilled. Dealers keep doing this against the recommended level in their own service specs. 3. As in real estate location ... location ... location ... route selection is very important. I've experienced with many variations of route selections to and from work. The goal is to have the least amount of fuel consumed which will result in your ideal MPG. For some time I was monitoring different routes and recording my MPG both to and from work and the corresponding conditions like tire pressure; temperature outside ... etc. As I learned different techniques I revisited some of the earlier routes to see what if any difference it makes. Important considerations are: number of lights / stops and how well you can time them and of course terrain. Take advantage of any downhill terrain by gliding. Watch your rate of acceleration and drive like you don't have breaks. Be aware of what's ahead and drive as smoothly as possible. 4. Some people (I only do it on a very limited basis) get excellent MPG by P&G (pulse and glide). 5. Limit short trips or combine them as much as possible - these are killers for MPG because of the low warm-up numbers. Your warm up period in the winter is longer. If you going to have multiple stops plan them: consider going to the furthest point and work your way back. I also consider how long each stops maybe to minimize the cooling down period. You can get much more detail on these subjects and more on the above web sites. I have to emphasize safety first and don't inconvinience other drivers within the laws of the road. On the HWY I mostly drive in the right lane but knowing what the ideal speeds are try and drive at or below the speed limit. Good luck and realize depending on your driving conditions it will restrict how well you'll be able to maximize the potential of the Prius. Gabe
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Replying to: scottc3 (Jul 09, 2008 7:38 pm) We have 3 diffferent HWY speeds: 1. Country roads: 80KMH (50MPH) that I drive at 80 - 87 KMH (gain speed on any downhill portion especially of there is a hill following it). 2. 90 KMH zones: drive 87 - 97 KMH with the same routine as in #1. These are 2-3 lane HWYs. 3. 100 KMH HWY: drive 87 - 109 KMH with the same routine as #1. These are multi lane 3-8 lanes HWYs. In the city: Residential or school areas: 40KMH drive at 40 (not very common) residential 50KMH: drive 50 to 55 60 KMH - drive at 57 - 65 ==> for all: traffic allowing it - LOL 
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Replying to: scottc3 (Jul 09, 2008 7:38 pm) like so: ??? http://priuschat.com/forums/fuel-economy/1429-i-beat-epa-post-em-here-47.html ---> scroll through some of this ... also: www.cleanmpg.com you'll be able to access lots of data 
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Replying to: prius2007 (Jul 10, 2008 5:58 am) I have taken defensive driving classes and even won a $500.00 safe driver award from the insurance company that insured the vehicles I drove while vanpooling. The bottom line in defensive driving is, always leave yourself an "out". No tailgating. This is safe and gives you some time to make decisions, be it for safety or gas savings. I consider the biggest gas hog on a car to be the brakes. Every time you use them you have to regain that speed, which is much less efficient than staying up to speed. I didn't mean for this to be so long, but I got "on a roll". Needless to say, I love my Prius. It is the best car I have owned in my 63 years, but remember, It is transportation. Don't let it drive you.
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Replying to: carbot (Jul 10, 2008 4:25 pm) I am new to forums so be patience with me. I am a new Prius Owner from Manassas, VA. Our family "lucked out" and bought a 2004 in Dec 2007, 60K miles, for $18K ($16K + $2K, sales taxes, processing fee & extended warranty). Comment/Question: I was impressed that you had 204,000 miles on your car. That was one of our big questions. What was the life expectancy if car is properly maintained. Your experience is welcome news. I wonder how long others have had their PRIUSs? Question: Last Question When Toyota changes to LI Ion batteries, will owners be able to replace hydride batteries with the LI Ion batteries? I hope so. |
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Hey Gabe, Please don't misunderstand me here, I'd do just about anything to get the mileage you claim you are getting. I have looked at the other posts on the other sites, and they show pictures of their 'mileage' based on the car read-out. I make the following assumptions: 1) every car gets lower mileage (25-35 or so) in the 1st 5 minutes as the cat converter needs to warm up - or something like this. 2) The pictures shown of 60+ mpg do not show the first 5 minutes of driving.. which make me question the numbers a bit. Sure, I can show 30 minutes of driving, averaging 75mpg if I choose the correct road (doing down hill most of the time) - but this would be misleading - so why do it? 3) It's my belief, and I hope I am wrong, that 'normal driving', meaning accelerating slowly, going the speed limit - not over - and not to much under to cause a problem with traffic, will produce actual MPG in the 48-50 range. - I have not tried going 50mpg on the freeway for any period of time, but I'm sure this would help - however I also consider this a bit unsafe. 4) Driving in city traffic will average out - sometimes better mileage, sometimes worse, but the average will be about 50mpg. I am going to check my tires again, and make sure they are at 40psi - I had increased pressure after reading some posts months back. I do believe you are an exception, not the rule (yes, there are others too that drive like you). However, GOOD FOR YOU! I'm happy to know the car will do this, if I choose to drive the correct routes, in the correct outside temperature, during the right time of day, driving the exact correct speed. This is not real practical for me - but to others perhaps it is. I do not believe some of us own 'better' gas mileage cars than others - we all have the same car and if the car is able to get >60, >70 MPG, it's worth noting. We all own a great car - I am very pleased with mine and would buy another one in a second. Thanks for your response. Scott
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Replying to: scottc3 (Jul 16, 2008 3:10 pm) I think you have cleared things up for me now...I own a 2008 Prius for about 6 weeks now and I take care of my terminally ill Mother. This means I barely get to drive the car, I rarely drive it for 2 miles at a time so I only get so the screen reads 36 to 40 mpg. Yes I have begun changing my habit of driving but the mpg is no where what I thought it would be, I took too much for granted. My tires are inflated to 38/40 but I guess it's because I don't drive enough. I did take a trip from Chicago to Kansas City though, used cruise control and got up to 48mpg which made me happy. Now I have 1400 miles on the car drive around town and am back to the 36 to 40mpg. I also was lead to believe when I bought the car that below 48 mph the car ran on the battery so I am confused why miles are so low. The car dealer of course said it's better than standard cars, but whatever that's not their marketing ploy. At any rate so many in these forums are getting GREAT mileage, am I reading the wrong screen or is it because I typically drive so few miles. i know this is lenghty but can any tell I'm confused? Thanks for anyones comments! Jim
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