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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
You are in the Toyota Prius Forum. Your Host is pf_flyer
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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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Replying to: mgfullington (Jul 09, 2008 7:30 pm) I've never had a tank as low as 43 mpg in any kind of weather: 85% Hwy  62 mph on average and 15% suburban 'city' driving. I don't pay much attention to any special hypermiling techniques except to use my brain to let off the pedal as early as possible for the given conditions.
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Replying to: jimrey28 (Jul 16, 2008 7:59 pm) One of the key limitations in fuel economy that very very few know is that short trips are death on fuel economy for all vehicles. This is clearly stated on the EPA site www.fueleconomy.gov and most vehicle makers know it but it's rarely explained to the driving public. Why should it have been in past years? Fuel was cheaper than dirt. Now it isn't. As you can see from your own experience 5 min trips are horrible on FE. All vehicles will lose about 20+% from their 'nominal averages'. This is one reason why CR gets so low ratings when they do their own FE tests. As to your question about the battery only driving, the actual number is 41 mph. There are long technical discussions on this subject over at PriusChat.com. Essentially the 'sweet spot' for the HSD vehicles is about 35 mph; i.e. just about normal for city driving. However..... BIG HOWEVER.... you must have a well charged battery in order to gain the most benefit from this. If you come out in the morning and jump in and drive 5 min that's not enough time to charge up the battery. It takes about 8-12 min of continuous driving. After that when you are in the 35 mph range the battery/e-motor can power the vehicle pretty far and pretty often. Also another very common misconception is that 'stop and go' traffic is good for HSD vehicles. Actually stop-and-go driving is bad for all vehicles. The laws of physics ( Newton ) cannot be overwritten; An object at rest...... It takes a lot of energy inputs to get a 3000# vehicle up and rolling even at low city speeds. Try to avoid stopping if at all possible while being safe. Try the UPS solution. |
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Bob thanks for your input. Sounds like I need to drive more! At least you have given me confidence that I'm not getting what I paid for. Eventually I will be driving more and then I should be able to see an increase in my average mpg. Thanks again! Jim
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Last Christmas I rented a Prius that had very few miles on it from Avis. I used it to go to West Virginia to pick up my son for visitation. I was not able to get one for the return trip. The trip was from Jacksonville Florida to the northwestern part of Now, just to let you know, I keep a steady foot on the accelerator, keep off the brakes, etc... Follow trucks maybe a bit too closely but it does save gas as proven on Myth Busters. I would say I average about 40 to 60 feet behind which they proved gave about a 40% increase in mileage. Anyway, like I said, I made the trip up on Christmas Eve and Christmas day to pick him in a Prius and the return trip to drop him off in a Cobalt on January 1 and 2. We added up the gallons used for both cars and I was shocked. Prius = 36.153 gallons used. Cobalt = 37.282 gallons used. These trips were just one week a part and I was the sole driver. I do everything recommended to save gas and things proven to save gas but not necessarily recommended. I am getting ready to make another trip so when Avis wanted a huge rental fee in comparison to a Cobalt, I chose the Cobalt. Difference in rental price was over 100 dollars.
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