I've had my Prius just over a month now and I've been making regular trips out of town to go skiing. On the way back, as I'm nearing home I pass through a town where I do some slower city driving. The car is warmed up, the speed limit is 35 to 30, there are some hills, but a lot of it is downhill. This part of my trip takes about 5 minutes, and I always get my best mileage on it. Today, I made all the lights and drove the "video game" with the goal to keep it in yellow or blue with no orange. After 5 minutes, I switched to the Consumption screen and saw the 100 MPG (or 99.9, or infinite, or "off the scale") bar and just laughed and laughed. I guess I won the game!
Ok, here is the recipe: Drive any distance at 100 MPG - with your car throughly warmed up, drive around a parking lot at a steady speed of 18-20 mph on a warm, windless day or evening. One of the better ways is to drive on the highway at say 65 mph, preferably if there is a down grade to the exit right next to the parking lot of choice. Reset your MPG display upon entering the parking lot and drive for as long as you wish, saving 30 minutes at the end. After the last engine run, come to a complete stop - when the display updates, drive slowly to 6 mph on electric to get 100 MPG and then coast to a stop and wait for 5 minutes. When the 100 MPG bar shows up, drive slowly on electric to 6 mph and coast down to a stop and wait 5 minutes for the next bar. Repeat until all bars show 100 MPG and take a photo. Enjoy! Bob Wilson
Gravity can be your friend. Here is a map courtesy of Google showing the approximate starting point in green and ending point in red. I also provided a terrain map. Elevation Drop is approx 4000 ft in 20 miles.
I took the picture at the bottom of the hill. The battery was at 8 bars, too. This was on AZ 89A between Prescott and Cottonwood, AZ. I maxed out at 3.5 regen cars in one bar. I wonder what the maximum possible is.
I did it again. This time, I pumped up the tires, and went on a "Sunday drive" through the Arboretum (low speeds and no stops). After a while, I checked the consumption screen and surprise, another 100 MPG bar. I should note that the car was warmed up by then (from driving around trying to get the tires inflated, long story), and that the weather was a bit warmer than it has been. Avoiding stops seems to be the key.
