I entered an economy run contest at my local Toyota dealer, (Westlands Hereford) at the end of May. The challenge was to drive a 10 mile route in a gen3 Prius with a sales person in the passengers seat. The run had to be done inside a given time without using EV mode. I managed to do 99.9MPG (UK gallons). I was informed today that I have won the contest and my prize was a full tank of fuel.:cheer2:
BTW. Just a bit of a trans-Atlantic "currency" conversion thing. Winning a full tank of petrol in the UK is roughly equivalent to winning the the Mega Millions jackpot in the US.
Yes I did make sure the HV battery was fully charged and that also bought the engine temperature to optimum, but made sure it was within the rules.I had not driven a gen3 before and would have preferred to have the car in normal mode, but was told it had to be in eco mode that gives terrible throttle response.
I think the motivation was vehicle sales, they had a board up in the showroom (top gear stile) with entrants names and MPG results from customers and the garage staff, and yes Uart a tank of fuel in the UK costs a fortune.
Its possible to get +99 mpg (0.832 UK imperial gallons= 1 us gallon==>, 83 mpgUS ) on a 2012 Toyota Prius for 10 miles route if you preheat the gas engine with a engine block heater so the coolant is >180F before you start driving, set the tire pressure to the max sidewall pressure, and hypermile w/the max speed of 60 kph (38 mph).
Tyre pressures had to remain as Toyota specifications so that everyone used a level playing field. No block heaters in the UK.
