I got lucky and my Prius arrived 2 days early. It was nice having a 90 Mile drive home with a combination of Highway, Country road and a little bit of city. Today I did about 30 Miles of City. Here is what I find suprising, I averaged 52 mpg Highway and country however I have been lucky to get an average over 25 mpg for a 5 minute period while driving in the city. I have read about the gas milage and not to expect EPA and I expected much less highway as i tend to drive a bit fast, but everyone brags about how they get better City than Highway. I am trying to do very gradual take off's to the point i am upsetting other drivers and I am doing long braking coasts to stops. I find it impossible to take off without engaging the ICE, has anyone else experienced this? I think I am definatly getting an EV mod. Regardless i still love my car
How long were your city trips? I've noticed that it can take anywhere from 5-15 minutes for the engine to sufficiently warm up, and during that time the ICE runs alot. The only problem with the EV mod is that you won't be able to use it for all 30 miles :-p. it's typically used for *very* short trips (around the parking lot, for example). Do some searching through the forums here, and you'll find out lots of different methods for maximizing your MPG. The biggest problem you'll face is the northern climate (but your MPG's will still be better than the cars that are passing you on the highway)
Pulse and glide in the city. Let gaps open up in front of you, get a good "burn" out of the engine, and then float along on just enough electric to keep going for a while. . _H*
Hey..nice Car!.......Nice color too! :lol: If you are in an area where you need to take off fast... go ahead and let the ICE "internal combustion engine" do the hard work... try to use EV when on the easy stuff when its ludicrius to have the ICE on. Many on this site who actually do very well with mpg believe taking off fast and not wasting time to get up to the higher more effecient rpms, allows the ICE to get the best mpg. EV is not as powerful as you may think and its better to only do light duty with it.. although it does give you more latitude than factory EV modes, you still are not gaining anything if you use battery that the ICE will have to work harder to make back up. There is alot of efficiency loss in using the battery energy that was won with the ICE, just to have to charge it back again with the ICE. Try to use your EV more when you collected it from necessary braking and coasting and you have a light job to do that the ICE is not really needed for... Read up on the EV threads... there is a tremedous amount of talk and theorys on the best way to use it. Unless you just want to play for fun, there are things that can hurt you or help you with EV.
Windstrings, I was leary about the Red as I had only seen the Darker 2003 or 4 Red, but I think this is definatly the hottest color for the Prius. I did notice that getting to speed quickly then maintaining my speed would cause the ICE to run less. I know it could all be in my head but it is a good excuse for me to drive the way I do. Eagle, My trips so far have been 7 to 10 miles in the city and it was only in the 40's, I did nake sure the AC and defrost were off. It probably does not help that all of my City trips except 1 have been to take friends and family for test rides, but how I can say no if someone asks for a ride....Just looking for any reason to DRIVE.
Hi efrench... Quote: "...everyone brags about how they get better City than Highway" In 15,000 miles, I have consistently achieved better highway/freeway mileage than in the city. I also note that numerous other PriusChat folks also make similar comments. EPA's ratings are relatively unrelated to "real world" conditions. Overall, I run 40-45 MPG City, and 45-54 MPG freeway/highway. I drive "with the flow" highway, and look for opportunities to "coast" in the city - as when I see a signal changing to "red" and rather that keeping power until I get almost to the signal (as many drivers seem to do) let off on the power and let the Prius "do its thing" and see that graph go to ∞ (Infinity) MPG on the MFD. Enjoy your Prius - it's a remarkable machine.
light duty jobs to the battery and heave for the ICE... use it the other way around and you'll pay in efficeincy.... The ICE likes to work if its gonna have to run, but when it has simple easy jobs it tends to be less efficeint and maybe the electric may be wiser.. if its just for a short period.
i get better city mileage... sometimes. it depends. traffic can easily create a 10-15 mpg swing. also, on super slow acceleration. it didnt seem to help me. what did work for me is getting up to a speed that i could maintain. this almost always requires a greater than normal following distance and being very aware of what is going on up ahead of you. if you have to use your brakes AT ALL, you are not doing as well as you can be. so if you see a light 5 blocks up ahead that you know takes forever to turn and there is already 5-6 cars sitting there, you already should be coasting. you already know you have to stop, so no sense in driving full speed until you are ½ a block away (like most people do). if people behind you get upset, let em!!. unless they plan on plowing a swath through the crowd sitting at the red light, they aint going anywhere anyways and you might as well FORCE them to save a little gas too. i do it all the time and i feel good doing it. of course, multi-lane roads besides not having the problem of holding up traffic can usually give you more flexibility in your driving habits.
