Hi.. I was at the dealer yesterday and I was looking at an 08 Pine Green Prius w/ Package 5. My question is: Will I be able to take advantage of the Prius gas mileage with my commute? I'm currently driving a VW Passat with a 2.0T engine. My ave gas consumption is about 23mpg and I'm putting premium gas on this car. Here's my commute: about 100 miles/day - mostly highway but with a lot of traffic. maybe 60% of the commute my speed is less than 40mph. thanks for the inputs.
Only you can decide whether the Prius is right for you, after factoring in not only fuel economy but also size, features, reliability, etc. But I would certainly have one with your commute. Especially for those sub-40 MPH segments, the Prius will excel, fuel economy-wise. Good thing with the Prius in this case is that fuel mileage more or less increases linearly with decreases in speed. EDIT: Oops, should have said "with decreases in speed down to 20 MPH."
Actually, the commute you describe, 100 miles per day and lots of traffic and slowish speeds sounds totally made-to-order for the Prius; it is, quite simply, the perfect car for that sort of a routine IMHO. You ought to be able to get mileage well over double (on regular gas) what you are getting now, possibly in the 50+ range.
thanks for the quick replies... I'll be going to the dealership a later to try to work out some numbers... I'll be trading-in my VW so it all depends on how much they'll give for my car and the price they'll give me for the prius. wish me luck...
The Prius really likes driving in heavy traffic. On the Highway you can get 50 MPG if you can manage to drive non aggressively, not sure if that is possible on California roads though.
Wow, that was fast! It took less than 5 hours! Do you have the Prius now or it is getting delivered later?
yes I have it now... left my VW at the dealer... i was actually looking at the Prius since yesterday.... been thinking about it for a while because I'm spending a lot on gas....
Congrats on your new purchase. Now we must add that you must have gotten "silver pine mica" and not "pine green", right? Welcome to PC. Have fun playing with your car!
Congrats Bino. My quick calculation (using IMO reasonable assumptions) is that you'll be saving around $4000 a year in gas alone.
Neicy... yes my mistake.. it's silver pine mica Boo... i hope i do save that much... here's a few pics of the car(sorry for the quality) w/ my lovely daughter
Congratulations, bino, well done old son. Prepare to see fuel consumption drop by more than half. I think Toyota had you in mind when they designed the Prius. Keep us in the picture.
Fabulous! Glad you were able to put together a trade on your VW and I know you're going to love the Prius. Oh, and you picked the best, greenest, and fastest color too!!
had my first fill-up the other day... the displayed average was 49.7 mpg with 401 mile..... i was so happy seeing this numbers.... my vw was averaging 22-23 mpg and it uses premium gas.... and a quick question.. i read about the scan gauge 2... is this tool really useful? i'm thinking of getting one but i want to be sure that it's going to be useful.... thanks...
I bought a SGII a month or so ago, but quite frankly have found that I now keep it in my Tacoma, not the Prius, as the Taco doesn't have real-time mileage readouts like the Prius does. I think I may buy, at least before next winter, a second one for the Prius. I want to block the grill before the real cold weather hits (although now I'm hearing we're predicted to get 4" of snow tonight, so maybe winter isn't over after all) and have read that the SG is a good idea to monitor engine temps to avoid inadvertently overheating. And it has an RPM function which would be nice/interesting as the Prius doesn't have a tach. Personally, if I lived in southern CA and didn't need to concern myself with grill blocking or bitter cold winter temps, I probably would forego the cost, but it is a great little tool and if you are at all into the tech end of cars/trucks, you'll love having it.
thanks for the quick reply. i'm not into tech but on my vw i got the vagcom cable that could be used to change things in the car.... the only reason that i'm thinking of buying the SG is the temperature and rpm that it would display though i'm not sure if i really need to see them (why is it that there is no temp gauge and rpm on the prius?)
Hi Bino, Congrats, and thanks for the pics. I'm sorry, but I think I made a mistake in my quick calculations of gas savings. I had said that you should save ~$4000 a year on gas alone. But that number should be corrected to ~$2000. Again, my apologies for the mistake.
after 2 fill-ups i would say i am saving.... usually on my vw i get gas every 4 days...(thats on a 18.5 gallons tank and with premium gas) and spend around $60+ per fill-up, on my prius i still get gas every 4 days (with still 2 bars/pips on the gauge) and put around 8 gallons and spend $30.... that's already half .... and considering i'm still learning on how to use the prius to maximize mpg....
