I had the chance today to drive a dealer demo C while my Gen3 was being serviced. I left my Gen3 at indicated 3.9l/100km and drove about 120km for the day in the C. While the 'choppy' ride characteristics and the 'garish' interior weren't to my liking, I was impressed by the economy that can be achieved with one of these vehicles. By way of background, let me say that I have owned 3 Prius(2x Gen2 and 1x Gen3, a total of 110k km driving), and the best FE I have achieved in normal urban driving conditions is 4.0l/100km actual calculated (indicated 3.9) with the current Gen3. The C I drove today had the indicated consumption from 2600km of everybody and his dog driving of 4.8l/100km when I started driving. Given my above previous Prius driving experience, I was mightily impressed with the FE that I was able to achieve. Let me start out by saying that I was able to reduce the final overall reading to 4.7l/100km when I handed it back. But what astounded me was the FE for the final 20km when I drove back to the dealership. For those who do not understand what I am saying is that when the speedo is in the trip mode, the FE is calculated for the latest trip from startup. The readout read 2.8l/100km for the last 20km that I drove. Now do your own maths, but the 20km FE I achieved to my reckoning is US 84mpg or Imp 100mpg. Even the overall driving figure of US 49mpg or Imp 59mpg is impressive. Just my observations.
2.8l/100km is achievable, my best so far is 35.6 km/l or about 2.8l/100km and this is my 1st tank! Vincent
It appears that while the GenIII LB can easily achieve 70+mpg in the city once warmed up, the c makes it much easier to achieve 70mpg and higher in the same conditions. The reduced weight and reduced rolling resistance makes it the perfect urban car. I considered one just for the ease in which you can hypermile these things but my freeway dominant commute favored the GenIII LB. I'd love to see what I could get with one though.
