I was looking a Fred's TDI (TDIClub Forums - View Single Post - Well, ****.) where good Prius Friend @bhtooefr has been sharing his Prius experience. So I went back to the EPA "Test Car Data List" and generated this table in descending, MPG average of low and high MPG to share here: Model(test_vehicle.config) low MPG high MPG 1 PRIUS Eco(16-ZV2H.1) 50.7 84.1 2 PRIUS Eco(16-ZV2H.0) 50.1 84.1 3 PRIUS Eco(16-ZV2H.2) 51.6 82.5 4 PRIUS(16-ZV1H.2) 48.6 78 5 PRIUS(16-ZV3H.2) 48.6 77.3 6 PRIUS(16-ZV1H.1) 45.5 71.1 7 PRIUS(16-ZV2H.3) 56.3 58.8 8 PRIUS(16-ZV3H.1) 42.9 64.9 9 PRIUS(16-ZV2H.5) 51.3 51.9 16-ZV2H.0-.1-.2 (PRIUS ECO in ECO configuration) - highest performance 16-ZV2H.3-.5 (non-ECO configuration) - middle and worst, used for experimental (age?) tests 16-ZV1H.1-.2 (Level 3) - middle of the pack 16-ZV3H.1-.2 (Level 4) - middle of the pack What this means is the PRIUS ECO is the optimum configuration and as long as the standard equipment is in use and operational, it is going to work best. However, it is subject to a loss of performance if say the tires are changed. As for the Level 3 and 4, not really a lot of difference in MPG. Just choose the creature comforts desired. Bob Wilson
the big thing with tyres is that people have reported lower mileage with the exact same replacements sometimes in the past. i wonder if buying from the dealer would eliminate this.
It doesn't. I go by maximum tire sidewall pressure and nothing else. I know a few tire companies have tried to advocate for their particular 'flavor' but absent a credible, independent test, I go by sidewall pressure. Bob Wilson
that would bother me about the eco, wondering if replacement tyres would someday destroy my mpg's. i would like to drive one though, to see if there are any noticeable oddities, compare to the other models.
Is there any correlation between batteries - Li-ION or NiMH? (Tho I guess it doesn't really matter in some ways - we don't get a choice down here - just interested.)
To the best of my knowledge, no one has done an A-B-A test where a Prius starts with an NiMH battery; replaces it with an LiON, and; back to an NiMH. However, there is one observation to share. The EPA data shows the LiON battery equipped Prius to show up with both the best and worst performance. This suggests NiMH vs LiON is not definitive in predicting Prius performance. Bob Wilson
Thanks - reading the specs, I suspected there wasn't going to be much definitive difference other than maybe the mass of the batteries. It seems both batteries have vastly different character, but similar capacities. But there's been a scathing comment in just about every PRIUS Media report here in Australia "...still old-school Ni-MH batteries ..." - which I couldn't see the relevance of. Personally, I'm happy with tried and proven Ni-MH. Maybe when I get my 5 seater PRIME? (And I wonder if it would even be possible to swap a Ni-MH across to being a Li-ION without big changes in computer configurations or even hardware.)
