My best mixed mileage yet in my Prius: 54.4 mpg!

[DemoTex]

When I drove to the Gulf Coast week before last, I filled up in Dothan, Alabama. Then I drove to Grayton Beach, Florida, stayed 10 days (driving the Prius a lot), and drove back to Griffin, Georgia (40 south of ATL). In Griffin yesterday, I had about 1/4 tank. So I filled up and calculated the mileage at 54.4 mpg. The on-board computer said 51 mpg.

Now .. that was a back-road trip, with only about 40 miles on I-10. And the roads were crawling with cops, so I drove the limit or slightly slower.

I drove in some very windy conditions, which the Prius handled very well. In fact, it is such a comfortable car that I now prefer it for the road trip over Dr. D's Volvo wagon. She often says that she wishes that we had bought two Priuses last April when we bought the Volvo and the Prius .. two weeks apart.

[ingac70]

1. I thought those things were suppose to get over 60 mpg highway? n/t

[skids]

3. nah, but you can break 60 city/country once you get your legs n/t

[DemoTex]

6. The 2007 "quoted" EPA mileage is higher city than highway.

Something like 60 city/50 highway. My pure-city mileage runs around 48. My pure highway hyper-mileing has been as high as 65. The combined 54.4 mpg was light-footing it .. city and highway. Down at the beach we always took the Prius to lunch (since I never drink and drive, and my bro and sis do .. drink at lunch at the beach that is, not drive), and I like to impress my brother (who has a Mercedes S-550) with the quiet ride and room in the Prius (he calls his Mercedes the anti-Prius). They love it! And I always keep the fuel consumption screen up, for them to see.

[skids]

2. Wait till the summer heat...

...unless you use the AC a lot. Given you bought in April you'd still be breaking in the engine last summer.

Expect to pick up 3-5 mpg. Which ain't bad considering gallons have less gas in them when hot.

[DemoTex]

14. No, I run "windows open" in the city .. unless it is brutally hot.

But I do look forward to the summer mileage. I'll have about 9,500 miles on the car when it turns one year old in mid-April. I hear that the best mileage kicks in around 15K on the break-in.

Again .. a light foot is the answer. It is so easy and it makes such a big difference.

Damn, I love my Prius!

[skids]

18. light foot and smooth braking...

...there's actually a mod to make a LED that turns on when the brakepads engage, to train for maximum regen.

[WA98296]

4. We LOVE our Prius, our best tank in 8 months was 56.1. Avg. all tanks over 50

[YDogg]

5. I have Prius envy.

And I used to live in Griffin, GA.

[DemoTex]

8. Damn! I grew up in Griffin!

Graducumlated from Griffin High in 1966.

[YDogg]

9. I was there for a year or so in the 1980s.

[DemoTex]

11. My parents (88/86) still live on South Hill Street.

Griffin: Half as big as a NYC cemetery, and twice as dead! Damn, I really dislike that town.

[madrchsod]

7. the problem is these cars are to expensive for the people

who need them the most. there`s going to be a shit load of gas guzzling cars and suv`s on the market for years to come and these are the cars and trucks that most people will be barely able to afford to drive..

[DemoTex]

10. Lots of economic curvy-cues to explain what you are saying.

And I know what you are saying. Those that got 'em don't need them .. economically. Hell, I could pay cash for a MB S-550 and gas that hog easily. But I chose not to. I have chosen to drive a slightly less-safe car (size-wise), but far more fuel-efficient vehicle, on the chance that my keen fighter pilot reflexes will keep me from harm on the road. Yawn. Maybe .. maybe not.

[madokie]

12. I say thanks for what you are doing

it matters not so much what you could have done, it matters only what you did do.

[tachyon]

17. In case of impending collision, pull back on that yoke HARD

:D

[bullwinkle428]

13. DT, have you ever taken a look at this site?

http://www.cleanmpg.com/

There is all kinds of info on hypermiling, which is essentially the art of maximizing the fuel efficiency of whatever vehicle you happen to drive. Naturally, there are lots of hybrid vehicle drivers that post there, and the guy that started the site (Wayne Gerdes) has developed a reputation far and wide for getting just mind-boggling fuel economy numbers, with multiple vehicles. Here's a link to the specific article detailing techniques used for the Prius:

http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1224

Dan, the guy that taught Wayne, gets 100+ mpg segments in his Prius on a regular basis! I would think that with your background as a pilot, that you may have these techniques down within a day or two... ;)

[DemoTex]

15. An F-100 bud of mine showed up at the tanker dry .. flamed out!

It was the brown-anchor KC-135 over the South China Sea. The tanker pilot knew that the F-100 was in deep trouble, fuel-wise. He flew the KC-135 way inside the RP-1 SAM-ARC to meet the Misty F-100F.

Misty flamed out, out of gas, just below the tanker. They were at 31,000 feet. The KC-135 (Boeing 707 tanker) driver simply nosed it over to match the F-100F's flame-out descent rate, they linked up, the F-100F took on fuel, re-lit, and streaked off to mission underway on the trail.

My point? Hypermileing. Same conservation of energy that saved that F-100s bacon. Glide when you can. When the tanker and the out-of-gas fighter glide together, the taxpayers save!

[bullwinkle428]

16. That's a GREAT story! I had to do a Google search to recall

what the F-100F fighters looked like - I forgot that they were the old "Super Sabres"! A picture for those that don't remember them...



I guess the moral of the story is that hypermiling techniques can be applied to any vehicle you could possibly think of!

[Selatius]

19. I've heard of hypermiling. I can make my 1995 camry 4-cyl get 30mpg in the city/32 or 33 highway

Unfortunately, in hilly terrain combined with stop and go traffic, I'm terribly lucky to squeeze out 20 mpg. That's terrible given the gas prices. I absolutely will not buy an SUV in the future when this car has to be replaced.

[The Inquisitive]

20. Bah Amateur!

Last summer I held a 60.1 for an entire tank. It took a lot of stoptionals and rolling stops but I did it!

[trof]

21. We got one end of Nov. Love it. AND...

After test driving ours, a friend traded her year old Escalade on a Prius.

Ours came without cruise, which we didn't discover until we drove it home. Funny story, but anyway...an outfit called Rostra Mfg. is working on an after market unit.
Can't wait.