Quote:
Originally Posted by bigbearballs
Yes, I was anywhere between 65-70 miles per hour the whole way home. In the HCH, the cruise hurts your mpg, with my first trip with the Prius I felt like you don't take quite the hit in the prius with cruise control. Is that true?
|
Excellent! I use cruise control all the time including in the city. This chart will show show what I've found to be my expected mileage at any given speed and you should get at least as good or better:
Now it turns out that between 50-65 miles per hour there is a notch where highway mileage appears to be better than expected. My current thinking is this corresponds to a sweet spot in engine operation and the efficiency is higher than the curve. At 70 miles per hour, I see the start of a steep decline but this is probably unique to the 2001-03, NHW11 Prius.
I have one set of points from an NHW20 reported a couple of years ago:
I suspect that the NHW20 does a better job of following the drag derived efficiency curve due to the higher rpm limit of MG1. We don't really see the knee until about 85 miles per hour.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bigbearballs
Also, is it easy to check if the oil is overfilled?
|
Yes, just take a paper towel out and open the hood:
That yellow round thing near the bottom of this photo is the oil dipstick. You want to pull it out and wipe down the tip with the paper towel. Then stick it back in the hole, all the way down, and pull it out again. Look for where the oil level is relative to the "F" line. If it is above the "F" line, your oil is over filled.
I wouldn't worry about it now, you just bought the car. But when you have your oil changed, you want to emphasize that you do not want it over filled. Are you going to be changing your own oil? If so, we can go over what it takes.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bigbearballs
. . . The tires are Yokohama YK520.
The size is 185/65R15 88H
The max side wall pressure is 51psi, but it says not to inflate over 40psi. ???
Tread looks good, I'll post some pics.
|
Great tires!!!
185/65R15 88H - tire size
31715 - part number
520/A/A - UTQG rating
5.5 - measured rim width
5.0 - 6.5 - approved rim width
7.5 - overall width
24.5 - overall diameter
5.6 - tread width
10 - tread depth (new)
11.2 - static radius
848 - rpm
1235@51 - max load at 51 psi
I'm going to suggest you consider the following test:
1) set tires to 50 psi and drive for a week
2) bring pressure down 45 psi and drive for a week
3) bring pressure down 40 psi and drive for a week
4) bring pressure down 35 psi and drive for a week
Be sure to drive in both city and some highway driving and note your impressions. For good measure, go to an empty parking lot and try a few 'hard turns' at some given speed. You want to test the tires to understand how well they handle and make sure you feel confident with them. Running a week at 50 psi won't hurt and will let you know what they do. Also, if you feel unhappy at 50 psi, you can always let the air out to a lower pressure.
Tire pressure is pretty important and I would recommend getting a quality tire gauge that you keep in the glove compartment. Mine looks like this:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=95401
It holds the pressure and the little button on the left releases it. This makes accurate tire pressure readings easy. Having your own pressure gauge means you never have to guess about the accuracy of the tire pump machines.
Any questions about the Prius FAQ?
Bob Wilson