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Originally Posted by lars-ss
If a consumer's normal commute is average 20 mph, with 23 stops, 11 miles in 31 minutes, with a max speed of 56 mph, then THAT is the EPA test run. That person should get 60 MPH "WITHOUT USING ANY HYPERMILER TRICKS AT ALL*, no overinflated tires, no coasting, no pulse driving, nothing special.
I'm saying that is not probable and not likely and is not a reality. That makes the EPA test a farce for the Hybrid, and overstates the MPG by a large margin. |
I think the test is flawed, in that the Prius gets much higher results than they should rate it at, meaning the Prius is optimized for the test conditions, and those conditions are closer to Japan real world conditions. I do think that if you repeated the same test in the real world, in a fully broken-in Prius you will get the same result as the EPA. The car is capable of this kind of efficiency when driven with FE in mind, and part of the design of the car is to show current fuel consumption in order to keep FE in your mind. The problem in my opinion is that they are giving you an MPG rating for a specific, small trip, either on the highway or in the city, not what you'll get per tanks, or per day, but what you'll use in a specific "test" and that in itself is not a good way to represent the fuel efficiency of a car. Average consumption is a WAY different number, and that's not what the tests are claiming to be, but most people assume they are. I find the numbers at GH more informative, and probably the same kind of thinking lead to the creating of this place.
But I think it's most important to be able to see the RANGES up front, since it shows the possibility of the vehicle. The fact that it can perform bad when driven bad may be important to people, like taxi drivers or other mainiacs on the road. For others it's important to see how good it can perform so they can work to improve their fuel economy.