Hi Rick:

___Since your wife probably drives the 04, have you had any opportunity to transfer the technique to the 04 from the 01 to see how it (the load range if close?) works with it? The system(s) are so close to one another to be almost identical in the way the power flows work anyway.

___Since there isn’t a tach in either Prius, are you using the accelerator to match the load from the Graham scanner in the 01 or does it vary with terrain like just about anything else we have driven? In other words, are you continuously changing throttle angle to maintain a given load % by the Graham scanner or simply locking in the throttle angle for ascents and descents like we do in the Insight’s? Without a tach, I am at a loss as to how you control the load, engine RPM, or how a locked down throttle when encountering hills actually effects the ICE/Pack/CVT of the 01-03 or 04 Prius in real time?

___Another reason I ask is that according to my wife, Ed Bagely was on a local high profile talking head radio program she was listening too and he was bragging about the 04 Prius he now owns gets 60 mpg. I highly doubt he has ever come anywhere near that number or we would have heard about it … Give me a broken in 04 for a day and that number should be toast but the maximizing fuel economy technique(s) do sound a bit different … I did receive 56.x mpg in an 04 Prius TRAC while test driving it in 32 degree temperatures and a 5 mile drive around a neighborhood from cold but wanted a bit more time to see what she was really worth when warmed up and out on the open road.

___And with that, I have a Corolla LE w/ Auto that has given me some fantastic mileage on the highway before I picked up the Insight but the wife tanks it whenever she drives which is almost daily as of late. In fact, she tanks everything she drives including the MDX to an even worse extreme and her back and forth to work or even highway trip fuel economy in the Corolla show her technique (what technique, she drives like $**t) as being truly abysmal She wants a new Hybrid for her back and forth (16 mile round trip) and has talked about the 04 Prius but I wouldn’t dare spend that sum of money knowing full well she would probably kill an 04 Prius’ fuel economy as well … That is unless I can teach her again how to up the mileage in the Corolla and then transfer that to an 05 VCM based Accord Hybrid, 06 Camry Hybrid, 05 Prius, or even an 05/06 Hybrid MDX?

___Anyways, I made mention of your 70 mpg tank in your 01 here the other day and with that, I have a feeling the 01 - 03’s might actually be more fuel efficient then the 04 (150 #’s lighter, smaller frontal area albeit w/ a slightly higher Cd and on the highway only?) with the proper technique/HW to assist in real time? There was a Graham scanner installed in the 01 Prius at the GreenHybrid.com Milwaukee, WI. - Miller Park group meet but I didn’t have the opportunity to speak with the owner about it. He did however rig a 120 V AC inverter hardwired from the pack and was supposedly making cocktails in a blender from it before the game

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Hunt Club Farms Landscaping Ltd.
___Waynegerdes@earthlink.net