In a couple of weeks I'll become a new Prius owner.

Has anyone put together any kind of correlation between highway speeds to FE? This will be primarily my wife's car (I'm sticking to my Insight) and I'd like to give her some guidance as to getting the best fuel economy possible. On the freeway we'll probably shoot for 60mph - about as slow as you can go here and not get run over. I'm interested as to people's experiences on back roads in the 35-60mpg ranges.

Hi Kayakwill:

___A Toyota

___Over at Yahoo Autos, there are 2 forums called Prius 2G and Prius_Technical_Stuff that have many interesting posts in regards to the Prius II’s actual FE in a range of temps and speeds. It might be worth your while to take a look? I remember someone posting a colored chart of the same and it was not only detailed, it was very easy to understand. 3 guys you may be interested in reading up on are Wayne Brown from a year or two ago, a guy going by the nick Stunt Hobbit, and Andy on OS2. There are many others but these guys are the Prius II tech aficionados, not necessarily the Hypermilers by any stretch … I don’t have time to hang out there like I do here but before the Marathon - Attempt, I spent more then my fair share of hours in those two forums trying to both come up to speed and get prepped as any Prius II novice pilot would/should do.

___The best source? The real world discussion as found here of course … And the answer will probably arrive far faster too

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Waynegerdes@earthlink.net

The most fuel efficient speed range is about 30-40 MPH, especially if you use a pulse & glide style, but even without it you'll get excellent FE in that speed range. 60 MPH is about as fast as you'll want to go if you are wanting good FE, but faster is of course possible. It's pretty easy to monitor the real-time fuel economy with the multi-function display.

2001 Prius Photos       2005 Prius Photos
1992 Mitsubishi Delica Diesel-WVO Hybrid Photos

Hi Schwa:

___You are of course 100% correct but those speeds and that technique are not for everybody unfortunately I do hope Kayakwill’s wife can learn to use P&G when appropriate but that will be a pretty daunting task right off the lot …

___Either way, I found that chart I was looking for and it was created by one of the 3 individuals I mentioned earlier given it is posted on his web site …

http://os2.mystarband.net/mpg-mph2.htm

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Waynegerdes@earthlink.net

Hi Wayne,

Thanks for the great link - that's exactly what I was looking for! I'm psyched to try some of the P&G technique whenever Juni lets me have the car. In the meantime I'll just have to settle for playing with the Insight - life is tough! Sold the '01 the other day for a good price and hopefully to a good home.

Erick, thanks for the input - I think P&G is going to be a tough sell for Juni, but who knows?

Wow, I wasn't too far off!! I drove a Prius over the Labor Day Weekend and came to the conclusion that the best F/E was when I was in the 35 - 45 mph range. Not bad for a first timer, I guess.

Peace,

Martin

I am NOT the official voice of GM with respect to Hybrid issues

I am NOT the official voice of GM with respect to Hybrid issues

I am NOT the official voice of GM with respect to Hybrid issues

Just another 2c. It depends on your defintion of good FE, but I can still get about 50 mpg going 70-75 on interstates. It does seem to help somewhat to apply just enough pressure to maintain your speed vs the cruise control, but only 1 or 2 mpg, unless there are a lot of hills. Overall elevation changes can obviously impact mpg, but it is still good mileage at above 60 if you don't want to worry about getting honked at. When I make the 450 miles to my parent's house, I get 48-50 mpg going 72 mph on I-27 and I-40 for all but 50 miles.

Of course, if you can stay in the 40-45 range, you can get much better. In my experience in Lubbock, if I can keep it in the range with just a slight feathering of the pedal I get 60 mpg almost every time (except with perhaps very heavy traffic or short 5 minute trips). I could probably get 70 mpg or more if it is a long stretch at 40-45 with no stop lights. From just watching the instant display, the engine seems to be most efficient at around 40 (periods of 70-90 mpg)