What I’m getting at here is how to accelerate most efficiently in the TCH. On one hand, full throttle blasts shorten the time to reach the desired speed, but they usually result in disproportionally high and inefficient fuel flows. Snail crawling extends the time of increased fuel burn so much that it ends up being inefficient too.

With my Prius, I had installed a really neat aftermarket piece known as the CAN-View (v3 in my case, as my MY had the analog MFD). This system basically has a input line that taps data off the diagnostic port, while the box “engrafts” itself between the NAV unit and the display (there’s a solution for non-navi cars too). Here’s what one mode of display would look like. Those are moving vertical bar gauges, and you can select which appear on each screen.
.
And here’s one of the data only screens:

And another cool CAN-View trick is access to diagnostic codes:


Basically, what I was able to determine was that for the vast majority of situations, setting the throttle so I got approximately 2500 rpms resulted in the most efficient acceleration to a desired speed. I would, of course, set the screen to display ICE rpms (you can only have four up at a time) next to fuel flow, and work from there. Once I had learned how the car felt and sounded at ~2500 rpms, I could do it without calling up the CAN-View display (thereby losing the Nav or normal displays).

Alas, my TCH is non-nav, and even if it were, I’ve never heard of a similar unit that you can make work on the TCH. I have noticed one tantalizing clue in the TCH: almost every time I use the cruise control resume feature, the consumption needle pegs at almost precisely 15 mpgs. That behavior has to be a clue, but whether it’s a clue about efficiency, inept programming, or something else, I really don’t know.

So, what say the grizzled TCH experts – what’s the most efficient way to accelerate in this car?

 

Wow, has no one explored tweaking acceleration technique to minimize consumption??? Guess I'll have to go spring for a scan gauge, and get to work...

 

Can there be that big of a difference?
If the various acceleration techniques alter your overall fuel efficiency by so that it goes from 35 to 37 MPG (I'm not suggesting that it will, I'm just making a wild guess) and if you drive the standard 12000 miles per year, that equates to a savings of 18 gallons a year.
At a national average of $3.50, that's $63 a year.
That's ~$1.20 per week, or roughly 17 cents per day
Yes, I know that we all like to save money, but here are other ways to save this amount.

• If you have cenrtal air conditioning system in your house, adjust the timer so that the temperature goes up 14 minutes earlier than currently (or set the average temperature to 78 from 77)
• Cut your average shower time by 4 minutes
• If you live near another state or county with a lower sales tax, cross the border to do your shopping
• Watch 11 minutes less television per day
• Stop shaving
• Use 4 inches less dental floss on each cleaning
• Keep your eyes open in a parking lot as there is typically a few coins on the ground
• Not sure of the math, but move to a state (for example, from Massachusetts to Arizona) that has the optimal temperature and road conditions to achieve the best mileage. Of course moving expenses amongst many other factors need to be weighed in.
• Since weight in the car effects mileage, go on a diet and lose 10 pounds
• If you get paid by the hour, ask your supervisor if you can put in for 1 minute of overtime
• Extend the typical time between haircuts by 8 days
• If you are a coffee drinker, switch to a small cup once every 5 days
• Adjust your refrigerator temperature by 1 degree
• Cancel Saturday deliver of your newspaper, or if you get it at the newsstand, skip one day and pick up a used copy on the bus, train or subway
• If you go out to eat, when the waitperson asks if you want lettuce and cole slaw with your burger, say no!
• Cut the typical tip in a restaurant from 15% to 14.78%
• Last, but certainly not least, drive 2 less miles per day.

Of course, if the typical savings on acceleration is less than 2 MPG, each of the above examples would need to be adjusted accordingly.
I can't imagine that anyone would alter their life style as I just listed to save 17 cents per day.
Would one want to go out of their way to concentrate on the exact speed to accelerate for a similar saving?
Just remember the rules of the road, stop at red lights and go at green. If there is a lot of cars around you, try to leave sufficient distance so that you can stop in case of an emergency, Keep up with the flow of traffic. Don't speed. Don't cause other drivers a problem by driving too slowly.
Enjoy the road and don't fixate on whether you achieved maximum fuel efficiency, it's only a car.

By the way, if spend $35 for a scan gauge, you will take you nine months to recoup the savings.

It's only a car, enjoy it!

 

Oh trust me, I do just enjoy it. Maybe I'm bringing a bit too much of the Prius extremist attitude with me to the TCH.

On the other hand, you'd need to alter some of your assumptions for my case. I drive at least 30,000 miles per year, and have occasionally pushed toward 40k. At my distances, if I manage to achieve gains proportional to those from the Prius, I'd be saving somewhere between $450-500 per year. Shall I provide a list of seventeen good things I could do with an extra $500 per year in my pocket?

Beyond that, look,I just enjoy the challenge. I don't know yet, obviously, how much mpg gain a refined technique will produce, but in the Prius, compared to my previous "unmanaged" technique, once I got on a "plan," I broke from being stuck in the mid-40s to being able to routinely approach or top 50 mpg. Our mpg needle is a great tool, but it's not enough. FF (fuel flow) is a great help, because you can see how much gas is going away, irrespective of speed and distance traveled.

And no, this is not a "life style" alteration for pennies a day. Really, I'd hardly think of controlling the pressure I apply to the gas pedal in an orderly way, vs an unthinking way, a "life style" thing. Allow me to turn the idea around: Why NOT give a little thought to how you accelerate, and put a few hundred extra bucks in your wallet each year?

You bought a car that was designed, in part, to provide its owner with "x" amount of car while burning a lot less gas than comparable models without the special drive system. Why not have some fun trying to get the most out of it?

 

haroldo, good points, mostly....some, are obviously tongue in cheek. In that vein, you left one out....use one less revolution of TP each time.

Seriously now, while you are at it, why not include...


- one less Starbucks a week..just a guess, but at about $3.50 a pop, that would save the equivalent amount of money as a gallon of gas a week or 52 gallons a year.

-one less soda per week (pop, Coke, or what ever you call it in your neck of the woods) Roughly $1.75-$2.25 a glass..put the money savings and caloric savings together and you not only save $ but take one small but significant step to better health and less obesity.

Don't get me wrong....I believe in savings....your post was obviously well presented and well thought out with many good points. However, I'm sure that some folks use many of your suggestions, AND try to maximize the fuel efficiency of their TCHs. While others, just drive the car.


"...to a savings of 18 gallons a year..."

To this I say, what is wrong with everyone saving 18 gallons a year?

It's all good in my opinion.....

 

...to save even more gas...take the bus, car pool, walk or ride a bike.

 

Gee, that's helpful -- and logical. Of course if you have to drive, as I do, since we have no busses that go where I go, and no one to pool with, then, well, you gotta drive. I invite you to bike more than 30k miles in the next year. If you don't care about getting the most from a hybrid, then why on earth did you spend the money on one? You could have just gotten yourself a conventional car, not paid for the hybrid hardware, and then you can shave, shower, and use all the dental floss you want.

With all due respect haroldo, your responses here are baffling. You take the time to assemble a list of TCH FAQ minutae, and post them in an internet discussion forum. Hardly consistent with a "just drive it and don't worry" stance. Then you harpoon a serious user for wanting to get the most from the car that he can.

Look, let's not get into a pi$$ing contest over this. I enjoy trying to get the best performance I can from my car. If you don't, that's perfectly OK. Please, enjoy yours by whatever means it takes.

 

One can enjoy the benefits of a hybrid Camry without trying to get the absolute most out of it.

There is absolutely no need to go to the extremes that some on this site do.

 

It's like anything else in life (for the most part). The more you put into it, the more you'll get out of it. And of course, this being a land of free choice (again for the most part), owners are free to do as much, or as little, as they like with their cars. "Need" might be a poor choice of words here. In truth, there's little "need" to do many things that people do (especially in our self-indulgent society). You need to do what makes you happy with your car. As do I. And a last thought, I'm really not talking about extremes. Even with my Prius, I didn't do the truly "out there" things, like installing extended bottom pans, wheel skirts, pie plate wheel covers, and so forth. The most I've done is grille blocking, using pipe insulation, cut to size. That actually got me about a 3 mpg uptick when the weather got cold. For the most part, I just like to drive the car well.

 

I think the TCH is a wondrous toy (or should that be Toy). I enjoy learning about it and view this as just another mystery to unravel.

I like technology so this and the discussion on Heretic mode (thanks SPL and Smilin' Jack) is of interest. No we don't need to go to extremes, but it is nice to know what one can do IF one is so inclined.

So my vote is, keep on experimenting, learning and unraveling the mysteries. Its a lot of fun and sometimes we might even learn something

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