http://www.priusonline.com/viewtopic.php?p=95910#95910

VaBeachPrius and his previous tank. MFD picture included in the link.

 

There goes my bubble. But seriously, WOW! Good driving VA!

 

Larry, you know you'll be showing us your tank like this by October.

Wayne

 

Good show! I get 89.5 over a 20 mile stretch between my vet's office and home, but that is the exception, not my over all experience.

 

Is it really that impressive? I mean I would love to hear how it was actually achieved. Are we talking staying at or above speed limits? Most likely a big NO.

I remember reading how somebody here would push their car into their parking space because he/she didn't want to start the engine back up from the gate he had to go through. Just to save that extra tiny bit of fuel.

I guess it's neat that people go to these extremes just to prove that it can be done and people are left impressed with a large MPG number and dismiss the how part. I would love to see some big numbers with a time value added in.

For example... course is 60 miles... going at 60mph I can reach destination in 1 hour using X gallons.

If the same course can be achived in the same amount of time but with less fuel, awesome. If the same course can be achived in less time and less fuel, even better. The problem is we have no number or field that combines both values into a single value.

 

I can get almost 100 mpg going from my house to the train station.

But I just don't understand why I get 20 mpg going from the train station to my house

it really pisses me off.

I drive out of my driveway and then I coast all the way down the hill to the train station, an elevation loss of about 450 feet.....

at the end of the day, all I do is drive back home......up up up the hill

:-)

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good point raised by livvie. What matters is how much gas you use on your commute, not your mpg. Getting slightly better mpg, but adding a bunch of time driving does NOT reduce your use of fuel.

 

Is it really that impressive? I mean I would love to hear how it was actually achieved. Are we talking staying at or above speed limits? Most likely a big NO.

OK, so this drive was 18.3 miles from my veterinarian's office back home. I was traveling at speeds which were varied, depending on the speed limit. A fair amount was at 55 mph, some at 45, through a small town with a posted limit of 35 mph. I missed two stop lights and had to wait a little while for the green. No the ignition was not turned off while I waited. So yes, it was at/nearly at the speed limit for this section of Historic Route 66.

 

I've got to think that your drive to your vet had a fairly significant elevation loss (was downhill).

People often don't recognize that a particular drive is "downhill," which is why you should always base your mpg on "round trip" and not one way. Many roads are only mildly sloped, so you might not notice, especially when driving.

I am pretty much screwed with respect to my mpg, as I live at 450 feet elevation, and most of the places I go are at sea level (though only a few miles away). The train line, the kids' schools, downtown, work....all at sea level. So I get at least a 450-foot elevation "delta" in a day.

 

Yes it does if that driving time is with the engine off.

e.g. just an hour ago. I could've taken the "normal" route home which would be to go onto the (1st) main street, go up the steep hill (dunno the distance.. probably a few hundred metres.. but it's moderately steep) then travelling several blocks on a slight uphill to the next big intersection, turn right on the (2nd) main street and glide down the large street to my house.

Or I could take the side street, glide down hill, turn right (so I'm actually going in the opposite direction of my house) and glide down that hill, then turn left and glide down the slight downhill and a short uphill to the (2nd) main street.

The second route is most likely longer but I would've used less fuel going up the short uphill near the end of the course, then going up the moderate hill and then the slight uphill at the beginning of the first course. Also note that even though the (2nd) main street is downhill all the way if I take the first route, the multiple traffic lights will probably mean I'll have to stop and accelerate again esp. since it's ~ rush hour.

 

Hi folks,

One suggestion is to provide a URL to a topographical map. This would make it a lot easier to offer suggestions and recommendations. . . . just a thought.

As a general rule, you want to minimize speed and power demands in the first 5 minutes, even with the NHW20, while the systems warm-up. Warm-up actually extends for 30 minutes including the transaxle. But during the first 5 minutes, it is really rough.

Faced with unavoidable, steep grades in the morning, I would perform an experiment and try driveway warm-up to see if the total fuel burned was less than trying to drive out right away. Some of our Japanese friends, Ken@Japan, appear to use a warm-up on the driveway along with year-round block heaters. BTW, my engine block and transaxle heaters appear to be pretty effective even during the summer but I'm not faced with hills in the morning.

Did anyone mention DO NOT ACCELERATE UP A HILL!!! It is OK to sustain speed or even better if you can let it bleed off but accelerating up a hill is a sure fire way to put the ICE in inefficient power ranges.

Bob Wilson