Long Termers & Bad Fuel Economy

[Fluffmeister]

Another update from the CAR and Autocar.

CAR have just given up and are now apparently getting 39mpg out of their's. They even clain that the air con starts the enginer which it doesn't (the air con - like everything else on the G3 - has its own electric motor specifically to stop this from happenning). In short the guy hates the car and loves the BMW diesel he is also driving. I suspect he speeds too long at the other side of 80mph and always has the power mode on. Normal drivers (esp owner drivers) just dont drive like this.

Autocar on the other hand have turned over a leaf and are now driving the car "within the speeds limits" to see what effect it has. Surprisingly the driver ackowledges that keeping to the limit is not actually taking him much longer to get to work. He's more relaxed etc. They should now start to see over 50mpg.

I still think the HSD works best in urban environments.

Wooski

I pretty much drive like this as well and I am still getting around 51mpg on fuelly, it baffles me as to what he must be doing to get it to such low figures. I let mine warm up, enoough time for the oil to hopefully be up to temperature then I just drive it like a normal car. I cruise at speeds slightly above the national average, I use the cruise control a lot as I tend to leave for work late on a Sunday night and drive home late on a Friday night, I love my aircon being on and I am still getting what I consider to be excellent economy. I have only just gotten round to switching power mode off as I like the responsivness when using it.

Just what is this dude doing to get it to 39mpg

Aircon on / Windows open / is there some hack to keep the ICE running constantly :) it baffles me as I am so "normal" in the way I drive mine.

[johalareewi]

Could be windows open, heating on full (ie crank temperature right up).

Heating the prius uses the ICE much more than running the aircon.

Putting a Roof Rack on and filling the car up with heavy gear will help.

[Fluffmeister]

Could be windows open, heating on full (ie crank temperature right up).

Heating the prius uses the ICE much more than running the aircon.

Putting a roof rack on and filling the car up with heavy gear will help.

I know, but I am travelling with a weeks worth of gear, which frequently includes a couple of Poweredge tower servers for demonstration's and they are not light :) Most of my work is motorways though where the cruise control imho works very well on the Prius. I don't do to much town work as I tend to find a hotel in walking distance of my customers and leave trigger for the week.

Some people will never see it as anything but the "anti-car". I went to a friends in Newcastle last night, he said come on then, where's the milk float? I mentioned he was looking at it, parked right outside his front door. Took him out for a spin and apart from him saying it's slightly "wierd" with the electrics and the CVT, he was pretty impressed by it as a package.

Everybody that has been in mine, young or old has walked away with shaken pre-conceptions and an understanding of why it's actually a very very good car.

[Jan&tone]

Could be windows open, heating on full (ie crank temperature right up).

Heating the prius uses the ICE much more than running the aircon.

Putting a roof rack on and filling the car up with heavy gear will help.

I know, but I am travelling with a weeks worth of gear, which frequently includes a couple of Poweredge tower servers for demonstration's and they are not light :) Most of my work is motorways though where the cruise control imho works very well on the Prius. I don't do to much town work as I tend to find a hotel in walking distance of my customers and leave trigger for the week.

Some people will never see it as anything but the "anti-car". I went to a friends in Newcastle last night, he said come on then, where's the milk float? I mentioned he was looking at it, parked right outside his front door. Took him out for a spin and apart from him saying it's slightly "wierd" with the electrics and the CVT, he was pretty impressed by it as a package.

Everybody that has been in mine, young or old has walked away with shaken pre-conceptions and an understanding of why it's actually a very very good car.

I get the same reaction with my gen2...... Everyone has been very impressed and I have 2 offers for when it is 3 years old too !!!!

[Grumpy Cabbie]

Could be windows open, heating on full (ie crank temperature right up).

Heating the prius uses the ICE much more than running the aircon.

Putting a roof rack on and filling the car up with heavy gear will help.

Everybody that has been in mine, young or old has walked away with shaken pre-conceptions and an understanding of why it's actually a very very good car.

I find the same. Most of my passengers/customers are curious about the car and ask lots and lots of questions. Often they come with preconceptions that are totally wrong - it's slow, you have to plug it in, you don't get the mpg's, a diesel is better, etc etc etc.

Once they've actually seen the car and driven it they like it. I get many customers asking especially for me now too. I have only ever had one 'anti' who was not convinced and was quite aggressive about the Prius (come on mate, it's only a car!) and wouldn't be convinced. His wife was however, and actually stated she wanted one for herself! That really put the cat among the pigeons! It then turned out that he works for VW/Audi and when I pointed out that VW were looking to introduce a hybrid shortly he really went quiet. Knackered my tip though, but was worth it!

[flow]

Another update from the CAR and Autocar.

CAR have just given up and are now apparently getting 39mpg out of their's. They even clain that the air con starts the enginer which it doesn't (the air con - like everything else on the G3 - has its own electric motor specifically to stop this from happenning). In short the guy hates the car and loves the BMW diesel he is also driving. I suspect he speeds too long at the other side of 80mph and always has the power mode on. Normal drivers (esp owner drivers) just dont drive like this.

Autocar on the other hand have turned over a leaf and are now driving the car "within the speeds limits" to see what effect it has. Surprisingly the driver ackowledges that keeping to the limit is not actually taking him much longer to get to work. He's more relaxed etc. They should now start to see over 50mpg.

I still think the HSD works best in urban environments.

Wooski

I pretty much drive like this as well and I am still getting around 51mpg on fuelly, it baffles me as to what he must be doing to get it to such low figures. I let mine warm up, enoough time for the oil to hopefully be up to temperature then I just drive it like a normal car. I cruise at speeds slightly above the national average, I use the cruise control a lot as I tend to leave for work late on a Sunday night and drive home late on a Friday night, I love my aircon being on and I am still getting what I consider to be excellent economy. I have only just gotten round to switching power mode off as I like the responsivness when using it.

Just what is this dude doing to get it to 39mpg

Aircon on / Windows open / is there some hack to keep the ICE running constantly :) it baffles me as I am so "normal" in the way I drive mine.

How to achieve 39mpg...

Do lots of short trips, lasting only a few minutes/miles

Even lots of stop starting driving in a busy town, not giving the Battery chance to replenish, can cause poor figures.

[johalareewi]

I find the same. Most of my passengers/customers are curious about the car and ask lots and lots of questions. Often they come with preconceptions that are totally wrong - it's slow, you have to plug it in, you don't get the mpg's, a diesel is better, etc etc etc.

I get that from younger people who basically say 'why did you get one of those?' in an incredulous voice. Apart from my kids who think it is quite cool. Those more my age are quite interested in it and often ask questions about the mpg, is the Battery still working, where do you plug it in, etc. :)

[Sagitar]

The Gen3 does seem to err on the generous side.

Further confirmation this morning. In-car computer showing a tank average of 70.1 m.p.g on fill-up. The calculated figure (from Fuelly) shows 64.5 m.p.g.

And once more today. In-car computer showing a tank average of 57.4 m.p.g. on fill up. The calculated figure (from Fuelly) shows 53.7 m.p.g.

From the last five fills, the computer seems to make an over-optimistic calculation by somewhere between 6% and 9%.

[Jolly English Gentleman]

My Gen II has the same sort of difference. At the last fill up computer stated 53.8 mpg (reset to zero when I first started using Fuelly). Every fill up has always been 42 litres and actual consumption is lower at 51.8 mpg. A difference of just over 5.5%.

My last Fuelly tank was the best ever at 54.8 mpg, and I think that the warmer weather played it's part - not so hot that you need the Aircon on but warm enough so that the engine does not have to do so much work. As I don't tend to do so many miles (5 fill ups and 1904 miles since 29 March) I have noticed that the weather is a big factor in acheiving better mileage. It would be interesting to see what my average is over the 12 months as the consumption I am acheiving in my Gen II is not that much lower that most of you with a Gen III seem to be doing.

Looking ahead several years to when I decide I want to upgrade the additional saving in fuel costs will be one of the factors and unless I am driving extra frugally which I doubt looking at the Fuelly stats for a 2007 Prius, the savings in upgrading may not be that great as I am matching the EPA estimate for my model (as shown on Fuelly). If I were to do the same with a 2010 Prius the saving would only be 4.4 mpg (EPA extimate 56.6 mpg). I might have to wait until the 5th Gen Prius comes out so that I can get myself a late 4th Gen (assuming that can do 60+ mpg). There is little financial incentive to go from a II Gen to a III Gen that I can see.