One Year On

October 17, 2011

It's just over a year since I took possession of my 57 plate T3 and I really feel I should place on the record how life-changing it has been. Well actually it hasn't been that life-changing, but it has more than lived up to my expectations...

I remember almost a year to the day driving from Solihull up to Scarborough to pick it up - it was two months short of its third birthday and had covered just 17K - locally elderly owners. It was like new.

Next morning I remember how thrilled I was to drive to work and I got 48mpg on the three mile trip! I'd be gutted now if that's all I got...

Over the terrible winter I loved how it purred into life on those -10C mornings when everyone else was struggling to get going.

At Easter we took it across to France for a stay at Saint Valery-sur-Somme. It was seriously loaded to the roof; two adults, three big teenagers and a stack of luggage - the kids were completely wedged in the back. I groaned a bit when the rear mudflaps grounded on the car ferry speed bumps, but the Prius took it in her stride. The weather was beautiful; our highlight a wonderful day driving around the battlefields near Albert - I've tried to attach a picture. 70 mpg touring around France in the sun.

In the Summer we went to the States so the Prius only got as far as the NCP at Heathrow. Our rental was a Chevvy HHR - like an estate version of the PT Cruiser. 2.2 petrol (I think) and auto box. Try as I might I couldn't get more than 25 mpg around town and 30 on a run (both imperial). Really brought home to me what a fabulous, relatively powerful, car the Prius is.

Hiccup a couple of weeks ago with it's annual service - waterpump replaced under warranty and a bit of an issue with getting two new tyres on the front, but other than that I have nothing but good things to say.

I've been surprised how the weather can affect the fuel economy.

I suppose the closest I've come to being disappointed is with the motorway fuel economy; I'm so used to getting 65 around town, it always comes as a bit of a let-down when I "only" get low 50's using the M40 to go up and down to London. It's those hills! Flatter m'ways give mid 50's, but as most of my miles are around town I can definitely live with it.

As for the future - well my 13 year old son has his eye on it - he sees it as the perfect geeky university runaround, so it looks like it'll be in the family for some years to come!

October 18, 2011

Late at night, about a month or so ago, I managed (a surprising to me) 61.4 mpg on a trip from North Yorkshire down to the Southampton area. Like you say, the hills seem to be a real mpg killer. I doubt I'd be able to do it during the day, because I was allowing my speed to drop off as I went up the hills. The last part of my journey along (I think it is) the A34, the dual carriage way A road from the M40 to M3, which has a section of rolling hills (please look away now if you're likely to suffer physical pain and anguish when I say how slow), I was dropping down to 45 mph on some of the hills :eek: :lol:

BTW my overall average is about 53.5 mpg so I don't do so well most of the time, atlhough pretty good compared to my previous Automatic petrol cars.

October 19, 2011

I regularly do the trip from the south of France and find that the mpg falls as I climb from sea level in Provence until I reach the centre of the country and then improves as I descend to Calais. Doing the whole trip with the cruise control set at 75mph returns about 62mpg. On the UK section from Folkestone to Berkshire the cruise control is turned down to 68mph and the mpg rises to around 66mpg. Hills certainly make a difference but so does the speed.

October 19, 2011

Evidently, it also depends on whether you are driving a car with a Gen 2 or Gen 3 Hybrid technology, I couldn't hope to get that sort of mpg if I set the cruise control to that high warp factor :P

Edit: On re-reading what I wrote above, it may come across as sarcastic, which is not what I'd intended, honest. And I agree with the speed thing.

Edited October 19, 2011 by timberwolf

October 19, 2011

That rental car had cruise control - I would so love to have it on mine. BUT in the Rockies - wow! I had to turn it off. I think it was a combination of the extremely steep gradients on the I70 and the thin air, but if I had the cc on to maintain decent progress I was down to 15 mpg! Having been spoiled by the Prius economy there was no way I could entertain that so we just slowed down and enjoyed the scenery. The car actually had a flexifuel engine so could run on on 85% ethanol. About the only place I saw it on sale was Las Vegas - $3.17 a gallon as opposed to $3.80 for regular. I got really excited about the prospect of saving a bit of cash - but it drank the stuff so I didn't buy any more.