Preemptive Prius Pondering

[Allen Gamble]

I have been considering a Prius for a while now but so far I have yet to set foot in the dealer or in a Prius so I have no first hand knowledge.

From what I have been able to glean from the internet there is a new Prius coming soon but I'm not sure if I want to get a brand new one or a nearly new version, the 10th anniversary editions look fantastic so I am leaning towards one of those, here are my questions

I'm a pretty light user so the car wont be doing that much, but there are some large hills where I live, I'm not too sure if that will totally kill the official MPG/ milage, what is the average consumption for an average real world driver?

Are Toyota dealers open to extended test drives in general? I know its better to ask them directly but its just gone 9 pm and I'm just wondering

I'd like to try one in my local area, see how it handles the hills and what I can expect on an average day.

Is the new Prius supposed to be that much of an improvement over the current generation?

[Dave R.]

Take a look at the Fuelly web site (www.fuelly.com) for "real life" mpg figures... though in my experience, I'm way at the bottom end of fuel consumption achievements. I've recently taken to wearing a flat cap and driving everywhere at 55-60mph which seems to have pushed my consumption down from high 40's up to mid 50's to the gallon. However, it really depends on where you are driving - if you do a lot of city driving, then I suspect your mpg will be much better; I am doing a 100 mile round-trip down A roads and country lanes each day, which (unless you keep to 50) doesn't do much for the prius mpg.

Despite fuel consumption, the drive is excellent. The hybrid drive is incredibly smooth, and makes driving a pleasure (and completely effortless) It's different from other automatics in that when you are stopped, the system is completely shut down, so no feeling that the engine is pushing against a clutch mechanism & wasting fuel.

[Glyyde]

My daily commute is 4 miles uphill to work and 4 miles back. Get around 50-55mpg with the Prius compared to my Civic last time which was doing less than 35mpg.

[Seamaster73]

I get upper sixties with ease in my Prius on a long run.

I never get less than mid-fifties round the doors.

The bottom line is that the worst MPG I ever get from the Prius is still far better than the best I ever got from my old car.

[cbcdesign]

It does surprise me when people struggle to get decent MPG from the Prius. I do THE worst type of driving imaginable, short (half mile) trips in the main with Air Con and heated seat on permanently in Winter and still get low 40's to the gallon. I get 50 plus on a run and 60 plus in summer. Even at 40 I am pleased compared to my old jag which did just 17, 40 is fantastic by comparison.

[Seamaster73]

I had to drive my old A Class (1.7 petrol automatic) like Mary Poppins on valium to get anywhere close to 45 mpg. I can drive the Prius without a thought and get over 50. Driven sensibly, over 60 is easily achieved, upper sixties (even 70) on a long run in warm weather.

I can only assume that those — particularly motoring journos — who peddle the lie that the Prius isn't as good on fuel as claimed, deliberately drive like nutters in it.

[cuius]

Good example of the inappropriate driving by road tester:

http://www.carkeys.co.uk/road-test-review/toyota-auris-hybrid-t-spirit

Note - "...I also made much use of the "B" mode on the gear selector, which increases the motor's efficiency..." when discussing economy. Whereas Toyota say, "...Do not continue normal driving with the transmission in “B” for a long time. This may cause decreased fuel economy"

[pobrown]

Even at 40 I am pleased compared to my old jag which did just 17, 40 is fantastic by comparison.

It's funny that you mention a Jag. On the Daily Mail website yesterday there was a story about Nick Clegg using a large Jag for a journey when he bangs on about saving the planet. One of the comments from the public at the bottom was "That Jag gets just as good gas mileage as a Prius". Some people really don't like Hybrids!

[cbcdesign]

There you go. Utter stupidity from some people frankly. No way in hell will a Jag get anywhere near the Prius. It will do about 30-35 driven carefully versus 55-65 in the Prius. As for not liking Hybrids, I could understand that if there was a proper well reasoned argument for disliking them!

[Seamaster73]

And I assume it's a diseasel Jag belching out soot and cancer left, right and centre.

[Chris Dance]

Nick Cleg has not got much between the ears, I doubt he even knows what a hybrid car is.

[Red diesel]

It does surprise me when people struggle to get decent MPG from the Prius. I do THE worst type of driving imaginable, short (half mile) trips in the main with Air Con and heated seat on permanently in Winter and still get low 40's to the gallon. I get 50 plus on a run and 60 plus in summer. Even at 40 I am pleased compared to my old jag which did just 17, 40 is fantastic by comparison.

Question for the Prius drivers

Do you guys reckon that the trick to getting good mileage from the Prius - is to let the car do the work - and not be messing about with it.

Particularly given that (i suspect) your average Joe bloggs knows very little about these cars generally and is imo merely looking at them because they are "suitable for the companies green drive" and/or "good on tax - particularly for a company car".

I really suspect that the normal not very interested in learning about cars type person try to drive the Prius like a normal car - when in imo its possibly a far nicer, more effortless drive if you learn about the Prius a bit.

Am i on the right target - if not im ready for some Prius education

Red diesel

[GreenJuice]

Do you guys reckon that the trick to getting good mileage from the Prius - is to let the car do the work - and not be messing about with it.

With each new generation it appears there is less to be gained by 'messing about'. In any car, I'm sure most people will achieve the greatest gains in mileage by just good anticipation, relaxed driving and simple acts like maintaining tyre pressures. Without these basics there is little point doing much else.

Compared to non-hybrids, the mileage gains are so noticeable and immediate that it is easy to then get hooked into messing! Then you start experimenting with Pulse & Glide, and it soon develops into Warp Stealth and Super Highway Mode...

Then you learn about the 5 Warm up Stages and start developing complex strategies for minimising fuel use during warmup, including grill blocking, avoiding cabin heating and trying to outsmart Stages 1 and 3.

Before long you find yourself doing weird things like going into neutral with parking brake at stops, monitoring with Scangauge, over pressuring tyres, never driving with the windows open, never using the A/C and dumping as much weight as possible!

Some of these last ones start to defeat the purpose of having a nice car in the first place!

Of course it is quite easy NOT to get hooked on hypermiling - like the missus, whose need-to-know awareness of the car never really got beyond its colour...!

[r04drunner1]

My last car was a 2.7 diesel Jaguar S-Type; I was getting 33 MPG average. With the Prius I am getting 55MPG. (All mileages quoted are from the onboard computer on the relevant car.)

Most of my journies are short and traffic filled. Not all city driving, some B road, a little motorway. A lot of uphill work: unlike the Netherlands, Northern Ireland is not noted for being particularly flat.

On a slightly longer 60 mile return journey across country roads, driving in a Prius-friendly style I managed to achieve 80 MPG. It was not a one-off, the next time I did that journey (this time avoiding the temptation to burn off a BMW 3 series at the traffic lights) I hit 83MPG. I also did over 81 MPG on a Prius economy drive, again on a mixture of roads including City, Motorway and B road. But again, that was driving in a Prius friendly manner - slowly and using Pulse & Glide.

As a rule of thumb, if I am caning the car hard in PWR mode to minimise journey time I am getting 46-49MPG. When I drive in a more relaxed manner I get around 55 MPG with no fuss. When I am deliberately driving in an economical mode I get into the low 60's. Remember, these are all on SHORT journies. On a longer journey, driving in an economical mode, I can get over 80 MPG.

Also note the Prius is an automatic (not manual) and a medium sized (not small) car with bags of space for passengers. If you are going to compare MPG on a like for like basis, remember those facts.

Hope that helps.