Prius 86 Mpg Urban

[BassaJay]

Apologies if this has been posted before

[cuius]

Good job she wasn't driving in Spain - flip-flops are illegal

[Chris Dance]

Driving a prius and gliding downhill in neutral!!!! Did I hear rght? I do not think that is a good thing to do. I wonder if a person would pass a UK driving test doing that???

I agree driving in flip flops is dangerous..

Interesting video thanks for putting it on.

[Sagitar]

No saving could possibly be worth the sheer phaff of driving like that.

[timberwolf]

Driving a prius and gliding downhill in neutral!!!! Did I hear rght?

<snip>

No, you didn't hear right, you weren't paying attention to what he said near the beginning of the video. But I fully understand why having watched the whole video that you did think he was teaching her to glide in neutral gear. A very stupid video to put on the internet, why didn't he just teach her the proper technique?

[don21]

What a nugget.

[Opifex]

Driving a prius and gliding downhill in neutral!!!! Did I hear rght?

<snip>

No, you didn't hear right, you weren't paying attention to what he said near the beginning of the video. But I fully understand why having watched the whole video that you did think he was teaching her to glide in neutral gear. A very stupid video to put on the internet, why didn't he just teach her the proper technique?

It certainly sounded to me like telling her to coast in neutral at 0m12s and again at 2m21s

[timberwolf]

It certainly sounded to me like telling her to coast in neutral at 0m12s and again at 2m21s

You carefully watched/listened to the video to note down those times and yet you missed his explanation?Listen to his explanation of why he was using neutral and that in his words "you'll be able to do this with your foot" around 2:45 and 3:35 (and maybe he mentions it at 2:07).

I think it is very easy to come away with the wrong impression having watched this video!

The video is nicely shot, except I think it would have been better with a view of the instruments. I liked how the blue nail varnish matched her flip-flops. And it was fun to see that the newness of roundabouts still confuses some drivers in America.

What we can also guess, is that Prius was fully warmed up (to avoid having the fuel penalty of heating the cats or engine) before the video began and that the OBC was reset just before the demo - i.e. tricks to boost the apparent mpg readout. We also don't know other factors that are relevant, such as ambient air temperature and tyre pressures.

[wass]

I notice that the air conditioner must have been switched off since both the instructor and the driver had their window down.It was a warm, sunny day judging by the light quality and the clothing worn by the people in the clip. So there are some other major contributing factors to good fuel consumption, high ambient, no air conditioners and no need for DRL. I also noticed that traffic was comparatively light in a suburban prat -free zone.( Prat being a person who must overtake and then weighs anchor for no good reason other than to show you their prowess--or lack of same) Also.. I dont know if everyone realised that when they were wobbling on about eighty odd miles per gallon, they were talking about those little american gallons and not the proper imperial measure! So in english the acheivements were closer to 90mpg

[GreenJuice]

The 'instructor' was Wayne Gerdes, who has developed quite a reputation as an exceptional hypermiler.

Amongst the standard hypermiling techniques he tried to show her was DWL (driving with load), DWB (driving without brakes) and P&G (pulse and glide) - ideally the 'neutral' glide is done by foot control, described as 'feathering'. They can be quite tough to do on UK roads.

Those interested can get more information on the Priuschat and Cleanmpg websites.

[Joseph D]

<snip> Also.. I dont know if everyone realised that when they were wobbling on about eighty odd miles per gallon, they were talking about those little american gallons and not the proper imperial measure! So in english the acheivements were closer to 90mpg

In UK imperial units it is 103 mpg. It would be good if this could be a sustained average over an entire tank, but I think not. Makes for sensational reading though!

[timberwolf]

I wasn't familiar with the term DWL, it seems to be a fancy name for allowing the vehicle to lose speed when going up a hill. :)

It is possible to get that sort of mpg and more on a tank of petrol, but whether you'd want to is another thing. I do sometimes wonder if the hypermilers are doing "good" though as they have still driven thousands of miles.