Sudden MPG improvement in 2008 Prius

[howardbc]

I have a one-year old 2008 Touring model Prius. I have read that the Touring model doesn't get as good MPG as the Basic. Indeed, my Touring model was getting an average of about 40-44MPG and I thought that was going to be as good as it gets. Then a very kind and patient Prius owner showed me how to use the "Consumption" screen to monitor my MPGs. At first it seemed that around 45MPG was the best I was going to get, but suddenly a couple of days ago I looked down at the screen and saw 50MPG! Then within a few miles it was up to over 61MPG! Do you think something is wrong or have I finally just gotten the hang of things? I haven't made any changes in gas or anything else that I can think of. The morning it shot up to 50MPG, I had just turned the air vents off because it was cool outside, but other than that, I just can't think of anything that would be causing such a dramatic improvement in the MPG. I never understood the "Pulse and Glide" thing. I just try to either stay off the gas or soft-peddle it as much as possible.

[andyprius]

Originally Posted by howardbc

I have a one-year old 2008 Touring model Prius. I have read that the Touring model doesn't get as good MPG as the Basic. Indeed, my Touring model was getting an average of about 40-44MPG and I thought that was going to be as good as it gets. Then a very kind and patient Prius owner showed me how to use the "Consumption" screen to monitor my MPGs. At first it seemed that around 45MPG was the best I was going to get, but suddenly a couple of days ago I looked down at the screen and saw 50MPG! Then within a few miles it was up to over 61MPG! Do you think something is wrong or have I finally just gotten the hang of things? I haven't made any changes in gas or anything else that I can think of. The morning it shot up to 50MPG, I had just turned the air vents off because it was cool outside, but other than that, I just can't think of anything that would be causing such a dramatic improvement in the MPG. I never understood the "Pulse and Glide" thing. I just try to either stay off the gas or soft-peddle it as much as possible.

Because of your recent education on driving with the consumption screen you have automatically switched to more efficient technique. Aware of it or not. That's the only theory I can come up with. Good Show.

[qbee42]

The touring model gets just about the same mileage as the normal model. Because of tires, you may see a small difference, but we are talking about one or two mpg.

Tom

[sparkyAZ]

If you inflate your tires to 44 psi / front and 42 psi / rear you will see another improvement as the rolling resistance decreases a bit. You also get more even treadwear if you have the Integrities.

My mpg has been improving too as the weather warms up (the cold weather drops the mpg). Next year I'll probably do grill blocking, I just kept forgetting to buy the foam at the hardware store this year.

You can do pretty well just watching the consumption and feathering off the gas when you hit cruising speed, which puts the Prius in an "overdrive" mode. On straight flat runs you'll be amazed how you can back off the gas and still hold your speed, and the MPG climbs into the ~ 80's even at 45-50mph.

[Mjolinor]

I wonder how much improvement there would be in any car if you had the Prius MFD installed in it.

[EZW1]

I typically get 58mpg now that temps have warmed a bit. It is much easier to get it into stage 4 and keep it there. As I go into summer when the temps get even higher, maybe I'll hit 60.

[JimN]

Originally Posted by Mjolinor

I wonder how much improvement there would be in any car if you had the Prius MFD installed in it.

The MFD or ScanGauge doesn't improve fuel economy. FE improves when the driver decides to use the provided data to improve. My carpooling partner is the poster child for inefficient driving. So far, the ScanGauge hasn't made a difference.

[sparkyAZ]

Exactly. The FE can only improve because the driver puts the real time data to use in the control loop of operating the vehicle. Basically if they pay attention to the data they will find that it tells them to not drive like a maniac.

[Oddest_raindrop]

The more I pay attention to the consumption screen the more i wondered what was going on. I got a scangauge and found out more things but the prius has a mind of it's own. Sometimes going down the road it will charge the battery. this is not a fast charge but one none the less. MPG during this time is in the 50's do this long enough the battery gets in to the over charged range and the prius dumps the battery charge and the milage goes to over 99. This is all going the same speed aound 45 mph. So in short there are things that just arn't very explain able. But the more information you have the better you can do it.