Finally figured out P&G, what a boost!

[F8L]

I've never really had the patience to work on the P&G technique but the other day I was bored and on my way to a friends and I decided to try driving at 25mph to see if I could reach the 100+mpg that I've seen portrayed in some graphs here on PC. I failed the 100+mpg technique because the car would not stay out of EV mode. I gave up and decided to start trying to P&G and after a few tries it was pretty easy yet a mind numbingly slow way to travel.

What I did find that is that after 15min or so I had 3 bars on the MDF that maxed out at "99.9"mpg. This also boosted my average mpg up pretty good so over the next few days I would drive like I normally do but toss in a few P&G sessions to bring the average back up to the high 50s or low 60s. It takes a bit of work but in short sessions it's kinda fun and it really kicks up the mpg average. I'm only going up to about 43mph and dropping to about 29mph before pulsing back up. This obviously only works on backroads or lonely city streets. Gliding really helps boost numbers in all other circumstances.

So for those who seem to be stuck in the 40s or have never experienced a 60mpg tank then this is one way you could break that streak. I'm not sure if this is how the pros do it routinely but it works for me and helps me keep my humbers high even when I have to do something crazy which would normally kill my milage like driving with the A/C on at 70mph or loading 6 people into the car with the A/C on and hitting the freeway. lol

[a priori]

Originally Posted by F8L

I've never really had the patience to work on the P&G technique but the other day . . .

I've had a similar experience. Not only do I not really have the patience to develop a great P&G, I'm not certain there are many places I could use it. I still try, on occasion, when I'm out in the country with no one around (and no one else in the car), but those times seem so infrequent. I was able to work on it a couple of weeks ago, so that I boosted MPGs on a 300-mile day trip to nearly 62. Still, I had so much other travel interspersed in the day, and I took passengers on some short trips within that day. I can see that full P&G would give you incredibly high mileage, but it would mean some very long days of driving. (I know I don't have the patience to take 10 hours out of my day to drive 300 miles!)

Also, most of my driving is very short trips, and the trips are normally right around town. It is really a challenge at times to keep the MPGs in the mid-50s. I have to work at it (in non-Winter times) to get the MPGs below 50, but with a 4-mile commute my Summer MPGs will stay in the low- to mid-50s.

[Ichiro]

I find it interesting that the 2 previous posters have great MPG in spite of not employing P&G much.

[F8L]

Originally Posted by a priori

I've had a similar experience. Not only do I not really have the patience to develop a great P&G, I'm not certain there are many places I could use it. .

I think that most city streets can utilize a form of this technique. I noticed that in the residential section of my town, or any town really, I accelerate from a stop sign or light, get up to speed then glide to the next stop sign. In these situations I am simply doing a P&G but from a dead stop which I'm sure is not as efficient but it's better than not gliding at all and I look forward to this particular part of my commute because I know it will boost my numbers.

I agree with you though, P&G takes a lot of patience. You're doing great with such a short commute!

[a priori]

Originally Posted by Ichiro

I find it interesting that the 2 previous posters have great MPG in spite of not employing P&G much.

I think it is just careful driving and clean living!

Because most of my driving is around town, I very infrequently drive more than 45-55 mph. I think a real sweet spot in mileage comes around 45, so I do well even though I have very short drives (for the most part). Getting out on the highway kills MPGs, unless you are driving 55-60.

Really, I just drive cautiously and always look ahead to try to keep room ahead of me for coasting/gliding. This isn't really P&G, though it is close. I always accelerate with a "balanced arrow" approach (my terminology) where I attempt to use only the ICE for acceleration. I then back off and allow the car's computers to figure out how to keep me at the desired speed. I also push the electric only mode when I am getting close to my destination. I figure the next start-up will provide a return of some of that battery juice.

[F8L]

Originally Posted by Ichiro

I find it interesting that the 2 previous posters have great MPG in spite of not employing P&G much.

I used to be stuck in the low 40s (when I had aftermarket rims) then the mid-high 40s. I think after awhile a lot of us learn how important gliding (not P&G) is and tend to do it more often and our numbers start to really creep up. Finding alternative routes helps a lot as well but one must consider actual distance traveled because adding miles to a trip just to increase mpg is not very eco-friendly.

[F8L]

Originally Posted by a priori

Because most of my driving is around town, I very infrequently drive more than 45-55 mph. I think a real sweet spot in mileage comes around 45, so I do well even though I have very short drives (for the most part). Getting out on the highway kills MPGs, unless you are driving 55-60.

I forgot to add driving slow helps a ton too.

I do the speed limits whenever other cars may be around and maybe as low as 5mph below if I'm on backroads but like a priori, I try to keep my speeds below 55mph unless I hit the freeway, then it's the speed limit or just above.

[a priori]

Originally Posted by F8L

I think after awhile a lot of us learn how important gliding (not P&G) is and tend to do it more often and our numbers start to really creep up.

Quite right. This is what really makes the difference, especially when driving around town.

Originally Posted by F8L

Finding alternative routes helps a lot as well but one must consider actual distance traveled because adding miles to a trip just to increase mpg is not very eco-friendly.

True, true. (And . . . You're writing that just because hobbit and darrell haven't yet read this thread! )

[Spectra]

My $0.02 --

High MPG is highly addicitve !

I've had the car since Jan -- Once I learned the best techniques from PC, and the weather broke, I was ASTOUNDED to achieve 74.9 MPG (MFD) on a round-trip 130 mi. run in April.

As you guys said, it requires patience, the right kind of roads, speeds between 25 - 45 MPH, & the right time of day, and warmer temps.

Still, it only took 20 min. longer than if I'd been on a highway at 55-60. More time for "All Things Considered."

On the other hand, my daily commute is short, occasionally punctuated by errands. This gives me an embarrasing 44 MPG, even doing all the right techniques, even in 60-70 degrees.

So -- based on a combination of the 2 types of driving, the total MPG on my last fill-up (510 mi.) showed 66.5 (MFD) / 61.3 (calc.).
And 2 pips to spare.

Addicitive ... and, to paraphrase -- once you've had the max, you'll never go back.

[Brodie]

This past weekend I did a few longer trips than my normal commute and my MPG jumped 0.5 in two days....My commute is only 7.7 miles so kinda hard to get good mileage, plus I have a big bridge to go over within the first 5 minutes that I chug up at around 24 mpg. Can't wait to drive to NH this summer and see how I do on a long road trip. I was never a fast driver but I definitely drive slower now unless I need to get somewhere in a hurry. having the MFD show you how much better your mileage gets when you slow down a little is such a key component to the Prius....I think everyone would drive slower if their cars showed them what was going on!

BTW I've had my Pri for almost 2 months, 2200 miles, haven't touched a thing (including tires) and am at 48.5 MPG. Coming from a 14 mpg truck I am in heaven!