something's not right

[Shimpy II]

FWIW, I found that I get better mileage using cruise control on the highway. I don't do the "warp stealth" thing either, but it seems that cruise control is more gentle about making adjustments to the gas pedal than my foot, and that seems to help the mileage a great deal. I started driving in the right lane and just going along with traffic in that lane, unless someone is driving very slow over there. I tend to get 45-50 MPG on the highway without any special driving technique, other than CC.

That, and trying to be more conscious about not accelerating towards red lights and stop signs, seems to be giving me the advertised MPGs at around 46.

[efusco]

Originally Posted by mfarmer1

Efusco,

Thanks. However, I just need to drive, not play games with my car. The dealer should have told me that I would need to master "warp stealthing" or drive 20 mph slower than every other car around me on the freeway to achieve the advertised mileage.

I just bought a Toyota Corolla for one of my employees. 17K out the door. He gets 32 mph and drives like a normal person. No offense, but most of us are too busy to worry every second about how we're driving a car in order to maximize its efficiency. That's borderline time to go to the shrink behavior.

I'll keep it until next Spring when my Aptera gets built and delivered. Even if I only get half the advertised mileage in that contraption, it will still be 150 mpg.

The article doesn't talk about playing games at all other than a very brief mention of pulse and glide later on. It talks about a lot of practical things and a thorough read is what you need.

You can't have it all...you can't drive 75-80mph on the freeway...which means you're doing a lot of slowing and speeding back up on any freeway I've ever driven on..and expect to get 60mpg.

What's your priority...getting where you're going 3 minutes sooner or getting 45mpg? Take your pick...if it's higher MPG and saving money then pump up your tires, stay a good following distance behind the vehicles ahead of you, stay at the speed limit or slightly lower. If that 3 minutes is your priority then you're going to sacrifice mpgs.

Your lack of understanding of how the EPA numbers are derived and then being disappointed with your FE when you drive in a way far outside of the way the numbers are arrived at is a lack of educating yourself, not a problem with the car.

We can offer lots of help...but only if you're willing to listen and make some minor adjustments...and maybe actually read the articles we point you to instead of assuming you know what it says.

[dwreed3rd]

I've had many Type A personalities for friends over the years.

[richard schumacher]

Yeah, a forty mile commute is a bitch, in'nt.

Now that you're stuck with the wrong house, oh sorry, wrong car, the things you can easily do to improve the MPGs are:
- keep the tires inflated to 42/40 PSI front/rear
- if you use "B", stop using it
- slow down (yeah, I know)

By the way, if you don't like the Prius you're gonna hate the Aptera. You'll get run over on the ramps, and crosswinds will blow you off the freeway.

[bac]

Originally Posted by mfarmer1

Efusco,

I just need to drive, not play games with my car. The dealer should have told me that I would need to master "warp stealthing" or drive 20 mph slower than every other car around me on the freeway to achieve the advertised mileage.

You certainly don't have to drive like that.

I drive my Prius pretty hard (70-80 on the interstate, and faster than most traffic on other roads), and I still AVERAGE over 50mpg. I don't know how you are getting such bad numbers??????????

... Brad

[jps000]

The original post to this thread sounds like a joke. Is this a joke, mfarmer1?
Are you for real? Or are you pulling our leg. Please tell me, you are pulling our collective leg.

[PA Prius]

Pulling our leg or not, the thing I like about the Prius is that you can get in and drive it like any other car and getter better gas mileage than the average car. AND is you so choose, you can drive resourcefully and get much better mileage than your average car. The Prius gives you this option in a greater way than any other car.

E.g. yesterday I chose to drive conservatively and had my best mini-trip ever, a round trip of 340 miles to JFK airport to pick up niece. I set the cruise at 55 and enjoyed the trip--- 70.1 average on the way there, and then after my neice joined us in the car along with her luggage and driving in rain almost half the way home the total trip average was 66.1.

PA P

[mfarmer1]

Originally Posted by Shawn Clark

If you don't want to understand how the car works, then you are unlikely to ever get decent mileage from it. You don't even seem to have bothered to check the car out before you purchased, or to do a proper check out once you took delivery, so you have no idea if the car needs a set up adjustment or some modification in driving style, or if it is just the wrong car for you. Due diligence and RTFM apply here, and so does looking at what the hypermilers are doing--not to drive like a granny, but to understand how this car really works. They've figured some stuff out that is really helpful, regardless of how fast you like to drive. It's not the same as what you've driven before. It's a bigger difference than going from automatic to manual transmission for example. It's not speed or acceleration that is likely your problem, but driving style. If you fight it, you will be getting poor mileage.

My suggestion: if you lack the patience to try to understand it, sell it to someone waiting for a car that actually has some idea of what they are looking for. You should be able to get your money back out of it and the new owner can figure out what you don't care to learn. That would be a win-win.

If you want to take a deep breath, relax, and ask for help in determining if there are set up problems then you will likely get a lot of help here. If you expect someone else to do all the work for you, then you will likely be disappointed.

Do you grab unfamiliar scuba gear and a new dive computer and jump into a 100+ ft. wreck dive without even getting it wet first? Or do you know your equipment, study the manuals enough to be familiar with the basic functions/differences and do a check out dive before you take it out for a week of intensive diving thousands of miles away?

Geesh, it's just a car. Sorry to barge into your little commune here and question your religion. And yes, I've done that with several different computers while diving. They just work and are all basically the same. I have over 500 dives under my belt and don't need to study up on all the idiosyncrasies of every new gadget. I have over 40 years of driving under my belt with never a ticket (even at my apparently in this crowd insane need for speed) or accident and have owned 20+ cars never having an issue with the advertised epa estimates, even back in the day when those were exceedingly bogus. I've never even a read a single owner's manual of those cars unless I needed an answer to something. Bottom line again: You should be able to hop into a new car and just drive it in 2008 without having to play games with it. Stupid me for thinking you could get the advertised epa while driving the legal freeway speeds in a state where that's not too smart, or actually using that pesky little ac contraption. Silly me, I don't recall getting my hypermiling warp coasting tips and tricks booklet with the car to help morons like me actually get the mileage this car is supposed to get.

You know, I did hear about the superiority complex of Prius owners akin to the attacks on people who drive SUV's before I bought this car. I thought it was nonsense. Apparently not. Thanks for the advice Siddhartha.

[McShemp]

Sell it asap while you can get top dollar. Don't wait until next year. You can probably go right back to your dealer and get close to what you paid for it.

[mfarmer1]

Originally Posted by RonH

I drive from CV to RB on 805 & 15 and back daily hitting 80 mph in stretches but also crawling through heavy traffic. I get 48-50 mpg week in and week out. You must be working the night shift if you can go 80+mph for long stretches around here. 2 * 35 mi * 200 work days = 14Kmi. Are you heavy footed on the other 16 Kmi on surface roads or doing it on short deliveries? That'll kill your mileage.

I work all different times of the day and night depending upon the needs of my contract clients. I swear, I'm driving like an old lady off the freeways too and not getting the mileage. I've never hit 80 in this car even once and here you are doing that and still getting 10+ more mpg than me. BTW, my drive is from RB to CV and/or downtown as is yours. I take the HOV lanes, try to keep it at 70 and still get 38 at best. Not for much longer however, I'm not going to keep driving like this for no tangible benefit.

Hey, maybe I should really push this car to be the anti-hypermiler just to see how bad the mileage can get?

Thanks Ron!