what is every1 in the chicagoland area

[newlifein5]

what is every1 in the chicagoland area averaging on their prius?

in general, what is every1's MPG in chicago or not chicago. i am getting 43 MPG. but i drive 95% of the time on highways going @ about 75 mph.

43 MPG is a pos in my opinion. i was told at least 55 MPG. freaken dealer. i am just so unhappy with my prius.

[butchbs1985]

[quote=newlifein5 @ Apr 23 2007, 11:27 PM) [snapback]428846[/snapback]</div>

what is every1 in the chicagoland area averaging on their prius?

in general, what is every1's MPG in chicago or not chicago. i am getting 43 MPG. but i drive 95% of the time on highways going] about 75 mph.

43 MPG is a pos in my opinion. i was told at least 55 MPG. freaken dealer. i am just so unhappy with my prius.
[/b]

First off, please disregard my signature. I have not updated my mileage in about a month.

That is about what I get if I am driving @ 75MPH. I found that if I drive 70MPH, I get about 45, and if I drive @ 60 MPH, I get about 49 MPG.

As i'm sure you will find in other forums, the maximum efficiency of the Prius is around 55 MPH. I have only had mine since February but have changed my driving habits quite a bit since I saw what a difference it had on my mileage. Besides, leaving 5 minutes or so earlier isn't a big deal to me.

Also, I don't use the mileage shown on the MFD. I have found that on my particular car, the odometer distance and the MFD distance are two different numbers (Off by almost 10 miles per tank). I would recommend doing the manual calculations using the odometer mileage. The tank mileage varies widely due to weather, and driving conditions. IE: Yesterday it was windy. My average MPG going west was 39MPG on I-80. Coming back, it was 50. (Gotta love a good tailwind)!

And yes, to all of you who are thinking it, I am taking my Prius to Toyota to have the MFD issue looked at. As you can see in my other posts, I am having other issues with that as well but have not had time to get it checked out.

Is the mileage issue the only reason you are displeased with the car? I switched from a Dodge Intrepid to my '05 Prius and I love it. The car is comfortable (after I added lumbar support), small enough to get around Chi-Town, and quick enough to navigate traffic. Just keep in mind that it may take some getting used to.

Also, how long have you had your Prius? I know that there is a Prius group meeting coming up. Maybe you could pick up some tips.

[MegansPrius]

[quote=newlifein5 @ Apr 23 2007, 11:27 PM) [snapback]428846[/snapback]</div>

what is every1 in the chicagoland area averaging on their prius?

in general, what is every1's MPG in chicago or not chicago. i am getting 43 MPG. but i drive 95% of the time on highways going] about 75 mph.

43 MPG is a pos in my opinion. i was told at least 55 MPG. freaken dealer. i am just so unhappy with my prius.
[/b]

If you're going to go 75, you'll get lower mileage. We're getting about 49 MPG since the weather warmed up. Some detailed Chicago area mileage logs are available at the below links:
http://www.chicagopriusgroup.com/ (click mileage logs on left under Who We Are)
http://www.daronspicher.com/php/prius/priusgasgrid.php

The driving tips page under the Chicago Prius Group page also has some helpful tips for increasing your mileage.

[FireEngineer]

Please do come to the ChicagoPriusGroup meet-up on May 20th. A few tips and hints could prove useful to you. Since I drive mostly in Chicago itself my MPG is higher, but my 100 mile trip to the Milwaukee Hybrid Group meeting this past Saturday on I-294/I-94 showed a 65.5MPG on the ScanGauge so good highway milage is possible.

Wayne

[daronspicher]

[quote=newlifein5 @ Apr 23 2007, 11:27 PM) [snapback]428846[/snapback]</div>

what is every1 in the chicagoland area averaging on their prius?

in general, what is every1's MPG in chicago or not chicago. i am getting 43 MPG. but i drive 95% of the time on highways going] about 75 mph.

43 MPG is a pos in my opinion. i was told at least 55 MPG. freaken dealer. i am just so unhappy with my prius.
[/b]

If I go 75 on the open road, I'm right down there with you in the low 40's. However, I drive a lot of my commute in the 70-80mph range and have an overall average in the 50-51mpg range after 14 months in my prius. Here's what my commute looks like.

I travel 11 miles from my house to the tollway. This is a mix of 2 lane divided stoplight to stoplight that necks down to single lane and back to doubles a few times along the way. Usually this 11 miles takes about 18 minutes to give a perspective on average speed. some is stopped at lights, other times we're rolling along at 55mph.

Once on the tollway (88 east), I go about 24 miles to get to 294North toward Ohare. A lot of this is in the 70+mph range, especially on the west end... maybe the last 10 or so trend down to 60-65mph..

On 294N toward Ohare, this is usually closer to 60mph, may slow to 50ish in parts. The last 15 miles or so north of the Touhy Toll are back into the 65-75 range again.

I get off at half day road and have about 3 miles to where I work.

Most of this driving and most of these speeds are in the 5am-6:15am timeframe rolling along with traffic in the center lane. I'm not out hotdogging or trying to get ahead of anyone and I'm not driving 55.00000 mph in the center lane being an accident waiting to happen.

In the afternoon, I reverse the process with some slowdowns on 294 south from Dempster to Touhy, but overall about 65-75mph, especially toward 75 once past winfield road heading west on 88. Usually somewhere during the week I top 80mph. I don't notice it much, but when I clear the GPS top speed, it's almost always in the 79-82mph range.

Early on when I had the car, I tried the 55-60, right lane, trying to save fuel to get the mpg so I could justify the car in my mind. At one point I ended up needing to get from A to B for something and found out that my leg-o-journey mfd mileage was better doing that than when I was driving slower. I decided to experiment with a whole tank at the 'flow of traffic' speeds and was coming out ahead.

There is a flow of traffic element to this because if I head out on open road without all the traffic around, the mileage is a lot lower. I don't follow super close behind, usually 4 to 10 car lengths or more, so I'm not drafting to get the mileage..

After 1.5 days so far this week on a new tank of gas, 193 miles on the mfd, I'm showing right at 56mpg which means I'm getting about 52.

I'm just over 14 months and 48,000 miles at 50.51mpg for all of that. With that much history, I have to get awesome mpg or really terrible mpg to move the average much, but over time it will float a little.

http://www.daronspicher.com/php/prius/priusgasgrid.php

[gring40]

[quote=newlifein5 @ Apr 23 2007, 11:27 PM) [snapback]428846[/snapback]</div>

what is every1 in the chicagoland area averaging on their prius? ... i am getting 43 MPG. but i drive 95% of the time on highways going] about 75 mph. ... i am just so unhappy with my prius.[/b]

You can look up the equation for the drag force on a moving car in Wikipedia, and see that it is directly proportional to the frontal area and drag coefficient of the car (can't change that for a Prius), but proportional to the square of the velocity.

Translation: the air resistance at 75mph is up 86% compared to 55mph, up 56% re 60mph, up 33% re 65mph, and up 15% re 70 mph. Of course, your mileage will be that much worse as the drag goes up. If you want to go fast, that's the price you pay, unless you want to count the speeding ticket also.

[donee]

Hi Newlifin5,

I am not sure where you are driving 75 mph on a Chicagoland expressway. My experience is that as soon as one gets to 75, one would have to start slowing down due to congestion up front. I see this every morning, even at 6 am. A line of cars goes by in the fast lane at 75, which are then passed in a few minutes by the cars in the slow lane (as they are all dead stopped). Then the cycle repeats. Of course the Hybrid system is only so good, and its not going to recover 100 % of the braking energy. The total efficiency speed, to wheels is about 40 to 45 %. The recovery efficiency is very good (about 85 %), but the battery to wheel efficiency during accelleration is the killer. Still, its better than totally loosing that energy altogether. Which is why my old Saturn SL2 would only get 28 mpg on the same trip the Prius is in the mid 50's.

Are you doing allot of inter-city travel ? Are you doing the Rockford-Schaumburg commute?

Possibly you will see better mileage lately. Seems allot of people are slowing down on the expressways since gas went over $3.25/ga , and that is causing more congestion at the choke points. Or, the students are on the roads now, going to thier summer jobs. Or both. This has added about 5 mpg to my average this tank. Even with the AC during the 90 degree day.

I would recommend cold tire pressure of 41/39 PSI. Set this in the morning, before the sun heats the tires.

Techlite is right. Additionally, while force is going up as square function, power is going up as a cubed function. So the power required to overcome air drag at 65 mph is 65 percent of the power required at 75 mph. Yet distance covered is only 15.4 percent higher per unit time at 75 than at 65 mph. The overall Prius fuel efficiency curve has a drop off at 40 mph, then a plateau around 60 to 65, then it drops off again. Above 68 mph or so, the car cannot drop into electric on downhill sections, or coasting down, due to the ratios in the gear box. And the engine must run.

[TonyPSchaefer]

Please do come to the ChicagoPriusGroup meet-up on May 20th. A few tips and hints could prove useful to you. [/b]

I really hope to see you there this afternoon.

[BMahon]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(FireEngineer @ Apr 24 2007, 08:53 AM) [snapback]428949[/snapback]</div>

Please do come to the ChicagoPriusGroup meet-up on May 20th. A few tips and hints could prove useful to you. Since I drive mostly in Chicago itself my MPG is higher, but my 100 mile trip to the Milwaukee Hybrid Group meeting this past Saturday on I-294/I-94 showed a 65.5MPG on the ScanGauge so good highway milage is possible.

Wayne
[/b]

Thanks for your input at the Chicago Prius meeting. Enjoyed it and will plan to attend some of the other scheduled meetings. I worry about the 50 lbs of pressure you were recommending. Side of the tire says max of 44 psi. Loved the idea of an engine block heater and the foam for the front grill area. I had to leave before the Prius Tech had a chance to speak. Did he have anything to say about the modifications? I wish I could have heard his comments about maintaining the Prius. I like doing a lot of things myself. Not sure if I want to tackle the block heater but I might feel up the back side of the motor to see if I can find that cavity.

Thanks again!

Bruce

[orracle]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(BMahon @ May 21 2007, 04:57 AM) [snapback]446533[/snapback]</div>

Thanks for your input at the Chicago Prius meeting. Enjoyed it and will plan to attend some of the other scheduled meetings. I worry about the 50 lbs of pressure you were recommending. Side of the tire says max of 44 psi. Loved the idea of an engine block heater and the foam for the front grill area. I had to leave before the Prius Tech had a chance to speak. Did he have anything to say about the modifications? I wish I could have heard his comments about maintaining the Prius. I like doing a lot of things myself. Not sure if I want to tackle the block heater but I might feel up the back side of the motor to see if I can find that cavity.

Thanks again!

Bruce
[/b]

I'm getting a combo of 55-56 mpg city/hwy, mostly on I294 and if someone doesn't ride my tail.

Where do you put the foam for the front grill and where do you get it? Likewise, the heater?