Prius facts to hang your hat on

[jkash]

Prius facts to hang your hat on

I have been reading negative reports about Prius mileage and cost effectiveness for years. Here is one called "The Hybrid Hoax," written about a year ago. The author propagates misinformation by referring us to another article written in 2004 by a USA Today reporter (Kiley) who drove a Jetta diesel from Detroit to Washington, D.C., and a Prius back from Washington, D.C. to Detroit:

Kiley had to stop to refill the Prius, which ended up averaging 38 miles per gallon, compared with 44 miles per gallon for the Jetta

What this idiot failed to mention is that the Prius actually got 51.7 MPG on the computer mileage gauge, which measures tire rotation and fuel flow precisely and accurately. The accuracy of the computer MPG calculation has also been verified by the EPA, which tests car emissions by measuring similar parameters. The reporter got 38 MPG when he manually checked the mileage. Toyota gave him several reasons to pick from as to why his manual MPG numbers were in error.

Read more.

[JimN]

Take two cars with empty fuel tanks and put them side by side. Put exactly the same amount of fuel in each and run them on the same course at the same time until they are out of fuel. When this happens I'll believe the story. Any other comparisons are not valid due to all the different variables. Just ignore the stories.

[TonyPSchaefer]

Jim,
That sounds like a job for Jamie and Adam, the MYTHBUSTERS!!

[chogan]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jkash @ Jan 20 2007, 09:07 AM) [snapback]378217[/snapback]</div>

Prius facts to hang your hat on

I have been reading negative reports about Prius mileage and cost effectiveness for years. Here is one called "The Hybrid Hoax," written about a year ago. The author propagates misinformation by referring us to another article written in 2004 by a USA Today reporter (Kiley) who drove a Jetta diesel from Detroit to Washington, D.C., and a Prius back from Washington, D.C. to Detroit:

Kiley had to stop to refill the Prius, which ended up averaging 38 miles per gallon, compared with 44 miles per gallon for the Jetta

What this idiot failed to mention is that the Prius actually got 51.7 MPG on the computer mileage gauge, which measures tire rotation and fuel flow precisely and accurately. The accuracy of the computer MPG calculation has also been verified by the EPA, which tests car emissions by measuring similar parameters. The reporter got 38 MPG when he manually checked the mileage. Toyota gave him several reasons to pick from as to why his manual MPG numbers were in error.

Read more.
[/b]

See my post #12 in this thread:
http://priuschat.com/index.php?showtopic=28578&hl=

All the serious studies of the issue that I found showed that hybrid gas vehicles significantly outperform the equivalent diesel-powered vehicles in terms of overall wheel-to-well efficiency.

[g_guttebo]

Hi,

A whole lotta folks pitching their 2 bits on this thread, so here's mine:

Calculated mileage for life of car ('07 Prius) is 44.8 mpg.

Calculated mileage between 'fillups', varies quite a bit (35 to 60 mpg). The 'rubber bladder effect' of the fuel tank probably accounts for most of this.

Computer mileage (around town) between 43 (winter) and 46 mpg (summer).

Best computer mileage 53.1 mpg (on trip between Santa Cruz and Arizona border, heading for Grand Canyon). Worst computer mileage 38 mpg (Arizona border to Williams, AZ), mostly due to markedly superior highways to those in CA and the 75 MPH posted speed limit (I found myself driving 80 to 85 MPH over this stretch. The highways in AZ seem to be engineered on purpose to make this speed feel 'natural'.) (BTW: It looked like trucks outnumber cars (at least on the the AZ Interstate) better than 10 to 1, and more than a few were driving 'very conservativly' at around 65 mph.)

Here in Santa Cruz, CA, better than 2% of vehicles on the road (incl. busses, trucks and motorcycles) are Prius's (Prii?).

Santa Cruz is an expensive place to live (median home price nearly 1/2 million $). More than a few folks here can afford to buy a Prius, so I rather imagine that there is a nearly corresponding reduction in the number of SUV's and BMW's being driven around here for every Prius I have seen on the road.

As far as mileage goes.... One can truely buy a much less expensive car that gets not too much less mpg than Prius. I think it is really great that more and more folks are putting fuel efficiency higher up on the list of criteria for their next car purchase, no matter what make or model they choose.

As far as bio-fuel.... what works,.... works. However the stuff bio fuels are made of is getting more expensive. (Among other things, every acre of corn that goes into a tank is many less sacks of 'surplus' corn (or wheat) stenciled with a great big 'USA' that has been 'traditionally' shipped off to help feed the unfortunate people in other parts of the world suffering from drought, natural disasters and war. The USA loses quite a bit of PR. What's kinda' worse is that (in my view, at least) the average (?mostly illiterate?) folk in those areas (because of the www, satellite TV, etc.) now have a better idea why they may be suffering more than they would otherwise.

Note: A (the only?) bio-diesel station in Santa Cruz just closed 'cause they couldn't afford to buy the next tanker load of fuel. Note: This enterprise was not established to 'make money' (charging only 10 to 25 cents per gallon over cost). It's purpose was to promote local use of bio-diesel. Unfortunatly, their markup couldn't keep up with sudden rise in wholesale cost. They hope to reorganize as a membership cooperative.

OK... 4 bits... But now I am finally tired enough to go to sleep (now 3 AM).

Gary...

[KandyRedCoi]

Originally Posted by TonyPSchaefer

Jim,
That sounds like a job for Jamie and Adam, the MYTHBUSTERS!!

+1000000

lets get all these myths over with, i want to shut all the haters up

[Squint]

The other problem with the initial "experiment" is that the cars should have been driven at the same time in the same manner in the same direction.

In tests where the conditions are held as similar as possible (EPA or even the recent Edmunds test), the Prius does better than the diesel.

[KandyRedCoi]

You Tube

[zeeman]

Originally Posted by JimN

Take two cars with empty fuel tanks and put them side by side. Put exactly the same amount of fuel in each and run them on the same course at the same time until they are out of fuel. When this happens I'll believe the story. Any other comparisons are not valid due to all the different variables. Just ignore the stories.

and to add to that -- take in consideration cost of diesel II vs regular 87 octane gas.

[abq sfr]

Not intending to be smug There's a slight learning curve for driving a Prius most efficiently, these people who drive a Prius once and compare a Prius mpg to another car are just going about it all wrong. In addition, we all know that mpg will go up with time due to both the driver and the car breaking in, probably more so than a "normal" car. Also there are very simple things to increase the mpg even more such as raise the TP a little, get an ebh, and a Scangauge so you know for sure when the ice shuts off.

Since I bought mine a little over year ago I've never had less than a 49 mfd mpg tank, the first tank after I bought it was 52 with dealer tp and not knowing anything, probably just due to knowledge gained by lurking here in PC for a month before buying it. My average is in the sig, last 6 tanks have been over 58 mpg. I'm commuting using the same route I've used for 10 years, mixed freeway and stop and go. Give ME another car to compare over the same course for a tank of gas, and that would be a fair comparison for my commute. Other's mmv.