Toyota: The Hybrid (and Hypermiler) Texas Tour

[Dan.]

OK... I'm getting ready to siphon the bad gas out of my car and stick the good gas in. It's about a 50 mile hike to get across the county line for the good gas.

Also, I'm repairing my EBH today. The plug has a bad contact. Any suggestions on how to resplice the plug head?

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[Dan.]

OK... Got my Prius back yesterday as I'd lowned it out to a friend while I was reviewing the Camry. When I lent it to him I told him "don't fill it up", but I don't think he heard the "Please ohhh Please don't fill it up whatever you do" and instead heard "Hey I'm a nice guy and I'm not going to ask you to fill the tank for borrowing the car".

Well he did fill it up... all the way up... with crap gas! After spending 2 hours trying to siphon the gas out we found the "Prius + Siphon = Impossible" thread. So now we are taking shifts trying to burn as much gas as possible. Since the idle is only 0.3 gph it would take a full day in idle to empty the tank.

My wife is behind the wheel now and she's under marking orders to try to get below 30 mpg. This is just sick...

On a positive note, I got my block heater fixed thanks to FireEngineer. Just clipped off the plug and installed a new plug head. I'm officially out of slack on the line so if this one shorts out I'm gonna need to get creative.

All right... I'll let you know how the stuffing goes in the morning.

Did a quick highway test with the crap gas and got about 71mpg pure highway. Since it was only an 8 mile curcuit, the exit back to my house bumped it all the way up to 79. I've I don't hold at least 72 mpg I'm really toast.

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[TJandGENESIS]

This should be fun to watch. Good luck.

[N3FOL]

First day...good luck and keep us posted on the outcome of each leg.

[zenMachine]

This is way cool. Do you plan to take any non-interstate highways? The hill country is much more enjoyable along the 'less traveled' roads...

[Dan.]

Micheal was updating the blog as I type... ( The Hybrid-Tech Texan ) so there should be some media coming shortly. It's all tounge in cheek but there is hopefully going to be some good content in there too.

PS.. be nice... I'm bringing Micheal around .

Quick update ....

Wake up call is 5am to do our morning interviews in Coprus Christi. We have two lined up. Suffice to say. I'm ready to go to bed.

The winds were horrific. Unforgiving and unrelenting. All either head-on or at a 45-90 deg Angle. The worst! Glides were WAY short for SHM and since you need at least 3 seconds to pop from 80-90 (note TPS drop from 18 to 17), I wasn't in the really Spectacular Highway Mode as much as I would have liked to be.

Final number for the day (Cringe) 201 miles @ 61.8 mpg. All pips still solid.

Micheal got 199 miles @ 40.3. 8 Pips showing (two dead and buried).

Differential... an nice round 55% (well 54.5%).

Hope for a tail wind up to San Antonio.

Front left tire was a bit low on air (don't ask the PSI, I ain't telling). It wasn't that bad, but I'll balance them all out before we launch in the morning.

One interesting note... I've been using my S1 veto for all it's worth. It's so hot, 3 starts usually lands me in S4. Well worth it.

I'm also concerned that the heat (97 degF) is flipping out the batteries a bit. I'm looking for any excuse I can get .

I'll see if I can't spread the delta to 60% tomorrow.

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[Dan.]

Good Morning PriusChat!

OK... 6am and 10am interviews at KIII-TV in Corpus. Might be webcast, but I can't be sure...

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[bestmapman]

Hi Dan,

Good to see your off to a good start.

[sugar land dave]

Hey there, Dan!

Good to see you out enjoying yourself. I have to think Spring might have been a better time for this promo. No air conditioner, right? You are tougher than me, my friend! I'm taking the 4 mpg hit to stay cool.

I wish fair winds and smooth roads for you!

[Danny]

Dan, awesome work so far! I enjoyed watching the video on the blog: