Toyota: The Hybrid (and Hypermiler) Texas Tour

[Dan.]

Hey guys, I'm going to be working with Toyota next week on a Hybrid (and Hypermiler) Tour of Texas. We will be visiting Houston, Corpus Christi, San Antonio, Austin, and Dallas, with media events at all venues.

I'll be in my Prius and see how far I can get on a tank. Wish me luck.

Here's the itinerary

Sun July 13th - Drive to Corpus City Hall
Mon July 14th - Drive to The Alamo in San Antonio
Tue July 15th - Drive to Brush Square in Austin
Wed July 16th - Drive to City Hall Plaza in Dallas
Thu July 17th - Drive to Discovery Green in Houston

We'll start the drive to each destination at Noon and have one media stop on the way. So hopefully that will spell out when we'll arrive.

Here's the Map. The format is going to be Michael Garfield ("High Tech Texan" Radio show) and myself driving around Texas. He's going to drive without instruction, and I'll be driving for the numbers. At the end we will compare travel time and fuel budget. It's a round trip so no hope of getting lucky with a prevailing wind or drop in elevation. Hardest part is going to be from San Antonio through Austin. This is the Texas hill country and it ain't flat.

There should be a full media blitz on this stuff with a video blog they will be hosting. Reality WebTV meets Hypermiling.

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[sandman]

Please have an in car camera with it positioned to show your scan gauge, display and you..I think it would help a lot of us newbies trying to read and understand all the stuff you guys throw at us. Also ...Good luck... If you can't get an in car camera don't sweat it maybe next time, but I would think that Toyota would also want this ..

[rfruth]

Wow Dan & Michael, i'll be looking for this !

[Dan.]

Originally Posted by sandman

Please have an in car camera with it positioned to show your scan gauge, display and you..I think it would help a lot of us newbies trying to read and understand all the stuff you guys throw at us. Also ...Good luck... If you can't get an in car camera don't sweat it maybe next time, but I would think that Toyota would also want this ..

Yeah, they will have everything wired to the gills. Video blog, audio blog, and morning news shows at each stop.

Most of my miles will be highway. For highway I just hold the ignition timing (IGN) at 14 for as long as possible. Once it falls off I pulse back up and try to find IGN 14 again. With a lot of luck you can pull 70 MPG between 50 and 55 mph. I've got about 700 foot rise coming from corpus through the Texas hill country. That is going to be rough to recover. I'll try to Warp Stealth like mad through this stuff

Originally Posted by rfruth

Wow Dan & Michael, i'll be looking for this !

Thanks... I'll keep everyone posted.

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[Dan.]

OK... The blog is up with some test video from the production team. The blog should hold our daily progress and video diaries.

The Hybrid-Tech Texan

PS... The "ONE TANK" Gauntlet has been thrown down. Any tank stuffing advice would be much appreciated

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[sandman]

Yeah, they will have everything wired to the gills. Video blog, audio blog, and morning news shows at each stop.

Great news.. Good luck and cant wait to check those blogs out..

PS... The "ONE TANK" Gauntlet has been thrown down. Any tank stuffing advice would be much appreciated

Cant help you much there my best tank was 641 miles might have made it to 675 ...

[lfwintx]

Actually, I35 from San Antonio to Austin isn't that hilly. The Texas Hill Country is a little west of I35.

I live in New Braunfels on I35 between San Antonio and Austin. Wave as you go by.

[usbseawolf2000]

Are they planning to drive a VW TDI along the same route to compare the cost of the trip?

[removeum]

If they want hillsthen they should continue west to El Paso IMHO.

[Dan.]

Originally Posted by usbseawolf2000

Are they planning to drive a VW TDI along the same route to compare the cost of the trip?

I doubt Toyota has a VW in their fleet .

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