Gas Mileage, exceedng EPA estimates?

[gil]

Having had our Prius for 3 1/2 years and the TCH for almost two I can say that the Prius easily gets 47-48 winter and 50-52 summer in around town driving without using P & G. The TCH gets 37-38 winter and 40 in the summer around town and having taken long road trips in it has achieved 44 on the highway with no special driving techniques. I drive it at the posted speeds and have typically set the cruise control at 70 and the mileage just hangs between 42 and 44 on the highway. For a car as quiet as the Camry Hybrid, it cannot be beat by much other than a VW Diesel and that not by much and the far higher cost of the diesel fuel lately negates its advantage.

The TCH will run on battery power at higher speeds than the Prius and I have driven nearly 1.5 miles on electric power at speeds up to 40 on level roads. This does require a feather touch on the accelerator to prevent the engine from firing up, but far easier to achieve than in the Prius.

I'm a big fan of both cars and would not give either one up.

[acdii]

Originally Posted by gil

Having had our Prius for 3 1/2 years and the TCH for almost two I can say that the Prius easily gets 47-48 winter and 50-52 summer in around town driving without using P & G. The TCH gets 37-38 winter and 40 in the summer around town and having taken long road trips in it has achieved 44 on the highway with no special driving techniques. I drive it at the posted speeds and have typically set the cruise control at 70 and the mileage just hangs between 42 and 44 on the highway. For a car as quiet as the Camry Hybrid, it cannot be beat by much other than a VW Diesel and that not by much and the far higher cost of the diesel fuel lately negates its advantage.

The TCH will run on battery power at higher speeds than the Prius and I have driven nearly 1.5 miles on electric power at speeds up to 40 on level roads. This does require a feather touch on the accelerator to prevent the engine from firing up, but far easier to achieve than in the Prius.

I'm a big fan of both cars and would not give either one up.

Sounds like what I got, my only real problem I had with the Prius was lack of room. I have 3 kids, two in car seats, so there just wasn't enough room in the Prius. My TCH is great, when I can get it under 42 MPH I try to keep it on battery as much as possible, and I am seeing 38.5 for lifetime so far, 10K on it since I got it in April. I also see 43-45 MPG on the highway, no special driving techniques.

On a side note, I rented a Prius last month in San Jose(looked like a freaking prius convention), and I didnt like the display, it was an early 08 I believe, the MFD was different than my 07 had. It seemed peppeir, but didnt get as good milage that mine did, I barely got it to 50 on the highway, and the overall milage while I had it was just under 42, while I normally averaged 48+ in that kind of weather and driving conditions, sometimes I even acheived 53 MPG.