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Document your MPG by doing this!

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Fuel Economy' started by unigeezer, Sep 8, 2011.

  1. unigeezer

    unigeezer Member

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    Not that I doubt those who claim unusually high mpg, but what I would love to see, is for those people who claim 50+ mpg as "routine", to do the following:

    Take a PICTURE showing your average MPG as in the pic below. Except that you must have a minimum of 150 miles showing, not just a few miles, since anyone can average ridiculously high MPG in the first few miles!

    Also, so we know that the pic you take is not some generic pic from the net, simply put your hand in the shot, pointing at--but not obstructing--the MPG. And btw, Gen III owners are welcome to join in! Post away! :D

    100-mpg-prius.png
     
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  2. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    And then multiply the value shown in the pic (assuming mpg) by maybe 0.93?

    Really not sure of the point. How about a pic of your annual miles travelled, showing how few miles you travelled? Just as commendable?
     
  3. unigeezer

    unigeezer Member

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    Part of this thread was also to see how many (who claim unusually high MPG) would react. I figured that some might get defensive, and make excuses for not wanting to participate, while I'm sure there will be others who would be more than happy to show us their average MPG in this way. But then again, I might be totally wrong, and we won't have a single person (who claims extraordinary MPG) participate.

    That would tell me a lot as well. There is no doubt that there are people who exaggerate various claims for whatever reason, like those who say, "you should have seen the size of the fish I caught!" :rolleyes:

    My main point is, as long as we have threads dedicated to "MPG", and people making claims of 50+ *average* MPG, let's just SEE some verification. No big whoop, and easy to do. After all, I'm not asking to see your "birth certificate" haha! :p
     
  4. Paul58

    Paul58 Mileage Miser

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    My mileage is figured manually by inputing the mileage showing on the odometer divided by the amount of fuel I put in the tank. This is input to the website Fuelly (see below). No smoke and mirriors, just the facts. I can also say that the MPG displayed is normally about 2-3 mpg higher than my manual calculations, and being as the computer that calculates that mpg is probably the same one that calcutes the display you want a picture of, I'd venture to say my manual calculations are probably more accurate...
     
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  5. unigeezer

    unigeezer Member

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    Please just post a pic of you pointing to your display, showing the average MPG, with at least 150 miles traveled. Easy to do. And since you say that your displayed average is *higher* than what you manually calculate, we can expect to see a displayed average of close to 55 MPG? Please, post a pic! I'd love to see that! :)
     
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  6. tonyrenier

    tonyrenier I grew up, but it's still red!

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    Here's one from last summer

    PriusChat Forums - tonyrenier's Album: Tony's 2010 Prius III - Picture

    And another

    PriusChat Forums - tonyrenier's Album: Tony's 2010 Prius III - Picture

    Remember, I consistantly calculate 2.1 mpg less than the MFD
    I shouldn't have to point at anything, you can see the dates they were uploaded in 2010. Now, if I could get the photo to show and not just the link.
     
  7. unigeezer

    unigeezer Member

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    Thanks for posting. The first pic shows and average speed of 26mph??? Haha, that would explain it. But I'm not familiar with the gen 3 display. What does "COMS" (just before MPG) mean" The second pic indicates "best", not average. My "best" is 99MPG... when coasting. :p
     
  8. tonyrenier

    tonyrenier I grew up, but it's still red!

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    The first pic is definately city driving but the total miles are correct. As for the COMS it think it's CONS (UPDATE, CONS is for consumption, I googled it), just a poor picture, I'm sure that's constant MPG or something to that effect.

    The second picture gives a graph of mpg per tank. All well above 50 mpg even in the fall. MPGs began to rise when I used a lower grill block.
    Hope that helps

    My scangauge will show over 1400 mpg going down a hill, I don't think short stints are measured on the MFD.
     
  9. unigeezer

    unigeezer Member

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    26 mph average is quite low, for any kind of city driving, unless you're doing a lot of stop & go, which would reduce your MPG average, not the reverse.

    I'm hoping to see some more realistic examples with higher average speeds. Maybe city/highway combined. But yes, it's quite a common occurrence--at least for me--for the first few miles to show super high MPG averages.

    Of course, it always helps to start with a fully charged batteries, "baby" the throttle and drive super slow, coast a lot, keep windows closed, don't use AC or heat, avoid hills, and use your cruise control.
     
  10. TheForce

    TheForce Stop War! Lets Rave! Make Love!

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    Mine only goes up to 99.9 MPG. :( I still have about 75% fuel remaining. So I'm good for another 1500 miles or so. :D

    [​IMG]
     
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  11. unigeezer

    unigeezer Member

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    Cool! Now all you need os to send that to America's funniest Home Videos! (You'd get my vote!) :p
     
  12. MJFrog

    MJFrog Active Member

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    [​IMG]

    You can see my mpg stats by clicking link next to myhybridcar (mine) stats. Note the mpg listed in my sig is lifetime. It actually varies from ~45 mpg in winter to almost 70 mpg in summer. The link will take you to a chart showing a graph of mpg since I bought the car in 2009. My wife doesn't hipermile. :(
     
  13. john1701a

    john1701a Prius Guru

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    What about this...

    [​IMG]

    That's from my time with a PHV. Note the low MPH average is from leaving the system on while taking lots and lots of photos, most of which the Prius was stationary. The driving itself was the ordinary routine.
    .
     
  14. F8L

    F8L Protecting Habitat & AG Lands

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    Since this is a new thread I cannot compete with my current wheel/tire setup because it drops my mpg so low but here are ones with my 15s and LRR tires. This is based on 80%-95% highway driving at speeds between 55mph and 70mph. GenII's don't have an average speed gauge but when traveling at 65mpg for over 50miles with only a few miles of city driving, I noticed average speed would be around 55mph.

    *note* these are hosted on my website so it's not like I would host generic googled images on my own page*

    This tank included a little bit of pulse and glide on country roads just to see what it would do to mpg. I quickly grew bored of this technique though.
    [​IMG]

    57.5mpg at 165 miles

    58.1mpg at 337 miles

    55.3mpg at 497 miles
     
  15. PriusDSM

    PriusDSM Junior Member

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    I think you have a great idea, however I think it should be 58 or above. Mid 50's for an average is not that hard, having more than that just blows my mind how it's possible with what I already have to do to get that mid 50's number.
     
  16. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

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    Isn't that what city driving is? Lots of sitting at traffic lights, which kills the average speed, and kills economy in non-hybrids. Especially the ones backed up so badly that I must wait 3 cycles just to get to the light. That happened several times over the distance pictured here:

    [​IMG]

    This displayed MPG is higher than normal for me due to hot weather and a trip reset error, erasing some climb. The actual tank so far is about 66 mpg over 249 miles. I forgot the finger during daylight, and a night picture is either seriously washed out (no flash) or vaguely obscene (flash), so I'll have to get a fresh picture tomorrow.

    My mpg is not extraordinary, as displayed at http://priuschat.com/forums/members...tos-picture6702-prius-mpg-2nd-anniversary.jpg last updated in June. 50-something mpg is clearly routine. But I've had only two lifetime tanks that calculated over 60 mpg at the pump, though 7 of the most recent 9 tanks have displayed as low 60s on the MID. The expected use will drop the current tank by several ticks before refill time.
    My first few miles are always super low due to engine warmup, unless I take the 400 foot descent route away from home. That hill takes revenge on the return.
     
  17. cwerdna

    cwerdna Senior Member

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    Gen 2's MFD is pretty accurate vs. manual calculations when you average values from each over many tanks. I don't know the status of the Gen 3 and whether there actually are different revisions with different degrees of inaccuracy as I'd seem claims of before....
     
  18. tonyrenier

    tonyrenier I grew up, but it's still red!

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    Here's a photo of my Scangauge taken this morning when I arrived at work after my 7.2 mile mildly uphill drive to work, outside temp 65 F. The Scangauge II is dead on.
    And I was mistaken on downhills, it reads 9999 mpg.

    http://priuschat.com/forums/members...s-iii-picture7159-after-morning-trip-jpg.html
     
  19. Paul58

    Paul58 Mileage Miser

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    I'll take a picture when I get home, no camera here at work. Mine shows an average speed of 29 mph, but the posted speeds along my daily commute are mostly 45 mph (there is a 2 mile stretch that posted 40 mph, but no one drives it, most do 45 mph). I keep up with the flow of traffic (which can get to 50-53 mph), but quite honestly, how long can you really maintain the posted speed limit when contending with traffic and traffic lights (there are 24 stop lights along my 20 mile commute)? Most of the time I am either accelerating to the speed limit or slowing down and preparing to stop at the next light! I seriously doubt I actually maintain the posted speed limit for more than maybe 3-4 miles out of the 20 I travel! If I could maintain 45 mph for the entire commute (i.e. no stop and go), my average MPG would be significantly more than what I actually get!

    P.S. The Avgerage mileage posted on my sig is also over the life of the vehicle (the last 11,235 miles to be exact). If I were able to link to the graph you'd see it flutuated significantly depending upon the season, best in spring and fall, worst in dead of winter...
     
  20. uart

    uart Senior Member

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    I'm surprised that you consider 50 mpg unusually high. I'm pretty sure that 50mpg is somewhat close to average.

    Just wondering unigeezer, what mpg do you actually average to consider 50 so high?
     
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