Bad MPG Theory

Alright, so I just got my Prius V, and I've been noticing lately while I've been trying to stick within the ECO area of my HSI, people behind me are getting p***** off and speeding around me, thus wasting more gas and polluting more than if we were both going relatively fast.

I love the savings I get at the pump, but I feel like I'm only adding to the problem of road rage.

What do you do from a stop...

I'm new to this too, and have been accelerating quite slowly, which annoys others and me. P&G guys usually say to accelerate in the right most part of the HSI display just before it goes into power...this is supposed to get you to speed faster while still being fairly efficient...once I break it in I imagine I'll just hit the gas and get on with my life, haha

Mike

I understand what your saying. I operate in ECO mode almost all of the time unless I want to show my peers what the Prius can do in PWR mode. I almost always have the HSI on my display. I push the pedal till it is in the very far yellow - right before PWR bar starts and keep it there till I get to my desired speed. Sometime I'll get a little bit into the PWR bar to accelerate a bit quicker of people are on my butt. All in all, keep it in ECO. People who want to be speed daemons can do so. I just laugh when people ride my butt and then floor it around me and jump in front of me. Is it really necessary..?

You should drive at 55 mph on the I-5 (SoCal) like I do. Drives people insane since the usual mph is 70-80 even in the slow lane. I am probably saving people gas because I reduce traffic speed.

You also cause accidents by slowing the flow of traffic, thanks! If you have an opportunity to fly over a freeway, you will see most traffic jams are usually caused by a few jerks who doesn't go with the flow of traffic and blocks everyone.

ECO mode only saves gas if you purposely try. If you are trying to keep up with traffic, it is absolutely pointless since you will be accelerating more to keep up. It is just a marketing gimmick, it doesn't change the timing map of the vehicle.

I do understand what you are trying to get across here but, doesn't ECO mode throttle down the AC and several other features of the car in effort to save a little more on gas/energy usage? I'm contemplating staying in ECO or normal mode. I've been so used to driving in ECO I can see myself pushing harder on the pedal in normal mode until I re-learn the pedal sensitivity better for normal mode. Anyways, Eco or normal mode is for me. I'll stick with ECO for now though.

Probably true, but I always drive in the right lane if I'm driving slow.

I believe it does tone down the AC in addition to utilize the traction motor more than default/power.

:car:I do both. If no one is behind me, I take my sweet Eco time. If someone is waiting for me, I let it go into red to get up to speed. In my vast 4 days of experience () I have used only ECO mode and have not had trouble on the few times when I have needed to go fast.

Robbin

I drive an '09 Prius so I don't even have an Eco, but I have a theory: Get to cruising speed as soon as polite. No car gets it's best gas mileage when accelerating, so do not prolong the time spent accelerating. Do prolong the time spent getting good mileage by spending maximum time cruising.

That's a large part of pulse and glide, from what I can tell, and how I try to approach it. Haven't gotten less than 50.1 out of a tank yet.

I live in an area with lots of steep hills with traffic signals at the bottom (worse case to try for great economy) I get the same mileage (48) whether I go easy (just left of the PWR) or I fill the entire screen. The car should actually get its best acceleration mileage when the rpms are at peak torque (4000rpm). Peak torque is where the engine has the lowest LB/HP consumption. I don't have a scanguage to check the rpms when accelerating so I just fill the gauge and keep up with traffic.

That is kinda similar to my type of terrain. Are you in ECO mode when you fill the power bar or in normal mode? The reason I ask is because if you fill the bar in PWR mode it will be more demanding than in ECO mode. I guess I'll just keep it in ECO mode, and push it into half of the PWR bar when necessary...

The Gen III should have a tachometer and a better display of how much of regen braking is used vs. friction braking. Would help to improve MPG by trying to optimize acceleration and braking.

I drive in normal mode. I found power mode to be to touchy and eco mode makes me dig to deep when climbing

Accelerate normally (don't baby the pedal up to speed), then glide.

I didn't vote because none of these match what I do. I drive in ECO all the time, but I don't clog up traffic. ECO doesn't make the car slower it simply allows you to modulate the throttle with more sensitivity.

I don't know because I drive the dang car and that means eyes out and scanning all the nut cases I have to share the road with. Between 0 and ~30 mph, my eyes are on the traffic around me. Bumping other cars really hurts mileage.

Above around 30 mph, the traffic spacing is usually enough I can safely glance at the HSI display and depending upon speed limit, I'll back off a little to avoid the 'red' bar section and improve following distance. But let me emphasize, a 'red bar' is a lot better than 'red blood' and that means just drive the car.

Bob Wilson

Plus you are driving the speed limit the jerks that are driving 80 MPH are the ones causing the traffic jams, you are just obeying the law

I usually accelerate normally, but even so there are many ppl who just seem to be in a craze rush to floor the accelerator as soon as the light turns green. But those folks can go around me since I'm usually on the right lane. Anyway, I've been told that the prius engine (well the 09 at least) operates more efficiently in normal RPMs rather than in lower RPMs. So from a stop just go, but don't feel like you're in a drag race.

In California, this may be in violation of "impeding traffic/slow-moving vehicle," for driving less than the normal flow of traffic and you could get ticketed.

As an aside, the Prius is designed to get 50 mpg with NORMAL driving. Do you think the EPA testers were applying hypermiling techniques? Those techniques are designed to get the Prius in the 60-70 range, not its stated EPA mpg.