this sounds like the most ridiculous idea ever.

wasnt one of the main reasons we all bought a prius to save gas? not show how efficiently we can use it?

I beg to differ. If you drive the Prius right, you can save LOTS of gas. Do you know of anyone who "just drives" a Prius that can get 101 mpg over 867 miles? There is no way I could get that kind of mileage without learning some techniques.

I have to say, I applaud the idea, but IMHO, they aren't doing anything amazing...

Looking at that map, they are almost certainly trying their hardest to take the least busy country roads and highways and I mean, its not particularly hard to hypermile when you have little to no traffic behind you. Look at Texas for example - they go through the second most empty part of the state. Would they be able to get 100mpg driving in Dallas or Houston? I doubt it. If they could pull off 80mpg+ driving in a big city, THAT would be impressive!

Not trying to be a dissenter or anything, just my opinion.

Ok, but one metropolitan area does not make the entire trip amazing, when they are going through...what....I'm guessing, 3,000 miles of road where they can pick and choose how they drive?

I can get 55mpg on the highway pretty easily - set the cruise at 55mph. I'm sure I could squeeze out another 5mpg if I pulsed to 65, then glided until maybe 45 or so, repeat etc.

The last time I got that 55mpg figure I drove about 200 miles on I-45 going from Houston to Dallas....started out at midnight, set the cruise at 55mph....and I got 55mpg. It was a weeknight, and even that late, there was a fair amount of traffic, although about 99% of it was big rig trucks, and they all saw me, signaled to move lanes, moved lanes, and then pulled back in front of me. Very courteous, but I'm sure that was an exception...every other time I've driven that route, the timing and day of the week has been slightly different, and I've had to deal with assholes who insist on going 90+ mph.....on a two-lane highway. Frustration ensues for all parties in that situation.

Again, not trying to rain on theirs (or anyone else's) parade here, just pointing out some things...

The elevation profile that they had in WY was scary at best. They had a constant climb for the first few hundred miles to a high point of around 6500'. Then they dropped to around 4000' then back up to 6500'. They still got nearly 70mpg with three people in the car and their gear.

This is exactly what needs to happen.

We need to replace "Nascar" with "hypermiling".

Instead of horsepower and speed being the gods that are worshiped, they need to be replaced with mpg and torque and low emissions.

Lets consider some things here....its either easy, or its difficult.

If its easy - anyone can do it, and therefore it is nothing special. Right?

If its hard - not everyone can do it. So most people will not bother. Right?

You are saying its difficult - if that is the case, what does it matter then? I'm content with 40mpg in my Prius, and I'm sure that most people are also content in that range, as its almost certainly at least double what they got in their previous vehicle.

Is Joe the Plumber going to go out of his way, like these guys are, to achieve 80-100mpg+?

Having participated in two of these cross country marathons, I can tell you it is not an easy task to hold these high numbers over thousands of miles. It is easy to do it for a short distance, but when you combine all of the variables it means on your good segments you have to average 70+ to balance out your terrible segments of 40-. Don't forget they are stopping every couple of hours to change drivers, eat and do required tasks.

Hi All,

As Wayne explained his motiviation, this is in response to the diesel marketing, in which an Australian couple hypermiled around the US achieving 58.X MPG. Now Wayne would have no problem doing this in a diesel, doing it in a car available in the US with fuel that has less energy content will certainly be impressive. Which if things work out Wayne and his team will well outdo. Believing he could do it, all that was left was to plan and do it. They seem to doing well with the wind. Hopefully, they it will be enough when they come back the other way.

I think the total mileage is closer to 7500-8000 miles.

my point was if you dont drive the prius at all you save all its gas.

I agree this would end it a net gain, I have doubts that this will tip anyone on the fence to the side of buying a hybrid. Maybe if they had a lot of publicity but this doesn't seem like a big event. AKA I've only heard about it from people that already own a hybrid.

Thanks for reminding people of this fact.

The point of the exercise is to beat the record, which they will do. They are in the 60's with their overall mpg right now and I'm sure they will stay in that range.

Another part that makes this even harder is that it is winter time! I'm pretty sure the Aussie's did theirs in warmer weather.

Wayne loves his hypermiling challenges, no doubt about it. Personally, I think it is good cheap publicity for smart driving and hybrids -- both dollars and CO2.

My only regret is that it isn't a multi-city challenge Vs diesel.

I'm confused by the dates though: I thought they wanted to be in L.A. for the car convention.
Evan or Mapman: Route 66 in NM may be a good road to travel by. If they hit Albuquerque and would like lodging let me know.

What car is being driven ?

Indeed. That's another factor worth mentioning. The Taylors did not have to contend with snow and low temps and as we all know high FE hybrids get hit pretty badly with the low temps.

A 2009 Civic Hybrid 2 (with Navi).

Cheers;

MSantos