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I broke my old MPG record today

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Fuel Economy' started by Mark57, Mar 24, 2011.

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  1. Mark57

    Mark57 2021 Tesla Model 3 LR AWD

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    Today, I broke my old mpg record from June 24, 2010. My old record was 76.403 mpg over 417.8 miles (HSI 80.7mpg). Here's the old record attempt thread.

    Today when I filled up, it came in at 76.418 mpg over 522 miles. The HSI showed 80.8 mpg. My DTE was 144 miles but I have a 75 mph road trip tomorrow and cut the attempt short. This time I went over 100 miles farther than the previous attempt and it was also achieved in March of all months. Lately we've had some very high winds (it's March) in the 20 - 40 mph range and temps have ranged from 39° - 85° during my drives. The high wind made this very challenging.

    I had some extreemly high average numbers in the first 200 miles (98+) so I know I could have done better without the wind. I'll definitely try again later. I wish the HSI showed mpg in the 100's. Is irritating to be pegged at 99.9 and not know what you're really getting.;) Oh the major irritations of life. :D

    When you're starting the day, sitting motionless in the driveway waiting for the 50 second warm up stage to finish and your CONS mpg drops from 89.9 mpg to 88.1 mpg right in front of you and you know how far you have to drive to make that 50 second mpg drop back up, almost makes you want to cry or cuss. :censored: It's a fun challenge or I wouldn't do it.

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    #1 Mark57, Mar 24, 2011
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  2. mikewithaprius

    mikewithaprius New Member

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    Mileage pimp! Nice job, Mark.
     
    #2 mikewithaprius, Mar 24, 2011
  3. Mark57

    Mark57 2021 Tesla Model 3 LR AWD

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    Guilty as charged! Thanks
     
    #3 Mark57, Mar 24, 2011
  4. FLteacher

    FLteacher Junior Member

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    Wow! I am definitely impressed! We newbies have a lot to learn from you.
     
    #4 FLteacher, Mar 24, 2011
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  5. UGC

    UGC Member

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    looks like your avg mph is 22. Where you drive, you must be picking a good route to keep it that low.

    ...uhmmmm.... gives me something to shoot for. :)
     
    #5 UGC, Mar 24, 2011
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  6. Mark57

    Mark57 2021 Tesla Model 3 LR AWD

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    Thank you. I'm not that far from a newbie myself.

    Almost everything I know about obtaining high mpg, I learned form reading threads on this forum.

    I bought mine in August 2009 and had just a few short months of warm weather left to practice. So last summer was my first good warm period to experiment and see any results. I can definitely tell you that the year of practice has made all the difference. I can tell it's easier for me now than it was back then. I don't have to work at it so hard when I'm trying to do the record setting stuff.

    Yes, I still catch myself holding my breath on occasion. I just laugh at myself and go on.;)
     
    #6 Mark57, Mar 24, 2011
  7. Mark57

    Mark57 2021 Tesla Model 3 LR AWD

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    Yes and no. I have one 120 mile round trip at 55mph in those 500+ miles. The other miles are just my normal weekly routine. I do choose slow routes over fast ones when possible but no, I'm not doing circles in a parking lot somewhere. The 22 mph averge does reflect some slow driving but there's a ton of stop and go in that since there's few highway miles. Stop and go kills your speed average. A lot of the roads are 40 - 45 mph and slower surface streets with stop lights at a minimum of 1 mile and usually much more frequent.
     
    #7 Mark57, Mar 24, 2011
  8. F8L

    F8L Protecting Habitat & AG Lands

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    It's not even summer yet man!
     
    #8 F8L, Mar 24, 2011
  9. Mark57

    Mark57 2021 Tesla Model 3 LR AWD

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    True DAT but it's been in the 80's here lately. I had no real intention of doing this when I gassed up last. I mean I always try to do my best but things don't always work out. I guess the new summer formulated gas helped a bit and the recent radioactive ☢ particles blowing in on us. :p
     
    #9 Mark57, Mar 24, 2011
  10. Codyroo

    Codyroo Senior Member

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    I was thinking the same thing.....
     
    #10 Codyroo, Mar 24, 2011
  11. F8L

    F8L Protecting Habitat & AG Lands

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    Ok, 80 degrees counts as summer to me so between that and the neutrinos flowing through your combustion chamber I guess your achievement is not all that amazing...... KIDDING!
     
    #11 F8L, Mar 24, 2011
  12. sipnfuel

    sipnfuel New Member

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    I like how you ran down the SOC to squeeze out your 0.1 mpg

    I would have the same thing :p

    What do you do specifically? P&G, SHM?
     
    #12 sipnfuel, Mar 24, 2011
  13. ksstathead

    ksstathead Active Member

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    Great work, Mark. 3 hours north of you and forced to take cold comfort in gallons consumed rather than mpg. We are tax accountants with a short commute and a decent share of winter. Anyway, little chance to get the ICE warm. '10 Prius, to its tremendous credit, is hanging around 50 mpg as my wife's daily driver. Finished this winter at 47.9 versus 46.2 in the previous winter. Won't have a spring fill until late April, and it should be around 50. Then more road trips and longer local drives will push us back up.

    But the Fit only gave me 25 mpg in the winter (EPA 27/33/29). Today's fill should run until early May. But I hate the rare times under EPA city. Last 2 tanks had snow/ice/defrost in addition to 1.5 mile trips (5 mile/day average on these tanks).

    Anyway, you have emerged as a premiere Prius mpg jockey, and my hat is off to you. I see 80 in your near future!
     
    #13 ksstathead, Mar 24, 2011
  14. TheSpoils

    TheSpoils Member

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    Nice to see a positive post for a change. Nice work on the FE. You beat my best by about 20 mpg.
     

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    #14 TheSpoils, Mar 24, 2011
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  15. JimN

    JimN Let the games begin!

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    Mark, I wish I had your problems. We were without snow on the ground for 4 days--Saturday through Tuesday. Yup, it snowed a bit yesterday & today. I actually saw 60.8 on the MID once this tank.
     
    #15 JimN, Mar 24, 2011
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  16. SuperchargedMR2

    SuperchargedMR2 Diehard Rams Fan

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    How do you find 100% gas? I haven't seen that forever as I thought that all gas had ethanol added to it now. I've only had 3 tanks so far but each one is improving as we have been around 48 mpg. I can't wait to even see 60 mpg! :D
     
    #16 SuperchargedMR2, Mar 24, 2011
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  17. Spoiler

    Spoiler New Member

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    My first post here... got me a 2011 Prius II model and I've got about 3500 miles on it so far in only 3 weeks since I picked it up... and I was impressed with my 57.9, ....Wow, ... Outstanding.....

    Now what is this about a 50 sec warm up period...

    Nobody told me... :confused:
     
    #17 Spoiler, Mar 24, 2011
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  18. Tink

    Tink New Member

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    I wondered about that, as well. In the morning, I give it a nudge after backing out of garage and coast about 40 seconds to the first stop, but don't sit and wait.

    Sometimes from work on a warm day, after immediately pulling on to an access road, I get over 70 as accelerating for the first 90 seconds or so.

    I'm also interested in the 50 second reasoning. Obviously, what you do works.
     
    #18 Tink, Mar 24, 2011
  19. mikewithaprius

    mikewithaprius New Member

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    It's not a necessity. The first up to 56 seconds or so is what's considered stage 1a of engine operation, during which the battery is used to move the car. Yes, you'll hear the engine running, but it's warming up the system as you drive with a LOT of battery power. That's why, you've likely noticed if looking at energy screen on a Gen II, for example, battery discharges quickly in first minute of driving.

    What Mark is doing is letting the engine warm up through stage 1a so that he can start driving in 1b. At this point he can accelerate and charge the battery with the ICE. If you drive off in stage 1a, you're going to have to recharge all of that battery loss with gas, and there will be conversion losses, which he's seeking to avoid.

    It really depends what your drive is like when you leave the house. Uphill it may be better to wait. Downhill just go. Flat, whatever. I have an uphill, have been experimenting with that, but so far inconclusive if it assists in higher mileage for first 5 minutes of my trips or not. Curious to hear your take Mark (obviously you think it works!).
     
    #19 mikewithaprius, Mar 24, 2011
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  20. Mark57

    Mark57 2021 Tesla Model 3 LR AWD

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    I keep my combustion chamber very tight so nothing flows through it when I'm shooting for high mpgs. :D Just got home from fishing. We cleaned up on back bass using top water plugs. My thumb is raw from "lipping" them. (27 total and that's not fish story)

    The mpg wasn't that much higher but I went 100+ miles farther than my first record. It just worked out the way it did. I do monitor SoC on my Scangage II. 47.7 is a bad place to be on SoC. I mostly P&G but I was able to slip in some SHM at the first of the tank.

    Thanks! It sounds like you're still making the most of what you can and that's what counts. The winter mileage is depressing. Look at my history on my fuelly page.
     
    #20 Mark57, Mar 25, 2011
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