Newbie long distance Prius commuter

Congratulations on your new Prius. If you use cruise control at 72 mph with any hills you are not going to get very high fuel mileage. Our 2010 Prius got an actual 61 mpg between FL and KY (850 miles). Keep the speed down to 60-65 and allow your speed to drop a bit when going up hill and recover your speed going down hill. We have been getting a consistent 50-52 mpg on general around town/country driving .

 

I hope you like your Prius as much as I have liked mine.
I predict you will do better than 16 MPG!
Speed is the enemy of Mileage, but do wait to see your round trip mileage, as coming back down will be an improvement over going up.

 

welcome, all the best with your new prius! as stated above, there are techniques for improving highway mileage. if you are unhappy with what you are getting at 72 mph, there are plenty of threads here to learn from.

 

Welcome aboard and I am sure you are gonna enjoy the ride! Be sure to sign up for the Blizzard Brigade.

 

probably want to inflate the tires to 40psi front, 38psi rear to start.

 

TN Traveler, driving 700 miles a week will introduce you to the intricacies of the Prius in short order. With those distances, you will be making a choice between time vs dollars. In either event, you will be far ahead of what you were spending driving the truck. If you're in a hurry, the simple answer is that you won't see the full potential of the hybrid. However, if you push it hard, you should still halve your gas costs. Looks like a win - win!

 

I would drive the car normally and see what you get. I don't like to drive the car in "eco" mode and I don't see much difference if I have it in power mode. I normally get around 52 in mixed driving so trying to get 4mpg more is not worth the problems I would cause for my fellow drivers.

On flat highway driving at around 63-65 mph - you can easily get 56mpg.

 

Welcome.

I don't speed and it's 65mph max around here so I can't tell you what you'll get at 72mph but I'd be very surprised at 50.

I do understand that with your long trip home you won't want to hang around, so I'm not going to tell you to slow down, but if you hit traffic on your long weekend commute such that you find yourself having to hit your brakes then you'll at least have an opportunity both to reduce the stress of driving and improve fuel economy by trying to maintain a good buffer to the car in front.

PS I also have a 2010 II. If you find the longer trips become uncomfortable you might want to try a simple, cheap mesh lumbar support that you can put over the seat. We have them in our cars and they help my wife a bit.

 

I have a Dodge Ram 2500 and travel 75k a year at 16mpg. Got a 2010 Prius with 34k three weeks ago. The funny part is I still over react at the gas pump. Empty again, Wth?, well here goes another $140, wait I only put in $44. LOL....and all those miles. I still have the Ram to haul the boat and maintain my ego when I get tired of getting run off the road. I used to be disappointed when people would literally cut me off and more, in the slow lane at the speed limit plus 5, but I just laugh now, because every fill up is another $100 in my pocket. Sometimes I push my Prius hard, and still manage to get 50 on the highway at 75. For the hell of it last week I followed a semi on one trip and I almost broke 70 mpg drafting him. The best part is when the semi wanted to changed lanes he'd bump his tail lights, I'd move over, let him lane change and pass, we pushed through crazy traffic this way. This went on for 3 hours at 70-75. I figured he must also own a Prius or hate me so much he was trying to get away. Either way happy driving, as one truck owner to another, you'll have many chuckles at the fuel pump. Excuses for my conservative friends who give me a hard time:

 

Now you have the problem of deciding what to do with all the money you're saving!! Ain't it great?

 

I drive between Lexington, NC, and Greensboro, NC, about 40 miles each way. I'm getting 59 mpg on the slightly uphill outbound trip and 64 mpg on the inbound trip. All except 10 miles is highway, and I set the cruise on 55 when I can and let it go. I know this will get worse in the wintertime. I know not everyone wants to drive at 55, which is okay, but I just wanted to give an example of what the Prius can do for you if you're able to time your trip accordingly. I just get up earlier. One small section of 60 mph is the highest speed limit on my trip. Don't worry...I would not drive at 55 on a 70 mph interstate.

 

TN, you made the right choice for long distance commuting. When driving long distances, you have to balance time/speed versus mpg's, and if you're like me, I will tend to drive closer to 75 mph rather than going 60-65. I still get 50-52 mpg calculated. On a long trip, it could be the difference 1 - 3 hours when you count in the slower speed and stopping for rest breaks.

 

As you have experienced, you are going to save a bunch on gasoline, $53+ per trip. You can find a balance between speed and gasoline consumption that you are comfortable with but if you want to up the ante a bit, calculate the total gallons of gasoline over the course of a year driving the trip at peek 60mph vs 70mph.

Also, when you saved that $53, keep in mind that those were after tax dollars, so it's more like $80 if you were to send that money into your retirement accounts rather than the gas pump.

 

I also drive an average of 750 miles a week in my Lexus CTh. The CTh is not as aerodynamic as the Prius, but I average about 55 mpg (calculated) in non-winter months by slowing down to ~ 60 - 65 mph a lot of the time, and avoiding cruise control on hills, where I DWL (drive with load) instead. I estimate around a 10% improvement over straight cruise control at 70 mph.

I benefit from driving at high elevation, but I thought you would enjoy knowing that strategies to get even better MPG than you see currently are available to you.

So tell us OP, what took you so long to join the Prius family ?

 

TN traveler, be sure to check out the DIY maintenance help in this forum. I have kept my ongoing total maintenance and repair costs to less than a penny a mile by taking care of the simple things myself.

Enjoy your nerdy little car. (just kidding )