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New owner? Want MPG help? Read this first.

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Fuel Economy' started by galaxee, Jan 24, 2006.

  1. tkil

    tkil New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(a priori @ Sep 11 2007, 01:06 PM) [snapback]510803[/snapback]</div>
    Ah, but that's what I was getting at when I mentioned taking the foot off the accelerator and then gently re-applying. If you have the energy screen up, you can judge how gently you have to re-apply (and you might not be able to maintain even 25mph, but it can definitely get you a long way before it drops down below 20 or whatever your minimum desired speed is).

    On the last stretch to get into my current house, I come off a 45mph road (too fast for stealth) onto a 25mph road; I usually take the turn at 15mph, accelerate up to 25-30mph, then do the "off the gas, gently re-apply" and I can usually stealth the rest of the way to my house (about 0.5mi).

    Anyway, good luck, and happy driving!
     
  2. tkil

    tkil New Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(a priori @ Sep 11 2007, 01:06 PM) [snapback]510803[/snapback]</div>
    Ah, but that's what I was getting at when I mentioned taking the foot off the accelerator and then gently re-applying. If you have the energy screen up, you can judge how gently you have to re-apply (and you might not be able to maintain even 25mph, but it can definitely get you a long way before it drops down below 20 or whatever your minimum desired speed is).

    On the last stretch to get into my current house, I come off a 45mph road (too fast for stealth) onto a 25mph road; I usually take the turn at 15mph, accelerate up to 25-30mph, then do the "off the gas, gently re-apply" and I can usually stealth the rest of the way to my house (about 0.5mi).

    Anyway, good luck, and happy driving!
     
  3. partipilo

    partipilo Weirdo

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    I'm at about 600 miles on my 08 Pkg2.. On my second tank. No matter how I drive, I can't do less then 45 mpg. I don't know how you folks are driving. Then again, I have been reading the forums here to learn the most efficient ways to drive a hybrid. Though I don't know what method is best. Sometimes I "granny" it, and sometimes I accelerate like a bat out of hell to get up to speed and then hit cruise. I always shut off cruise and glide when I see a red light ahead. That helps a TON!.

    Even on the freeway, next to some hotheaded kid in a Mustang, who is trying to be macho or whatever, I may floor it and blow him away, and still get great mileage (got to love that 300 ft-lb of torque and a microscopic drag ratio in comparison).
     
  4. johnchang7

    johnchang7 Junior Member

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    Just got an 07 and the gas mileage is killer. I had an 04 jeep grand cherokee and what a huge difference. i'm averaging about 50 mpg. i've learned to "drive" the prius a different way. thanks for some of the tips in here. its a trip because when i do more city driving my mpg goes up to over 54. its weird to see that i get better mileage during city driving than highway. but seeing how the thing transfers and uses energy i can see why.

    gas is at over $85/barrel today. some of the analysts were saying that it should go to about 100-140/barrel next year. even going into the fact that it could go to 200/barrel! people who are driving those big suv's are bumming! i was averaging about 17 mpg in my jeep. 20 gal tank it would take me about 330 miles or so. Now, i usually fill up when i drive on two bars for a little while. 8.5 gal fill up took me about 450 miles and cost me about 25 bucks.

    This car's pretty cool.
     
  5. DaveLadely

    DaveLadely Junior Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(johnchang @ Oct 15 2007, 04:28 PM) [snapback]526016[/snapback]</div>
    I have been getting 51.5-51.9 mpg over 5500 miles on my 2007 Prius, mixed driving, with very little effort.
     
  6. white house farm

    white house farm New Member

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    great link with lots of info. one of the experiments i am trying to improve my mileage is using 89 gas instead of 87. is there any comments concerning this MPG factor?
     
  7. ilusnforc

    ilusnforc Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(queen bee @ Nov 5 2007, 11:09 PM) [snapback]535304[/snapback]</div>


    AFAIK Toyota designed the engine to run on 87 and some people have actually had problems running higher grades. I would use what the manufacturer designed it for, 87 octane.
     
  8. henryfarkas

    henryfarkas New Member

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    Getting outside air vented into the car.

    The way to get outside air into the car is to press the Climate button to get to the Climate screen. There will be two icons next to each other. One will have a little car with an arrow circling back on itself inside the car. That one recycles air inside the car. The icon next to it has a little arrow that starts outside the front of the little car and leads into the car. That's the one that vents in outside air. You have to check the A/C icon to make sure it's off because your spouse, who may not be willing to suffer discomfort for the sake of the environment as much as you, may have turned on the A/C the last time he/she drove the car.
     
  9. stana

    stana kfty

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    can't..

    ..open the EPA mileage piece you suggest (on my MAC).
     
  10. stana

    stana kfty

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    more can't..

    this is what comes up..

    Page Not Found on PriusChat.com

    Unfortunately, the page you were trying to retrieve does not exist on PriusChat.com

    Recent Software Migration

    We recently went through a software migration, so that could be why you're having trouble finding the page you want. Try checking out our most popular pages below, or just use the Search box below to find what you're looking for.
    Most Popular Pages

    You may have been trying to reach one of these pages:
    PriusChat Forums or one of these popular PriusChat threads:
    Discounted Toyota Prius Extended Warranty /Service Contracts
    Prius Myths and their Rebuttals
    Prius Limo
    Or maybe you're just looking to buy some discounted Prius accessories from our PriusChat Shop
    Try the Home Page

    Or you can simply try to start from the PriusChat.com home page.
     
  11. F8L

    F8L Protecting Habitat & AG Lands

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    It's not a MAC issue. It has something to do with the server migraiton or software update. It messed up some of our sigs as well. Likely it is a simple URL error now.
     
  12. Iamjo20

    Iamjo20 Member

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    link would not work this a.m. ???

    The link posted would not work this am...............


     
  13. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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  14. PrematurelyGray

    PrematurelyGray Junior Member

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    I've owned my car for just one week.

    Thank you for this info. Your guide has provided more than a MPG-optimizing blueprint. It's provided a mother-son bonding experience.

    I asked my 15 year old son to read through the guide; now he and his friends (whom I routinely chauffeur) get a kick out of coaching me to the best mileage.
     
  15. a priori

    a priori Canonus Curiosus

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    Great first post! I love the hair, but the picture got a bit smudged on your face.:rolleyes:
     
  16. snappycappy

    snappycappy New Member

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    Re: New owner? Want MPG help?

    How do I calculate MPG when the gas tank uses a bladder?? It would seem that FULL relies on the ambient temperature as well as the temperature of the fuel itself. So in the summer when everything is nice and warm, I can pump in about 10 1/2 to 11 gallons when the last "PIP" starts blinking. In the winter, I am lucky to pump in 8 1/2. I live in Chicago. Winters 20 to 40 degrees, summers 70 to 90 degrees.

    Here is my observaton. The MPG that the onboard computer indicates is really "miles per pip". So, obviously if you pump 8 1/2 gallons into ten pips, the mpg will go down. Conversely if you pump 11 gallons into ten pips the mpg will go up. Sound right to you??

    I like to have some idea of how far I can drive on the last PIP!! Right now my MPG is at 36, so I am thinking I can safely drive 30 miles on the last pip??

    But how do I actually figure the real MPG??
     
  17. snappycappy

    snappycappy New Member

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    Re: New owner? Want MPG help?

    How do I calculate MPG when the gas tank uses a bladder?? It would seem that FULL relies on the ambient temperature as well as the temperature of the fuel itself. So in the summer when everything is nice and warm, I can pump in about 10 1/2 to 11 gallons when the last "PIP" starts blinking. In the winter, I am lucky to pump in 8 1/2. I live in Chicago. Winters 20 to 40 degrees, summers 70 to 90 degrees.

    Here is my observaton. The MPG that the onboard computer indicates is really "miles per pip". So, obviously if you pump 8 1/2 gallons into ten pips, the mpg will go down. Conversely if you pump 11 gallons into ten pips the mpg will go up. Sound right to you??

    I like to have some idea of how far I can drive on the last PIP!! Right now my MPG is at 36, so I am thinking I can safely drive 30 miles on the last pip??

    But how do I actually figure the real MPG??
     
  18. F8L

    F8L Protecting Habitat & AG Lands

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    Re: New owner? Want MPG help?

    Because the amount of fuel in the tank will always vary as will you MPG for that tank you will never have a perfect figure for how many miles you'll get on the last pip. A more sophisticated computer would be required to take into account the remaining fuel in the tank and your very current driving conditions. I.E. with 1 gallon left you can drive like a moron and get 20mpg or you could hypermile and get 100mpg, thus the amount of miles left on the last pip will vary.
     
  19. rkskeet

    rkskeet New Member

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    Re: New owner? Want clarification on fuel scale versus actual fill-up??

    Hey all: I am a very recent NEW Owner of a 2008 Prius Pkg #6. My wife and I love the car as it seems to be living up to our expectations for fuel efficiency.. We traded in a very well kept 05 Dodge Grand Caravan in favor of a more effecient car. You know, kids are married and out of the house and we don't have to taxi them around as we did in years past... The dealer sales and service reps have been very helpful answering my questions. However, I do have a question regarding the fuel tank guage (pips as I have seen them referred to).. The max capacitiy of the fuel tank is 12 gals (11.9 to be exact).. There are 10 pips indicating a full tank. If you do the math 12 divided by 10 is 1.2 gals of gas consumed for every pip.. What was confusing was during my last fill-up, I was down 5 pips (approx 1/2 tank level) and only pumped 3.56 gals of gas to fill the tank. I had traveled approx 155 miles on 3.56 gal of gas or an average of 43 mpg. My consumption read out was anywhere from 42 mpg up to 46 mpg. If I was to calculate the 5 pips to fill the tank that would be approx a 6 gal fill up but as I stated, it was only 3.6.. It appears that the fuel guage is not linear to the actual gas fill and milage consumption?? Any thoughts on this?? Would welcome some feedback.. Thanks..
    Rich from PA
     
  20. Tomes

    Tomes New Member

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    The way I understand it, it is the bladder thing. The gas tank is never the same size, depending on its temperature at that moment.
    Tomes