Slow Down!

When I drive at 68 mph, the average is about 50 mpg. When I drive at 65 mph, it goes up to 54-55 mpg! (speed limit is 70 mph in MI).

Also, I like spending time with my car, so why rush?

Yeah, slow down.

 

When driving a Prius you know you have arrived.
So if your already there why go fast?

I might add, I like to go fast still.
I have a choice each day, I can take the expressway at 100km/h, slightly further but due to higher speed 2 minutes quicker than taking the short road with a max speed of 80km/h and a couple of sets of traffic lights. I find more and more I go the slower shorter way.

I have lowered my consumption, which due to increased AC use being summer had risen from 4.3L/100km to 4.4L/100km down to 4.2L/100km by changing routes. As a bonus I have reduced my commute distance by about a kilometre each way saving a little more fuel.

 

Well, running up to 70mph on my daily (35mile) commute yielded me a 42.7mpg average for a 10 day tank.

I am now topping out at 56mph and getting ~52mpg in the past week (in-town work has brought it down from 55mpg).

When I fill up, I plan on inflating the tires to 42/40 to see what the difference is.

 

Aerodynamic drag is exponential. You pay dearly for that extra speed.

Tom

 

You hit the nail on the head. Driving around at 70-80 mph will never attain the great mileage a Prius is capable of. Slow down and just about anyone can meet the original EPA estimates. Employ basic efficient driving techniques and learn how to properly manipulate the HSD and exceed those number. It's that simple.

 

I wish I could slow down. My commute is 100 miles each way. With a good portion of it on a 3 lane freeway where most people do about 80. Driving 60-65 would almost guarantee me getting shot by either a trucker, some gangbanger, or a soccer mom in a superduty with 50" tires. 45mpg is still way better than the 25 I get in my other car.

 

Winston,

You have discovered one of the two biggest factors in improving fuel economy....then 2nd is keeping your accelerations and brakings to the lowest practical minimum, or as Tony has said "drive like your are riding a bike".

 

Winston,

Good job! 60 mph is that nice compromise where you are getting some really nice gas mileage and keeping up with traffic. I go the other way (Pleasanton to Hayward) on 680 and drive 55 mph. I saw a jump in my overall gas mileage from 31 to 38 by doing this, previous speeds were 70 mph). Last summer, I had 6 fillups in a row with 40 mpg, not bad for a car that was EPA rated 25/30 back in 1989!

I would be curious to see what kind of bump you could get if you slowed it down to 55 mph for a tank. It's not easy to drive "that slow", but usually with the heavy traffic we see, it's not too slow.

I will admit, I wish I could find an ultra light weight trailer to put on my car, so that folks wouldn't get all bent out of shape by my driving 55 mph.(trucks and autos with trailers = 55 mph max speed). But I figure that they have multiple lanes to the left (and occasionally a shoulder to the right ) to pass me.

Congrats on the extra mpg! Will be interested to see what you summer mileage is like.....

 

For a daily 200 mile commute, I think I would have invested in a Honda CRX HF model with a rebuilt engine... they get ~50mpg hwy and make driving fun.

My old '88 was making 56mpg when it was eight years old and 138K on it... still regret having gotten rid of it, but it seemed like the right thing to do at the time.

 

Feelin' Groovy

Slow down, you move too fast.
You got to make the morning last.
Just kicking down the cobble stones.
Looking for fun and feelin' groovy.

Hello lamppost,
What cha knowing?
I've come to watch your flowers growing.
Ain't cha got no rhymes for me?
Doot-in' doo-doo,
Feelin' groovy.

Got no deeds to do,
No promises to keep.
I'm dappled and drowsy and ready to sleep.
Let the morning time drop all its petals on me.
Life, I love you,
All is groovy.

-Simon & Garfunkel

 

Yup. I drive essentially 60 miles to work twice a week. I was going 70mph for months. One day I decided to try 65mph instead and I gained about 5mpg. It took me less than 5 minutes more (easy math) to get to work! Worth it? Heck yes. It's so funny seeing people in such a hurry to go somewhere, not knowing that they are not gaining anything at all. Infact...they're losing.

Btw. I'm averaging 56-58mpg (and getting better) w/95% of driving being highway.

 

Wow! Your CRX-HF did very well! I had a 1988 CRX-HF as well (white as opposed to blue.....gotta love the color choices!). When the original P165's were wearing down, I got around 52-53 mpg. A trip up to Tahoe got me ~ 56 mpg and 58 mpg coming back. Purchasing larger tires took about 10% off my mileage. Later CA went to MTBE and I lost another 10%, and then I started driving faster to boot (speed limit increased). Was getting low 40's when I finally donated the car in 1999 (had my first child....2 seater was no longer a "practical" option).

I'm excited at the prospect of getting a Prius (one day), can fit the whole family in it and get the mileage I used to get in my CRX.

 

If I were still single, I'd totally consider it. With a wife and daughter to spend time with, I wanted something safer.

 

That is a lame excuse. I drive 65mph or lower from Fairfield to Lincoln (North of Sacramento) and have yet to be shot by a gangbangin' soccer mom. lmao

Sounds like justificational reasoning.

 

I seem to recall discussions by hobbit and other seriously tech-minded people about there being a little bit of a dead zone at 55mph. I guess I can understand; holding myself at 55mph, I fall outside of the 1700-2200 RPM target zone that has been repeatedly espoused. I drive randomly enough so that it's hard to compare one tank to another, though.

 

My commute is 80 miles each way. Yeah, I understand what you mean. the freeway I drive usually has 4 or 5 lanes. Speed for the lanes starting from the left is about 85, 77, 70, and 64. I have to drive in either the 4th or the 5th lane most of the time.

Hope you don't drive 5 days a week. I drive 3 days a week. Staying at my sister place (5 miles from company) on Wednesdays and work from home on Fridays.

 

Well, I knew this before, but I appreciate the encouraging reminder. I tried it today going into work and I got 53.4 mpg. Best so far for 2008 and one of the best even comparing to last summer. My commute is about 27 miles, and I have to climb over the west hills of portland. I read on another thread someone suggesting that 55 mph might be the optimum speed for climbing hills, and on our Sunset Highway over the hill, the way the traffic flows, it is a choice between 55 or 65, so I stuck to the 55. Out of the 27 miles, there is only about 10 that I could go 65 if I wanted so, so I figure could have only added about 1 minute to my commute, and it was more relaxing too.

 

Perhaps you might post enough information, not the actual start and stop locations, to map your route using Google Map, Mapquest or Google Earth?

The reason is sometimes looking at a map reveals some 'low hanging fruit' that could improve your mileage even more. Understand that 53.4 is quite good but sometimes 'an extra set of eyes' might have some suggestions.

This is what I used in my 'route planning:'



Just a thought.

Bob Wilson