Don't like your MPG? Move your office! DFW route maps.

Just kidding, but it goes to show how much a change in commute will make in your mpg. Several months ago my commute of the last few years changed in a big way.

This thread will be a little more poignant for those familiar with Dallas and the area north of Dallas. My commute starts in southeast Allen, but note on the graphics I did that it shows the start point in Plano. I did that only to show the generic area where I live I commuted south a ways to get to the start point shown.

Tire psi was kept at 42/40 since the car was new. I always filled up with Shell gas when I could, probably about 80% of the fillups. A/C was used when outside temps rose over the low 80s, and heat when outside temps dropped below the low 50s.



Commute A
For a little over a year my rush hour commute of almost 30 miles consisted of a 7 mile in-town run coupled with 22 miles of tollway driving on the President George Bush Tollway (no political comments, lol). The in-town section is average in-town driving with moderate hills. The tollway was horrible. You go from 5-10 mile sections at 60-70 mph down to 5-10 mile sections of stop-and-go traffic. If it was raining, the entire commute turned stop-and-go. Travel time was usually about 50 minutes if there were no wrecks. For both commutes the Prius was driven on the weekend in-town for errands, etc.

The best tank I made on Commute A was 50 mpg, and I had to try really hard to get it. I only got it once, as I would usually get thwarted at 49-point-something. You just can't pulse and glide under the tollway conditions I was driving, but I did my best to conserve when I could. Average mpg for over a year on this commute was about 48. Worst tank was about 46 – I think that was a tank where I accidently put in super unleaded (absolutely killed the power of the ICE). Whoops.

Commute B
The wife has been driving the Prius to work for the last few months, but I worked this job and drove this commute for three months. The entire Commute B was in-town driving down K Ave/Greenville all the way down to Mockingbird Lane in Dallas. Hwy 75/Central Expressway is always a parking lot so this was just as fast and since there were rarely wrecks to slow down the commute. As a bonus I could keep a consistent speed every day in any weather. Speed limits were 40-45 the entire way, and there were good stretches of road between lights, and it not difficult to drive so as to hit at 75% of the lights green. This commute topographically consists of more gradual rises and falls in elevation. It was much easier to pulse/glide. I didn't get to use pure glide mode as much as I would have liked, as I often had to warp-stealth to gain momentum to get to the next peak in the elevation or to keep up with traffic.

Best tank for Commute B was 57. The image posted shows it at 370 miles, but trust me, I kept it up past 550 miles till the next fillup. I averaged about 53 over the three months, but as I got better at pulse/glide the tanks were going into the 55-56 range. If i had continued this commute, I believe my average would have stayed there and continued to improve.

It should be noted that Commute B was driving on the original Integrity tires with just over 30K miles on them. The back tires were pretty worn, but the fronts had the outsides worn almost off. Rolling resistance probably doesn't get much lower.



Bonus commute!
Commute C
The last few months my wife has driven the Prius to work the exact same route as Commute B only a third the distance. A few factors at play here. She drives the car hard. I put on Goodyear Comfortreds in 190 size. It's summertime. I drive us around on the weekend in a frantic effort to increase the mpg a few points

Best tank on Commute C has been 45.6. Average has been about 44.5. Left to her own devices, the wife would be getting about 43.

I have not been happy with the mpg hit or highway handling of the Comfortreds, and Discount tire was kind enough to exchange them at full credit at 4500 miles for Michelin Primacys in the original 185 size. I just got them swapped today, so I'll post the change in mpg after we've driven off the rough edges.

 

Wow! I'll be plenty happy with my first 60+ tank.

Looks like changing the tires from Comfortred to Primacy is going to make a huge difference. I got the tires put on late this afternoon, reset the consumption screen, and drove my wife's commute and back plus around town a bit. Only 36 miles, but I could have never gotten this mpg with the Comfortreds.