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Newbs: How to beat the EPA

Discussion in 'Newbie Forum' started by skim, Apr 14, 2009.

  1. skim

    skim Proud Newb

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    Maryland
    Vehicle:
    2009 Prius
    Hello everyone. This is my first thread on PC, and while I did a preliminary search Re: MPGs and beating the EPA(for example, the I Beat the EPA - post 'em here thread), I thought my experience would be helpful to other newbs, esp. considering the fact that it seems there are quite a few complaints from new owners experiencing lower than advertised fuel economy.

    My wife and I bought our 2009 Magnetic Gray Prius (pkg 2) 10 days ago, and we just filled it up yesterday:

    495.5 miles
    8.607 gallons (gas meter was at 2 PIPs)
    57.52MPG
    The MFD showed 51.4 MPG over 491 miles. (Perhaps some more experienced users can help me identify the reason for the 51.4 vs. 57.5*; the 4 mile difference is likely from the dealer hitting reset after they filled up the tank).
    Though it was springtime, the weather was unseasonably cold on most days.

    Based on what I read in this forum, I expected to get lousy FE, considering I live in the DC Metro Area and primarily travel on the highway. With how aggressive the drivers in this area are and a traffic light on even the most rural of roads, Pulsing and Gliding is darn near impossible for me. So how did I beat the EPA estimate?

    I just drove the car! Over the past 10 days, I found the Prius to be a wonderful piece of technology that is much smarter at managing the energy needed than I could ever be. I did, however, employ some basic techniques that help me get 23-25MPG on our ’09 Sienna that we purchased a few months back.

    - Inflate your tires – After reading through the forum a few days after owning the vehicle, I went w/ the 42F and 40R PSI recommended by PC
    - Coast when you can. Press down lightly on the go-pedal (I later learned this is called warp stealth (you can google "warp stealth prius" and it's the first document that comes up)
    - Don’t accelerate too slow. I did this the first few days thinking I’d be better off w/ just the battery being used, but it ended up being less efficient. Not being honked at and flicked off was another nice effect.
    - I drove in the right lane most of the time at about 10MPH over the speed limit. You wouldn’t believe how many Prius owners got fed up and went around me. Maybe these are the folks getting 20-30MPG?


    I didn’t worry about RPMs. I didn’t worry about the weather. I didn’t stare at my MFD incessantly. I didn’t block my grill. I just enjoyed my Prius.

    * As far as the 8.607 gallons, I filled the tank on the slowest setting on the gas pump and stopped once it clicked off after reading all the warnings Re: topping off on this forum.
     
    #1 skim, Apr 14, 2009
  2. danl

    danl New Member

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    2009 Prius
    Welcome to PC. Good read. I have a magnetic grey too; she's almost 3 months old.

    If you're already getting 57 mpg, wait until the car breaks in. The expandable bladder on the prius is probably responsible for the difference between the mpg reading on the tank and the pump. Should be more consistent once you average it out over multiple fillups.
     
    #2 danl, Apr 15, 2009
  3. skim

    skim Proud Newb

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    2009 Prius
    Thanks for the reply, Dan! I'm excited to see how the MPG will behave as the car breaks in and summer (and summer gas prices) arrive. I've found so much useful information on this forum.
     
    #3 skim, Apr 15, 2009
  4. narf

    narf Active Member

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    Location:
    Colorado
    Vehicle:
    2016 Prius
    Model:
    Four Touring
    Most likely you didn't get a full fillup, so your calculated MPG would be higher than reality. I find that the display is usually about 1/2 to 1 MPG higher than actual. As others have said, the tank bladder makes fillups a bit variable. After several tanks the overall MPG calculated will make up for those errors.
     
    #4 narf, Apr 15, 2009
  5. bjjb99

    bjjb99 Junior Member

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    I think Narf has it right. The dealer probably filled the tank to nearly overflowing, while you filled it up until the pump clicked off. The extra fuel the dealer probably put in added to your total miles, but you didn't fill the tank back up to that level.

    Single-tank mpg values can fluctuate a lot. I've had single-tank mpgs ranging from high 40's to low 60's. Over the 14,500 miles I've driven so far, I'm averaging between 55 and 56 mpg. Keep running totals of miles and gallons to see where your average mpg eventually settles down to. It'll probably still be better than EPA.

    Tell me about it. Part of my commute goes through Loudoun County, and the stop lights on Route 7 are very frustrating when trying to glide/warp stealth... they don't seem to be timed to each other at all.


    A rule of thumb that's been tossed around here from time to time is to try and accelerate at a pace which results in your instantaneous mpg being greater than or equal to half your speed. So if you're accelerating and you're currently moving around 40 mph, you should aim for an instantaneous mpg of around 20 or better. Apparently this keeps the engine load around some optimal efficiency level. I have found this works fairly well on flat ground, but hills tend to screw up this rule of thumb.

    BJJB
     
    #5 bjjb99, Apr 16, 2009
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