Amazing little car!

It is only a little car in front of you, behind you it is a large car!

 

Very true
Roomiest car I ever owned

 

I must agree. I bought my Prius in March of 2011, just before the disaster in Japan. I got it for $23,000 with 0% interest for 60 months. This is one of the few "impulse" car purchases in which I hit a home run, no make that a GRAND SLAM!.

I have 2 kids, one in high school, one in middle school. Both play on summer sports teams where 1 hour commutes are the minimum (home games) and many times we travel out of state. To say that fuel costs were draining us would be an understatement. BTW, my wife had a Mercury Mountaineer which also was getting horrible gas mileage.

I had been researching the Chevy Volt carefully during the late winter months. Review after review seemed promising, except that it was obvious that the price of the car was ridiculous, even with the tax credit. As I was researching the Volt, many references were discovered which pointed out that the Prius was actually a far better option.

Then one day gas prices began to skyrocket. I simply couldn't afford 2-3 $80 a tank fill ups all summer long for both of my existing vehicles. I decided to visit a Toyota dealership. One test drive in the surprisingly roomy 2011 Prius and I was hooked. Now mind you, I am not your typical Prius owner (if there is such a thing). I loved my F-150 and had previously owned the following: Ford Expedition, Ford Mustang, Jeep Cherokee, and Ford Escape. Nonetheless, by my conservative calculations I would save about $250 a month in car payments (getting rid of both existing vehicles) and about the same in gas if gas stayed at $3.35 per gallon (which is what it was at that time). Total savings was expected to be $500 a month.

My wife fell in love with a Toyota Corolla on the lot, which was actually $5K cheaper than the Prius, but still got 35 mpg (highway) so I relented and bought it as well (still had the 0% financing.

This weekend I passed 7,000 miles on my Prius. Gas mileage was great to begin with, but as many have noted, as the car "broke in" and I learned how to drive it more efficiently, mileage has drastically improved. In fact, it is a bad day of driving when I am getting the EPA averages of 48/51 mpg.

This weekend was the absolute best long range mileage. I made three 120 round trips to a baseball tournament. During the initial 60 mile run, I was focused on driving and comfort (90 degree temps) and not fuel economy. I used the cruise control and AC in ECO mode (only mode I ever drive in). I had just fueled up and reset the "Trip B" odometer. As we were reaching our destination my son remarked, wow dad, look at your gas mileage. I was shocked to see that it was 62 mpg. On the way home, since I wasn't in a hurry, I decided to see how well I could do, and ended up getting 65 mpg. I basically was able to replicate this performance on all three round trips. It is safe to say that I easily averaged over 60 mpg in over 360 miles of driving this weekend. It took just over half a tank of gas to achieve this remarkable feat.

Doing the math, gas is hovering around $3.50 a gallon in my area (Ohio). If I had my F-150, getting 13 mpg highway this weekend would have cost me about $96 in gas. In my Prius, I used about $20 in gas. Multiply that out by 4 weekends of this kind of driving every month and you can see that I had grossly underestimated how much savings I was going to experience!

I am simply amazed at how good the fuel economy is in this vehicle. I thought I would have to work hard to achieve the EPA ratings. BTW, I never reset the trip A odometer since I purchased it...my fuel economy overall since day is sitting at 52 mpg. I must admit, I have a very short commute to work (less than 3 miles) and I have worked out optimal routes so that I am frequently able to achieve upper 60's to mid-70's depending on traffic going to a from work. I also leave very early on road trips and often drive at 55 mph to maximize fuel economy, but it has all been well worth it. Love this vehicle.

 

why do the brakes last so long? some energy must be spent slowing/stopping the car!?!?

 

Most of the braking is done by the regen system, and only the last bit of braking is done by the friction brakes, unless you are really stomping on them at speed. The energy being spent to slow/stop the car is going back into the batteries, not into heat. Therefore the brakes last a good long time since they are not often used.

The owner's manual says to apply the brakes as early as possible when you see a stop coming up. This will use almost all the brake distance as regen. If you wait till the last second, then you will use mostly friction, and lose energy and gas mileage.

On the acceleration side, the ICE motor is almost always assisted by the electric motor, so they last a good long time as well. Most engine wear happens at start up and during acceleration.