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I managed 67MPG: so much for the EPA and EU cycle test ratings...

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Fuel Economy' started by pakitt, Mar 25, 2012.

  1. movingforward

    movingforward Member

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    GM is one of the worse offender of this tactic in their advertising literatures and tv marketing campaign. This is really all meaningless if we're only taking a snap shot of your "best" mpg US and NOT EU calculated. The sample size is just too small to make any intelligent conversation out of it.

    I made some modification to my Prius that hurt my mpg but i'm still getting over 46mpg during the brief winter we had and now over 53mpg easily. These are amazing fuel economy numbers and base on my math from my previous car which got 23mpg, in the long run my Prius will have average out and have not fuel savings effect what-so-ever...according to Jeremy Clarkson...
     
  2. GrumpyCabbie

    GrumpyCabbie Senior Member

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    I always thought the average American man was at least 50% wider than everyone else. ;)
     
  3. pakitt

    pakitt Senior Member

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    Guys, just to clarify why I posted this in the first place.
    I have read and heard a lot the statement that "EU cycle tests are ideal and cannot be matched" or "you can never match the EU cycle tests, EPA ratings are closer to reality".
    Well, for city driving, I wanted to show that you can beat both, on this car, with non-ideal conditions. That's all. Why this happens on my Prius and many others posting here, I don't know.
    EU city cycle tests get 3.9L/100km, I got calculated, and not MFD, 3.5L/100km.
    Sure over lifetime I have 44mpg, or 5.3L/100km, but for a car of its size and HP, and considering where I am driving (temperatures, type of roads, etc.) which are far from ideal, and at what average speeds I need to stick to on the highway (always above 100km/h measure, average 125-135km/h), I think no other car out there can match this.

    So for me, the EU city cycle test for the Prius is actually not accurate in the opposite direction (it is underestimating), it doesn't tell you the truth, because if I can get a much better FE with winter tires, lower temperatures than the 25C, for longer distances (I believe the EU city test is on 10km or less), then there is something weird in the way the measured it, or maybe on a too short distance to offset the engine warm up, though I am not too sure that the EU tests start with a cold or warm engine. I am leaning for the latter.
    Even for the combined or sub-urban values of 4L/100km I can often, in non-perfect ideal conditions, match it. Beat it is *very* difficult in non-perfect ideal conditions.
     
  4. cyclopathic

    cyclopathic Senior Member

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  5. Codyroo

    Codyroo Senior Member

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    Hmmm, I was going with "Manly" = "Macho". But, I suppose it could be interpreted as "Manly" = "Humanity" = "Rotundness".
     
  6. ksstathead

    ksstathead Active Member

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    2010 Prius, 34,500 miles, 50.1 mpg at the pump, as wife's daily driver, with a 1.5 mile each way commute, in a place with real winters and real summers.

    Driven for mpg, 70 mpg on cross-town round trips, 62 mpg on freeway (well below psl).

    Show me the non-hybrid that matches those...

    I know folks doing better in manual tranny Civics, but they must drive exceedingly slow and use engine off coasting after each pulse to speed.
     
  7. GZspeed

    GZspeed Junior Member

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    nice tips
     
  8. dobdru

    dobdru New Member

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    How? I try and try, i get about 50.8 calculated on paper, which was 55 on the Car. How do you do it? I need a tutor near Washington D.C.
     
  9. jsfabb

    jsfabb Active Member

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    Funny you should say that. I was packing up my car at Sam's Club today and a lady had just gotten out of her Lexus SUV. She asked me how I liked the car. I told her I loved it. She said that she is getting a Prius Three which she has on order. Her friends thought she was nuts getting rid of the Lexus. I told her that on my last tank I got 55 mpg (calculated).

    I also told her that there is a definite technique to driving the car and that I would be glad to show her when she gets hers. I gave her my email address and told her to email me when she gets the car. I said if you email me before that, I will send you info to look at beforehand.

    We'll see if she emails or thinks I just some nut she met in a parking lot! :)

    I actually thought of putting an ad on Craig's List and charge people for an hours lesson. This will be a good test case (not going to charge) to see if she feels that she got some useful knowledge out of it.
     
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  10. dobdru

    dobdru New Member

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    we need a like button not just a thank button, just say'n...
     
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  11. Son of Gloin

    Son of Gloin Active Member

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    Lots of us do [ track our mileage for a really long distance ] ... such as 35,000 in my case. Feel free to check out the "fuelly" page / history for the '08 Prii being tracked there ... and then feel free to scroll WELL down the page for "Mithril" ...

    2008 Toyota Prius MPG Reports | Fuelly
     
  12. walter Lee

    walter Lee Hypermiling Padawan

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    I've averaged an overall 59.6 mpg for over +21000 miles on my 2010 Prius III (calculated on paper but slightly higher on the Prius' MFD gauge... down from 60.9 mpg because of a interstate highway trip to Missouri and back at very high speeds). I've been teaching myself hypermiling for the last two years. I've got a ScangaugeII and I am currently blocking my air intake grills. I've overinflated my tires 50/48psi. My entire mileage log is on cleanmpg.com under HyperDrive 1. You might want to read my comments on my mileage log on cleanmpg.com wrt to my MPG results. I mainly drive in MD-DC but once in awhile I'm in NoVA (Tysons Corner I :D ) . The DC Metro area is very hilly so the basic hypermiling skills Pulse & Glide (P&G) and Driving without Brakes(DWB) is not enough to get +60mpg consistently per tank, a Prius driver needs to master the hypermiling technique called *Driving with Load* (DWL) once you learn that it much easier to get +60 mpg per tank. I've gotten as low as 44 mpg per tank (going avg +63mph on I70 superhighway hitting 80mph most of the time in the rain as part of a +800 mile one day trip) and as high as 70mpg per tank (going avg +16mph in stop and go traffic commuting in the DC Area).
     
  13. pakitt

    pakitt Senior Member

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    This is what I got yesterday - with 6.46% average MFD error on my Prius (calculated over 2.5 years of ownership), this yields a fuel consumption of 3.09L/100km-76.2MPG.
    To refer to my OP - I cannot understand how the EU cycle is being calculated. It is supposedly "optimised" compared to EPA. Nevertheless I am still beating it hands down by a good length. So either it is conservative, I am an excellent driver, or I have hit even better ideal conditions (I doubt) than the EU cycle requires... my OP was so *far* away from the "ideal EU test conditions"...

    Conditions of this latest FE:

    • Amb. Temp. 31C-89F (as reported by Prius)
    • Engine used after 2.5hrs stop after a full warm-up (I believe the EU cycle even tests the car with a fully warmed up engine...)
    • Stock summer tires 215/45R17 alloy wheels - tire pressure F/R: 2.8/2.7bar-40.6/39.2psi (from the dealer! I went to check after changing them a week ago, and they game to me like this - I was *so* amazed!!!)
    • Radio off
    • Headlights on most of the time (a lot of tunnels)
    • Fluid *city* traffic, but 6 red traffic lights, 3 km/1.8mi highway driven at 90km/h-56mph (as per speedometer), two mini-jams (<2mins each)
    • ECO mode
    • A/C on, set at 23C, full Auto (I always let the guy do what it wants)
    • Sunny day
    • Car bought Sept. 2009, with 46.000km-28600mi
    • the 45.000km "fitness" check (oil change essentially) was done 1 week ago - I explicitly asked for the 0w-20 oil - it appears they really used it this time...

    At about two thirds of the drive the MFD even showed 2.5L/100km-94mpg - I could not believe it...

    The ambient temp and the usage of A/C differ from the EU cycle test (it is off, and at 25C I believe).
    I am pretty sure I drove like every other day - so I was either blessed with great fluid traffic (not really though, it wasn't much different than other days); I drove particularly fluid myself, or I have become an hyper miler...! ;)

    PS: I have checked in my "library" - this time I have beaten hands down even my past FE all time highs in similar conditions, *exact* same route, same day, similar time of day. One was 27C-A/C *off*-same tires-39km/h avg speed-3.2L/100km (MFD)...
    This time I drove "faster", I had the A/C *on* and was 10% better!!!
     

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  14. Sergio-PL

    Sergio-PL Member

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    List in „pakitt†format ;)

    Conditions of this latest FE:

    • Amb. Temp. 23C-73F (as reported by Prius)
    • Engine used after 24hrs stop, no warm-up
    • Stock summer tires (Michelin Primacy HP) 215/45R17 alloy wheels - tire pressure F/R: 2.5/2.4bar-36/34psi
    • Radio on (vol 15)
    • Headlights on (mandatory in Poland)
    • Fluid *city* traffic, sub-urban
    • ECO mode
    • A/C on, set at 23C, full Auto (I always let the guy do what it wants)
    • Sunny / rainy (mixed) day
    • Car bought Dec. 2011, with 6.000km-3750mi

    Result: 3.6 l/100km (65mpg) on MFD over 127 km (79 mi). Started with 4 bars on battery, finished with 6 bars. 2-3 hours break just in the half of the trip.

    More or less fluid traffic with one 50 Wh braking for each 5 minutes... one traffic jam (road repair) and 2 km over ground road with 20-30 kmh steady driving between road holes.

    [​IMG]
     
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  15. movingforward

    movingforward Member

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    On relatively flat terrains and somewhat ideal conditions...this car is amazingly efficient! These numbers you peeps are posting are incredible!
     
  16. priforme

    priforme Junior Member

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    [​IMG]

    'nuf said (or shown)

    I lev this car!!!


    iPad ?
     
  17. dobdru

    dobdru New Member

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    DWL please explain how this is done I have yet to see that one anywhere
     
  18. jsfabb

    jsfabb Active Member

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    I did a little research and here is what I came up with from other websites:

    DWL is "Driving with Load" meaning that you should pretend your vehicle only operates at one throttle setting regardless of load (caused by changes in the terrain -- uphill is higher load, downhill is lower load). In essence, DWL means driving the terrain. Think about a roller coaster - lose speed on the uphill and gain it back on the downhill, with a constant throttle position the whole way. This is in contrast to keeping steady speed, with high throttle going up and light throttle going
     
  19. dobdru

    dobdru New Member

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    Thank you, I looked for quite sometime last night trying to find an explanation.
     
  20. walter Lee

    walter Lee Hypermiling Padawan

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    Yes. Sorry about not responding earlier.

    I'm synching my acceleration on the downhill grades whenever I can. Before going uphill, I adding 5mph to 10mph more than my target speed, as I climb uphill the ICE is set at a low to medium power .70gph/1088rpm to 1.2gph/1388rpm and I allow the Prius to lose 5mph to 10mph as it goes uphill. As the car goes over the top of the hill,I let go of the accelerator the ICE is off at 0.02gph/0RPM and the Prius coasts on its own momentum. As the Prius point downward toward the next downhill grade, the accelerator is pressed pass the HSI Eco mid point to turn on the ICE at 1.00 gph/1280 RPM up to 1.50gph/1700rpm until you reach your target speed. If your target speed is under 46 mph then the Prius can glide downhill with the ICE off. If the Prius target speed is over 46 mph but under 55 mph then the Prius ICE can be set to low power to maintain its speed in something called SuperHighway Mode (SHM) IF the Prius has a scangaugeII .. the accelerator is use to trigger the Ice and then the throttle is decreased until the driver can get a fix on following feedback gauges settings IGN=22, TPs=19, GPH=.50 to .70, RPM =1088 to 1180 . If your target speed is over 55 mph then the Prius throttle is opened up to maintain that speed unless there is enough gravitational energy to keep up the speed. As the Prius gets to bottom of the downhill grade and has to go back up hill - the driver accelerates and adds additional speed before climbing uphill again.