Pulse Driving

The only good way to go is to use the cruise.

I find it responds to hills quite well, maintaining speed up the hill while using less power as soon as it detects that the car has started to crest.

Downhill at 40MPH, the electric motor doesn't seem to hold speed as well as the gas one does on a 70MPH highway. I rarely see 71 going down highway hills, but 45 is easy on some of the roads I use.

If only going 35MPH in a 35MPH zone didn't make me nervous about being hit from behind...

 

To me this car drives like almost any other- with different noises to be sure, but I feel it is the same as a single engined car. What I DO find myself doing is paying more attention to the fuel-thrifty methods of driving- accelerate to speed, maintaining, anticipating stops/slows, etcetera...

My experience with the cruise seems to be unlike some of you out there. When in cruise it seems to me that as soon as the car senses an incline it pours on the gas to maintain, with a decline it seems to somewhat over-shoot the gas necessary. When I do it "by foot" I find myself anticipating what the cruise cannot, and not insisting on maintaining an exact speed to the MPG. In informal tests I've done on similar runs with and without cruise, I am able to do at least a couple MPGs better without. No, I do not maintain an exact speed the entire trip, the way the cruise will if you let it, but I do get there just the same

Peace

 

I think that you CAN drive the Prius like any other car. However, I've never owned a car that gave constant feedback for mpg and I'm afraid that I find it to be addicting. Yes, the current mpg on the Energy Monitor bounces all around the place and I bet it does on a regular car too - you just don't know it - just not to the extreme (up to 99.9 mpg) that the Prius does. I think one of the appeals of the Prius to me IS monitoring the mpg and trying to get it higher. (More of a game than a necessity - that's it, the Prius video game.) I don't have trouble maintaining a constant speed, but like jeffrey, I pay more attention to the mpg than to maintaining a constant mph - but that is by choice.

I haven't used cruise control as most of my driving is suburban.

If you find the CPU monitor distracting, you can always turn it off. I can't - I'm hooked.

 

have you tried the cruise control much?

i've used my Camry and Ford cruise control almost everywhere (except stop and go traffic!) and both work well at any speed from 25mph up !

if it cures the surging, you might find it to be a palatable alternative?

 

I also find the energy and mpg monitors to be addictive. I'd never turn them off because it adds a lot to the fun of driving. Yes, a regular car's mpg does jump around. I also have a Toyota Highlander with current and average mpg displays and I've learned to maximize its gas usage as well. Actually, it outdoes the Prius in one insignificant way... the monitor reads a full 100 mpg instead of 99.9. Travelling down hill or coasting with my foot off the accelerator, it will read 100. But it doesn't last long, and I certainly can't maintain an average above the mid 20's.

Interestingly, I find the Prius is consistently 2 to 2.5 times as efficient with fuel as the Highlander in just about every situation. Cold morning startups, first 5 miles, acceleration up hills, overall averages, etc. all show the same pattern.

Tideland AM - Colorado

 

Terkar,
This is what I do and it does take some practice, but I find that I am getting much better at it as I drive this car. Also I will say, the temperature can make a big difference as to how easy it is to kick the car into stealth mode which is always my aim. That said, here is what I do...

I accelerate until I reach about 3 - 5 miles over the speed limit. Then very quickly I take my foot off the gas pedal and then immediately place my foot back on the gas pedal but VERY LIGHTLY. When I do this right, the mpg will jump to 99.9 as I am running on electric only and my speed is now maybe a couple miles per hour over the speed limit depending on how smooth I am with this motion, the mph may drop a bit. Now this works well on flat or slightly downhill roads. Sometimes if it is cold, the mpg will be in the 40's, 50's or 60's. I just try to maximize whatever mpg I can get depending on the circumstances. The big thing that I have learned is that the gas pedal is VERY sensitive and you can be traveling the same mph, but have VERY different mpg values depending on how depressed the gas pedal is. <I think this is why you feel that you are pulse driving.> I find that I will catch myself giving the car too much gas and just by easing off the pedal a bit, my speed can be about the same, but the mpg can shoot way up. I'm trying to train myself to do this automatically without having to stare at the Energy Monitor to get the desired results. Practice this when there is nobody on your tail as I find that people don't like it when you go the speed limit. :lol:

I am still working on a gas-saving technique for climbing hills. I live at the top of a steep hill and the mileage takes a hit every time. But again I find that I try to give the car the least amount of gas required to maintain speed. Anybody have any good techniques for this?

I hope people don't think I am out of my mind to play these games with the car. I certainly don't think that you HAVE to drive the car this way. I just enjoy playing the Prius mpg video game.

 

I've had my Prius for about amonth and a half now, nad have never had any problem maintaining a steady speed. I don't use the cruise control much at all, mostly city driving. Terkar, it sounds like there may be a sensor problem in yours, it may be worth having dealer check it out. It doesn't sound like anything serious, and hopefully an adjustment will take care of it.

 

rockluvr, i discovered the same method for driving the prius as you did. it works beautifully! i've gotten my average to 53.4 mpg by doing that. i still look at the monitor, kinda fun really

 

Terkar,

I live in Northern Virginia, where I used to not realize how hilly it is here (not as hilly as your area though) - until I got this car and watched the mileage go up and down.

rockluvr is right, the accel. is extremely touchy - just barely touching the gas will give you a push off the electric motor, and do a somewhat decent job maintaining speed. Going up hills, however, makes it hard to keep a constant speed, while keeping your mileage at a decent rate. The best method is anticipating the climb from the previous hill - make the car go faster than you want down the previous hill, and let the MPH climb back a bit up the next hill.

Also, I think another big key to good mileage in this car is the 'quick start' from stoplights. Run the car as long as possible on electric only from the stoplights, and especially allow for other cars to get ahead of you and up to speed. Once the ICE kicks in, as it eventually will usually, give it a bit of a punch and get up to speed asap. The shorter the ICE is run at that initial accel., the less gas used.

And, as a FYI, I usually use cruise almost all the time - probably a thousand times more than with my previous car. Since the cruise can more accurately get a better mpg when increasing speed than I can (usually, anyways), I let the computer do the work. But if you're not comfortable with cruise, than I suggest what I mentioned above. It may sound crazy, but also try driving with a different pair of shoes - could be your shoes are too 'thick' for you to notice when the accel. is actually being pushed. Just a possibility, who knows.

Right now I've only got 300+ miles on the car, but I'm absolutely loving the fact that the car is teaching me how to drive more efficent, not to mention safer than my other car. Right now I'm averaging 52.5 mpg. Hope some of this helps!

-m.

 

RFlagg,

I find that trying to use the electric only from a dead stop is anything but a 'quick start'. Don't you get people behind you honking and prone to road rage? I'm finding that while the mpg is great in slow, heavy traffic true stop & go traffic makes my mpg go way down unless I'm willing to hold up a huge line behind me while I creep up to speed. But then again, you're already beating 50mpg while I have yet to beat 50mpg for more than a couple of days and never for a full tank after about 3500 miles. With the warmer weather here in Northern Virginia I'm getting my best mileage yet on this tank at just over 46mpg. It sounds like maybe I just need a thicker skin to break 50mpg!

 

pkjohna,

Yeah, you'll notice right after I mentioned the 'quick start' method, that I also mentioned you need to start off creeping as long as possible. So far I haven't had anyone beep behind me, I do tend to try to stay in the far right lane though (especially since I'm not supposed to put the car over 55mph for the first 500-600 miles) - however, just creep for the first few seconds - give yourself a bit of room between the car ahead and your car, so you're able to floor it for a bit to get up to speed. Not completely floor it, but, as mentioned around here, accelerate 'briskly'. I tend to get maybe to 10-15mph before the ICE kicks in, which at that point I punch it up to 45 or so and then set the cruise. If the speed limit is faster for that area, then I'll just use the cruise to up it to 55mph.

I think it says a lot about the car when we're here discussing other people's road rage and the worry of it, when I was a seriour road-rager in my other car. It's certainly changed my ways, and I'm happy for that!

-m.