Let's see your MFD! Put that camera phone to use!

After I got home from the gas station the other day...

 

I'm looking and hoping to finally get that 700 mile tank - Watch out Ray Moore, here I come! Also, looks like I'll be going in for my 30k checkup soon - mileage keeps getting better and better!

-m.

 

LOL, I may have a high tech car, but my cell phone is from the prehistoric era when taking pictures with them was an option that was not available.

When I parked at work this morning, the display showed my average at 62.4 (at 97 miles on the tank). I have a rule/goal of trying to increase the average on every trip I take, but that's getting pretty hard to do when I'm at these mpg levels. (The only good thing about this rule is that my wife knows she has no chance at raising the average, so I've had my beloved Prius to myself quite a bit of late.)

 

Rflagg- I'm crossing my fingers for you. Does yours get better and better as you burn up the fuel weight? Mine is improving about .3 MPG each day.

I have over 500 miles on this tank and the mileage is up around 64 MPG. If I could just get it up to 65 MPG I could tell people that my license plate is dyslexic. I've been checking the daily commute mileage and for the last two days it has been 66 and 67 MPG respectively. My drive in to work this morning averaged 78 MPG for the 32 mile drive but I'm only getting 58 MPG on the way home. I live 600 feet higher than I work.

 

Here's mind~ My 4th tank. Getting better MPG every tank!

 

How the heck do you guys get such outstanding mileage??!?? I managed the 71.4 mpg over a very short distance, sometimes I may get 50-55 mpg while driving long distances without stopping at 45-50 mph (back country roads), but no matter how hard I have been trying, during my daily commute I have only been able to manage mid to upper 40's.

What is the secret to your success???

 

Ahhhhh grasshopper- there are many secrets to the art of zen mileage. You must be the Prius.

Seriously, there are so many threads about this subject. Several are running right now. If you search my past threads and look for the ones about my 703 mile tank and my 763 mile tank, there is a lot of info on how I drive and the type of commute I have. I'm sorry to send you off on a search but there really are so many little things that you can do to improve your mileage and I don't want to type it all again here. I feel like I'm already highjacking the thead that was really about pictures of the display. If you have trouble finding what you need, PM me and I'll try to dig it up.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ltu1542hvy\";p=\"100850)</div>

I think the secret to my MPG is the rush hour traffic on all major highways in NY. :mrgreen:

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(priusham\";p=\"100861)</div>

That may be a big part of my problem. My daily commute is just about 8 miles one way in Stop & Go traffic, and the majority of my other trips vary between maybe 4 and 20 miles, with an occasional longer trip.

 

First off, sorry for sort of hijacking this thread - let me try to bring it back on track. I finally dug up a picture that I took back in March. For this one I took a two hour trip down some secondary back roads (for those of you familiar with the area, started in Durham, NC, and then drove on US 15-501 via Chapel Hill, Pittsboro, Sanford to US-1, and from there to Southern Pines. Refueled in Southern Pines, and from there rejoined US 15-501 to go via Aberdeen and Laurinburg to Laurinburg-Maxton Airport where there is a junkyard with a bunch of ex-Northwest 747s, DC-10s and 727s being dismantled). Most of this trip was at speeds between 45 and 60 mph, slightly hilly countryside, very little stopping and possibly a slight net downhill gradient. The screen was reset at the gas station in Southern Pines and shows the mileage from there to Laurinburg-Maxton Airport. I would love to repeat this trip sometime and fuel up (and reset the screen) in Durham, since I think I may have gotten more than 60 mpg over the entire two hour trip.

Now, if only my daily commute were something like an hour or so along back country roads maybe I could get such spectacular mileage on a consistent basis. I just wonder if it is possible to do that with an 8 mile daily commute in pretty rigorous stop & go traffic.

 

No pics yet. But recently I did a Trip to Phoenix and back to Tucson on I-10 Averaging 71mph. My MPG arriving back in Tucson was 52.1mpg HIGHWAY driving. Will get some pics on my next big tank.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Ray Moore\";p=\"100837)</div>

Ray,

Yes and no about getting better - I have to work hard to get it to climb, but weekends are what kill me - plenty of small trips where the car might be off for only 5 minutes or for over an hour in between each stop. During the work week though, I can usually raise my mileage by about .5 mpgs per trip. (For example, the other day I was at 61.0, now I'm at 62.1 after 60 more miles). This tank is looking like it'll never end - only two bars gone on the gauge and I'm sitting at 280 miles.

Wow, your mpg just keeps climbing! I hear you about the drive home - 2/3s of the way into my trip going into work is my highway chunk, mostly downhill. That of course means it comes early on the way home, and mostly uphill. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you that you'll at least make it to 65, I have no doubts that you can pull it off!

-m.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(\"priusham\";p=\"100861\")</div>

OK, I can send you some pics. The first is my last full tank, the second is the one before that and the third is my current tank to date.

 

I'm off to search past threads since I can't seem to get better than low 40's. Of course I'm usually in a hurry but this TANK I'm payin attention!

 

Iv'e seen situations where similar environmental conditions (temp, speed, traffic) yields different MPG.

Like last night, when I started my trip, allowing for the battery to charge due to some stealth mode, driving 45 got low 50's. About 1/2 hour later, battery is green, and I am getting 70's. Hardly any regen cars.
Sometimes Prius decides to charge up the battery a bit more, and then the mileage jumps up!
Weird.

 

You know, as weird as it sounds, that's been my solution to getting great MPG. I don't monitor the screen, I don't concentrate on feathering; I just drive easy.

Well... that and warm weather. (And long drives on the Interstate. I'm down to a 47 MPG right now because I'm only driving 3-6 mile trips this week.)

BTW, thanks for reminding me that I can change the colors on the MFD! When I saw the yellow-orange bars on the MFD screen photos, I had a momentary "HUH?!" reaction before I remembered I could change that.