2006 MPG???

We're getting a direct correlation between mileage + temps + driving style.

It was getting to be real nice outside. Cherries and daffodils in full bloom. I even got peas planted. And my mileage was creeping upward to about 43.2mpg. Then a couple days ago it got cold. Low 30s at night, low 40s in day. My wife has borrowed the car a few times as well. Now we're back to 40.6 . This is a pretty big system, so it'll probably make its way east soon. Hope we don't lose the peas. C'mon spring!

 

I just got my 06 Silver Pkg#6 a few weeks ago. On my first day, MFD showed 46 mpg, and it went up from there everyday. My first tank gave me 51.2 mpg from MFD display. I'm half-way through the second tank, and getting between 51.2 and 51.7 mpg on a day-to-day basis. On dry days with temperature in the 50-55 range, I get 51.7. On wet days in the 45-50F range, I get 51.2 mpg.

My commute is about 34 miles one-way; I tried to stay under 65 mph most of the time with A/C off.

 

My 2006 Prius has a little over 6,000 miles and the best tank so far has been 49.2 miles over 509 miles. On the current tank I'm at 49.6 mpg over the last 120 miles. I'm really trying my best to break the 50 mile barrier, but it won't be easy since I hardly ever drive below 65 on the highway. Anyway, do you think I should expect to see an improvement over that, once my engine fully breaks in? I'll be more than pleased if I can consistently get 50 mpg; especially if I don't have to try so hard.

 

A very interesting thing happened this weekend. For the past month and a half since picking up my new '06, I've been averaging 45-49mpg per tank. The weather has been in the 20-30s in the morning and 40-50s in the afternoon.

Well this past Friday, it hit the low 70's and I took the car for a 400 mile jaunt from the mid-Atlantic region through PA, NY, and into CT. The nice warm weather with the winds blowing the warm air from the South on the Northerly journey, dry pavement and what happens? 61.5mpg for the trip!

The return trip today gave me temps in the 50's and rain most of the way, net result, 50.2mpg. Still nothing to sneeze at and definitely better than my 27mpg small truck.

The weather and pavement conditions have a great deal to do with what kind of mileage we get.

Can't wait for summer!

Kaos1

 

Interesting indeed! We've been averaging 41MPG but this last weekend our 100 mile trip after filling up in Vermont home, we got 47 MPG. The temps were 50-55 degs and I set cruise at 77MPH. Weather bump is quite lovely!

 

I drive 62 miles twice a day. I ge 48MPG at 80mpH. At 70 I easily get 50 MPG. Flat interstate, warm weather (Louisiana). I did notice that at around 4000 miles gas milage increased about 2mpg.

 

Had been getting 48-49 in Jan/Feb, but with the weather warming into the high 70's-80's, it's jumped to 54-56mpg! That's here in sunny Austin, TX.

 

OK, you hotshot, warm state, wise guys! Just wait until summer, You'll be cranking your A/C and we won't. Neener, neener, neener. That'll level the playing field. (for about 2 months .)

 

True story!.... I have also found I am moving more to the consumption screen....
It helps me notice just how hard I am pressing the acclerator. Often I think I'm getting good mileage until I compare with my last 5 minute average and I sometimes see I can let up on the gas a bit and really help mileage without losing speed, or if I do, its very gradual.

I have found that if I quickly accelerate and then maintain it or even very slowly let it drop a mph every 30 seconds or so that often that does much better than merely maintaining speed, this is effective if you know you have a stop coming up in a mile or so, or traffic is likely to slow anyway. If you find you drop to slow, then quickly accelerate again back up to speed to repeat the process.

This is a modified procedure simliar to how they did it when they got 110 mpg.. but going to 40 and slowly drifting back to 30 and repeating.

Dave gave me the idea about not losing speed, but I found that sometimes I lost speed regardless of best intentions.. when it does.... quickly accelerating seems to work better than babying it back up to speed.

Quick acclerations seem not only to put the ICE at higher rpms to work in its efficient zone more, but also pulls energy from the battery as it helps the acceleration.

I hope I explained what I mean ok.... go to the consumption screen and try it and see what you think? I seem to be able to get better mpg playing around with this.

 

OK. New 06 with 200 miles on it. Shows roughly 46mpg on the screen. Fortunately driving the flat lands of N. Florida where temps ranging from 50 to 86 this week. My only problem is to remember to drive slowly since my other car is a MR2 Turbo.

Heard on another comment that you average between 25-50 on the first 5 min, no matter what. That myth was busted this morning. The first 5 minutes (after car sat in parking lot for 2 hours at doctors office) was 75mpg.

 

Pulling energy from the battery means you'll be required to charge the battery later.
It's wasting energies.
Please re-read the Pulse and Glide article...
http://hybridcars.about.com/od/ownership/a/pulseandglide.htm

If you find a technique to achieve more than 110MPG, please let us know.

Ken@Japan

 

I'm in an '06 with 200 miles on it at the moment. I drive the Sepulveda Pass in Southern California every day (Santa Monica to Sherman Oaks). The car is getting surprisingly good mileage with a 1200 foot change in elevation mid-commute.

I generally set the cruise control for 60MPH going up-hill (which generally matches the flow of traffic in the slowest lane), and let the car coast and recharge, at 65MPH, all the way back down. At the end of the commute I have all green bars and have averaged 46MPG according to the "Consumption" screen.

On the way back I do a bit better (it's twenty degrees warmer), and finish the day with a 53 MPG average on a 20 mile round trip commute.

I was expecting to experience lower performance due to the change in elevation, the shortness of the commute, and the rapid flow of traffic, but the car is exceeding my expectations tremendously.

 

What I am witnessing may nave nothing to do with the same reasons the 110 mile challenge works so well.
So its important not to discount just because it doesn't make sense with the lower speed test.

Why did you ask me about letting you know if I attained mileage better than 110?
Did you not read my posts and realize I was driving much faster?
I was not trying to challenge the 110 mile test while going at speeds of 60 and 70?
But by using a similiar technique you can increase the mileage from just normal crusing.

True it is a waste to pull energy out of a battery just to put it back in, but there are also other factors at play that may override the lack of efficiency about the batteries. The compression of the engine is such that its very efficient at heavy workloads and part of that workload can be charging the battery back.

I suppose if there is anything to this.. a diesel could use the same technique to improve mileage?

This is just what I have witnessed...it may be similiar to how a diesel does so well pulling heavy loads due to hits high compression ratio. I am not a chemical engineer and so I am just guessing as to why.

Based on my experiments, the engine is not efficient just cruising to maintain speed.. it does better working hard or very little... the middle of the road workloads is where it appears to suffer..
Watch how terrible the mileage is when gradually accelerating.... it does much better to go ahead and accelerate then then take it easy by maintaining or even slowle dropping speed based on what terrain is doing.

 

I see you were talking about the highway speed.
My experiment tells me there is no difference between constant speed cruising and pulse-n-glide at highway speed.
I believe it is because the ICE always spinning at highway speed, aka above 42 MPH.

Ken@Japan

 

Humm... maybe... but there is something to the pulse and glide technique... the way they describe it is misleading... they indicate they attempt not to engage battery charging or discharging "to avoid the losses".. but in reality they are doing just that.

If they are "averaging" 110 mpg that means they "have" to be running off battery in EV mode to do that, because unless I'm reallyl missing something.. I've never figured out a way to get just the ICE to get 110mpg...

That means if they are using the battery, then since we all know it only last about a mile, they must be charging it too?
Unless they modded the computer to act totally differently than the factory settings, its tough to get the ICE to not charge the batteries "unless they are already very charged".. and then they go out of thier way to discharge for a season.

Either way, try the technique I"m talking about going between about 60 and 75.
Speed up aggressively "within reason" to about 5 or 10 mph where you want to cruise at and let off the accelerator and then put the gas back on to barely maintain your speed so that you are actually loosing speed over a few minutes... once you get back to 60 or so... do it again.

Based on terrain and traffic, try not to make yourself a nuisance.... I only do it if I'm in the mood and its convienent.... "just for fun".. it does seem to help....

Of course I could be crazy.... it wouldn't be the first time.... but at least I'm willing to think out of the box and try new things at the risk of being wrong.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(robochimp @ Feb 28 2006, 11:35 PM) [snapback]218445[/snapback]</div>

I have a 2006 Prius. We had to go out of town the other day, in a hurry to get to an appointment, and I locked the cruise control on 75 for an hour-still averaged 45 mpg! On the way back, we took it easy, and we averaged 51 mpg.

 

My 06 package #2 with 1300 miles has an overall average of 40 MPG, I have had as low as 28. I am extremly disappointed in the milage.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(efrench515 @ Apr 4 2006, 03:26 PM) [snapback]234941[/snapback]</div>

Ouch.. see if you can find another prius driver and let him drive with you or even drive thier car while they watch and see if you can see a trend on your part verses your car.

Find a local prius group in your area and go meet when they meet.... they will help you figure it out.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(windstrings @ Apr 5 2006, 01:29 AM) [snapback]235102[/snapback]</div>

Wind, I live in Saginaw Michigan. I have only ever seen one other prius in town and it is an 03. Today it was 52 and I had to do a lot of driving when I started I had 35 miles on the tank and the MFD sain 37MPG at the end of the day I had 180 on the tank and the MFD said 42MPG so I think I am making progress.

I searched the forum for a Prius group in my area but no luck. If there are other Mid-Michigan Prius owners I would like to get a group togther if you are interested.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(efrench515 @ Apr 4 2006, 06:26 PM) [snapback]234941[/snapback]</div>

Give it time. My 2006 has just over 3500 miles now, and the gas mileage is constantly improving. I usually have trouble maintaining 50 mpg, but on this tank I'm finding it easy to get 52+ mpg, and I'm actually driving a little faster and more aggressive lately. The colder weather in MI is a killer, especially if you are making short trips.