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EPA Lowballed my Prius!!

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Fuel Economy' started by DaveinOlyWA, Sep 23, 2004.

  1. DaveinOlyWA

    DaveinOlyWA 3rd Time was Solariffic!!

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    just got back from a job interview that was out of town. because i had plenty of time to get there, i decided to do a controlled mileage test (or as much as i could control the conditions)

    what i did is decided to set cruise control at 65 mph for the freeway and maintain that speed as much as possible. i resisted all temptations to go faster (except for one short burst to get around an trucker) and did what i could to maintain speed when in traffic (excessive lane changes, etc)

    my mileage figures i started recording as i entered or exited the freeway to eliminate any surface driving at all.

    i left olympia with readings from trip A for better accuracy to Renton, then to Issaquah, then back to olympia. with segments in freeway, city and then freeway again. reading are as follows all computer based

    trip A = 316.7 computer 56.0 miles travelled mpg
    366.9 56.6 50.2 60.70
    380.1 57.3 13.2 72.53
    442.8 57.1 62.7 57.47

    so as you can see, the EPA lowballed the true mileage figures for the Prius. some notes on the trip...going north was smooth and only involved one freeway change from I-5 to I-405. now for those of you that dont know, this is where I-405 starts so its a smooth changeover with no real slow down in speed (i think the slowest i got was about 50 mph). However coming home was a 3 freeway trip going from I-90 to I-405 to I-5. as easy as the I-5 to I-405 is, going from I-405 to I-5 is one of the biggest headache in Western Wa. today involved a slow down to 20 mph stop and go crap for about 4-5 miles or so. I-90 to I-405 wasnt bad today...

    my in town driving consisted of mostly 35 mph with about half being through an area that had stop lights every 3-4 blocks or so. since i had never been here before and was following someone i was surprised that my mileage was as high as it was. we did drive from one hill to another, so its possible that elevation changes caused the readings although i cant say that we went mostly up or down...seemed to be about the same. the stretch did have about half where it was 40 mph and no lights so i attribute that to the main cause for the excellent readings.

    NOTEfor anyone interested, i figured segment mpg's by figuring the amount of gas used for the entire tank according to the computer by simply dividing the total tank mileage (trip A) by the mpg computer reading. by using the above method, each segment used .827, .182, and 1.091 gallons of gas respectively.
     
  2. TonyPSchaefer

    TonyPSchaefer Your Friendly Moderator
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    Wow Dave. That's excellent. The only left is for you and a few others who have exceeded the EPA to get a lawyer and file a class action suit against Toyota for undersating the milage. :)

    I'd donate some points to you for such excellent milage, but you've already got tons more than I do. Besides, extra weight can damage your mileage and I wouldn't want to burden you.
     
  3. hdrygas

    hdrygas New Member

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    That is interesting. I posted earlier that my present tank started off low. I have had some problem getting it up. I was doing 53+ with the new tank I had high 40's slowly up to 50+. Today I went cross town on the freeway and it was bad very bad. The strange thing is that my milage rose to 51.5. A bit of it was down hill. But a lot of it was in stealth (apologies to Daniel but I hate golf carts I was a caddy in my early life). This was a new thing for me. By the time I got home through the city I was at 52.1. I am having trouble understanding this.
     
  4. DaveinOlyWA

    DaveinOlyWA 3rd Time was Solariffic!!

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    sounds like just some good green drivin' to me...
     
  5. Starbug

    Starbug New Member

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    OMG. When I read that you went to Issaquah on that EPA mpg test, I had to check the date stamp on your post because there was an '04 Driftwood parked in front of Atomic Hobby today (was there for some time before it left, and I didn't see the driver)! So for a split second, I thought maybe it was you! And then I saw you posted it yesterday. Damn.

    Congrats on the high mpg numbers! That'll show Prius mpg non-believers out there that it's not a myth! My Rent-a-Prius got numbers like that too, so I too know it can be done.
     
  6. DaveinOlyWA

    DaveinOlyWA 3rd Time was Solariffic!!

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    i have a tideland!!! you know... the greenish GRAY one...
     
  7. bruceha_2000

    bruceha_2000 Senior Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Starbug\";p=\"41588)</div>
    I picked up my Driftwood yesterday Starbug, but I'm pretty sure I wasn't close to Atomic Hobby ;-)
     
  8. Starbug

    Starbug New Member

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    Dave & Bruce: Ooops, actually I meant to say Tideland. Don't know why I typed Driftwood. Eh.

    Bruce: You got your Prius yesterday?! SWEET!! Drive it all the way here to Atomic Hobby to break it in! :mrgreen: LOL.


    *bursts into tears* I want my Priussssssss!!!!! :sad: You think if I camp out in front of the dealership, they'll give it to me faster just so I'll go away? I could pester them every day.... "is it here yet? Is it here yet? Is it here yet?" :lol:
     
  9. bruceha_2000

    bruceha_2000 Senior Member

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    <div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Starbug\";p=\"41922)</div>
    OK, then it really, REALLY wasn't me ;-)
    I suppose I COULD, there are people on this board who have driven almost that far getting home from their dealer :)
    Never know, might work better than offering $3K over MSRP :) "Get this lady the heck out of here, she's whacko, she's scaring away the other customers!"

    What is your 'expected' wait time?
     
  10. Starbug

    Starbug New Member

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    LOL! Yeah, they'll think I'm whacko alright... *plots* :mrgreen:

    Last I heard it was about 8-12 months. do not know, could be sooner, could be later. I'm hoping that the Accord, Lexus 400h, Highlander, etc will take the load off the Prius and allow me to get it sooner. With my luck, however, it will only draw more attention to the Prius and make my wait even longer (Murphy's Law loves me). LOL. Oh well, I will live. I have only to remember my time with the Rent-a-Prius from Enterprise, and then I'm fine. :lol: *eyes glaze over in bliss at the memory*
     
  11. hdrygas

    hdrygas New Member

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    Ahaa Yes and remember Tooul's colliery of Murphy’s law.... Murphy was an optimist!
     
  12. Starbug

    Starbug New Member

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    Damn......


    :lol:
     
  13. bruceha_2000

    bruceha_2000 Senior Member

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    Take one of the RCs that matches cars they have on the lot down there before they open. Put it by the front door and wait. When the GM shows up tell him you won't shrink any more of his cars if he gets you a Prius within a month :)

    How many lists are you on Starbug? Have you hunted for "outside the metropolis" dealers? As it turns out, the dealer where I got my car is some great distance from larger population areas but sells a ton of cars. Many makes. My salesman said he only actually sees about 1/2 the people he sells to. Those that he does see are either fairly close, or like me, aren't letting ANYONE drive their new car to their home :) This dealership will deliver. It would have been $100 for me. It was about a 5.5 hour round trip, not to mention that both my wife and I took a vacation day off work and we drove over in her Subaru (maybe 24 mpg, 260 mile round trip * $1.89/gal = about $20 in gas). It wouldn't have been an unreasonable charge. Lucky for us it was a beautiful sunny day and the foliage is turning.
     
  14. Starbug

    Starbug New Member

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    :lolup: LOL! OMG, I love that idea! BEWARE THE SHORT CURSE! I made your cars small like me! Bwa-hahahaha! Fear The Short One! Now gimme my Prius before I shrink more cars AND YOU!*cough* I'm ok now. Really.

    At the moment, I am only on one list. Everybody is closed by the time I get off work, so hunting down other dealers isn't easy. But I am fine with it, I will get it sooner or later.
     
  15. bruceha_2000

    bruceha_2000 Senior Member

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    Hunting is EASY! :) Use the Toyota web site and 'build' one. Put in your zip code and it will give you a list of dealers to email. I typed up my requirements and request, did a copy and pasted it into 4 different emails from the web site.

    You can find the zip code for areas where you would be willing to go get it and think they might not have as big a list as your local dealer (presuming they DO have a big list). You will need to send a refundable deposit - make sure that is part of the deal. You don't have to go to them, fax or snail mail works for paperwork. The only showroom I walked into was the local one until I picked up my car Friday :)

    Where are you on the local list and how many are they gettingin?
     
  16. DaveinOlyWA

    DaveinOlyWA 3rd Time was Solariffic!!

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    i setup a list of dealers that were in this area I used WA, OR, ID, only for a friend who was interested in sending out feelers....

    i mail merged the whole thing in office... if you have office i can send you the data files... all you would need to do is type up a form letter with the appropriate fields and then pick and choose which ones you want to send to.