New Prius

Congratulations on your new Prius!

As for the highway mpgs, it depends on the terrain and the speed at which you're travelling. If you can maintain a good speed without having to play the speed-up, slow-down game that freeway traffic can bring about, you should be able to get consistant mileage in the mid to high 40's (and sometimes even higher, depending on how slow you're willing to drive). I've found in many instances where I'm on the freeway for 30-60 minutes driving a fairly consistant speed (ie: 75mph), I've gotten mpg readings in the high 40's (say 47-48), and other times where I'm in stop and go traffic never going over 30mph and getting much lower readings (ie: low 40's) because of the battery constantly having to be recharged by the gas engine.

With the brakes, I think it depends on how much pressure you're applying. If you brake firmly but gently, usually it's the regen brakes doing the work (until you get down to below 5-7mph, at which point the friction brakes will kick in no matter what). If you brake harder, you can feel the friction brakes immediately take hold. Just drive the car, and get used to how it feels when you're doing different things...it won't take long!

 

Paul...

...and welcome to the Prius world! You have a great period of discovery ahead to learn the peculiarities and advantages of Prius ownership.

PriusChat is a great resource for information sometimes not found in the Owner's Manual. Another resource is John's web site, he is probably to most experienced in the Prius. John has also compiled a Prius Manual easier to use. Check out his site:

http://john1701a.com/

 

Welcome to the cult...I mean, club.

I think one of the keys to better city MPG is to attempt to keep as constant a speed as possible; this includes anticipating not only the stoplight in front of you, but the one after that too. And, of course, it doesn't always work, despite one's best efforts.

Accelerate slowly from a stop and try not to feel the little shudder when the reciprocating engine kicks in. Sometimes you'll find that it seems you're going a little slow, but if you're careful you can barely keep up with traffic.

You also might check the air pressure in your tires.

 

Shifting to B does not maximize regen. It spins up the engine for drag, wasting gas and lots of kinetic energy.

 

Welcome.

With experience, you'll learn to sense when the friction brakes kick in. The experience that helped me the most was driving the car with wet brakes that made noise. Some complain of brake noise as the disks or drums rust from a want of use. I wonder if there's something safe you could put on a disk or drum that would make a little noise when (friction) braking but safely dissipate without really impacting braking performance or having any long term effects.