Please teach me how to drive properly

Just drive.

It is FAR more important to be aware of your fellow drivers, pedestrians, children playing by the road, wild animals, etc. than it is to be looking at the display.

Your battery has a 100,000 mile warranty, maybe more. Sadly Prius batteries are all over ebay because the car was totaled. We like you, be safe out there.

 

sounds like your doing it perfectly! don't worry about the battery, the car won't let you damage it.

 

Your ride won't even be broken in until it's appx 10,000 miles old. You mpg's will get higher, just from the practice alone over that time. So in the mean time (as already stated) don't sweat it.

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Tru Dat Jimbo

150k on the 2010, isn't it?

 

I strongly recommend the thread "New MAX MPG Driving Tips Video"

 

Ditto Felt

 

Hi Alex,

The trick to being able to do pulse and glide is anti-traffic techniques (at least that is what I call it). Maybe I have it easier out here in the western burbs. But the way people drive, there is dramatic bunching of vehicles happening. Get inbetween those bunches, and you can PandG. I have done this with my route selection. This is my perferred method. One way is to time into a right turn onto the a multi-lane road in the middle of green. The cars on the road you turn onto are now stuck at the light, and you can PandG to your hearts content for the next trip segment.


Light timing is another way you can pulse and glide. If you know you get caught by one light or another, on average, pulse and glide so you come into the next light when its green, on average. For example, you get get caught at a light, almost all the time, or say you have to make a left turn, and your caught at the light. The timing of the next light then will be synchronised to you leaving the light you got caught at. Keep track of if your comming into that second light when its red or green. Then P and G to reduce the average if its red at the speed limit. People may not like it initially, but fling them past a pile of stopped cars a few times as those red-light racers are stopped as the light goes green - and they will accept it.

Timing your trip at the same time, within a few minutes, helps avoid the variations in the synichronizations caused by varying traffic.

 

No, not unless you're in a CARB state. IL isn't one of them. The 10 year/150K mile HV battery warranty in CARB states started either in the middle of or the start of the 2nd gen (04 to 09 model year).

Toyota Warranty and Coverage

 

I have a 2010 Prius V with 13k miles and my mpg is now 35-38mpg...Not happy at all.

 

Is there a relatively, flat route you can drive at a cruise control set speed without traffic lights or stops for at least 10 miles?

• Barton Creek Square Shopping Center - outer road that circles the parking lot, can you drive on the inner lane at 25 mph and not have any stop signs or lights?
• Mopac Expressway - lanes that avoid any lights or intersections?
• I35 - again, lanes that avoid stops?

Drive the test route once using the cruise control at 65 mph or the posted speed limit. This practice run is to make sure there are no accidents, road work, or traffic conditions and to warm up the car. If you can, drive without the air conditioner by cracking the windows. Then do the following:

1. Turn around and get on the test route.
2. Resume the cruise control speed.
3. Reset a trip meter, either A or B.
4. Drive 10 miles.
5. Record: distance, MPG and average speed.

Repeat the test in the opposite direction. Report the values from the two runs. Compare your results to this chart:


What this test does is determine how your car performs relative to a new Prius driven off the lot. If your vehicle, driven under cruise control is significantly off, we need to diagnose the problem. If it matches, then we need to look at your typical driving profile.

Bob Wilson

 

I think whatever you do, just be smooth and easy with the car. If you try to do smooth, easy acceleration, with the flow of traffic and smooth deceleration, I think you'll be fine and this will be easy on the car.

I believe what is hard on any car is more aggresive speeding up and slowing down. Sometimes and car will tailgate me a little bit, hurrying me up while heading towards a green light, then the light turns yellow and need to stop. That's a waste of energy.

 

Why out of the question? Donee gave some good advice, you just need to refine it for your route. If you'd like some help with pulse and glide just come to one of our Chicago Prius Group meetings or even the Milwaukee Hybrid Group meetings, both offer lessons from more experienced people for eco-driving.

Wayne

Who has been getting mid 60's-mid 70's MPG since March.

 

Sometimes other motorists just have to deal with it. I refuse to race to a red light.

Where I live, there's a street which has lights that seem timed in one direction to 15mph. If I go exactly 15mph I hit the corners just as the light turns green.

Of course drivers behind me go crazy and honk and then pass me and speed to the red light. And when I glide up behind them and they're still stopped as the light turns green, sometimes I honk at them.

Then they race to the next red light, and we start all over again.

 

That's funny, I do the same thing.

 

If you're in the city proper, then you pulse and glide with the lights. Pulse when the light turns green, glide when coming to the next light or turn or congested area. Otherwise you time it to hills or stop signs. On an open flat road it's based on your current speed, but that's relatively rare.

Generally you want to minimize use of the battery. It's there when you need some stronger acceleration, and to maintain a longer glide, but the energy comes from gasoline, and that energy is more efficiently kept as momentum - not being converted to electricity, stored in a battery, and then taken back out again. Definitely don't take forever starting from a dead stop, just to stay in battery mode. In most cases that's counter-productive.

 

We need some more information to provide help.
I'd recommend checking your tire pressure first, but there's probably something else at work as well. A short commute? Kind of between seasons for the A/C and heat, but that also hurts the mileage because the engine can't shut off as often. There's hills in Austin, is that true for your commute?

 

My best is 40
I have the same problem with hills and short distances.
On the flip side i am saving close to 40% compared to my previous car