Very Happy with Prius After seeing gas priced at $2.43

I wonder the same thing.

Seems you're supposed to floor it if the spped you seek is under 40 MPH, amything higher, you should just do a normal accel.

Once you get to the 30-40 MPH speed you are supposed to lightfoot it, so that the car glides w/o charging the battery or try to maintain speed with just the traction motor.

It's pretty sweet when that happens, you get those nice 75-100 MPG bars on the MFD. Has to be a warm engine and warm outside temps to do that - in my experience. The damn snowflake is still on here in Michigan. I managed to get some sweet mileage while in TN for vacation @ 70 degrees F.

http://www.w8kc.com/priusmileage.htm

 

So Blue-Adept . . . you have learned how to change the sky from brown to blue. Congrats! :clap:

Now you must learn to overcome the bad habit of visiting the gas station on a weekly basis!

Your previous car/SUV programmed a weekly fill-up into your subconscious. :crazyeyes:

Resist the urge MAN!! :guns:

Wait for the last fuel gage bar to flash . . . that is your cue . . . then take another 20 to 30 miles . . . that is your cure. :mrgreen:

Not only will you save the time an hassle of frequent trips to the station, the accuracy of your MPG math will be better. A tenth of a gallon difference in fill-ups induces more of an error with a 3.75 gallon fill-up than with 11 gallons.

 

I just filled up the 93 Ford Escort this am. $2.359 at the Costco near by!!! (9.8 Gal/248 miles not bad for a standard car.)

Tonight the new Salsa Red Prius comes Home! It will take awhile before it needs its first tank of gas though.

Lisa

 

Slower acceleration is more condusive to getting the 56-60 MPG tanks that I average. Never floor it if you want to get out of the 40s. For best mileage try these rates. 0-30 in 15-20 seconds and 0-60 in 45-60 seconds. I find that i'm never alone at those rates. There are plenty of other drivers driving like that. I just never knew because I was racing to the next light.

 

I've seen premium go for a high here at 2.99 a gallon but.. i don't buy premium.. lowest for regular is now 2.36.. hmmm...

 

most prices here are over 2.50.. 2.36 is the cheapest i've found between my routes that i drive between San Jose and San francisco.. a 50 mile strip

 

I use a very light foot when driving under 25. Also I tend to quickly get to my desired speed then set cruise control. I anticipate stops (lights, signs, idiots) and coast when I am about 100m out. I have also noticed that if I get to my desired speed and I do not want to do cruise control I should let off the petal and coast for a few seconds letting the ICE shutdown and the elec motor engage then lightly press the petal to keep the elec motor going but not enough to get the ICE started again.

I am also lucky. If I ever find out who stole my diesel F250 I will send them a thank you note. :lol: I was filling up that bad boy $50-$60 every 2 weeks. Now I can barely remember when the last time I went to go get gas.

 

Blue-Adept, good to hear from another Grand Rapidian! I grew up there; I get back 4 times a year or more. I lived on Shangrai-la, first street south of 28th on Kalamazoo (behind the Meijer).

I also worked at the Toyota dealer on 28th Street for 7 years. If you go there for service, tell Bruce or Glenn that Nate Vanderschaaf says Hello! Anyway, say hi to my old stomping grounds for me!

Nate

 

The trick is not to try to run on electric power as much as possible. The trick is to minimize flows in and out of the battery. That entails alot of different strategies and techniques but if you look for ways to minimize those flows, I don't think you can go wrong. My favorite of the various strategies is to coast in neutral when I can. There has been debate about that and at least one thread devoted to the discussion. You can coast a long distance in this car on flat or downhill stretches without having to feather the peddle. I limit the speed at which I use neutral.

 

Mysteriously, and happily, my around-town MPGs have hit 52MPG. Normal for me was at best 49. Long trips downtown helped. Would have helped better if the cable box I went to get had been there, and I didn't have to go back tomorrow.

Cheapest gas I saw at lunch was $2.09, so now IS the time for it to be doing better...

 

Here is a link to a story about the big jump in gas prices overnight:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...npennyadayclimb

All I can say is:

I have had more people ask me about my Prius today than any other day since I got it on the 24th. "What are you getting for mileage?" is the most common question.

 

yep I was cornered in my office today by a couple coworkers asking about my car.

 

2.43 is the new low around here now i spoted a station in San Mateo. Premium: 3.05.. i have a pic on my cellphone.. but i have no way of putting it on the web *shrug*

We have officialy broken the 3.00 barrier

 

In western WA we are averaging about 2.30 with lows of 2.25 it goes up every 2 to 3 days. No end in site. I guess I should fill up every day or two to keep the cheapest possible gas in the tank.