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Winter has arrived in a great fury...

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by mikewithaprius, Oct 27, 2011.

  1. mikewithaprius

    mikewithaprius New Member

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    Hello all, it's been a little time since I've been around, so I thought I'd say hello...with this depressing post about cold weather :p

    Wind, rain, cold...all at once. A sad time of the year for those of us living in the Northeast. This pales in comparison as a problem to all the poor Priuschatters getting hit recently, but...I got 50.2 mpg on the 27-mile ride home today.

    50.2! And I was hypermiling!!! Argh!!!! :eek:
     
  2. SageBrush

    SageBrush Senior Member

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    Yeah,I am down to 57 mpg this week
     
  3. stevemcelroy

    stevemcelroy Active Member

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    Fall is the best time of the year in New England - just last weekend the weather was just about perfect on Cape Cod. I pulled the boat out of the water on Saturday and played 9 holes of golf on Sunday and would not have traded the weather for anything. Best part was that there were almost no tourists so there was no traffic.

     
  4. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

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    What? No snow?

    The spouse's hiking group, which I've joined every week this month, has run into fresh snow for three consecutive weeks. But the days were selected for bright sunshine and cloudless skies, with beautiful views from high mountain ridges looking up to snowcapped volcanoes. And wonderful colors, at least by Pacific Northwest standards.

    OK, you easterners may dismiss our 'fall colors' as a drab green with a few tiny patches of yellow and red and orange. But by our standards it is very colorful.

    Prius got not quite 60 on its one hiking trip. The other roads were potentially rough enough to prefer the Subaru. We won't talk about its mpg, only about he hiking experience it delivered.
     
  5. dhanson865

    dhanson865 Expert and Devil's advocate

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    Did you adjust your tire pressure after the temp drop? The rule of thumb is something like 1 PSI lost for each 10 degree F drop. Gotta pump up those tires when it gets colder.

    Are you grill blocking?

    Are you using a block heater?

    Or are you just driving well?
     
  6. Michgal007

    Michgal007 Senior Member

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    Winter already? Geez.
     
  7. LIPriusFreak

    LIPriusFreak Can I haz JDM?

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    when your daily driver gets 17mpg on premium fuel, you really don't even pay attention to fuel economy when hopping in the prius..I ASSUME it to be AT LEAST 3 times as good as my daily ;) (and as long as I get 35+mpg, I am a happy camper)
     
  8. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    i don't wanna talk about it.
     
  9. a_gray_prius

    a_gray_prius Rare Non-Old-Blowhard Priuschat Member

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    I'm looking forward to some fresh powder and more half-pipe time on my snowboard.
     
  10. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    i'll try to redirect the 'up to a foot" headed for the northeast toward the midwest. no need to thank me.
     
  11. ItsNotAboutTheMoney

    ItsNotAboutTheMoney EditProfOptInfoCustomUser Title

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    Oh yes, I'm soon going to have to put my 4th pipe back into the grill.

    The forecast here is for anything between 3 and 10 inches. I'm happy it's due on Saturday night instead of Sunday night, that it's going to turn to rain and then will melt and I'm unhappy that I'd been procrastinating about a thrower. Still, at least it's now ordered.
     
  12. rebenson

    rebenson Member

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    ouch... not even November... Predictions are for a bad winter... got to get my ready for winter...
     
  13. mikewithaprius

    mikewithaprius New Member

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    No block heater, yes, grill blockin'. I actually just saw other day that PSI was very low, like doorjamb standard. After last oil change I checked them, and they were great up in the 40+ psi range. I had to take it back to the dealer (was on vacation, couldn't change it myself) to fix some overfilled oil, and have a feeling they let some air out at that point.

    I confess that I love a good New England autumn as much as the next guy. It's just from a Prius standpoint, I see that drop in temperature as "winter", and the other part of the year "summer".

    You're the only people who could possibly understand :D
     
  14. NYPrius1

    NYPrius1 Active Member

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    We are expecting a snow storm here today. 6-9" expected. Oh Joy!!
     
  15. ifirgit

    ifirgit New Member

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    This is my first post and to be honest I cannot see where I need to go to make a thread of my own. So, I will reply to this as it is related, but I hope that someone will know just what my problem is. I have a 2008 Prius that I bought used in the middle of the summer. To be honest, I was thrilled getting close to 50 mpg driving back and forth approximately 30 miles one way on country roads...averaging 55mph. Should I have been getting more??? This was also included a substantial amount of city driving. I have never driven a Prius before so don't know just what I can expect. My real dilemma is what has happened since we no longer are traveling to our summer camp. My mileage has dropped and appears to be continually dropping. At this time it says I am getting low 35. Earlier this week I gassed up and took it on the highway for a trip of about 140 miles. The highest I got was 46 mpg. Once I got back to city driving it just plunged. The other day I was parked, started the car and drove half a block in which time the mileage per gallon dropped .3. Should this be happening? I do live in Wisconsin, however, it hasn't gotten that cold yet! 30's at night, 50's in the day. One other relative fact was that when I went for my first oil change they had told me that these cars should have synthetic oil which I did put in. The mileage had been dropping prior to the change, but has been more dramatic since. My car has only 21,000 miles on it. It is a pretty basic model....no gps, no back up system. Any answers out there??
     
  16. mikewithaprius

    mikewithaprius New Member

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    ifirgit,

    While it's true there should be another thread (maybe a moderator will splice this over to somewhere else?), I'd say you shouldn't be worried about anything. Short trips like you described will easily drop an entire tank 0.5, 1, etc., mpg. Your highway trip was probably not as flat as the other trip, etc. Temps in the 30s and 50s do crazy things to mileage compared to the summer.

    You shouldn't be getting higher. I "hypermile", meaning I drive with specific techniques for better mileage which most people won't get. I was just joking saying I got "only" 50 mpg, just because in the summer with hypermiling I can do up to 70, and 60 is the low end for me in that weather. I wouldn't worry about anything!
     
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  17. easted

    easted Junior Member

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    Time to head south, if for no other reason than to get better MPG in the warmer climate.
     
  18. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    right on!
     
  19. wick1ert

    wick1ert Senior Member

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    I am NOT happy about this weather this early in the season. Luckily, we won't get any real accumulation, but the wind, rain, sleet, etc killed my MPG going to the store today. MFD reads around 45 or 46 right now. I only have half the lower grille blocked because, well, I wasn't about to put the other half in today in this weather lol. Makes me a little nervous for what the rest of winter will do. Wait a sec, it's not even winter yet!! Temps here will probably kick back up into the 50s/60s again after this weekend, though. I should still block the rest of the lower grille even at those temps.
     
  20. SageBrush

    SageBrush Senior Member

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    Nice and chilly in my locale for grill blocking in the morning, but still too warm in the afternoon. I'll just suffer the MPG am hit stoically for another month ;)