Archives

Hi All:

___Although the temps were just ok at 38 - 39 degrees F, at least they were stable for the last half of the drive home. 0 - 10 mph tail winds with a SG-II 53.5 mpg result. I will take 55 + in the middle of the night in temps just a few degrees above freezing any day of the year.

___I have been waiting for better temps for all of us for at least 2 and a half months now and I cannot wait to see how everyone does this coming week. Hoping to read about a lot of breakouts! Chicago has a 60 + degree days coming Monday - Wednesday although headwinds for the afternoon commute in are going to increase to the 15 - 25 mph range. I will take those 60 degree afternoon temps no matter what direction the wind is blowing ;)

___Good Luck

___Wayne

Temps forecast for the week in Southern Illinois look much better as well. 68° to 72° with a 5-10mph south to southwest wind seems the norm for the daytime. Looks like great potential for the first three days as my back home commute in the evening travels north to northeast. I had a couple of home commutes last week at 80 to 85mpg. (55mph) My lifetime mpg (63.2) has been steadily climbing since my gracious FREE IMA replacement by Honda last October at 137,000 miles.

Commute home this morning netted an 89.3 MPG for the 16.1 mile trip.
Temps at 59 deg F.
Zero traffic.
Ordered the ScanGuage II yesterday.

I like this engine block heater! Did my 9.3 mile commute this morning with temp at 29F. 62.0 MPG! Seemed like fewer folks on the road, which opened up more and longer P&G opportunities. With the time change, maybe they're waiting a bit to hit the road so they're not driving in the dark.

Did I mention I like this block heater?

Segments of 27, 37, 46 MPG this morning; 40.5 total for 15.4 miles at 34°F.

Didn't check the tank, but it should be around 36...my wife drove it around 100 miles last week. No recon this weekend.

My battery is hating DST, and it was new last October. I may need to start hooking up the charger nightly.

Just don't bother reading this post if you are already in a bad mood, or on the verge of one. Or if you just don't want to hear any more about the nutjobs I share the road with. Seriously.

Should have stayed home! Apparently all the new plastic has formed a haze on the inside of my windshield that aids the formation of water droplets in cold weather...simply put, frost both inside and outside of my windshield. Took forever for it to go away. Then, apparently, some hot shot in mid-80s camaro decided that 5-over the speed limit is not enough. He played the game of gunning it and practically landing on my rear bumper with his brights on, then when I slowed down and signaled right just to make him go away he roared past and flipped me off. This culminated in a school zone, mind you. I'm half way to putting in for my transfer to SC a year early. I don't know if it would be any better down there, but at least it wouldn't be a result of the northeastern "f everybody" attitude that seems to be prevalent around here.

Oh, and happy monday!

Tim, that sucks. Happy Monday to you too. Maybe Tuesday will be better.

Jim, great runs this week and last! Keep me posted about a possible meal with Chris. I'm pretty busy this week, but I might be able to shift some things around.

I drove to the mountains this past weekend, so that hurt my mileage going up. Coming down was better. I think my tank is around 53 MPG right now. Hopefully this warm weather will help me get that up closer to 55 MPG. This morning's commute helped. 59.8 MPG at 37ºF.

brick,

There are plenty of nutjobs in the Dallas area - just a different flavor. Hope I never get temped to use it, but bought a halogen highbeam light I could flash at a tailgater.

Oh, I got 73.5mpg at 55F this morning inspite of a recal on my batteries.

I traveled the parkway yesterday. 41 miles and got 43 MPG. :Banane27:

Good start to the week. Did another Prius block heater install Sunday (number 19). The nice long drive to get there helped the tank go from 59.9 to 62.2 MPG. This morning 45F temps the SG-II showed 74.3 MPG for the 17 mile commute, tank up to 63.1 MPG.

Wayne

Barring any unexpected FE killing freeway driving this week I should have one of my best tanks ever when I fill up later this week. I'm sitting at 66mpg with ~240 miles on the tank despite temps that've hovered in the 30s in the mornings with some near and a little above 60 at other times in the past week or so.

I'm filling up Friday night or Sat. morning b/c I'll be taking a freeway trip on Saturday for my son's wrestling tournament (mpg killer...ugh!), so I won't be able to get a particularly high distance out of the tank...would've been cool to have a 600 mile tank in March.

Not sure if it really belongs in this thread, but I don't feel it's worthy of a thread of its own... But, for the first time in 4 winters my LMPG actually went up during the winter! I'm convinced it's due in large part to 1)grill blocking and 2)religious use of my EBH whenever I could...I have the advantage of available outlets at work so I start with a warm ICE both directions.

A 3rd factor that I'm confident played some part is that I've taken Hobbit's vacuum research and used CAN-View to try to maintain my ICE rpm b/w 1700-2300 whenever possible...I probably succeed in that for 90% of my driving.

I do the other basic stuff like combining trips, going to my furthest destination first, anticipatory driving to minimize braking, moderate top speeds but usually right at the speed limit, etc. But no extreme stuff like drafting or anything like that.

Today's fillup showed 25.666 mpg, my best since I started keeping records here at cleanmpg. The car's average is currently showing as 23.8. If I recall correctly, last summer I was getting around 25-26 without hypermiling techniques so I hope to achieve high 20's or maybe pass 30 in this car if I'm lucky.

Improvement is largely due to replacing two of the four snow tires with all seasons, plus warmer temperatures. I'll be swapping out the other two snow tires today before my drive home.

I noticed improved coasting due to the reduced rolling resistance. Downhills where I would normally lose speed when in neutral, I will now maintain speed or lose less speed. It will improve more when I swap out the other two snow tires.

According to SG2 numbers, today is going very well.
Segment:
1) 54.7-5.8 miles(wife's work)
2) 61.1-9.6 miles(my work)
3) 64.1-9.6 miles(wifes work)
4) 63.0-10.8 miles(stopped by my mom's)
5) 71.0-5.1 miles(home)
Average so far for today: 62.0 Temp: 39-57F
I have to go visit my mom in the hospital tonight so daily average may drop a bit.

Hi All:

___The strong head/side winds were as predicted but the temps were also up. 49 – 61 degrees and a 51.3 result shown. I can only hope for the winds to shift a bit more from the south for a tail wind and the temps to stay warm into the night … We all know that won't happen ;) Chicago may see 70 tomorrow however!

___Good Luck

___Wayne

Hi Tarabell:

___I thought Mparrish said he had a 500’ drop heading into work and the same 500’ climb coming home a few weeks ago? Hopefully he can elaborate if he sees your question?

___Way OT but brings up a question I was thinking about the other day. Imagine a 10 mile long down slope where you terminal velocity in an ICE-Off coast was maybe 20 mph but you could coast all the way to work for free in let us say 30 minutes. Would the average American take the free ride or would they punch it up to 50 + and take 18 minutes (stops/starts/traffic etc.) wile consuming fuel like they normally do? At what point (time wise) would the average American take the free ride? 20 minutes? 22? 25? I know I would take the no consumption leisurely paced gift everyday but that is just me ;)

___Good Luck

___Wayne

Actually it's more like a net 300 foot drop to work. I do drop nearly 500 feet over the first 25 minutes as I approach the river. But the last 5 minutes I go back up nearly 200.

In addition to the elevation change, the first five minutes have a big impact each way. I have opportunities to mitigate the warmup phase near home that I don't in downtown Austin at 5:00.

If our government/national leaders used the bully pulpit to make fuel efficiency a national priority much like buying war bonds or riveting like Rosie, then I have no doubt that Americans would take the free ride. It's a shame no such call exists.

Many Americans would probably STILL take the free ride anyway if the costs & benefits were clear. But that's a big IF. Like everyone, I'm heavily swayed by my own personal experience. Before the Prius, I drove a Saturn on the highway to work (30 minutes in stop-go traffic at 25-30 mpg). At that time, I would have guessed that driving for mileage would have only a marginal effect, and that it would take a LONG time to get to work if I did. Now I drive an alternative route that takes THE SAME 30 MINUTES, and I get 85 mpg.

I'm not only amazed at the dramatic effect of driver/route/environment on FE, I'm amazed at how little time is invested to achieve that high FE. I bet many Americans are similarly unaware, which is why they most might forego the free ride.

82.3 to work. Sitting at 65.8 @ 248 miles.

OMG. My commute home completely made up for this morning's fiasco. It's pushing 60F here and I'm seeing a side of the Prius that I didn't even know existed. It's like it just woke up and said "Oh, hey, it's time to live up to expectation!" For one thing, having my LRR tires back gives me unreal glide distances, even at highway speed in warp stealth. For another, the electrical bits appear to be working much more efficiently than in the cold weather, where they could batrely do more than start the engine and run the headlights. I pulled 55.2mpg desipte the unfavorable terrain. That was darned close to 60mpg before the big giant hill brought me down. I can't wait to see what it will do in the other direction with decent conditions!

A decent 66mpg in to work today. They did some kind of repaving of one section of highway and it's all whitish-gray--no asphalt yet. I can't quite figure out what they did to make it so smooth but when I get on that part it's like driving on a sheet of glass now--car just loves it.

Still going with the loaner accord. Hopefully they'll be done working on the Odyssey tomorrow, so I'll post my results. It had 192 miles on it when I picked it up - NEW!

I signed up at PriusChat for my Scangauge. It's paid for, and will be coming soon! Now we're talking!

Note: For previous weeks, look here, and for later weeks, look here.

Here's the place holder for this weeks stats. I've been omitting other drivers from the statistics calculations, but list them in the trip list to avoid gaps.

# Notes Start End mpg_ Trip T 50W Er±
== ========= trip mpg_SoC trip mpg_SoC avg mi °F car_mpg
01:Drive in Mon 3/12 300.7 62.7 3 315.1 62.8 5 64.96 14.4 65.0 4.0 2.3
02:Trip home for lunch 315.1 62.8 5 329.3 63.0 6 67.79 14.2 70.0 2.5 2.6
03:Trip back to work from lunch 329.3 63.0 6 343.6 63.5 4 77.70 14.3 72.0 3.5 3.4
04:Trip home 343.6 63.5 4 357.9 63.6 6 66.10 14.3 72.0 4.5 2.6
05:Drive in Tue 357.9 63.6 6 372.2 63.8 5 69.25 14.3 68.0 3.5 3.0
06:Drive home 372.2 63.8 5 386.4 63.8 5 63.80 14.2 70.5 3.5 2.7
07:Drive in Wed 386.4 63.8 5 400.8 64.0 4 69.88 14.4 66.0 2.0 3.2
08:Drive home 400.8 64.0 4 415.1 63.9 5 61.22 14.3 66.0 2.0 2.6
09:Drive in Thurs 415.1 63.9 5 429.3 63.9 4 63.90 14.2 66.0 4.5 3.0
10:Drive home 429.3 63.9 4 444.0 64.1 4 70.55 14.7 79.0 4.0 3.6
11:Drive in Fri 444.0 64.1 4 458.3 64.2 4 67.47 14.3 66.0 1.5 3.5
12:Drive home 458.3 64.2 4 477.0 64.2 4 64.20 18.7 67.0 2.5 2.5
13:RT to movies Sat 477.0 64.2 4 489.1 63.9 5 53.96 12.1 68.0 ? 2.9
14:RT Errands Sun 489.1 63.9 5 532.8 64.1 4 66.43 43.7 70.5 ? 1.3

Weeks stats:
Current city 76.09% Goal EPA_mpg for current city/hwy split = 57.85_mpg
Current hwy 23.91% Current_mpg for current city/hwy split = 66.01_mpg

Difference = 114.11%

Tank stats *:
Current city 75.53% Goal EPA_mpg for current city/hwy split = 57.80_mpg
Current hwy 24.47% Current_mpg for current city/hwy split = 65.64_mpgKey:
Start_Trip = The trip/tank mileage when I started the drive.
Start_mpg = The tanks mpg via the FCD at the start of the drive.
Start_SoC = The number of bars on the battery icon at the start of the drive.
End_Trip = The trip/tank mileage when I finished the drive.
End_mpg = The tanks mpg via the FCD at the end of the drive.
End_SoC = The number of bars on the battery icon at the end of the drive.
mpg_avg = The calculated mpg for this drive.
Trip_mi = The length of this drive.
T_°F = The average temperature for this drive
50W_car = The number of green regen cars that show on my consumption screen
Er±mpg = The range of error associated with mpg_avg

* Other drivers omitted from statistics

Then, apparently, some hot shot in mid-80s camaro decided that 5-over the speed limit is not enough. He played the game of gunning it and practically landing on my rear bumper with his brights on, then when I slowed down and signaled right just to make him go away he roared past and flipped me off.

If you ignore it, it will go away... :D

...having done its damage. :mad:

43.4 MPG for 15.1 miles at 55°F on the way home...my first homeward commute over 40 MPG with a cold engine! :woot:

Tank's back in the 36+ range. I should be able to keep up my run of 400+ mile tanks, but 450+ looks unlikely for this one.

39.5 mpg over 4.3 miles
and
40.6 over 1.2 miles

UPDATE: It turns out that my trip to the hospital was rewarding in two ways. 1) Mom is doing well and, 2) My FE went up to end the day at 62.5:woot:

Turned in a tank today of 45.14 mpg I think it was.

Cars driving alot better now. Still need to address the roar coming from the rear.

Hi All:

___Great discussion intermixed between the segment and tank data!

___Psy, that is the best you have done in a while, isn’t it?

___Temps from 47 - 51 degrees, 5 - 10 mph tail wind for ~ 2/3 the trip home and barely anyone on the roads this morning. Battled like crazy to hold onto my first 55.0 mpg night time segment since the fall of last year. I saw 55 at 2.5 miles out, 16 miles out as well as again and again between O’Hare and home this morning. I failed in the last ¾ of a mile. A 25’ climb w/ 55.0 showing while almost stopped at the bottom in my sub. A long FAS from 37 mph afterwards was not enough as I saw her drop back to 54.8 during the climb and she up ticked to 54.9 around the second to last corner and into the drive.

___With the latest 3 RT commutes, this tank is closing in on a 1,000 miler … Chicago has freezing temps forecast for later on in the week which will put that dream back in the closet :(

___Good Luck

___Wayne

If our government/national leaders used the bully pulpit to make fuel efficiency a national priority much like buying war bonds or riveting like Rosie, then I have no doubt that Americans would take the free ride. It's a shame no such call exists.

$5/gallon gas would do the trick...but if that happened, most would probably opt for public and human-powered transit instead. Most third-world nations have many more overloaded buses and bicycles than they do nearly empty (built for 4+ and carrying one) cars coasting down hills.

Segments of 30, 40, 50 MPG this morning, with a 43 MPG result for 15.4 miles at 38°F.

My first 50 MPG segment...gotta love warmer temps. :D Tank's at 36.6 with 120 miles left. I'll definitely get two more round-trip commutes out of it, but three may be pushing my luck. We'll see.

Really nice in-bound run this morning. Also had a really nice run to the mall yesterday after work, which is a surprise because that's usually a very nasty trip to take. Tank is up to 58.7mpg @ 50 miles, which is the best I've ever seen it by about 10%.

...gotta love warmer temps.
Amen to that! Between 44º OAT, the block heater, and some luck, the 11.4 mile commute today saw 72.6 MPG. Awesome!

The luck entered into it with unusually light traffic conditions. Again, after the time change maybe folks are waiting longer so they're not commuting in the dark. Anyone else with a 6:30-ish commute seeing this? Anyway, a sizeable part of this commute is on two-lane roads with 45 MPH speed limits, some segments of which are rather hilly and others relatively flat. At this time of the morning traffic is usually light enough to pulse & glide on some of the downhill and flat segments, but not all. (I run at or close to the prevailing speed when traffic's behind me.) Today I was able to P&G on virtually all of these segments. If that's ever happened before, I don't remember it.

Jim, all of your traffic was in front of me stopping randomly, or behind me trying to read my MFD. :mad:

I was hoping for better than 59.0 MPG this morning. Of course, a year ago I was only getting about 47 MPG, so I guess I can't complain that much.

I had a gig across town last night, so I left early to try a new route. It's the same as my morning commute, but I keep going another 7-8 miles, or so. It's also against traffic, so that helped. I was pleased/excited with a 69.9 MPG run. It was late on the trip home and I didn't want to drive through a sketchy part of town, so I took the highway. 54.1 MPG on the return trip.

I can't remember what my afternoon commute was yesterday. 55ish MPG.

I did get my tank up to 53.9 MPG though. Not bad for having 60% of it with mountain driving.

Was working on a 52 mpg segment this am for the morining drive in. Then I ran into a idiot that didnt know how to merge on the freeway. Got pushed over to the fast lane. Then the moron still wanted to run dorr handel to door handel with me. I slow down,, he slows down, I speed up he speeds up. *(&$#@%^&^^%$^%*(&*^#&^#*&( KIA SUV driver. I finally had to drop the civic down into 3rd gear and out run the moron to get back over. Then what does this mental gaint do. Pass me once I was back over in the slow lane. A state Trooper see's this mess and I get pulled over for aggressive driving. While hes explaining to me what I DID WRONG. He gets a call for a wreck. He takes off and leaves me with a warning. Two miles down the road the idgit in the KIA SUV has caused a wreck at Creek Nation Turnpike and Memorial Drive exit. I rolled up next to the Trooper,,, tore up the warning ticket and told him the Kia driver was the problem. Welcome to the proof. Shoved the ticket in my pocket and left.

So I ended up with a 48 mpg segment thanks to a idiot SUV driver that shouldnt be allowed to drive,,,, period!!!!

Wow. Psy, I'm going to quit complaining about my idiots. I think yours just trumped mine when the police sided with them.

psyshack, you are edgy!!!

Fortunately, justice was served!

If I was taped while driving, you would hear a side possibly seldom seen :eek: I impersonate some of these losers as they fly by.

Anyway, 79.6mpg - a foggy 55F.

Brick - having gone to college near Oklahoma & having lived in New England for 7 years, let me just say that your idiots win hands down. :)

89.1 in to work. Sitting at 66.4. Spring Break means students are out of town........more space for me to work. I may be in the 68s by the end of the week. But that's a long haul from 68 to 70 with 400 miles on a tank :).

Oddly, I don't have many aggressive driver stories. Sure, drivers will get impatient, switch to the left, and pass me. But only rarely has someone given me a dirty look. And nobody has ever yelled or flipped me off. Not once! That's just weird. I look too........I look and think "oh THIS GUY is gonna let me have it.....I was doing 36 in a 40 god forbid". But no. I guess Austin is still laidback after all.

In Boston they would give you 1.2 seconds after green before you got a honk.

Not much time, but good week so far. Hit one of my primary goals. I have a value on my spreadsheet that signifies what FCD value I need to maintain until my first oil change to bring my lifetime average into hypermiler land. There are two "goal" values, one where the other drivers are factored out the "*" value, and one with the other drivers left in.

The one with other drivers factored out is 62.6* (hit that a while ago)

The one I've been chasing has been 63.8 and includes other drivers in the average. Since it's calculated, when I turn in a good trip, it goes down a tad. When I first started put in the formula last month it was up in the high 60's, now I've actually hit it.

When I pulled into the garage, I saw the FCD trip from 63.7 to 63.8.

So I'm on track to hypermiler before my first oil change. Who hoo!!

Also scored two RT high scores. Best RTs are:

1) 72.4; work-home-work; 28.5 mi; 3/12;
2) 71.7; home-bakery-home; 40.0 mi; 3/2
3) 71.4; home-work-home; 28.6 mi; 3/12;
....

11011011

Hi Mparrish:

___I see you are still doing great :)

___About others … Here in IL., I expect the worse and sometimes see it but work afternoons and nights so as to drive trafficless Interstates some of the time. On the other hand, I might be in a standard Chicago stop and crawl that is literally going nowhere and while creating and filling a 5 car length buffer during a micro-slow P&G, there are guys that will honk? I mean where do they think anybody is going?

___While in OK. last fall with Randall and the gang, the country folk were pulling alongside and asking if we needed help as we were coasting down below 15 mph near the end of our glides. Randall’s Insight was tagged w/ a farm implement sign and Experimental written across the back but it made for some very interesting conversation back in the small town of Tonkawa. This is out in the middle of nowhere of course but still, it was like driving through the Garden of Eden vs. the evil highways and byways of the big city ;) Talk about a different mindset!

___Dan, you’re a hypermiler even before its official if you keep punching out those kinds of numbers!

___Good Luck

___Wayne

51.1 over 1.8 miles

I'm starting to get the hang of this + the warmer weather makes it sooooo much easier:)

I turned in the rental Accord and picked up the Odyssey today. My calculated mileage was right on the EPA city estimate - 24mpg. :( My hat's off to you, Wayne. I don't know how you do it in that car! :confused:

I get my Civic back, though! :woot: and I have a Scangauge on the way!

I turned in the rental Accord and picked up the Odyssey today. My calculated mileage was right on the EPA city estimate - 24mpg. :( My hat's off to you, Wayne. I don't know how you do it in that car! :confused:

I get my Civic back, though! :woot: and I have a Scangauge on the way!

Accords esp. 7th gen I4's are easy to hypermile. They coast better than any car Ive ever driven. They have enough bottom end to get them moving without having to thrash the tach. A AT ruins them forsure. As AT's do most smaller cars. I can hypermile our 05 EX Sedan with no problems,, well other than the 5AT than my 5MT 06 Civic EX. My mistake was buying the Civic. I should have bought a I4 5MT EX Coupe Accord or a LX se Accord 5MT Sedan. O well live and learn.

Today the high got to 73F here.:woot: Here is today's results.
Segment
1)58.3-5.8 miles(wife's work)
2)62.6-9.6(my work)
3)69.0-9.6(wife's work)
4)60.8-6.3(home)
5)61.2-5.6(school to pick up daughter)
6)72.2-5.6(home)
7)73.6-4.9(daughter's voice lessons)
8)64.9-4.9(home)
Average for today:64.5
In the afternoon there were winds 20-25 mph sustained from the southwest. From the above segments it's fairly easy to which ones I had tailwinds on from segments 3-8.

My evening drive netted a solid 45 mpg. Wittiness a wreck cause by a lady/chevy truck. She passed me on a country road coming up on a stop sign on a hwy. She blew thru the stop sign. Motorcycle went down cause he was more into looking cool than learning to ride. He locked up the rear brake and got a great case of road rash. Then two other cars panic,,, locked up the brakes and lane changed into each other.

I cant wait for wensdays malady of stupid human tricks. And only hope I can stay out of there way.... :mad:

The only good thing I saw today was the writing on a bumper. Its a 4x4 Tacoma a buddy of mine built for uber 4x4 work that he sold. The new owner wrote on the bumper. Democrat+Liberal=Socialist. A power full statement for the county we live in.... :)

In Boston they would give you 1.2 seconds after green before you got a honk.

If you're lucky. Several years ago, I was waiting for traffic to clear to make a left turn out of a McDonalds. Two people behind me had short enough fuses that they passed on my left to make right turns around me. They were really taking their chances given that my car was only worth about $500 and I didn't give a rip about it.

I've been car-free for several years...as far as social unacceptability, vulnerability and the number of other road users you interact with, hypermiling has nothing on bicycling. I hardly get any guff in comparison, but I'm planning to be back there soon enough.

43.7 MPG for 15 miles in the upper 50s on the way home, some crosswind. Another record commute, and homeward to boot (my bests are usually in the morning.) I was seeing 50s a lot on the iFCD, with an even 40 on the long staircase from the expressway with the TC locked -- usually about 30 instead.

Tank's at 36.9 MPG with 3 gallons left. Tomorrow may be even better -- low 60s, a chance of showers. It's hard to believe we were in the single digits just last Friday -- I had the windows open at home this afternoon.

This tank's down a bit from the last from the cold weather last week and 100 miles of my wife's driving, but if this week is any indication I should be logging tanks solid in the 40s come spring. A 50 MPG tank this summer may be a bit much to hope for, but we'll see.

Hi Mparrish:

___I see you are still doing great :)

___About others … Here in IL., I expect the worse and sometimes see it but work afternoons and nights so as to drive trafficless Interstates some of the time. On the other hand, I might be in a standard Chicago stop and crawl that is literally going nowhere and while creating and filling a 5 car length buffer during a micro-slow P&G, there are guys that will honk? I mean where do they think anybody is going?

___While in OK. last fall with Randall and the gang, the country folk were pulling alongside and asking if we needed help as we were coasting down below 15 mph near the end of our glides. Randall’s Insight was tagged w/ a farm implement sign and Experimental written across the back but it made for some very interesting conversation back in the small town of Tonkawa. This is out in the middle of nowhere of course but still, it was like driving through the Garden of Eden vs. the evil highways and byways of the big city ;) Talk about a different mindset!

___Dan, you’re a hypermiler even before its official if you keep punching out those kinds of numbers!

___Good Luck

___Wayne

It was funny when the Insight marathon was going on. Tonkawa is a tiny town. Makes Okmulgee look like a metro. Anyway when I drove into town. I was unclear on the drive change point. I thought it was on the other side of the light. So I went to the cop shop. There set Barnys twin. I asked if they knew where the funky folks with the little blue car parked. They didn't have a clue but asked me if I knew them. Well DUH... So I explained what they were doing and why. He found it interesting and stated folks had been calling in about a little blue car going real slow. Has to be a drunk driving it.. I a sured the officer,,, no drunks were driving the car. He laughed and I went on my way. Ive always said Okies are the nicest people on the face of the earth. They will give you the shirt off there backs and not think twice about it. But you get anywhere near Tulsa or OKC forget it. Might as well be LA, Dallas, NYC or Chi-town. The metro folks are awful. The country folks are real gems!!! If I could get a blazing fast net connect,,, I would be on a gravel road so fast it would make your head spin.....

Biked to work the past 2 days because of the pseudo-spring temps, but a round trip tonight. It's as if all of my glides had extra distance on them because it was warmer or something - oh wait they did. :D

86.9 / 11.5 miles / 64F
70.4 / 11.6 miles / 55F

Wayne, did you mention something about the SG not auto-adjusting for temperature? I say this because according to MFD calculation those trips were 91.8 +/- 0.8 and 71.9 +/- 0.6 respectively, and until now the SG has been inside the MFD calculated range 99% of the time.

Current tank is showing a ridiculous 81.6 / 25 miles. :cool:

Alas, today was just a spring teaser - by thursday we're supposed to be back to 35-45 degrees.

Hi CoasterToaster:

___Holy smoke where did that 51 mpg segment come from :D

___PaleMelanesian, at least you gave the Accord a shot. When the SG-II comes in, you will find out all the optimizations for your Civic let alone anything else you drive from now on …

___Larry, white hot with the winds as always ;)

___Psy, a solid 45 in a car nobody is touching 40 in looks great to me!

___Bruce, that 50 mpg tank is just down the road a bit. Biking however will indeed make all of us look silly :)

___Rough 20 - 25 mph head/side wind the whole way in this afternoon. Even with temps from 60 - 69 degrees F, I only managed a 47.8 mpg showing :( Wind has shifted a bit for a better tail wind but slowed a touch. Still 10 - 15 so hopefully will have a great ride home.

___Good Luck

___Wayne

I had to go in to work tonight for a few hours. I got 64 there and 78 on the way back. Trip distance was 34 miles round trip. Temps were about 60F. A slight tail wind on the way back helped out a bit.

Oh, and for those naysayers, I stopped at every stop sign (a complete stop not a rolling stop) and stop light and didn't break any laws. <<-- For those that say you have to be dangerous to hypermile.

Hi Tom:

___To get those kinds of numbers, you had to be a raving looney breaking every law known to man :D

___The drive home yielded 55.7 mpg’s displayed. The NAVI - TC shows in the low 70's right now ... Still only down ¼ of a tank at the 421 mile mark. I do not remember seeing that much fuel left after so many miles??? To bad we are right back down in the 30 and 40’s later on this week which will kill this tanks possibilities :(

___Good Luck

___Wayne

Hi Tom:

___To get those kinds of numbers, you had to be a raving looney breaking every law known to man :D

___Wayne

Oh wait. I FASed. It was so natural I forgot it could be considered illegal ;) I don't think FAS is illegal in Chicagoland though.

Why can't manufacturers make cars that can legally do what we want them to.

Hi Tom:
Why can't manufacturers make cars that can legally do what we want them to.___They used to ... It was called the EV1 :(

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/GM_EV-1.jpg

___Good Luck

___Wayne

Tank to 58.7mpg at about 80 miles. All it takes is a morning commute above freezing and the car pretty much does the rest.

Another 70+ MPG commute. Traffic conditions were somewhat less favorable today than yesterday, but temps were about 10º warmer. 71.7 MPG for 11.4 miles.

This could be my best tank ever. It's just shy of 400 miles with 5 pips left. It likely would be a done deal if not for the fact my fiancee and I are going to Washington, DC this weekend. Gas is cheaper here than there, and if we can't make it there and back on what's left in the tank, I might fill up before we go.

42.6 MPG for 15.4 miles at 45°F, crosswinds on the expressway. I managed to hit the first light green, but the second turned yellow right at my decision point.

Tank's at 37.0 MPG. The low fuel light came on last night going home. Apparently, it starts coming on with at least three gallons left -- easily enough for three round-trip commutes these days, although I try to leave a 30-50 mile margin to empty.

62.9 MPG at 57ºF this morning.

Lots of fog and 62 deg F driving home.

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/504/medium/fcd03-14-07.jpg

Lots of fog and 62 deg F driving home.

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/504/medium/fcd03-14-07.jpg

You just trumped my 85mpg run this morning - great job....and I was following an 18-wheeler part of the commute. :D :p It actually hurt FE more than helped - he was going slow up the I35E/I635 mixmaster - stealing the momentium I had built up to go up it.

Hey all...temps in the 60's and 70's have really helped out recently. Yesterday I had a 55.0 trip in to work, I filled up yesterday with another 500+ mile tank, and 49.5 MPG for the tank. Almost equaled my record today with 54.7 MPG in to the office.

Forgot to plug in my EBH last night (argh!), remembered about an hour before I had to take the kids to school this morning but block temp was only 120 after that hour (was 141 yesterday with my usual timer warm up of about 3 hours). So it took an extra 1/4-1/2 mile to get into stage IV. I'd gotten the tank MPG up to 67.2 yesterday but it dropped to 66.7 at 385 miles after the quick (about 10 miles total) trip to drop off the kids. I'll probably fill up Friday afternoon since I've a longish freeway drive on Sat. AM. This looks to be at or near an all time best tank for me despite temps averaging in the 50s...amazing.

I did notice this morning that my civic with tires pumped to 50 didn't coast as well as that loaner accord with tires pumped to whatever, probably 32. I guess it's the increased mass. However, I do LOVE having a manual again.

Wah-hooo!
27.00x mpg on this morning's fillup!

Thanks to warmer temps, snow tires temporarily retired, hi spd p&g, neutral downhill coasts, and - last but not least - kickdown cable is now adjusted to allow it to stay in higher gears at wider throttle openings when acceleration is needed.

I had to go in to work tonight for a few hours. I got 64 there and 78 on the way back.

Yesterday I had a 55.0 trip in to work, I filled up yesterday with another 500+ mile tank, and 49.5 MPG for the tank. Almost equaled my record today with 54.7 MPG in to the office.

Yay team-HCH :)

Mornings are cool again so last couple days have been 61-63mpg in a.m. but then cumulative rises to 67-68mpg in afternoon.

I did notice this morning that my civic with tires pumped to 50 didn't coast as well as that loaner accord with tires pumped to whatever, probably 32. I guess it's the increased mass.

Yeah, psy's noticed the same...it's about 500 lb more but the CdA's only a little more, so it's a coasting machine. I've been tempted to load up my car with full water jugs and plate weights to see if it'd help, but it'd take a few commutes to dial it in. Right now, a FAS usually isn't worth the trouble unless I can get some help from a downhill or need to slow down anyway.

Brevet season will be here in a few more weeks, so I'll just wait until then to find out if increased mass will help -- I'll need to haul a lot of stuff at that point anyway.

Brevet season??

I haven't driven today. I had a wisdom tooth go south on me this am at biblical levels. Wife drove me to the dentist. Got to love small town America. Got right in for emergency treatment.

Anyway the wife did the driving in the Accord as I riethed in pain. As we where leaving the dentist office she started the car then started making cell phone calls. After about a min. or so she uttered a female (crap) and shut it off. On the way home she was concerned about how I thought she had driven minus the idle. I assured her she had done real good. No SG in the car. Fact is I didn't care. I was in PAIN. I need to look at her tank log and give her a warm fuzzy even if she has sliped. :)

Maybe over the coming spring and summer I can work with her and she if she can pull another 1 or 2 mpg out of it.... She is thinking about it.

psy

I'm out of town through the weekend on a family trip. I'll post the Odyssey's mileage when I get back. I'm not expecting much, driving "blind" as I am.

Hi All:

___Temps from 59 – 65 degrees F with light tail/side winds. Nice 52.7 into the parking lot at work this afternoon. One of the great things about these temps is my off-ramp exit from the Interstate can be taken in a FAS at 60 to start from over 1 mile away. In 30 degree temps, ~ 5/8 of a mile. In 0 degree temps, it is < ½.

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes

Tank at 66.7 & 385 miles. 81.1 to work, which is a pleasant surprise given the cold & wet conditions.

Had an opportunity to return home via the interstate yesterday, and used it to do some drafting testing. 64 mpg over 5 minutes up +150 feet, then 68 mpg over 5 minutes at even elevation. The 18-wheeler I was following was doing a nice 50-55 in the right hand lane, and I was around 3 car lengths back. Nice to know upper 60s is achievable if I ever have a long trip to Dallas/Houston/S.A.

Funny, it didn't feel that dangerous. 65-70 mph and/or 1-2 car lengths back is a different story though. Not for me :)

81F on the way home yesterday. I was just able to avoid AC. I need to bring a refrigerator to my office to store an ice vest next to my beer.............

I haven't driven today. I had a wisdom tooth go south on me this am at biblical levels. Wife drove me to the dentist. Got to love small town America. Got right in for emergency treatment.Yikes!! Hope they got you taken care of. No driving for you till the giggle gas wears off.

I've had a pretty good week (both driving wise and dental wise). My round trips are amazingly consistant now at 66.? mpg. Last two were 66.4 and 66.7. Had those two 70+ trips earlier but the rain in Houston is taking its toll on my mileage.

FCD Tank average at 400 mi is 64.0

Since (per my previous posts) I'm now on track to pass EPA estimates before my first oil change, I've decided to calculate out the mile marker it's gonna happen at.

Based on my new tank average of 64.0, I should pass the EPA efficiency ratings at 4474 mi.

11011011

Pretty good day today. Temps were 48F this morning then went up to 51F and are now back down to 47F.
1)61.5-5.8 miles
2)60.5-9.6 miles
3)64.9-9.6
4)65.9-7.6
5)61.5-9.1
6)70.0-5.2
7)72.2-5.1
8)75.4-6.3
9)74.1-5.2
10)71.0-5.3
Average for today: 66.1(new record)
I filled up tonight to get started on my competiton over at GS.http://www.gassavers.org/showthread.php?p=43872&posted=1#post43872 My results were a new high for this car; 301.2 miles and 5.17 gallons for 58.259:woot:
I think if it ever stays warm for a whole tank, 60 mpg+ for the tank is in the bag. :D

Unexpectedly had to commute by car today as my bike acquired a flat tire that I just noticed this morning. :(

74.0 / 7 miles / 46F - great (lack of) traffic, missed the 1 light going up a hill, no EBH used
57.2 / 6.1 miles / 37F, light rain/snow - the "low-mileage" light is back....

Tank average at 74.8 / 38 miles.

81.3 MPG!!! I had a dinner date tonight across town with my three daughters. I was in a bit of a rush for the trip over, so I took one of the faster routes that included some highway miles. I still managed about 65 MPG. But the trip home via the high-FE route was awesome: 24.7 miles, 81.3 MPG. I love this warm weather! :woot:

Brevet season??

Brevets are long distance bicycle rides ranging from 125 to 375 miles which need to be finished with a 15 km/h (9.8 MPH) or greater overall average speed for the entire event (including stops, sleep, etc.); they're also qualifiers for 1200 km/750 mile rides with a 90 hour time limit. This year's 1200km is the quadrennial Paris-Brest-Paris, which predates the Tour de France; I completed it in 78 hours in 1999. I've been riding brevets on and off since 1995 and supporting them with my wife since 2000. I doubt I'll ride any this year, but I'm shooting for riding a series next year.

70s F, a mild crosswind and high humidity on the way home, but I had a doctor's appointment right after work. Unfortunately, that put me right in rush hour traffic from there. About 40 MPG overall for the ride home.

Hi All:

___If, If, If … Temps from 33 - 35 degrees, 15 + mph headwind with heavy cold rain for the first 35 miles … Not a chance in h*!! I was going to achieve anything other then frustration but drove through the worst with a lousy 37.5 showing at the 30 mile point. Once it started to clear somewhat and the winds died down, 40.5 by the half way point with a solid 42.5 shown as she sits in the drive. With Chicago’s warmer temps this week, I couldn’t believe it but even with tonight’s terrible performance, I passed the ½ mark at 575 miles out. I have seen that only two other times and oh how I can only wish that we had just 3 more days of the great temps :(

___I did see Carl Hurschik (http://www.cleanmpg.com/index.php?page=garage&displayunits=MPG(US)&viewuser=Carl%20Hurschik) in his Prius II on the Warm Up P&G route alongside the Interstate tonight which gives me hope he at least had a decent drive home in the mess?

___Good Luck

___Wayne

Super conditions this morning...48°F, high humidity, no wind. I netted 44.6 MPG for 19 miles -- a personal record for that length.

Tank's at 37.6 MPG for 430 miles. I have 1.6 gallons remaining per the SG (actually 1.8); my commute uses less than a gallon and the SG has been accurate within a couple of tenths, so I'll squeeze another out of it before I fill. That'll bump me past the 450 mark.

61º this morning, another great commute: 71.9 MPG, 11.4 miles.

Wayne, your weather's headed our way. High yesterday was in the low 80s, more of the same today. With the front (and 1-2" of rain) pushing through later tonight and tomorrow, a 30º drop is predicted by tomorrow afternoon. I just hope for our trip to DC Saturday we don't have a strong northerly wind. I don't relish the thought of driving 100 miles on I-95 against a brisk headwind.

We're staying overnight Saturday night. Hmm ... I wonder if the hotel has an outside AC jack I can get the nose of the car within 50' of.

Same conditions here, brought the tank up to 59.1mpg at 124 miles. I drove a little slower due to the wet roads and fog (so, closer to the speed limit) and let the knuckleheads deal with it. No protesting as far as I was aware which is always a good thing in my book.

UPS brought me the USB data kit for my new phone, which means that I now have a really easy way to take FCD snap shots. I'll have to post the one from this morning because the 5-minute bars tell the story of my commute pretty well.

Sadly, this great run comes to an end tomorrow. We're under a winter storm watch tonight through all of tomorrow with 6-8" of snow and sleet expected. I was supposed to go somewhere tomorrow but I think that trip might wait until Saturday unless the thing blows over. And next week they're calling for a return to sub-freezing morning temps, which means more ICE run time and less FE. Oh well...nothing to be done about it!

I had company visiting last night, so we had to make a short trip out to dinner. I finished up the day at 56.9 MPG.

62.9 MPG at 63ºF this morning. I hit every red light I came to this morning. I think they added some more since yesterday. Luckily, this happened early in my commute, so it didn't interrupt any glides. But it probably knocked a couple MPGs off my trip. Oh well.

Rainy and about 60 deg this morning. Only got 50.9 on the way in. Hopefully the weather will be better on the drive home. About 65 miles into this tank, sitting pretty at 52.9 MPG so far, but still wayyyy too early to tell.

84.8mpg this morning.

Brevets are long distance bicycle rides ranging from 125 to 375 miles ...

Figures. Brevity does not seem to be the operative concept here. I would have named them longos, given the option.... :D

Some trips this morning - clear roads but not 60 degrees like it was tuesday. Wind near 20MPH currently. Spring is still on it's way. :cool:

68.7 / 7.0 miles / 28F (+EBH)
64.3 / 8.7 miles / 28F (parked ~1 hour)
77.3 / 9.3 miles / 29F (parked ~1 hour outside)

Tank avg at 73.5 over 63 miles.

UPS brought me the USB data kit for my new phone, which means that I now have a really easy way to take FCD snap shots.

Cool, bluetooth is good for that as well. If I'm ever caught without my (bluetooth capable) laptop, I simply email the pic's to myself. My plan comes with 50 MMS messages a month for free, so if I'm at my folks house, I just choose "send picture message" and instead of a phone number in the to: field, I simply put my dad's email address.

11011011

Yeah, paying a little $$ for the USB kit made the most sense since I have to pay for my multimedia messages and, at least for now, don't have a bluetooth-capable computer.

It's funny, though. I used to think camera phones were the dumbest thing ever, and resisted until the phones I liked couldn't be had without one. For the last month I've been wandering around seeing strange, funny, or otherwise interesting things that I usually chuckle about and forget, then realize "Hey, I can capture that!"

Yup. A slave to the technology I am. ;)

Here we go. Not the best, but not bad considering I can't P&G with people behind me.

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/504/FCD1_Resized.jpg

That first pegged 5-minute bar really is the first bar. I start down-hill in EV mode for over a mile, then light the ICE to get through another couple of miles of traffic lights. Then the next few bars 35mph between a whole bunch of stop signs, and the last crappy bar is what happens when I hop on the highway and try not to get creamed while climbing the hills.

Temps were quite a bit cooler today; 32F to a high of 41F :(
1)54.1-5.8 miles
2)58.0-9.6 miles
3)57.2-9.6 miles
4)65.1-6.3 miles
5)58.2-14.9 miles
6)50.6-14.6 miles
Average for today: 56.0
The last two segments were the trip to the Saturn dealer to pick up my block heater. We'll see if tomorrow morning's FE improves.

Just updated the Accords gas log. Looks like the wife ave. 33 mpg over the last 11 tanks.

The car had two high tanks of 39.01 and 38.63 ,,, Both of which I helped with. :)

And two low tanks of 26.25 and 30.88 of which I know I helped on. :( When you drive the car in reverse you can make it do donuts like a rear wheel drive car.

psy

I'll be dealing with the same crummy weather that brick mentioned - snow and sleet. I had to put two snow tires back on my car this evening, planning for tomorrow. And two more in the cargo area, ready to go on the front wheels in case of actual snow accumulation.

I'll be taking them off as soon as possible!

A stop for an appointment on the way home, 37.6 MPG overall. Crummy compared to what I've been getting lately, but still better than EPA highway.

Tank's at 36.7 MPG with 1.4 gallons left. I'll fill it tomorrow afternoon.

I'm not looking forward to the Nor'easter tomorrow. I would've scheduled Friday off, but it wasn't looking this bad earlier this week.

Both lights were stale greens this morning, so I screwed them up.

I had a moment getting onto the expressway with ~1.2 gallons left. Accelerate down the hill and through the turn, then...nothing. :eek: I'm merging onto an expressway at 25 MPH with no power, a limited shoulder and fast, heavy traffic.

Put it in neutral so I can coast it out, then check the tach; the engine's still running. Put it in drive, get up to speed. Oh yeah...the turn sloshed all the fuel to one side.

Will the cloverleaf at the other end will do the same? I'm in a FAS at that point anyway...no sweat.

Well, I don't have much left, so I'd better hypermile for all I'm worth...wait a minute, I'm doing that already. :D

Segments of 30, 36.6 and 46 MPG for a total of 40.6 MPG for 15.4 miles at 34°F.

I'm definitely filling up this afternoon. :D

No snow yet, but it's coming.

Well, the forecasters were wrong about last night and I have yet to see more than the few flakes that came down before I went to bed. Should be a few inches by the time I leave work. It's 32F which is right on the edge of what it takes for a good run. I had the usual issue with morons who think that 50 in a residential 35 is a good idea. But that was solved early on when White RSX Boy (I need to think of a name for him considering how often we nearly run into each other) made a pass from the back and then the guy right behind me took the opportunity to follow. I was probably doing 38 in the 35 at the time, and they just flew on by. But there was literally nobody else around so I just said to heck with them and P&G'd until someone else caught up and I resumed steady-state. I'm hanging onto 58.3mpg after just about knocking it below 58.0 on yesterday's drive. Just crossed the half tank line.

After my cross-town meeting with JimboK and VaBeachPrius, I finished yesterday at 61.7 MPG.

It was rainy and colder this morning and I tried the new route suggested by JimboK. I'll have to give it a few more tries. It might be a better route home than going in, but this is only the first day. Anyway, 54.7 MPG at 43ºF. Oh, and I'll need to learn the lights on this new route. The yellows are VERY short for the Richmond area. I ran two reds this morning. But they were more orange than red.

EDIT: Chris (VaBeachPrius) says hello. He's been super busy at work.

78mpg at 55F

Storm was a false alarm so far. I put 2 snows on last night but could have driven up to work just as safely on all seasons! I took a longer and flatter route to help FE. It worked out well; this morning's fillup showed 26.937 mpg. over 289.9 mi.

Skwyre7, VaBeachPrius (Chris), and I met up for dinner last night while Chris passed through town on business. As Michael said, he's been real busy. His job duties have taken him away from his office and its computer for the moment, and he understandably wants to focus on his family in the little time he has in the evenings. But he's still churning out the same high-FE trips as in the past. He's headed overseas for 10 days, so send up some good thoughts and prayers for a safe journey.

Did my part time cross-town commute today in the rain and cooler temps. Still got 65+ MPG. I'm still on track for a record tank, MPG-wise. It's sitting at 64 now with 3 pips left, about 470 miles. I'll probably fill up before going to DC tomorrow to avoid the higher prices there and to keep the northerly winds on the highway from wrecking this tank's average. Of course the next tank might be in the tank, so to speak, but I want immediate gratification, dammit! :)

New record to work this morning! 95.1 mpg at 63F. Friday mornings are great because of good light timing + less traffic. I had an early morning trip too, so by the time I left I was fully warmed up with a healthy battery. Eventually hitting 100mpg will only happen under optimum conditions like these.

Wish I had my camera with me. Oh well.

Tank at 67.8 / 490 miles. But weekend family highway trips already in the works :(. That's fine. Best tank was 62.5 before this one, so this is great progress. 70 will come one day.

If I were single, I probably would only drive the car to work and back. I'd be on my bike the rest of the time. Maybe we should have a "family adjusted" mpg, like weather. :)

For the last few RT's everything is holding pretty much at 66.

For Tue, Wed, Thur commutes, I turned in 66.4, 65.3, and67.1.

Adjusted tank average is at 66.25.

Weeks average is at 67.25.

FCD is at 64.2.

Looking at this last tank, I think my route and break-in are evening out at 66-67 consistently. Did a little unscientific analysis, and found a startling fact. Most of my morning commutes have the first bar at around 25 mpg because of the wicked Prius warmup. My drive from my house to the interstate is about 3 miles, and takes about 5 minutes. By my calculations, more than half of my gas in the morning is spent in those first 3 miles :eek: .

So by and large most of what I do after I leave my neighborhood is of little effect compared to how I leave my neighborhood. A good first 5 minutes yeilds me a 80 mpg commute, a bad 5 minutes yields me a 53 mpg commute. Make a lot of sense since on my best commutes I couldn't quite fathom what I did so stellar compared to others. Problem was I was thinking of the lights and the glides and not how well I did leaving the house.

So I think the only hope I'll have at hitting 70 consistantly with this route is to either park my car at the strip center on the highway over night, or get an EV switch.

Another neat tidbit... figured out how to avoid turning off the car.
1) take the mechanical key out of your fob.
2) turn off the display.
3) leave car on, and step out.
4) lock door with mechanical key.
5) go pick up your dry cleaning and gallon of milk without worrying about the MPG hit.

* Warning, only do this for 10-15 minutes. There is enough of a phamtom load when the car is at in park that your pack will drain and kick on your ICE after 20-30 minutes. All depends on SoC of course.

11011011

For the last few RT's everything is holding pretty much at 66.

I'm finding that in these good temps the mark of the devil (66.6) ;) is the point at which I really have to go above and beyond to increase FE. When I focus and push it, it starts to crawl up to 67, 68, 69. But a lack of attention or bad weather or traffic knocks it right back down to 66.6...................beelzebub's FE.

For me, it's kind of like biking faster than 18 mph avg over 10 miles or so. It can be done, but is hard work to sustain over time.

So I think the only hope I'll have at hitting 70 consistantly with this route is to either park my car at the strip center on the highway over night, or get an EV switch.

A block heater sure would help us too. Yeah, we live in Texas and it will soon be in the 70s in the morning. But even on the hottest morning the engine is still a long ways away from 180+ degrees. For all I know, a block heater would still aid our first five minutes significantly, even if less than for those in Chi-town.

How much does a block heater cost for those who have one? I could go searching for the answer, but I'm sure someone posting their daily results has it off the top of their head.

Hi Jim:

___Oh how I would have loved to meet up with you, Skwyre and Chris. I hope your dinner went well and that Chris has a great and safe trip. I sure do miss him recently as well …

___Mparrish, you starting to scare me with those kinds of numbers and I know you haven’t peaked yet either! Even if the “devil” had his hand in it :D

___Dan, that is indeed a cool Prius trick. Dan H. and I did some of this in a clinic yesterday and that was the first time I had the chance to perform it in the real world. Let us hope more use it for the short run ins and outs … when and where appropriate of course.

___Great segments being shown and we still haven’t yet peaked. This is going to be one heck of a spring when it really warms up around the country :)

___Good Luck

___Wayne

Another neat tidbit... figured out how to avoid turning off the car.
1) take the mechanical key out of your fob.
2) turn off the display.
3) leave car on, and step out.
4) lock door with mechanical key.
5) go pick up your dry cleaning and gallon of milk without worrying about the MPG hit.


I've been using this for the "5-minute-just-need-to-run-in-and-get-something" kind of stops for a while. But how do you do step 2 - turn off the display? I bet it would save a few Wh. ;)

New record to work this morning! 95.1 mpg at 63F.

:eek: VERY nice!! :cool:

Some trips last night, biked into work today.

57.6 / 6.1 miles / 32F
78.2 / 11.5 miles / 32F
62.8 / 11.6 miles / 27F

Here are those last 2 trips from tuesday for comparison:


86.9 / 11.5 miles / 64F
70.4 / 11.6 miles / 55F


Can you Texas guys pass some of those 60s back up here? ;)

Tank avg is at 71.6 / 92 miles.

Another neat tidbit... figured out how to avoid turning off the car.
1) take the mechanical key out of your fob.
2) turn off the display.
3) leave car on, and step out.
4) lock door with mechanical key.
5) go pick up your dry cleaning and gallon of milk without worrying about the MPG hit.

Great idea, Dan. I've thought about turning the display off, but there are some areas I stop for milk (or other beverage) where I'd not want to leave the car unlocked; hence, I've turned it off. I've become so accustomed to the SKS, the idea of using the mechanical key hadn't occurred to me. Out of sight, out of mind ....

Do any of you Prius owners know whether the mechanical key can be duplicated like a conventional key?

Do any of you Prius owners know whether the mechanical key can be duplicated like a conventional key?Yes it can. You simply need to find someone to do it. Dealer probably would next time your spending money there. One part I left out, the fob won't unlock the door when its running. Need the mechanical key for that as well. You can lock the car without the mechanical though.

1) roll down drivers window.
2) exit running car and close door.
3) reach into the running car and hit the lock rocker.
4) initiate "auto-up" on the drivers window and pull your arm out before the window bites you.

Also, if you turn off SKS before you leave the car, it doesn't plead with you not to go "beep-beep-beep-BEEEEEEP".

A block heater sure would help us too. Yeah, we live in Texas and it will soon be in the 70s in the morning. But even on the hottest morning the engine is still a long ways away from 180+ degrees. For all I know, a block heater would still aid our first five minutes significantly, even if less than for those in Chi-town.I'm with you on that one. Talked to my dealer about and he thought I was crazy... Then he caught his senses when the thought about the labor charge and simply asked for the part number. When I had him in that train of thought, I also suggested he install my factory EV button ;) . Again "Suuurrrreee... just give me the part number".

I've been using this for the "5-minute-just-need-to-run-in-and-get-something" kind of stops for a while. But how do you do step 2 - turn off the display?Hit the "Display" button on the screen housing, then choose "display off" or something like that. To turn it back on, hit "Info" button on the screen housing and select trip. Main reason I turn it off, is so that a casual observer doesn't know that the car is on.

11011011

I headed home a little early out of fear that my hill would become impassable with a coating of snow and my LRR tires. Much to my surprise I wasn't the one having problems...it was the SUV in front of me! I was grinding my way up the incline and saw a a pair of cars going extremely slow. Turns out it was a Ford Explorer in the lead, sliding all over the place and having all kinds of trouble getting traction. He didn't stop completely but nearly didn't make it. But the Prius just crawled right up without a fuss, made the turn into my unplowed parking lot (a couple of inches of snow there) and the traction control took care of business when the tires started to slip. A pleasant surprise considering the horror stories that I generally attribute to these tires.

I'm finding that in these good temps the mark of the devil (66.6) ;) is the point at which I really have to go above and beyond to increase FE.Well brucepick pointed out that my mileage is actually gravitating twards the-answer-to-life-the-universe-and-everything 0x42 or <01000010>.

I'll take it... less demonic too.

11011011

today was torture. I traveled down the parkway in the snow in traffic. Stop and go . People being stupid and driving herky jerky. My 1 hour trip took 2 hours today. I had a personnel best!! 45.5 miles / 42.6 MPG - only averaged 25 MPH the whole trip.

Only 44 mpg for todays efforts. ee

I had a fairly good FE day today. I had to do some errands for my mom since she got out of the hospital today.(Knee replacement) There were a lot of short trips and I forgot to write some of the segments down so I'll just report the final results for the day. According to the SG, I averaged 59.4. Tank is at 59.0.

Hi All:

___Temps from 29 - 32 degrees F and no wind when I started that turned into a nice little 0 - 10 mph side/tail breeze from O’Hare on in. 50.7 mpg to show for the effort. Tomorrow mornings drive is going to occur in the below freezing stuff again :(

___Good Luck

___Wayne

Took off early yesterday, filled at >450 miles, then drove home in the snowstorm, complete with school buses dropping kids off because I was so early. A C commute -- 31 MPG for 15 miles...the worst in a long time.

I should probably start grading my commutes A, B, C using the elite, expert and hypermiler criteria respectively. After all, C is average and so, theoretically, is EPA. In my case, that's 46.5, 38.8 and 31 MPG respectively. Most of my commutes are B's and I think I've had one A trip on the expressway so far. I've gotten pretty close to an A on a couple of commutes last week, but I probably won't see any until summer.

After I got home, my wife and I headed to the Vineyard in her car in the snowstorm. We saw three cars in the woods on the way down, and had to wait while a wrecker pulled an SUV out of the woods onto its flatbed upside-down. We caught up to it at the next exit; it was somewhat amusing to be following an SUV that was upside-down and backwards, with the lights still on. Guess it'd have bigger problems than a dead battery.

Hi All:

___31 - 33 degrees F w/ a 5 - 15 mph headwind and 48.7 to show. 50 + actual should be a gimme … This is going to be a good tank for a change. I did take a nap in the Accord before leaving work as night shifts suck. After 3 hours, the head winds picked up but the temps climbed above freezing which probably helped even more …

___Good Luck

___Wayne

Friday's storm finally materialized - I drove home 70 miles through snow. I tanked up near home the next morning just so I could see the damage: 19.1 mpg for that trip! My usual = 27.

First half of trip the snow was about 5-6 inches deep and mostly unplowed. 2nd half of trip it was 1/2"-2" deep and I was able to go about 40-50 mph so mostly was in OD which helped keep the trip from being a total FE disaster.

Spinning your wheels going uphill in deep snow runs up the miles on the odometer... every snow driver deserves their silver lining! Mostly kidding; I did tackle one long steep hill but Sven had pretty good traction thanks to four snow tires and weight in the rear. Some slippage but not spinning.

The good news: Thursday lunchtime I acquired a Volvo-branded tach for my car. Installed today, so I'll be driving better informed this coming week.

Well, m'lady and I made our trip to DC today, and as expected, we got hit with some pretty good headwinds on I-95, at least in the latter half of the trip. But the first half wasn't too bad, and I filled up along the way with two new personal bests: 611 miles for the tank, 61.069 MPG.

Pretty decent day today. Temp started at ~25F and has warmed up to 45F. Winds have been 0-5 mph from the SW.
1)52.2-5.2 miles(church)
2)64.1-5.2 miles(home)
3)67.9-11.5 miles(out to eat)
4)60.3-11.5 miles(home)
Average for today: 61.7

43.4 -9.8 to store
41.4 - 9.9 return tip uphill with lots of head wind

A bunch of trips today, all EPA-busting but took down the average. ;)

65.1 / 5.6 miles / 39F - hit every light but one :D
74.1 / 4.6 miles / 45F - used up all of my "light karma" and got stopped by all but two :(
61.2 / 5.0 miles / 45F - rerouted, maybe +3 to +5MPG vs orig trip in similar conditions
58.3 / 2.6 miles / 46F
67.7 / 3.4 miles / 46F

Tank avg at 70.1 / 114 miles / 9 pips.

Hi All:

___Started out with barely a breeze and by the time I reached O’Hare, she started to blow … 15 - 20 mph headwinds in 38 - 42 degree F temps allowed a 45.7. 890 miles out w/ > 60 miles range still showing. Might see 975 miles but it is going to be close ;)

___Good Luck

___Wayne