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View Full Version : Week of 12/11/06 - 12/17/06


VaBeachPrius
12-11-2006, 09:29 AM
I guess I will start.

73.2 MPG at 36F over 18.7 miles.

tbaleno
12-11-2006, 09:48 AM
50mpg over 17 miles temps just a touch over 40F.

I am definately seeing a trend at the 40F mark. Under 40F and the car takes a nose dive in FE even using the same techniques. I know 40F is the cuttoff for auto stop, but you can fake the car into auto stop below that. However, I am now starting to think there are other parameters tied to the 40F temperature.

psyshack
12-11-2006, 12:05 PM
I turned in a tank this morning at 43+ mpg. I did not in any way shape or forum expect this tank to come in this good. The SG was showing a solid 41 mpg.

I filled up this morning. The trip in was interesting. I did the fill up reset on the SG. But it wouldn't come up with anything near right mpg. I had a 15 mph tailwind. Temps in the high 50's. This segment should have been in the high 40 to low 50 mpg range with these conditions. SG was reporting low 30's. I stopped and did a reset on the SG and redid the setting. Then the reading looked right.

The drive home this evening isnt going to be near as good. :(

psy

This evening was 42.9. The headwind and the traffic gutted me.

psy

xcel
12-11-2006, 12:29 PM
Hi All:

___45.2 in w/ temps from 36 - 42 degrees F. 49.9 back in 38 - 44 degree temps. Beats the heck out of the 43.6 mpg last tank with a third of it driven in temps between 3 and 12 degrees F. Winter simply sucks :D

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/523/SG-II_Review_-_Previous_Days_MPG.jpghttp://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/523/SG-II_Review_-_Todays_MPG.jpg

___Good Luck

___Wayne

krousdb
12-11-2006, 12:56 PM
First commute with the Prius this morning. Roads were dry, winds were calm and temp ranged from 33-36F. Tires were at 52PSI and CC set to 60 MPH. 57.3 MPG. The scangauge II is hooked up and showed ECT steady at 185F, IAT at 1F over ambient (34-37F), %load ranged between 40 and 68%, cruising RPM ranged from 1350 to 1600 at 60MPH. While climbing our moderate hills, RPMs climbed as high as 2900. Ignition timing ranged from 14-18 drgrees of advance. Neat info but I am not impressed on the FE accuracy of the SGII. I ran errands over the weekend with lots of autostop and stealth. Then I adjusted the SG to match and reconfirmed the SG - MFD matched to 0.5 %. Then I drove in today and the SG was way high compared to the MFD. I think that the SG is ill equipped to handle auto stop and stealth. I will calibrate it over a full tank and it should be good as long as my driving activities don't change much from week to week. My goal is one fill per week but with my new Prius friendly commute, even though each leg is 4 miles shorter, I don't think I can squeeze out 720 miles per tank on a regular basis. Not at these temps. Im hoping the grille block will help raise the IAT and show some FE improvement. But first I will use this week to get a baseline.

brick
12-11-2006, 02:13 PM
I have absolutely no idea how I'm doing! Probably mid 30s still. Last night I removed all my stuff (or at least the vast majority of it) from the Accord so that I won't lose anything when I trade it in tomorrow. Unfortunately that means the ScanGauge mount was removed and it's sitting at home :( . But one last day of commuting in it and then it's Prius time :D . So psyched you have no idea...or maybe you do.

diamondlarry
12-11-2006, 02:53 PM
Tom, I think I'm seeing a difference at the 40F mark too. This morning, the temp was ~40 and my FE was 41.9 on the way to the wife's work and 52.5 from there to my work. This afternoon, the temp was ~50 and the trip back to pick up the wife was 55.6. From there, I had to make a trip to the downtown section of a neighboring city to drop off some paperwork. :-( I chose a route that allowed me to stay on the country roads as much as possible and by the time I reached my destination I was at 53.*. From there back to home I managed to get 56.4.

rhwinger
12-12-2006, 05:25 AM
Tried an alternate route this morning to try minnimizing traffic lights. 32 degrees resulting in 58.x mpg. Yesterday had a nice segment home in the afternoon with mid fifty temps and 62.x mpg. Went out last night, so the car wasn't in the garage all night. I guess the battery was colder than normal this morning?

Maybe I'm getting tired or stale? Finding P&G tough to do in the AM. The reward just doesn't seem to be there like it used to. Maybe I'm just spoiled rotten. Help!

krousdb
12-12-2006, 07:35 AM
I couldn't help myself……. Last night Psy PM'd me about a WAI for the Prius. I told him that I had plans for one but I wanted to gather baseline data first. When I got up in the morning and checked the forecast, I saw that winds would be calm this morning and throughout the day. Not knowing when I would get another wind free day, I decided to spend 5 minutes to install the WAI tube and duct tape the grille openings. Compared to yesterday, the ave temps were 6F lower. Other than that, the drive was the same. The good news is that the WAI tube and grille block made a huge difference in IAT. The bad news is that my FE dropped from 57.3 to 56.7. My take on that is that either the 6F lower temps had a greater detrimental effect than any improvement gained by warmer IAT and ECT. Or, it could be that the Prius doesn't like the warmer air?

Yesterday, the ECT held steady at 185F and the IAT stayed, on average, 1F over ambient. Today, the ECT cycled between 198 and 204F, while the IAT cycled between 51 and 57F, or about 24F over ambient on average. The surprising thing was that the ECT and IAT cycling was out of phase. When ECT was high, IAT was low and vice versa. So when ECT was 204F, IAT was 51F. When ECT was 198F, IAT was 57F. It seems that the cycling could have been caused by the thermoostat opening and closing, which was not happening yesterday. I guess the thermostat never opened yesterday without the grille block. Another thing that I noticed was that the timing advance range shifted from 14 - 18 degrees to 12 to 16 degrees.

This afternoon the temps should be the same or slightly higher than yesterday's commute home. I'm hoping for better results.

diamondlarry
12-12-2006, 06:33 PM
With temps in the upper 40's and low 50's the last couple days, I have been averaging just over 51 mpg. Today I travelled 53.x miles and the SG was showing 51.x mpg. Yesterday I travelled 52.x miles and the FE reported was similar. The last time I filled the tank, the SG reported 46.2 and the calculated was 47.8.

krousdb
12-12-2006, 06:39 PM
62.2 MPG on the drive home with 58F ambient temperature. The IAT bounced between 89 and 98F with the grille block and WAI. This tank is currently at 60.2 MPG, 310 miles.

basjoos
12-12-2006, 06:48 PM
71.8MPG over 510 miles. For the first three days, the temps were in the teens and twenties, but was in the forties and fifties for the last 2 days.

psyshack
12-12-2006, 09:05 PM
48 mpg for the drive in. 44 mpg for the drive home.

brick
12-13-2006, 06:15 AM
Not sure how I did, but I did build the tank up over 50mpg on the way in. 3/6 5 minute bars were over 50mpg, one tantalizingly close to the 75mpg mark. Unless someone has a compelling reason against it, I think I'm going to just reset the MFD for each trip and rely on hand calcs alone for tank MPG. I wish I could track both in the on-board electronics but I don't think the Prius has more than one average counter.

Warp stealth and LS gliding have gotten pretty easy to hit on the first try. Need to work on acceleration management, as the arrows are doing all kinds of crazy stuff depending on how deep I get into it.

krousdb
12-13-2006, 10:28 AM
Temps have moderated here and the morning drive was at 44F, dry and calm. The IAT peaked at 80F and I had my best results yet for the morning drive, 60.2 MPG. Current tank, 378 miles at 60.2 MPG.

diamondlarry
12-13-2006, 04:57 PM
For the morning part of my trip I averaged 46.9 and for the afternoon portion I got 54.4. I made a trip to the heart of the downtown of our neighboring city again and the SG was reporting 60.0 when I pulled into my spot. Once again the temps were over the magic 40F level. :) I just returned from my mom's and managed to get a 69.9.:woot:

brick
12-13-2006, 04:59 PM
I got to take a bunch of coworkers for their first ride in a Prius at lunch today. (Gotta love all the holiday parties!) The general consensus was "wow, look at all the toys!" It was also nice to be able to take back-seat passengers without trying to feed them past the front seats.

Reset the MFD for the drive home and managed 53mpg with one stop to get supplies for yet another office party. EV-ing through parking lots without ruining a trip average really helps! The only hitch was that I seem to have run into my first hybrid-hater. Oddly enough was either a current or past fire department vehicle, given the red paint scheme on the Crowne Vic and the spotlight. I was just driving around, taking it easy but not exactly poking along either (generally 5 over the limit). He thought it would be fun to ride my bumper despite the fact that I had traffic in front of me, then tear around me and honk while I made a right turn. I guess there's no accounting for ignorance around here.

krousdb
12-13-2006, 06:08 PM
63.5 on the way home. 64F ambient, IAT peaked at 104F.

psyshack
12-13-2006, 09:46 PM
44 mpg ave for todays grind.

brick
12-14-2006, 06:07 AM
57.9mpg on the MFD this morning with 43F temps and wet roads. Not bad!

Except I'm starting to feel like my speedometer is reading high or something. I don't know how else to explain two more numbskulls roaring around me this morning for no apparent reason whatsoever. Even at a consistent 5 over the limit!

xcel
12-14-2006, 12:04 PM
Hi Tim:

___Doing great! You did press up those tires, right? Your ICE-Off capabilities will improve mightily afterwards ;)

___As for the aggressive actions you have seen around you, even though you can warp stealth, you are not in a stealth vehicle any more. Expect a little backlash from the knuckle draggers since they are spending 3X’s the amount as you at the pump. They know it and you know it so just expect a little backlash is all.

___Good Luck

___Wayne

brick
12-14-2006, 12:38 PM
Hi, Wayne.

Yup, I did find a working air machine and press up the tires to 46F/44R. She seems to coast roughly as well as the Accord, maybe slightly less-well due to very fresh tires and a couple hundred kg's less mass.

As for the backlash, you are probably right. I guess I expected a little bit of this but I'm impressed by the sharp difference in attitude toward the car during what I would consider to be very reasonable, courteous driving. (Granted we're talking three people out of hundreds.) The one thing going for me is that I spent the last two weeks taking note of freaks and gearheads while driving the Accord to assure myself that at least some of this would happen no matter what. Oh well. I can put up with it until someone becomes a genuine danger to safety, at which point that backup camera is going to be spliced into a DVR.

psyshack
12-14-2006, 02:01 PM
I had a 50.8 mpg this morning with 50f. Had some knukle draggers also this morning and some idiot's that wanted to run door handle to door handle. Why in god's green earth do folks think they can drive 55 mph in the hammer lane. I felt so bad a couple of times. I sped up pulling hills just to let the poor folks pass that where in the fast lane, because some idiot was over there running 55 mph with me.

Shaking head

psy

49.6 mpg for the drive home. Think I would have done better if I had taken the WAI off. I saw it as high as 118F for the drive home.

xcel
12-14-2006, 02:21 PM
Hi All:

___We have a 52 degree high in Chicago today and I am off so no driving in much more accommodating temperatures whatsoever. What is up with that :(

___Dan, thank you for the blow by blow as you once again warm up to your Prius II’s capabilities out on the highway. 60 + for an all highway driver is pretty darn good in the Prius II imho! Have you found any alternate routes yet? I can just imagine you have had google earth opened up more then once already showing the area around your new home ;)

___Psy, just give everybody room and it will all work out for the best. 55 mph in the left lane? What in the world is up with that? I hope it was a 73 year old hunched up on the steering wheel so people felt sorry for him or her instead of ticked off as most would be …

___Tim, more pressure … more pressure … more pressure.

___Good Luck

___Wayne

diamondlarry
12-14-2006, 02:40 PM
It's a great day here in northern IN! The temp is sitting at ~53F now according to Weatherbug. I got 40.3 on the way to take my wife to work; no FAS while the engine warmed up. The temp started out at ~38F. From my wife's work to mine was 56.2 and this was with a bit of a headwind. I tried some different P&G tactics and it seems that it paid off. On the way to pick up my wife this afternoon, I managed a 59.4. I was at nearly 61 but I got nailed by one of those unpredictable traffic lights less than a mile from her shop and couldn't recover.:( From her work to home I got 53.8.

brick
12-14-2006, 03:27 PM
Just got home with 54.2mpg showing on the MFD for my 19 mile drive. I kept up handily with traffic and there were no idiots or knuckledraggers to speak of. It would seem that this car likes a "brisk" but reasonable approach to acceleration for the best results. (The marathon team may jump on me for that comment.)

I think I'm happy with pressures right around max sidewall. I had a beautiful warp stealth coast at 65mph that I could never quite FAS in the Accord without losing too much speed. Could be that she's in the very early stages of loosening up at ~120 miles on the clock.

Tons of driving to do tomorrow. First I'm going to be fighting the Hartford stop & crawl on my way to visit a vendor in the morning so that I can oversee a test. Then it's home only to turn around and head off to visit with the girlfriend 109 miles away. I'm kind of excited about the weekend because I have maybe 30 highway miles total behind the wheel of this thing and no idea what to expect at the ~60mph speeds that I usually drive. Lots of hills on that route, so lots of opportunity to see what a Prius HS P&G cycle looks like. Should be a great day for driving with a projected record high near 60F.

Nope, I don't see any evidence of a flaky climate or possible effects of our CO2-releasing activity. No sir!

psyshack
12-15-2006, 08:12 AM
48.2 MPG. 37f temp, slight headwind. Would have been better. But I got to screwing with the radio and navi. Yet another problem with my Honda. The voice commands are wacky and the distance and time counter when in navi mode lock up.

Only if yota dealers weren't such pricks and chevys weren't pure junk.

Only got a 45 mpg for the segment home.

Just turned in a tank for 47.09 mpg in the Civic. Had some help from the warm temps and winds. :)

brick
12-15-2006, 04:04 PM
Pegged my first 5-minute bar to the ceiling. Wohoo! Of course, I cheated. Got stuck in the expected stop & crawl this morning so I drew from the pack while I waited for things to open up. Same thing on the way home except it was much more finicky about when it wanted to stealth so I wasn't able to do quite as well. Still, averages in the 55mpg range both ways are nothing to scoff at. And now to head back out the door and drive east another 100 miles. Ugh. It's a good thing I enjoy driving the Prius so much because it would seem that I don't have much choice!

tbaleno
12-15-2006, 05:06 PM
I've been doing okay this week. Pretty much 43 or so every day. Last tank this time of year was about 35 I think.

xcel
12-15-2006, 10:08 PM
Hi All:

___38 - 41 degree temps and a 15 + mph headwind this morning yielded 45.4. No wind in 34 - 38 degree temps coming home tonight allowed her 48.5. I wish every night was like tonight so as to keep her average up but that would wishful thinking in this god forsaken winter wonder-NOT. Temps heading back down into the thirties day and twenties at night by Monday afternoon :(

___Good Luck

___Wayne

diamondlarry
12-15-2006, 10:48 PM
The morning part of todays work commute was 52.4 and the afternoon portion was 53 for an average of 52.7 for the day. I did some Christmas shopping today and got 60.7 on the way there and 52.x on the way home.

brick
12-16-2006, 09:36 AM
My first long highway leg went off without a hitch, and the numbers were pretty good! With temps in the low 40s F and speeds between 55 and 70mph, the door-to-door average was 56.6mpg from a warm engine. Pretty good if you ask me! The return trip was usually a few % worse in the Accord owing to a small elevation change and other aspects of the terrain, so I expect the same tomorrow.

diamondlarry
12-16-2006, 09:46 AM
My first long highway leg went off without a hitch, and the numbers were pretty good! With temps in the low 40s F and speeds between 55 and 70mph, the door-to-door average was 56.6mpg from a warm engine. Pretty good if you ask me! The return trip was usually a few % worse in the Accord owing to a small elevation change and other aspects of the terrain, so I expect the same tomorrow.

Very good indeed! First long highway trip and you are already blowing away the EPA average. The only direction from here is up.:)

xcel
12-17-2006, 07:09 AM
Hi All:

___42.9 in yesterday w/ headwinds and temps of 36 - 38 degrees F. 48.1 back w/ tailwinds and light rain in temps of 53 - 56 degrees F. 47.4 in this morning w/ tailwinds and temps from 44 - 45 degrees F … Even with the large negative offset, she is showing 46.7 for the tank. I just need a few more days of these warm temps.

___Psy, 48 in 37 degree temps and a headwind? SOB that Civic EX of yours is starting to really show its stuff!

___Tom, you should mention the number of stop lights you have to negotiate to and from work everyday. What a nightmare and that has nothing to do with the Chicago traffic either :(

___Tim, you are starting to press on Dan’s all highway numbers. Keep up the great work.

___Larry, oh boy would a Prius II do your commute justice. I know you know that too :D

___Good Luck

___Wayne

diamondlarry
12-17-2006, 10:04 AM
___Larry, oh boy would a Prius II do your commute justice. I know you know that too :D
__Wayne

You have no idea.:ctongue: As for the PriusII, if anyone would like to loan me one for a couple of weeks....:D
I had a temp of 52F when I left for church this morning and was able to pull off a 46.x on the way there with a cold engine and a short 5.3 mile trip. On the way home I managed a 65.x and the temp had dropped to 45F.

tbaleno
12-17-2006, 02:12 PM
Well, I got a respectable 58mpg on the way home last night. But I took a longer route. If I had taken the shorter route I would have saved more gas. I could so play the system should I want to post high mpg numbers. But to me using less fuel is more important than putting up high mpg numbers.

Back to the old route I think.

brick
12-17-2006, 04:18 PM
Less fuel is way better than bigger numbers. I would encourage you to take whatever route is means fewer gallons pumped. Sometimes you can have your cake and eat it too but not always. Seems to me that the numbers you get are very respectable considering what you are up against. Wayne keeps mentioning an interminable field of traffic lights.

As for me, I finally fueled after getting down to 2 pips on the "guess gauge," which I have been warned not to trust. It only let me pump ~6.8 gallons before automatic cutoff for an initial tank FE just north of 54mpg. I think that's realistic because I made the 100 mile return trip after fueling and it's still reading full. I'm pleased! And 54.1mpg for the last leg while cruising and gliding at or near the 65mph speed limits.

diamondlarry
12-17-2006, 05:04 PM
I have found a couple of cases where I can use less fuel by going a slightly farther distance. But, I think there is a fine line for that. I found that by going .5 miles farther on my route home from work and my route from my wife's work to my work, that the route is FE friendly enough that I use less fuel overall.

philmcneal
12-17-2006, 05:42 PM
yowzers, everyone is keeping it up beyond the 50 mpg mark while i'm struggling to stay around 47. Man I envy's Tim thermos coolant storage bottle!!!!!

brick
12-17-2006, 06:00 PM
Don't worry, Phil, you're doing great! Don't you drive something like 6 miles at a time from light to light? That kind of urban driving is bound to be tough no matter what you have.

I'd like to read a little about how you take care of business in the NHW11 sometime. I understand that it's different but don't know anything about the details.

VaBeachPrius
12-17-2006, 07:54 PM
Just topped off today for my 3rd 800 mile tank in a row. :D

70.06 mpg over 800.6 miles. I cannot wait for the spring. I think a 900 mile tank is possible for me. Hopefully, I can come back and say a 1000 tank might be possible. Thanks for the pics Dan showing the 967 and 1000 mile tanks for my inspiration.

Brick,

For a data point, I have gone 80, 70, and 110 miles on a flashing pip.

Checkout my lifetime average; it's going in the right direction.

xcel
12-17-2006, 10:47 PM
Hi All:

___48.7 mpg on the way home tonight w/ 43 - 48 degree F temps. Still hoping to touch her lmpg on this tank which would be a first for December. I don’t think I am going to make it as even colder temps are forecasted :(

___Good Luck

___Wayne

rhwinger
12-18-2006, 05:06 AM
Milder temps this AM with a 63.2 mpg 30 mi segment on the way in. Time for a fillup on the way home. So far the tank looking like 57-58 mpg.

Chuck
12-18-2006, 07:59 AM
For a week I've been in this 2005 Nissan Sentra and getting about 31mpg. Since my ScanGage was mounted on the Insight, I did not put it in the rental, but the rental might have gotten 35mpg on some work commutes

xcel
12-18-2006, 08:08 AM
Hi All:

___Got called in at the last minute and traffic although heavier was playing really nice for a change. 50.5 per the SG.

___Good Luck

___Wayne



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