Week of Feb. 5th - Feb. 11th, 2007

[brick]

I'll start this one off.

Got knocked down by short trips over the weekend, so I only had 48.5mpg to look at when I walked out there this morning. It's *#&%* cold! 7-9F temps with head and side winds in the 15mph range. Best I could do was to bring it up to 48.6mpg. I'm actually happy about that...I expected a loss!

The only way to pull that off in a Prius in these temps is to bundle up and run without cabin heat. (If my commute were any longer than a half hour there's no way I would be able to do it.) The engine will shut off after the first four miles or so but the HV battery won't ever get warm enough to stealth. P&G works but only just...problem is that the car doesn't want to roll.

[rhwinger]

25 degrees this morning with 14 degrees forcasted for Tuesday. I can hardly wait. I don't mind the drive in too much as the car is coming out of the garage, but the drive home after the car sits outside cold soaking the battery is a drag. Lucky I can dawdle around trying to P&G in the low 40 to high 30 mph range, but it's getting old too.

Spoiled rotten, I know, but I'm ready for Spring.

[Chuck]

73.5mpg and 34F - par for this 5-speed Insight.

[JimboK]

Had some errands to run Sunday, for which I managed about 60 MPG. I probably lost 5 MPG just from the loss of engine heat while standing in the grocery store checkout line ... with the other procrastinators stocking up for the Super Bowl!

Made the commute on the new route from my fiancee's house this morning: 9.3 miles, 52.2 MPG, 19ºF. It probably would have been better but I got caught behind a school bus making repeated stops on an uphill leg early in the trip. It was still 8 MPG better than the old route, so it looks like this route's a keeper. Like Tim, I bundled up and kept the heat off, other than a couple of short bursts of the defroster to clear some light windshield fogging.

I'm down to 2 pips @ 420 miles, pushing to make another 500 mile tank.

[TonyPSchaefer]

This epic started last week:
Ran over a screw on Friday which flattened my tire. I didn't realize it was flat until my wife saw it Saturday evening. It was -2ºF so I figured that instead of putting on the spare I would inflate it and drive to Sears for a tire repair since it's only a half mile away. When I got there, they were really busy and the guy said that there's no way I could get it fixed so I should come back the next day. Sunday morning, the tire was flat again so I had to re-inflate it. This time, the pump wasn't as strong and it even stopped. Uh oh.

You see, I have an air compressor that plugs into the car's cigarette lighter. Stupid Mr. Schaefer had the car at IG-ON both times, ran the compressor, drained the battery without driving the car very far to top off the 12v. Stupid stupid stupid.

But Priapus started (though barely) and I made it to Sears. They were really busy again but I waited it out. Three hours later, I had a fixed tire, a wall-plug air compressor, and a battery charger.

After the Bears game last night, I put a 2amp charge on the battery and ran it overnight. This morning, it was -10ºF. Electronically, Priapus sprang to life without hesitation; mechanically, he was none too thrilled about turning over. But he did and I drove to work. There were some odd noises, interesting revving situations, and at one point it seems as though I lost my battery assist during a routine slightly-downhill cruise at around 47MPH. Instantaneous mileage dropped from mid-50s to mid-30s and stayed there until I was able to come to a complete stop at the next stoplight. Things went back to normal and I was even able to get engine shut-down at lights and glide for some distances.

All in all, with the short trips to/from Sears, the fact that I let him sit and run in the driveway for a while when I thought I might have killed the 12v, and the sub-Arctic drive this morning my tank mileage has dropped from 48.x to 44.3.

[psyshack]

Strugglingbad. Really bad.

Turned in a tank for 35 mpg this morning. Just horrible.

Got 39 mpg for the trip in. The cold and winter weather is taking a toll on my mpg and me.

psy

[locutus]

Managed just 42.7 for my commute today with balmy air temps of -15F. (No, unfortunately that "-" isn't a typo.)

Originally Posted by brick

The only way to pull that off in a Prius in these temps is to bundle up and run without cabin heat.

Cabin heat? What's that?

[mparrish]

Almost hate to post given those northern temps. . Weekend driving was fairly local and residential, so I was able to keep the tank near 60. Sitting at 60.5 after this morning. With a week of commuting and highs in the 60s forecast, I'm pretty much assured of my first 60 mpg tank! 4 pips left.

Odometer will turn 3000 on the way home. Looking forward to continued break in.

[JimboK]

Originally Posted by TonyPSchaefer

After the Bears game last night....

"Bears" game?? Aside from the opening kickoff and Jones' 52-yard run, it looked to me like the Colts' game.

(Sorry for straying off topic. I couldn't help myself.)

[tbaleno]

-9 this morning. I got about 32MPG. Bahh. This is definately going to be "worst tank ever".