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

[Dan]

Ok... Started posting on my commutes. Tanks average is down to 57.6. It's perfect temp here, so I don't have many excuses. Hopefully breakin will start to boost my mileage in the next few months.

I definitely need to cut out my short trips. Even in Texas there is some warm up. I've been playing with NICE-on, but don't know if its a bad idea on a Prius.

Also having problem with tailgaters, can't seem to stay in my glide without seriously hurting my driving karma. Think I need to get a "Student Driver" sticker to encourage them to pass.

Anyway, I'll probably test out some different routes to see if I can't find a deserted road without stop signs that is devoid of all traffic during rush hour. Wish me luck!

[Bruce]

36.2 MPG at 15°F for 15.4 miles this morning, a bit of wind.

A semi was tailgating me with brights on and the second light had a surprisingly short cycle, so I muffed both -- light up to make the green, then brake for red. The second light was so short I didn't even get a chance to put it in drive.

I accelerated into my gap to the next car to maximize the last glide before the expressway, came in too hot and had to touch the brakes during the glide.

No draft targets on the expressway until a semi pulled in front of me at the last hill before my exit, so I started the coast down to the exit with a D-FAS.

Not too bad, all things considered.

[brick]

Filled yesterday. The tank came in at 47.5mpg on the MFD for the second time in a row (albeit 54mpg calculated...riiiiiiiiight). So now I'm parked at about 40mi on the new one with 48.0mpg showing. First pip left me at 30 miles. This 10F morning, 25F afternoon crapola has got to end.

[Skwyre7]

55.8MPG at 23ºF on my morning commute. I'm pleased.

[Chuck]

An accident diverted me to the tollway this morning, which took a hit on my commute. At 45F, it was 70.7mpg, but probably should have been around 75 on the non-toll commute. The tollway has more hills - that's probably what is doing it.

[locutus]

Originally Posted by brick

This 10F morning, 25F afternoon crapola has got to end.

I'd be happy with that right now. 45.4 into work this morning at -6F. We're in the -5F morning, 15F afternoon pattern here. Sunday's high is finally above 20F. 2 days until my block heater is installed, that's all I can say. At least roads are clear and winds are fairly calm.

[dcoyne78]

The average temp here was 1 F yesterday and the average for the week has been 5 F, I am at 57.4 MPG for 296 miles on the display (this has run about 2% high long term so my real FE is probably about 56 MPG), which I am pleased about considering the temps. The first 107 miles were a net downhill of about 1170 feet where I managed 61.5 mpg, since then my avg FE has been about 55 mpg (using the method outlined above.)

If someone is too cheap to buy a scangauge(maybe you aren't, but I am), you can use a paper, pencil, and calculator or spreadsheet to find out approximately what your FE is for any segment.
For example:
you have 100 miles on your tank and the avg mpg is 50 MPG, so you have used 2 gal of gas so far (100 mi/ 50 mi/gal)= 2 gal. Now you make a 50 mile trip and bring the avg mpg up to 52 mpg now you have used (150/52=2.885 gal). What is your FE for the 50 mi segment? It is 50 mi/.885 gal=56.5 mpg. Thanks Wayne for showing me this trick way back when you first tried Carl's Prius. This is a lot of calculating but a spreadsheet can be set up to do the calculations for you. You simply need miles at start and end of segment and the avg MPG at the start and end and you can get an approximate FE for your segment. The scan gauge is nicer because you can see how you are doing in real time, but this gives you some feedback after each trip if you are willing to punch the numbers into a spreadsheet. This is only necessary for Prius owners, although HCH owners that use one of their trip gauges for lifetime mpg could use this as well (are there only two trip odometers, I am not really sure about the HCH?)
I created a little spreadsheet tool for calculating MPG for a segment. It can be found here.

Dennis

[dcoyne78]

Originally Posted by locutus

I'd be happy with that right now. 45.4 into work this morning at -6F. We're in the -5F morning, 15F afternoon pattern here. Sunday's high is finally above 20F. 2 days until my block heater is installed, that's all I can say. At least roads are clear and winds are fairly calm.

Have you tried blocking your grill using foam pipe insulation cut in half and stuffed in the grill vents? See prius chat for details and pictures, I am doing this along with the block heater and it has made a huge difference this winter.

Dennis

[dcoyne78]

Originally Posted by Dan

Ok... Started posting on my commutes. Tanks average is down to 57.6. It's perfect temp here, so I don't have many excuses. Hopefully breakin will start to boost my mileage in the next few months.

I definitely need to cut out my short trips. Even in Texas there is some warm up. I've been playing with NICE-on, but don't know if its a bad idea on a Prius.

Also having problem with tailgaters, can't seem to stay in my glide without seriously hurting my driving karma. Think I need to get a "Student Driver" sticker to encourage them to pass.

Anyway, I'll probably test out some different routes to see if I can't find a deserted road without stop signs that is devoid of all traffic during rush hour. Wish me luck!

You might try an EV button install, I just use the headlight flasher as my switch, the install is pretty easy, I think I found the instructions over at Prius Chat. Also when the engine is cool you can often get the ICE to shut down once you get your speed over 35 mph, but the EV is an easier fix for speeds under 33 mph, just don't over use it when you first start the car, let the engine warm up by driving about 2 min or so before you start using the EV button, unless you are just moving your car a short distance at parking lot speeds.
You might not want to do this due to warranty issues, I did it on my 2004 at around 44000 miles, on a new 2007 I'd probably chicken out.

Dennis

[locutus]

Originally Posted by dcoyne78

Have you tried blocking your grill using foam pipe insulation cut in half and stuffed in the grill vents?

Yep, did that a month back or so. Cheapest mod to date. I have no doubt it has helped everything to stay warmer when it's frigid like this, but there are other big things that are hitting the MPG more than that helps:

- a commute of only 6 miles (fully warmed up only at the very end)
- starting from temps of 20-30 in a garage left overnight or for 8 hours during the day <-- block heater will help with half of this one
- once it gets below about 10, my EV button doesn't work despite what coolant temp says