Week of March 21 to March 27 (Nat'l Avg price $1.983)

Today , 29.5 deg F , no noticeable wind. 34.3 miles , 63.0 * .93 = 58.59 MPG. Tank is at 208.8 miles , 65.7 * .93 = 61.1 MPG. Odometer reads 19,609 miles, so I will schedule my 20K service for next Monday after work. Good thing the Solemn Oath brewery is two blocks away from Toyota dealer.

 

No surprise here with the frost. We had three mornings below 32F. This is why I didn't plant anything yet.
Edwin. I picked up 2 mounting forks for the acoustic and the electric, but haven't decided where to hang them yet. Not a lot of options in the house and the work stop has limited space and will have my parents in there from May until later in the summer again. So I will not be able to practice much any more once that happens as this is where I practice now. I use a chair in front of the end of a bed to lay my tabs down on. The acoustic is a Yamaha setup with classical strings right now. The strap has been adjusted and feels good but it will take some getting used as it holds the neck at a different angle than sittings so it is harder to see the strings. It might help to develop my hand co-ordination without looking at the strings all the time.

Friday:
- 57.3 / 11.9 miles (40F N@16 gusting to 26) to the guitar store
- 55.3 / 1.5 miles home
FCD = 57.2 (+0.1)

This morning with no school drop off (spring break and kids are at Grandmas)
- 52.5 / 13.1 miles (30F S@7)
FCD = 57.0 (-0.2)

Tank:
2.71 gals converted
146.2 miles
F<*****|*****E

 

I knew it wouldn't drop below 40 overnight , so I left the car outside. It's much faster getting out of there this way and avoids the 30 second "warm-up" that I get when using the garage.
Today , 42.5 deg F , wind S 13. 34.3 miles , 68.0 * .93 = 63.24 MPG. Tank is at 276.4 miles , 65.8 * .93 = 61.19 MPG.
My buddy the bass player wants me to learn "Smooth Operator". It's pretty simple , but pointless ( to me) if you don't have a singer.

 

Edwin, what if you backed into your garage? Can you then drive away in the morning before the engine kicks in?

 

That would be nice , but I don't have a functional electric door opener , so I need to close the door manually , then go into the house to come out my front door. Also , and I'm a bit embarrassed to admit this , I'm not that confident backing up the Prius into the narrow opening in my garage.

 

I hear you, Edwin.

If you can just manage to back the Prius 20' without the engine starting, I think you have it beat. Just shut off immediately upon exiting the garage and then you have all the time to close things up. Good luck!

 

I just thought of one other thing, Edwin. If you make sure your heater settings are OFF, you'll have the best chances of getting some minimal EV usage before the engine needs to turn on. Turning on the heat is usually an afterthought for me in my car, but the first thing I do when driving my wife in her C-MAX is to turn off the heat.

 

I always turn off climate control before shutting off the car , along with the stereo. I don't like surprises. I could possibly try shutting car off as soon as the car clears the garage , but in COLD weather (<15 F ) the engine wants to light up pretty quickly. If it's merely cool ( >15 F ) it's very doable. My garage is attached but not heated and temps are about 15-20 deg warmer than outside.

 

I am quite frequently surprised by the radio in my wife's car. And she seems to enjoy the volume higher than my own tolerance level. That goes for TV, too.

Any chance there's enough of a pitch so you can roll out in neutral, with car not ready? You'd have to be very straight going in though.

I'm in the same boat with my attached but unheated garage.

 

Thanks Andrew. It is different with many of the songs I'm learning. Some are close to the same area and can plant the thumb, but the little licks and solos have your hand all over the place and using vibrato a lot as well as bending. I'm working on some Gary Moore, I have some of "I love Rock n Roll" as well. Some others: Enter the sandman intro, Thunderstruck main licks, all of House of the raising sun and Dust in the wind and have Christmas songs with solo notes not chords.

last night:
55.8 / 12.9 miles (61F S@17 gusting to 30) head winds really limited the gliding.
FCD = 57.1 (+0.1)

this morning no school:
55.8 / 13.1 miles (51F S@19 gusting to 26) some nice bits with good tail wind helped to get the same MPG as last night into the wind.
FCD = 57.2 (+0.1)

tank:
3.16 gals converted
171.9 miles
F>*****|*****E (just above 9/10 now)

I had built a little ramp a few years ago in my garage and drove the front up so that all I had to do was throw it in N and release the hand brake and it would let me back up into the street without turning the engine on. I do have a working door motor so that helped not having to get out. But our drive way has enough of a slope that all the other times I just let it back the car up into the street (about 15 feet or so).

 

As far as I can tell, there's no access to neutral in a Prius that isn't "READY." It can back up in neutral without the engine running in "EV mode," IF and only if the computer is happy with the coolant temperature, battery charge, and the phase of the moon.

I do reversing maneuvers more often in "N" than in "R," because braking is less jerky.

 

...when you have Fred Flintstone's legs!

By the way, I just checked neutral access on my Prius. I have everything off with parking brake set, double bump the start button without my foot on the brakes, and at that point, I can access neutral by stepping on the brake and shifting to neutral. Disengage the parking brake, take the foot off the brake, and the car starts rolling.

 

Interesting. That routine could be useful occasionally.

Thanks, BillLin!

 

You're welcome! I was hoping it would be useful to someone. I can't see myself needing it, unlike that missing traction control button.

 

Supposedly you can turn off traction control temporarily by doing a "chicken dance" involving the accelerator, brake pedal, and shift lever. However, Toyota claims driving without traction control may wreck the transmission.