Month of March 2021 (Nat’l Avg $2.720)

Great, Edwin. What magic did that mechanic do?

 

Nothing related to fuel efficiency , lol. He repaired my rear license plate from Toyota's
VERY crappy design , somehow cured a rattling muffler ( from when I slammed into a snowbank
in my driveway , and changed the oil. Yeah , it must have been the oil change.

He also zeroed out both tripmeters , which was a little annoying. But he has been working on
my cars for 18 years now , and I trust him.

 

Maybe pumped up the tires, too?

Regardless, nice work! 75+ MPG after offsets. That's up there with the first gen Insight. Speaking of which... I saw one mounted on a pole outside a car service shop down the street. Pity it isn't still running. I'll have to remember to snap a pic or take one off my dash cam.

 

Someone on Ecomodder installed a lawnmower engine in a first-gen Insight.
The results were not good.

Thanks , Bill In 2018 , when I had an "ideal" commute for nine months , I had
three consecutive tanks of 75, 75, and 76 (summer). Today , I need to drive the highway
about half of the time.

 

That's still 1900 lbs or so for a lawn mower engine to move, so I can't imagine it will work well. On the other hand, there are high HP lawn mowers built for racing. Crazy.

I was thinking the Insight would make a nice EV conversion, but I still prefer today's heavier but safer steel cages.

 

I wonder whether the licence plate is involved in one of my car's numerous mysterious rattles.
Did he also zero the maintenance (oil) reminder, or do you, or do you ignore it?
The trip meters are too easy to accidentally zero.

 

Yeah , I can understand how one can easily zero out the tripmeters. He did reset the maintenance reminder , which
lights up at 5K miles ( rotate tires ) and 10K miles ( oil and filter ). I dunno if I told you guys about the license plate
issue before. Where most cars have a steel screw going into a plastic nut ( or threaded insert ) , the Prius has a steel nut
that is inside the tailgate , possibly spot-welded to some thin sheet metal. I , of course , didn't disassemble
the tailgate myself , so I am going by what the Toyota service advisor told , which infuriated me at the time.

My rattling definitely came from the exhaust system , but I'm not sure what he did to fix that , because he didn't
even itemize it in my ( surprisingly low ) bill. I think a well-placed size 12 boot knocked the exhaust system back where
it was supposed to be. I'm really more curious about how he reattached my new license plate , as I'm sure one day I will
sell this car and want to remove the plates. Maybe I should also check out the front plate ; that's been there for almost six years.

 

I helped my girlfriend move to Northbrook yesterday , so of course that's
where I was coming from this morning. It's further than her place in Glenview.
It's also smaller and definitely more expensive ( and more amenities ).
Not too familiar with topography or even the best roads , today's trip was 17.4 miles ,
fcd = 60.8 MPG x 0.943 = 57.3 MPG , average speed 38 , temperature 40 deg F.

 

Today in the Civic , until Tuesday morning.
29 deg F in Naperville , 28 in Elk Grove , no wind.
35.1 miles, fcd = 44.4 MPG. After I get to Diane's at 12:30 ,
I won't drive until Monday morning. Driving isn't fun anymore.

 

Today 35 deg F in Northbrook and Elk Grove. When I got to girlfriend's
place Saturday , I forgot to reset Trip B , so here is the combined trip
including this morning : 34.6 miles , fcd = 44.7 MPG. We may have snow today ,
and I'm taking the highway home , so maybe 42 MPG.

 

Today in the Prius. 33 deg F in Naperville and Elk Grove.
35.1 miles , fcd = 59.1 x .943 = 55.7 MPG.

 

Today , 34 deg F in Naperville , 33 in Elk Grove.
a pretty steady headwind ( E 8MPH ) limited this trip
to 35.1 miles , fcd = 58.1 x .943 = 54.8 MPG.
The tank is surprisingly good , though , due to some nice
trips home on scenic route #2. ( 63.8 x .943 = 60.16 MPG )

 

Today driving the Civic. 35 deg F in Naperville , 34 in Elk Grove.
same NE wind , but not as strong as a few days ago.
35.1 miles , fcd = 41.9 MPG.
I'll be back in the Prius Saturday morning until Monday night.

 

It's a good thing that you have a trustworthy friend.

 

Close to around a half tank in the Camry after a month and a half. I think I've driven around 250-300 miles in those days. Every co-worker of mine is amazed that we drive so little. The C-Max has gone 160 miles in two weeks. Of course, it goes further on days when we're both working, so it gets more use. Plus, I try to use it for getting groceries etc. Still at almost a full tank of gas, and just using electricity. Battery capacity seems to be around the usual amount. I'll check it when I go into work tonight.