Mileage per gas tank

What mileage are you getting now? Do you commute? If so, what is the one-way distance? If it is less than 5 miles, you certainly can't expect to get the EPA city figure. What is your highway speed? If it is over 55, you certainly can't expect to get the EPA highway figure.

Bill,

I work from home so there is no cummute. Mostly I run around and the trips are much less than 5 miles. When I drive on the highway my speed is usually

70 miles/hour. I guess those are two reason for the lower milage.

thank you,

Being around 350 miles when the gauge first hits one bar isn't all that uncommon for my 2004, but the real question is how many miles per gallon are you getting? How many gallons have you put in at each fillup?

I'm not exactly sure how many miles per gallon I'm getting. I'm going to pay a little closer attention to it and also keep track of how many gallonns I'm putting in per fill-up.

>

I'm getting better than 50 however under those circumstances I'd expect about 35 overall. You are probably doing better than that (you didn't say) because one rarely gets more than 9 gallons in the tank any you are making

350 miles.

Over in GreenHybrid.com, we have a FAQ about how to get optimum Prius performance. It is in the Prius forum.

Bob Wilson

I commute to work 52 miles one way and I take the secondary roads and drive as close to 40 MPH has possible all the way. Ever since I changed my route to work by staying off the interstate and slowing down I'm consistently getting 63 MPG and easily 600 miles per tank.

Slow down and drive 40 MPH if you want higher MPG and more miles per tank.

Bravo! It's more relaxing too, isn't it?

How many people on 2-lane roads where passing is difficult get POed at you when they're stuck behind a car going 40 on a 55 road?

Cathy

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Ah yes, leveraging one's fuel economy. When this happens, they are saving gas too. Those who get POed are simply too stupid to care about.

I want to get from point A to point B, without being held up by the slow-poke in front of me - no matter how virtuous his/her motives. Ever notice how long of a line forms behind someone going 45-ish on a 2-lane road where safe passing places are few & far between? That alone shows that most people have no desire to go 40 mph on a 55 road.

Cathy

I

Honestly, Cathy, I was thinking in terms of driving the speed limit. I drive 55 when the speed limit is 55 and occasionally cause these long lines. I don't feel sorry for those behind me. I've met a few patrol cars under these circumstances so perhaps I've even saved one a speeding ticket. Only

4-lane divided highways have higher speed limits in MN. Although I drive 55 on these too, the other cars are free to pass in the left lane. On occasion I've found myself in the right lane in a line of other drivers who have also elected to drive 55.

I hear people complain about the high cost of fuel , blaming someone else for gouging them. These selfish people will be the last to admit that they are empowered to lower that price through conservation. There is something unfair about my paying more for gas because they are wasting it.

If you're driving the speed limit, then no cause for people behind you to get irritated, IMO. They may want to go faster, but that will be up to them. But 40 mph was the speed being advocated in the previous posts, which I didn't think was realistic for most drivers.

Cathy

Turn on the Multi Function Display (the big screen in the middle of the dash) and the car itself will tell you the MPGs you're getting. Calculating MPGs manually from the reading on a gas pump is probably less accurate than the car's own figure. The car counts every opening of the fuel injectors. The injectors are accurate because they have to be to keep emissions low.

Actually, it has been my observation that for MOST Americans, it is unacceptably slow to drive at the legal posted speed limit. I tend to drive close to it, and am continually getting blasted around by folks that cannot stand to go less than 10 MPH to 15 MPH OVER the posted speed limit. Now, if folks want to do that on the open road, great...go for it. However, what torques me off is that most American drivers seem to think that it is JUST as appropriate to ignore the speed limit when driving through congested construction zones, backed up traffic and on rain-slick, twisty roads. How stupid is THAT? (and is THAT enough gasoline for the flame war? I think so

*smile*). Regards Dave Mundt

I'm also a law-abider; I believe that (for the most part) speeding is a fool's game. However, I've deliberately sped three times in recent years...

1) Two 12 hour legs each way while driving from Arizona to a little north of Portland for vacation. 3 mph meant a 1/2 hour difference when it mattered most, and breaking the trip into three 8 hr legs would have used two extra days we couldn't afford. 2) My wife got the word that if she wanted to say goodbye to her mother she'd better get to the hospital *fast* - I knew the extra speed wouldn't make a big difference, but there are some prices too high to pay 3) Last week we had a total power loss to a communication site we share with two telecom carriers - hundreds of thousands of dollars in equipment depended on making the two hour trip as quickly as possible. (The propane supplier had not made the delivery the week before - we got power back in time to save the batteries and keep the building temperature below 100 degrees. Whew!)

My point is that each of us will encounter drivers who have problems of their own - they have had word their loved one is hospitalized, they just had an argument, they are out of their mind with meth, they are a new driver, they stole the car, they are trying to get a woman in labor to the hospital. It doesn't matter at all whether they are good people or evil people. We don't control other cars; we control the car we drive. Let's do that well.

Mike

As far as highway driving is concerned, I have found with my 2001 Classic Prius that it does not matter if I'm going 65 or 75, I still get 51 mpg even with the air conditioning on. I travel from Cleveland to Detroit quite often and couldn't believe that I would get better gas mileage at the higher highway speed. From what I have heard, the Prius engine is the most efficient when running around 4000-4500 RPM. I believe that running in this high efficiency range is what is causing my gas mileage to be good at higher speeds. I get worse mileage in town whne I am driving slow.

I don't have anything against driving the speed limit, especially in construction zones but I think there are some physics involved here and just driving slow doesn't mean you are automatically going to get better gas mileage.

snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com wrote:

Yes, some physics are involved, but the optimum speed to maximize mileage is below 41 mph. On the open road, our mileage varies greatly depending on wind velocity and direction. Driving 75 mph with a 30 mph tailwind will yield mileage roughly equivalent to driving 45 mph with no tailwind. Driving 55 mph with a 30 mph headwind sucks. Where I live the winds are such a significant factor as to effect the mileage calculation on most highway trips. Ask a pilot.

I also discovered that at speeds under 40 MPH, driving with the windows open and the A/C off gets better mileage than driving with the A/C on and windows closed.

Faster than 40, though, keep the windows closed and the A/C on if you need it.