Holy crap at the mileage I'm getting

"bhtooefr" (bhtooefr)
10/16/2016 at 22:25 • Filed to: Smug Alert, hybrid, prius

October 13 was about half freeway, and the 14th and today were about 75% freeway, too.

DISCUSSION (18)

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > bhtooefr
10/16/2016 at 22:29

What car is this?

V12 Jake- Hittin' Switches > bhtooefr
10/16/2016 at 22:30

I averaged 16 in my LS400 last tank. 17 in the S600.

Shoop > bhtooefr
10/16/2016 at 22:33

I-I get 12.8 freeway

getFuckedHerb > Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap
10/16/2016 at 22:38

http://oppositelock.kinja.com/2016-toyota-prius-an-oppositelock-review-1785290150

Orange Exige > bhtooefr
10/16/2016 at 22:43

I can do about that in my girlfriend’s Prius C but definitely not on the highway. Hard to top 50 on the highway (going 65 at least).

But dang you do a lot of driving. Did you trade in the C she got last year??? It’s a 2013 and had 60k+ miles o_O

bhtooefr > Orange Exige
10/16/2016 at 22:53

I don’t normally do a lot of driving (a normal day is under 11 miles), it’s just in the past few days I’ve done a lot - drove to Columbus and then my dad’s place and back on Thursday, then drove to Buffalo to hang out with a friend this weekend.

And, while the Prius C is small and light, which helps in the city, it’s not as thermally efficient, and it’s got worse aero than the full-on Liftback. Hence the better freeway efficiency from the Liftback. Oh, and by “freeway”, I’m meaning 70-75 MPH here.

Wobbles the Mind > bhtooefr
10/16/2016 at 22:57

The Prius is awesome. Not sure why enthusiasts refuse to acknowledge the fact it is the best performance vehicle in its category (that performance being fuel economy). The Prius Prime has my intrigue because everything about it shows that Toyota put in more effort in than I’ve seen in any other vehicle they have offered since the original Prius. Definitely more effort than this upcoming Totally-Not-A-Supra sportscar.

j250ex > bhtooefr
10/16/2016 at 22:59

You get 3.5 times better mileage than I do.

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > getFuckedHerb
10/16/2016 at 23:01

Wait. it’s even tagged prius.

atfsgeoff > bhtooefr
10/16/2016 at 23:05

Thermodynamic efficiency takes its revenge!

bhtooefr > Wobbles the Mind
10/16/2016 at 23:07

The funny thing with that is, I actually think that, while they hit the ball out of the park on some aspects of the Prime, I think they also phoned some things in.

Using both MG1 and MG2 to propel the car? Win.

Managing to price a car with a carbon fiber hatch and an 8.8 kWh battery such that, after federal tax credits, it undercuts the base model Prius (and it’s almost the mid-level trim in its own base model) by, oh, $2000? Holy shit.

Highest MPGe in electric mode out of every car ever sold in the US market ? M-m-m-m-monster kill-kill-kill.

Not properly packaging the battery, so that you have a huge trunk lump, and a mostly empty area under the rear seat... which is now a 4 seater instead of a 5-seater, after the Gen 1 Volt got lampooned for being a 4-seater?

Orange Exige > bhtooefr
10/16/2016 at 23:49

Hmm wonder how much better you’d get at “highway” (lol) speeds. 10 mph doesn’t seem like a lot but at that speed, aerodynamic drag increases exponentially. A good reason I have absolutely nothing against the 65 limits we have in the north east. Much quieter ride too. In fact I’d probably be fine with 55 even - that’s a relatively quiet, 2.2k rpm cruise for the Mini. I mentioned the drag before - that 10 mph difference from 55 to 65 makes a 500 rpm difference in 6th. :o

LongbowMkII > bhtooefr
10/17/2016 at 00:23

The Cruze averaged 44mpg on the way home today. It was 46.7 until it rained. It’s either the rain or the programming changes after a half dozen hours at highway speeds.

bhtooefr > Orange Exige
10/17/2016 at 05:17

On trips to my dad’s place and back, which are almost all on 55 MPH roads (so I do 60), I’ve been known to average over 70 MPG indicated.

And, Saturday, doing a trip from my hotel to my friend’s place and back, almost all on 45 MPH roads, although I was driving very gently on the way there (she was sick, I didn’t want my interior splattered with vomit), I averaged 80.8.

This thing is insane.

bhtooefr > LongbowMkII
10/17/2016 at 05:55

Rain actually does hurt things, in a “death of a thousand cuts” sense, but 0.1% here, 2% there, 0.5% over there adds up.

The tires especially have to push a fair amount of water out of the way, increasing rolling resistance.

Rainy air is denser due to the humidity and the rain droplets, meaning more aerodynamic drag is induced.

Although cars don’t tend to be that aerodynamic, there may be some skin friction issues caused by rain droplets on the car, causing further aerodynamic drag.

Wipers will cause more drag yet, and take power to run.

Headlights take a bit of power (~60 W in my car with Koito Bi-LED projectors, ~110-240 W in a car with typical halogens (depending on the exact lighting configuration, but 240 would be a car that runs both low and high beams together), although DRLs tend to be 50-80% power when present and using headlights instead of dedicated bulbs).

HVAC loads change, needing more dehumidification (running the AC compressor), although it’ll usually be cooler, offsetting that some.

It’s worth noting that my trip home yesterday had rain and a stiff headwind for part of the way, although I was also going slower (setting the cruise for 73 instead of 75, which enables engine shutdown in some cases going downhill).

LongbowMkII > bhtooefr
10/17/2016 at 06:58

It made about a 5mpg difference, which seemed excessive.

bhtooefr > LongbowMkII
10/17/2016 at 07:05

One problem with MPG is that it distorts the effect of changes in fuel consumption... but that does sound excessive.

So, going from 46.7 to 41.7 MPG would be about 0.257 gallons per 100 mi more, or about 12.0% more fuel. That is probably a bit excessive, yes... and now I’m wondering if traffic conditions came into play.

Terrain’s also a potential issue, a very slight change in slope can cause huge changes in MPG. Having live monitoring of fuel consumption has shown me climbs that I never really thought about as climbs, and descents that I never really thought about as descents.

Orange Exige > bhtooefr
10/17/2016 at 08:33

Wow crazy indeed!