Re: Thinking of Purchasing a Toyota Prius

Joe:

Am wondering if you are the same Joe who has started the Porsche to Prius post here. Whether or not, the Prius is a great car. We bought ours in May of 2005 and I've been the primary driver ever since. We live about 50 miles west of Washington DC and my daily commute is 70 miles per day. When and if I can afford or find high-speed internet, I'll leave the Prius home a day or two a week and telework.

I have now put over 115 tankfuls in the car since buying it new. I log every tank into GreenHybrid.com just to keep consistant track of fuel efficiency and to be able to look in on other Prius' owners comments about their car and driving strategies. The Green Hybrid avg for all Prius drivers in their database is about 48 mpg.

With over 50,000 miles on the car, I have averaged 53.7 mpg. In cold temps-- below 20 deg F and during very heavy rainfall events, I get about 48 mpg. During prime driving weather--clear, no rain and temps no higher than 85 degrees, I get around 57 mpg.

On interstates and in interstate traffic which always travels well over the 65 mph speed limit, fuel efficiency suffers if I am being ushed by speedier drivers. I find 60 mph as about as high as I can go without seeing a significant drop off in FE. How you drive a Prius makes a lot of difference in what mileage you get but the same can be said for any gas-powered car. No really fast starts; no heavy use of the brakes.

We have had absolutely no problems with the car. We continue to take it to the dealer. We had a great, knowledgeable salesperson but the service dept has not been quite as commendable.

Some Prius drivers refer to the technique of pulse and glide as the route to the best mileage. This requires that you punch the accelerator quite hard when you can rely on the electric motor to maximize speed gained and coast whenever you can safely do so. I try to operate in the "black" between 15-40 mph whenever possible. This is indicated on the energy screen when all of the power arrows go blank. If I am going downhill in this mode and am approaching 40 mph, I allow the car to self-brake, pumping electricity into battery storage and keeping me below 40 (if the speed limit is in the range of 35-45 mph)

I haven't done the math to figure out what my savings have been, but the car has performed admirably in virtually every driving situation we've been in, from stop and go to icy interstate driving. Can't wait to see if Toyota will really put a lot of effort into the next generation of this car and try to produce efficient cars rather than continuing the trend toward power hybrids.

Craig