Quote from alzys177 :

hmmmmmmmmmmm
mini's are a production car, and once more David Vizard, built one totally for economy, back in the late 1970's and he was achiving 100 mpg with it. it retained it's standard "A" series engine, so was not extenslively modified, just a carefull build using chosen components ... cant make it clearer than that..

Quite simply, a production car is a car that was available for people to buy. I'd bet that not even one 100mpg Mini was sold off the showroom floor. There's a rather large difference between being based-on a production car and actually being a production car.

lol you got to pick holes in things just cant accept it can you ?
we are thirty years down the line and we have hybred cars just to achive what d vizard did in the 70's .. i did not say it was a standard production car just a production car.. if you cant accept it, it's your problem not mine

8th refuel on the Prius today

After having traveled 834 kilometres on this fuel tank, I added 44.0 liters, again living on the edge of running out. The Q8 price was €1.33/l.

The analysis of this fuel tank is as follows:

5.27 liters per 100km (Prius meter shows 5.3). This is a little improvement over a couple of previous tanks, whilst the weather was equally cold, and I was using the 'el cheapo' no brand euro95 petrol.

Converted to other measurements, this means:
44.63 MPG USA
53.6 MPG Imperial

Solar Hydro

Needed another pitstop, 9th refuel on the Prius today

After having traveled 782 kilometres on this fuel tank, I added 44.53 liters. The Total Excellium price was €1.28/l.

The analysis of this fuel tank is as follows:

5.69 liters per 100km (Prius meter shows 5.3). Weather was near freezing for most of the period; had a few cold starts into traffic jams that killed fuel efficiency. Around my worst performance to-date.

Converted to other measurements, this means:
41.34 MPG USA
49.65 MPG Imperial

Solar Hydro

10th refuel on the Prius today

After having traveled 849 kilometres on this fuel tank, I added exactly 43 liters. The Q8 price was €1.338/l.

The analysis of this fuel tank is as follows:

5.06 liters per 100km (Prius meter shows 5.1). Temperature was near freezing for most of the period, and my driving behaviour was usual.

Converted to other measurements, this means:
46.49 MPG USA
55.83 MPG Imperial

Solar Hydro

Still doesn't get as much MPG as my scooter Solar

If I drive slow I can almost double my MPG but going about 50MPH is slow enough.

They can only get better, they still don't offer anymore fuel economy than either a small petrol engined car, or a medium to large sized engined diesel car, I get 55mpg and a lot of fun (155bhp and 350nm of torque) out of my diesel Mondeo.

We were recently disscusing the merits of hybrids on another forum, and it would seem that ATM the technology still has a long way to go before it gives the returns the manufacturers say it does.

http://driving.timesonline.co. ... /0,,22750-2068245,00.html

Dan,

The Prius is optimised for minimum environmental impact in terms of emissions, not low MPG.

I have written before that some (smallish) diesels have similar or even better fuel economy than the Prius, but they generate puffs of black smoke... (and that smoke contains deadly micro-dust particles and makes historic buildings go black).

Solar Hydro

P.S.1. I had read that article comparing Lexus and Mercedes SUVs. They are at double my consumption and probably a multiple in noxious emissions.
P.S.2. This whole thread was triggered by Bismarck's request to me to receive real-world Prius statistics (as opposed to claims and brochures).
P.S.3. Might be interesting to put your Mondeo and my Prius together for a 0-100km/h test. I have not tried hard accel, but the brochure says it takes 9.5 sec from standstill to reach 100km/h. If you car has those HP and torque metrics, you might win, but not by much ;-).

11th refuel on the Prius occurred on 3 April 2006 (in The Netherlands on the way to Germany; I refueled somewhat early because I know that the motorway I was going to take in Germany has few petrol stations).

After having traveled 798 kilometres on this fuel tank, I added exactly 43 liters. The Shell price was €1.445/l (i.e. very expensive).

The analysis of this fuel tank is as follows:

5.38 liters per 100km (Prius meter showed 5.0 - i.e. a big difference - I was on 4.9 for most of the tank but followed-up by long motorway driving).

Temperature was mixed, some very cold days around freezing, some days above 10 degrees centigrade.

Converted to other measurements, this means:
43.72 MPG USA
52.51 MPG Imperial

Solar Hydro

I passed the 10.000km mark on the Prius today.

The car still works fine, I haven't done any maintenance of any kind (and only visited a car wash once...). The only problem is still the rattling noise of the security triangle (I taped the triangle down in the trunk but it still sort of rattles inside its box).

Today, I also made an early fuel stop (Refuel no 12) at the petrol station that I know has a tyre inflator machine that shows BAR and PSI, and automatically pumps air until the amount you preset. I put all 4 tyres on 40 PSI/2.8 BAR (yes that's high, but lower than done by Prius fuel efficiency freaks). It's only the second time that I inflated the tyres, they were around 2.4 BAR. You immediately feel the difference when at 2.8.

The analysis of this fuel tank is as follows:

After having traveled 823 kilometres on this fuel tank, I added exactly 41 liters. The Total Excellium price was €1.415/l (i.e. expensive).

4.98 liters per 100km (Prius meter showed 4.9 - this is the tank I used on motorway to Germany and back - so pretty positive rating on the Shell V-Power fuel, if these supposedly special fuels make a difference).

Converted to other measurements, this means:
47.23 MPG USA
56.72 MPG Imperial

Solar Hydro

I also have a Prius - 13 000 km now. It's fabulous! 5.2 l / 100 km

Quote from Solar Hydro :

5.38 liters per 100km (Prius meter showed 5.0 - i.e. a big difference - I was on 4.9 for most of the tank but followed-up by long motorway driving).

By the way, do you know about the fuel "bladder" in the Prius? Since the volume of the fuel tank changes depending on the ambient temperature you can't really calculate the mileage precisely. The readout from the computer is probably more precise.

Yes, I know about the 'bladder' (see my post of 21 Nov 2005 in this thread), which is why I have reported my own measurement and the Prius computer readout on every tank since day 1.

My own measurement is based on the fuel I put in, and that I pay for, so I tend to think that that should be my reference.

(Overall, after 10.000km, I must be at 5.1 ish liter/100km, so the result is consistent with G. Sommer. I don't know when G. Sommer got his car, but for me it was Sep 2005, so the average includes more winter than summer and we are Europeans driving fast on motorways. When I go to other places than my office, which do not involve motorway driving, and temps are higher like last week, I see it visibly dropping to 4.7l)

Solar Hydro

Yippee new record :-)

13th refuel on the Prius today.

After having traveled 918 kilometres on this fuel tank, I added exactly 42,2 liters. The Q8 price was €1.433/l.

The analysis of this fuel tank is as follows:

4.607 liters per 100km (Prius meter showed 4.5).

Temperature was quite warm, and maybe I did a little more city driving than usual.

Converted to other measurements, this means:
51.06 MPG USA
61,32 MPG Imperial

Solar Hydro

P.S.1. After refueling, I drove in EV mode to my office 2km further. Including this distance would have put me in high 4.5s.

P.S.2. These stats suggest that doing 1000km on a fuel tank (capacity 45l) might just be possible.

hi all
just found this quote from Jeremy Clarkson on the Pirus, and thought i would share it with you all.......


"And what's so good about the Prius anyway? It does 45mpg, which makes it thirstier and dirtier than most diesels, it has two engines, which means two filthy production lines and imagine what it would look like alongside Berlusconi's Quattroporte and Merkel's Merc? A Prius would make Mr Blair look like an even bigger berk than he already is."


lol great minds think alike.........

Quote from alzys177 :

just found this quote from Jeremy Clarkson on the Pirus, and thought i would share it with you all.......

As much a fan as I am of Jeremy and Top Gear, I can safely say that we can ignore him as far as hybrids or environment-friendly stuff are concerned.

But in last week's brand new episode, it was absolutely hilarious when some environmentalists and politicians "invaded" the Top Gear track. They would make fun of the biodiesel Focus et al and when some sort of minister said that he and Jeremy share the same concerns about the environment, Jeremy said: "That's right sunshine".

No, he said they DIDN'T share the same views And the Minister was David Cameron, head of the Conservative Party (I would say the best party, but I'll just get flamed by silly socialists )

Whoops I need my ears checked and my english freshened up. Indeed that makes more sense. Thanks Tristan for the correction.

(Not that politicians that live in their own reality aren't out there, unfortunately)

solar hydro: http://news.com.com/Hacking+yo ... 6074671.html?tag=nefd.top

14th refuel on the Prius today.

After having traveled 919 kilometres on this fuel tank, I added 43,5 liters (maybe ovepumped a bit much to reach a round number. The Q8 price was €1.414/l.

The analysis of this fuel tank is as follows:

4.73 liters per 100km (Prius meter showed 4.6).

Converted to other measurements, this means:
49.73 MPG USA
59,72 MPG Imperial

Solar Hydro

There's an excellent article in this weeks Economist magazine (June 10th - 16th) about Electric Cars, including the 100mpg Prius (improved battery pack, modified control software to enable car to run 30 miles on batteries alone instead of usual 1 mile, and blending in of electric power at higher speeds when petrol engine kicks in).

Big thing at the moment seems to be plug-in recharging, which Toyota seems not to be in favour of, but which can reduce emissions and increase savings big-time. One example is at http://www.energycs.com/RecentProjects2005_08.htm

Pretty much a cottage industry currently, but will hopefully create waves that get the larger manufacturers to sit up and take notice. In the meantime Solar Hydro, when are you going to start hacking your Prius?

Look up higher in this forum (posting 7 or 8 in the P.S.).

I personally tested the hacked Prius (62kg of extra Lithium Ion batteries - including the Valence Technologies kit - in the boot, equipped with a normal electricity plug - for plug-in recharging) in the Summer of 2005. The battery performance was spectacular; the cost as well...

There is a real possibility that I'll decide to go for it... but I'm also looking out for proper hydrogen propulsion (fuel cell if needed) before making the jump.

Solar Hydro

P.S. Went to the car wash with the Prius for the second time today; it's still black and shiny; but washing was imperfect and I have an inexplicable scratch on the hood :-(

15th refuel on the Prius today (second best tank since I have the car).

After having traveled 931 kilometres on this fuel tank (the longest distance I've done), I added exactly 43 liters.
The Texaco price was €1.404/l.

The analysis of this fuel tank is as follows:

4.618 liters per 100km (Prius meter showed 4.6).

Converted to other measurements, this means:
50.93 MPG USA
61.17 MPG Imperial

Solar Hydro

16th refuel on the Prius today.

After having traveled 879 kilometres on this fuel tank, I added 43,3 liters.
I was aiming for that el cheapo petrol station that gave me good results in the past, but it didn't accept my debit card, so I went on to an Esso station on the same road (which was actually cheaper! it's a road where they compete!).

The Esso price was €1.319/l.

The analysis of this fuel tank is as follows:

4.926 liters per 100km (Prius meter showed 4.6 = biggest difference ever). This is all the more suspicious because I was on 4.5 after 500km when it went to 4.6 and I expected to be teetering on the edge of 4.6 again. Admittedly, it was my usual motorway routine and big airco was needed for the whole period.

Converted to other measurements, this means:
47.4 MPG USA
56.93 MPG Imperial

Solar Hydro

Hi Solar,

Am interested in the Fuel Econmy of the prius, what was the manafacturer estimate of the MPG usage?

So it looks like you're getting 57 Imperal MPG, obviously this is a biggish car and if it were the petrol only alternative would be much higher.

We have a nissan micra profile 1.0 litre, which from reports online ranges from 45 to 60 MPG, so probably similar in reality.

Of course this is a smaller car (petrol only), and less powerful, but it still goes over 100MPH and as such as a road car is fast enough.

I am just surprised that the hybrid technology isn't that efficient, it seems good when you compare it to it's identical road car class, but there are petrol only cars out there which are more economic and fuel efficient. If everyone had one of these, cheaper cars we would certainly meet the emmisions standars the world is aiming for currently, and would be more likely as these cars are more affordable to a mass range of people.

Hybrid/Eco cars are great, but most people will choose cheaper cars (petrol) over them unless they can balance out the expenses.

However, I do aprove of the efforts of Hybrid cars, but I don't see the need to jump from a petrol only car which is pretty much identical in MPG to a hybrid car. I think hydrogen powered cars are the real answer