Comments on: Chasing the Toyota Prius' 50 mpg nirvana

CNET News' Martin LaMonica, an early buyer of the 2010 Toyota Prius, finds that the car gets good mileage but there's clearly more to learn.

[johnradams]

The bottom line is gallons consumed, not MPG.

Lest everyone forget, the true goal is to reduce consumption. Sure, higher MPG is an excellent path. But if your commute is 30 miles or whatever, the problem is the length of your commute. I have a large vehicle which I use for hauling around our kids, dogs, etc. It gets 16 MPG pretty much all the time. But before you call me a pig, take note that I typically use less than 3 gallons of gas each week. I have dozens of CFL bulbs in my home, and will be migrating to LED. The mantra is Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. How to "reduce" with a car? Use it less.

[randallhsmith]

Yes...MPG is great, but MPG without utility is a waste. You have a large vehicle and need a large vehicle with lots of utility. Very different from a person with a large "commuter" car or"commuter" truck.

[islandgirl45cv]

" by randallhsmith July 13, 2009 3:19 PM PDT
You just don't comprehend well. Any mechanic can work on a diesel. Is that a hard concept? No electrical ignition system in a diesel...very simple. I don't challenge Consumer Reports; I use them for car purchases myself. I just won't buy a hybrid because the technology is too new and complex."

My family used to have a boat with a diesel engine. No, "any mechanic" couldn't work on it.
My original point, which you missed on your drive-by rant, concerned an acquaintance's bad experience with the diesel engine in a 2000 Golf tdi. Volkswagen has had an awful repair record in the past, and I simply compared that record to the record of the Prius, which is a good one. Is that a hard concept for you?
Buy whatever you want. The new Jetta tdi is getting great reviews and I hope it holds up much better that its predecessors.

[randallhsmith]

Boats with diesels are a ***** to work on...not because they are diesels, but because they are buried in fiberglass and extremely difficult to get to. Nothing to do with the engine itself. If you get off your fixation with the jetta/golf/VW product and focus on the apples-to-apples argument (toyota diesel and toyota hybrid), your argument has no relevance. ENOUGH WITH THE JETTA/GOLF. Toyota will have a very difficult time convincing people in Europe to buy the prius since so many good diesel cars are available. And try climbing a steep hill in a Prius...it will be huffing and wheezing like a long time smoker trying to walk up that hill. Diesels will effortlessly climb that hill. Get off the VW product... I am arguing engine concepts, not brands. Hybrid engines do not hold a candle to a diesel.

[PenguinedOne]

Responding to randallhsmith, I've driven up steep hills in my Prius and had no problems. My sister lives in Denver and drives her Prius in and around the mountains with no problems. Electric motors produce much higher torque than gas motors, so the acceleration and power of the Prius at lower speeds surprises a lot of people.

[Nick.Kentros]

Why no look at the Volkswagen Jetta TDI? If you're into green tech, you should know that the manfacturing process of diesel cars is way less energy intensive and environmentally damaging than that of a hybrid car. And with the use of hyper-mileing you can achieve very good mileage.

Plus global warming is a myth!!!! The ice age is coming! We should all drive SUVs to help prevent the coming ice age!!!

[DominionSeraph]

50mpg nirvana?

My ride will do 0-60 in 3 seconds. It tops out at 165 on the level. (had it over 170 on a slight downhill). I got it brand new for less than 1/3rd the $22k of a base Prius (7k) , and it'll never need a $4000 battery replacement.

And it gets 50mpg at 75mph.

*** bikes FTW.

[PenguinedOne]

I think your comment about motorcycles is a good one, unfortunately I live in an area where you can't ride most of the year. I've got a decent number of friends who are willing to shelve their bikes for the winter and break them out again in the spring, but then you have to keep up two vehicles, so there's always a trade-off.

[p-pepper]

I bought a Prius 2 years ago. Originally I drove it my commute was long 108 miles one way. The mileage goes up with stop and go driving, static highway cruising speeds drop the mileage slightly. Later my wife began driving the Prius, 20 mile commute one way, her mileage was not as good as mine had been, i suggested that she observe the information screen, it is a bit like a video game. It teaches you how to get the best mileage from the situation. The car is now averaging 51 - 52 depending on some of the seasonal variations, AC, rain, wind. The cost benefit, is fuel consumption over the life of the car. If your commute is 5 miles ride a bike.

[PenguinedOne]

Our family regularly gets over 50 MPG in our second generation Prius, the best for us is spring and fall driving where we hardly ever use the AC or heat and can average 55 MPG.

For us I think the good mileage is a combination of just moderate driving and living in the suburbs of a big city. We do the majority of our driving between 35-55 MPH and can usually coast to stops, so we get a lot of regenerated power and don't usually end up driving too fast or too slow. On the few occasions where I tried to max out MPGs I found using the pulse and glide method could get me into the 70s on flat stretches. But I hate driving like that and can get 50 MPG by just driving sensibly, which is what we go with.

In terms of some of the comments on whether it makes sense to buy a Prius, sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't, and anyone who claims either end of the spectrum is true all the time is wrong. The technology in the Prius is real, it works, and its here today, so don't write it off. By the same token, evaluate what kind of car you need and don't assume a hybrid is what will be best for you.

First - the American vs. Foreign jobs thing; if an american company goes out of business, more americans lose jobs than if a foregn car company goes out of business. Wake up people, we americans need jobs, do the right thing for your country and therefore yourself. I know it sounds hokey, but its true.

Second - of course hybrids don't make economical sense if you only look at the price of gas. There are other factors to consider. My hybrid is insurance in case the price of gas spikes. I only fill up twice a month instead of 4 to 5 times - my time is worth money. I do believe that hybrids are much better for the environment - fossil fuel will always dump stuff into the air - any significant polution isses with batteries has and can be addressed. I don't need brake jobs as often because of regenerative breaking and this is just one example of reduced maintenance cost. Don't forget to factor in the increased resale value of a hybrid when calculating the financial benefit of a hybrid.

Also consider the fact that money we spend on oil in many cases goes to people who really don't like or care about us much, and almost always makes our foreign trade deficit worse; this is also bad for our country and therefore us and our children in the future.

Third - Behavior modification. Until I got a Hybrid, I was a leadfoot (my other car is a Corvette Z06). I wanted to justify my purchase of my hybrid Mariner, so I've had to adjust my driving habits *substantially* and this has resulted in me using half the gas I used to. I now get 32mpg average since I bought the thing (my old card was a 2001 Olds Alero). If I revert back to my old habits in the hybrid I get 25mpg with it. My current driving style is not that of a crazy hypermiler, I just learned that wasteful driving habits hurt mileage in all cars. I wanted an SUV that had a healthy amount of cargo space so I bought what I wanted with the added benefit of better fuel economy of a hybrid.

Here are tips I can pass on to people trying to conserve fuel. When I first bought my hybrid, I measured my milage every trip to work and back trying different styles of driving. I learned that if I keep the RPM at 2250 when accelerating I maximized my mileage. I can save a little if I accelerate much more slowly, but I'd rather get where I'm going quicker and lose 1 or 2 mpg. Other hybrids probably have their own sweet spot but this seems like the best for mine. Once at the speed I want, I use the cruize control to maintain the speed. As soon as I see a light change, I immediately ride the brake a little to regenerate the batteries. These things are now habits - I really don't notice that I'm doing it anymore.


So forget all the self delusional justifications about buying foreign brand gas guzzlers and go out and buy an american brand hybrid ;-)

Signed - a *very* happy Mercury Mariner Hybrid owner

[rebart1]

Please, please be sure your medical and life insurance is paid up, and you have everything else in order. My wife is a nurse/hospital administrator whose career has been in the Emergency Room. The Prius is a very, very dangerous car in head-on collisions. During the first year the Prius was out, my wife's ER had 11 fatalities or serious injuries in Prius accidents. One of the victims was a doctor who USED to work in the ER with my wife. Although he is still alive, he will never be an ER doctor again.

Why is it that if the Prius were an American car we'd hear about this, but because it is not American we don't hear about it.

OK, believe it or don't, it's your life.

[owlafaye]

My $300 Geo Metro gets 53.4 mpg on the hiway....195,000 miles...Cost $300+ bringing it up to snuff...tires, brakes, alignment, one wheel bearing...hi 40's in town. America needs something new in this size, weight and engine...gas only. Europe has them at 70 mpg+ for little money. Why not here? Yaris, Fit and Versa have the right idea sorta, just need smaller engines and lighter bodies. By the way, downshifting to 4th for a low speed hill is no big deal. At hi speeds it handles almost all hills in 5th gear. If you are looking for a rabbit, you shouldn't be here reading all this.