2009 Prius Base - $19k

[Matt Herring]

No question the 2010 is a great car...I mean come on...51 EPA rating...absurd.

But, for me as a 2009 owner I'm not THAT impressed with the 2010 when comparing the 2009 to it. When I bought my 2009 in March I thought about waiting for the 2010 knowing fully that I could get a 2010 for nearly the same price in just a few months. I think the 2010 "looks" better than the 2009 and it has more of a regular car look than the 2009. Still, I think the 2010 added more asthetic aspects to the car than efficiency aspects to the car. Clearly, they added some mpg gains but it can mostly be attributed to the efficiency of the engine and not creature comforts. I like my vanilla 2009 and don't feel like I missed the boat by not waiting.

[Matt Herring]

Filled up today and posted my 3rd straight 60+ mpg tank...lifetime avg. is up to 57.44 and close to 25% EPA! Still working towards 60 mpg lifetime avg. but higher than normal highway runs are limiting my success. Have to get better driving on the highway! I have about 10 highway runs of 40+ miles coming up this week so I'll have plenty of time to practice!

I'm now 15th on ecomodder.com for gasoline vehicles 90 day mpg (just passed SVO's Vegan Power!...come on bro...we got a battle now)! I'm still chasing down the #1 Prius mpg over at myhybridcar.com as I'm currently in 2nd place and 1.8 mpg behind the leader!

[Matt Herring]

Improved highway driving report...

Filled up yesterday after spending the last 6 days doing alot of highway traveling. My tank of 380 miles included 200+ miles of highway travel. I have been doing alot of work on my highway driving and working with the Super Highway Mode in the Prius. I've seen consistent 58+ mpg runs on the highway this week so it's getting much better (my previous highway runs when I first got the car were in the 50-52 mpg range).

With my SGII, I am keeping a close eye on "IGN" to maximize highway travel. At 60-65 mph and 14 IGN I can keep my SGII at consistent 100+ mpg until I have to use more throttle to stay with traffic or drive up a larger hill.

Still pushing to get to 60 mpg lifetime before the summer is out. Over the next few months I will be doing very little highway driving so 61-63 mpg tanks should be in the near future. Still trying to catch the #1 spot over at myhybridcar.com which is 1.5 mpg ahead of me after last fillup!

[Daox]

I thought at higher speeds it was more efficient to use warp stealth?

[Matt Herring]

If u can hold it up to speed warp stealth works great at 60 to 65. I click in and out of it as much as I can but in an up and down terrain you lose a lot of speed in warp stealth.
I probably was using warp about 25 percent of the time and ign hold the rest. The highway miles I drove this week were the same 40 mile commute 5 times so I was basically using the same technique on every run. Today I got my mfd mpg up to 63 mpg after I exited the highway.

I think warp stealth is good for flatter or slightly downhill areas at higher speeds as you don't lose speed quickly or can pick up slight speed. Ign holding allows you to hold speed or at least lose it less quickly if you are up and down a lot. At least in my driving experience

[Matt Herring]

Superior commute to work today...

My SGII (which is actually reading about 3 mpg pessimistic vs. my MFD in-car guage) read 88.6 mpg after my 11 mile commute to work this morning! I needed it badly because I was sitting at 60.1 mpg after 200 miles on this tank thanks to some heavy highway driving early in the tank. I got my MFD up to 61.0 now after 215 miles driven (still trying to top my all-time best of 63.2 on my MFD).

My commute this morning was helped by an 18 wheeler struggling to push past 45 mph for about 5 miles. I was able to cruise in EV mode around 40 mph for about 3 miles (minus a little uphill ICE to keep it around 40 mph). Everybody else was upset about the slow crawl but I was just fine with it. One guy even flipped off the driver when the road split...hooray for hybrids!

[Matt Herring]

Finally...no rain today and 75 degrees! I had an errand to run around town before heading to work and pulled some nice mpg's over the 16 mile drive (89.2 mpg on the SGII). Got my MFD up from 61.4 to 62.1 (and that's no small feat after 400 miles on the tank). I'll fall short of my all-time high of 63.2 mpg but should post my 5th straight 60+ mpg tank. I'm stuck in the 60-62 mpg range right now...might be time for the EBH install. Also have oil change coming up in next few weeks...hope it doesn't affect my FE.

As you can see from the pic I had 4 bars over 100mpg and even got my 1st 5 min bar up to 50 mpg. Driving is fun when the car pumps out these numbers!

The weather has been miserable the last two weeks (rained 13 out of 14 days) and the temps have been low to mid 60's. I've noticed there is a tremendous amount of drag under the car in wet/standing water conditions. Any time I drive over a little water the car slows quickly making it hard to glide far distances.

[MetroMPG]

I have to admit, it'll be fun to see you and Tim comparing notes ... and ratcheting up the competition.

[Matt Herring]

I'm hoping he helps me along with my mods as he seems a little more daring than me in that regard. I've been running the same mods and getting the same results so I have no reason to wonder why I can't get past 63.2 mpg.

I have an EBH sitting in a box right now so that's the next logical addition (although I haven't found anywhere to plug in at my house...only work). I have an oil change coming up in the next couple weeks and will probably have Toyota install it as I can't find any local mechanics at a cheaper price and also do not want to put my warranty in jeopardy (although it is a Toyota of Canada part).

[Daox]

On the way back from the dealer, my wife drove the Prius on the freeway. She set the cruise at 60 mph, turned the AC on and said most of the time she was averaging 60 mpg according to the MFD.