Gen 2 Prius..short trips only?
 

Got my wife a used beater Gen 2 Prius since she works retail and gets called in sometimes only to work an hour. Commute is only 7 miles each direction with 2 traffic lights. I bought it on a whim so she could avoid getting her nicer vehicle dinged up in the parking lot while she isn't there. Now I am reading that the Prius won't get great gas mileage until it warms up. I know that applies to any car. Any way to increase fuel economy over a short trip like that? Is she better off with my Diesel ALH TDI for that short trip? It's got the nasty 01m automatic.

Thanks.

I'd say you are nitpicking, not enough for either car.
Can you mod the prius to a plug in hybrid?
An old leaf with mid-life batteries would be the bomb on that commute.

How about a bicycle?

It warms up pretty fast tho. I was getting up to 63MPG in the summer driving 9 mile trips.

How hot is North Carolina? Maybe usual warm-up mods like grille blocks and engine blankets will help you. (and if you want to go crazy with it, keep the oil at the minimum level and concentrate the antifreeze)

Nitpicking how exactly?

Lol! Not on these dangerous roads!

Thanks, great ideas. It gets cold here but hasn't been that cold these past few winters.

At "7 miles," you're right at the distance the car gets warmed up. Based on my experience:

1) Engine block heater - helps get the coolant up to efficient operating range.
2) Spoof coolant temperature sensor - (MAY NOT BE LEGAL) trick the car into using fuel efficient control laws. This may not bring the catalytic converter to operating temperature quickly.

Bob Wilson

I've had two 2nd Gen Prii (05 and 09) and a 2003 ALH TDI (5 speed)

My wife's commute is also 7 miles. As Bob said, it will be warmed up about the time your wife gets to work. With our cars the first 5 minutes was 25 mpg then it jumped up after that. The good thing is that even "bad" mileage with a Prius is pretty good. My wife averaged about 40 mpg in the winter and 45 in the summer. The Prius will do better on that short commute and the fuel is cheaper.

The key to improving mileage on her short commute is getting the car to warm up faster. Some options:

Engine Block heater (never tried)
Grill Block (I blocked the middle 2 rows of the lower grill all year in Alabama)
Don't turn on the heat until the car is warmed up. (Not a chance with my wife)

The difference between 40 mpg and 50 mpg is tiny* with that short of a commute so I wouldn't go crazy spending money to try to improve the mileage. That is why I never tried the engine block heater.

*Commuting 14 miles x 5 days a week x 50 weeks a year = 3500 miles. The difference between 40 mpg and 50 mpg is 17.5 gallons or $44 a year at $2.50 a gallon.

probably a bad choice of words, but either car will work equally well (or poorly :) )on that short commute.

I have been to Fayetteville, NC to visit relatives several times. I am a lifelong cyclist and I note that people there rarely ride bikes other than the 'liquor scooters' due to DUI convictions. If one can find a suitable route and ride like one is operating a vehicle, commuting could be pleasant. My favorite bike in traffic is a step through frame with a 3 speed internal gear hub and 40/20T ratio. In cold weather a circulating block heater would be useful. We use them on our snow plows here.

I feel you there! I love to ride, and I have about a 6 mile gauntlet on the ride into work that makes it not safe nor practical. Either I am on an unprotected bicycle lane on a 6 lane 45mph ( try 60! ) speedway to the freeway, or I am on a steep hill climb with no shoulder or barely a ditch, around a blind corner or two. I have *never* seen a bike on the second route, and I see a couple of bikes a month on that speedway. You could ride sidewalk on the first one. So much fun with all that car exhaust.
I have seen trucks and cars wander into that bike lane every day. It is really a suicide lane.

Last time I lived in Tacoma, I used to ride up Yakima from Parkland, then through Hilltop and up to Point Defiance. Years before that, I would ride backroads out from Lake Tapps to Buckley and then get on 410 and ride out into the mountains, sometimes into the park. I would never do that today.

Like most kids, I grew up on bicycles. I have owned at least one bike at all times since age 10 or so. I still have one in the garage.

But long ago I gave up trying to ride on public roads. "My" final straw was bicycling on a road with log trucks zooming by and evidence of fallen logs on the roadside. I finally hung up the spurs and gave in to reality.

Just a few days ago a guy I knew who was my age was killed on his bike by colliding with a car. It happened to be his fault. A tragedy for him and his family.

It's hard to justify riding a bike for good health when you're always within a few inches from death speeding by and when you're deep-breathing vehicle pollutants the whole time. Of course, one could make the same argument about driving a car, but the risk differential is big.