I will be renting a prius and need an ABC tutorial on pulse and glide

[dsq]

I will be renting a prius to go to mammoth mtn from LA.Our 4runner is out of the question with 4$ gas.Its cheaper to rent a prius!!!
I already hypermile but I have no experience on P+G but would love to know the basics etc...I used the search function here but couldnt find a thread that just lists the basics.Is there a basic primer sticky on the site?

Is pulse and glide only for up/down hill driving.Can you do it on level roadway?

Also,is it safe to turn off the engine with auto transmission?Isnt it impossible to steer with motor off???

[jesse.rizzo]

Check this out.
http://www.metrompg.com/posts/pulse-and-glide.htm

That answers most of your questions. I'm not sure about the Prius, but on most cars with power steering, it gets much harder but not impossible to steer with the engine off. This is because the power steering pump is driven by a belt from the engine. It is important that while gliding, after shutting down the engine, you turn the key back to the "On" position, not leaving it on the off or accessory position, since this may lock the steering wheel.

[Daox]

The Prius is of course special when it comes to engine off goodies. It is equipped with electric power steering so no engine needed to have power steering. Shnazzy eh?

Honestly, your best bet is to probably read over this post on cmpg. This is a technique developed by one of the members there and its probably your best shot at good highway mileage. I'll also message one of our resident Prius owners to come say a word.

http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1224

[cfg83]

dsq and Daox -

Originally Posted by Daox

The Prius is of course special when it comes to engine off goodies. It is equipped with electric power steering so no engine needed to have power steering. Shnazzy eh?

Honestly, your best bet is to probably read over this post on cmpg. This is a technique developed by one of the members there and its probably your best shot at good highway mileage. I'll also message one of our resident Prius owners to come say a word.

http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1224

I was going to try to describe this, but the URL is the Cat's Meow.

CarloSW2

[diamondlarry]

Originally Posted by dsq

I will be renting a prius to go to mammoth mtn from LA.Our 4runner is out of the question with 4$ gas.Its cheaper to rent a prius!!!
I already hypermile but I have no experience on P+G but would love to know the basics etc...I used the search function here but couldnt find a thread that just lists the basics.Is there a basic primer sticky on the site?

Is pulse and glide only for up/down hill driving.Can you do it on level roadway?

Also,is it safe to turn off the engine with auto transmission?Isnt it impossible to steer with motor off???

A little number history to show what I've been able to achieve with these techniques: Since I bought the car on May 19th of 2007, I have maintained 72.3mpg. My average for the past month has been 79.9, the last 3 months have been 73.1, and the last 6 months have been 68.2 mpg. As you can see, last winter was brutal. My best tank ever was 1056.5 miles at 86.9 mpg(9/13/07-10/10/07) and I had a tank of 979.8 miles at 86.7 miles on May 10th of this year. Today, I just hit a one day record of 103.4 mpg over 29.4 miles; 16.9 of those miles were at 118 mpg. If I've left any questions unanswered let me know and I'll try to fill you in better.

[dsq]

From the cleanmpg site i gather you cant do p/g on the freeway-speeds over 40mph?
Is that right?

[diamondlarry]

I'm not sure what happened but, about half of my post didn't show up. I'll try to retype it tonight when I get home. The short answer to your question though is, P&G with the engine off isn't possible above 40 mph in a Prius. Above 40 mph the engine has to be on to help protect some of the CVT components. Again, I don't know where my explanation of my techniques went but I'll try and re-explain them tonight after work.

[diamondlarry]

OK, I'll try this again. I generally try to stay on country roads where I can stay at 40 mph or below. Once I get to 40, I let off the gas all the way then touch it very lightly until the blue arrows and yellow arrows go away. This is the glide state with the engine off. This can be tricky to maintain so I'll sometimes throw it in neutral until I reach the low end target speed which I try not to let go below 20 mph. When the low speed target is reached, put it back in D and accelerate very lightly back up to the upper target speed. When accelerating you want to try for orange arrows from the engine to the wheels and a yellow arrow to the battery only and no yellow arrows to the wheels.

For highway driving I try to stay at 50-55 mph in the far right hand lane. Once at the upper target speed, let off the throttle until the Scanguage TPS reads 17-19. If you don't have a SG, let off to the point where the instantaneous mpg is at 70-80+. This will cause your speed to bleed off at a slow rate. When you get down to 45 mph, accelerate slowly back up to the upper target speed and start over.

My tires are also at ~70 psi and have been since last October and there is no uneven wear and the handling is still good. Of course, I don't drive very fast to begin with though.

Ask me more questions if I've left anything out.

[2009Prius]

Originally Posted by diamondlarry

....

My tires are also at ~70 psi and have been since last October and there is no uneven wear and the handling is still good. ....

Sorry to dig up this old thread but just curious to know how the tires are holding up at 70 psi and what brand/model tires and sidewall pressure spec? Thanks!