CPians and Fuel Efficent Cars ?
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Colin Angus Mackay wrote:
I've had it at just shy of 55MPG.
Wow. :omg: That's not even a hybrid, is it? My Prius runs about 45 MPG without my doing anything special. Pretty sure I could get 55 if I paid close attention to the way I was driving it...
WE ARE DYSLEXIC OF BORG. Refutance is systile. Your a$$ will be laminated. There are 10 kinds of people in the world: People who know binary and people who don't.
The Yaris does great. But also rember that the UK uses imperial gallons and in the US we use well, US liquid gallons. To really gauge this you need to convert apples to apples. Doing so 1 MPG (US) = .425km/L 1 MPG(Imperial) = .354km/L So your Prius is getting 19.2km/L and Colin's Yaris is getting 19.5km/L. Still impressive but also keep in mind that the Yaris is a much smaller and lighter car than the Prius. Also, I am surprised you are only getting 45MPG in your Prius, I've hit that in my Corolla on long road trips and we do consistently 50MPG on our Prius
Sovereign ingredient for a happy marriage: Pay cash or do without. Interest charges not only eat up a household budget; awareness of debt eats up domestic felicity. --Lazarus Long
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Any CPians driving fuel efficient cars ? What are they and how do they rate performance versus efficiency trade off ?
Regards Ray "Je Suis Mort De Rire" Blogging @ Keratoconus Watch If its fast and ugly, they will use it and curse you; if its slow they will not use it -- David Cheriton
My bicycle must be very fuel efficient - everytime I put to much fuel into the engine, it doesn't drive at all :)
We are a big screwed up dysfunctional psychotic happy family - some more screwed up, others more happy, but everybody's psychotic joint venture definition of CP
blog: TDD - the Aha! | Linkify!| FoldWithUs! | sighist -
Any CPians driving fuel efficient cars ? What are they and how do they rate performance versus efficiency trade off ?
Regards Ray "Je Suis Mort De Rire" Blogging @ Keratoconus Watch If its fast and ugly, they will use it and curse you; if its slow they will not use it -- David Cheriton
Toyota Camry, 42mpg Toyota Highlander, 28mpg I don't race, so can't tell you performance. both make St. Augustine pass without dropping out of cruise control or dropping under the speed limit. The highlander can pass near the highest point on the pass, so that is all I need. They dodge Oryx well, both of them, and barely notice when thumpers get thumped. Neither have so far been bitten by a rattlesnake, but that may be only a matter of time. ;P
_________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb) John Andrew Holmes "It is well to remember that the entire universe, with one trifling exception, is composed of others."
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Any CPians driving fuel efficient cars ? What are they and how do they rate performance versus efficiency trade off ?
Regards Ray "Je Suis Mort De Rire" Blogging @ Keratoconus Watch If its fast and ugly, they will use it and curse you; if its slow they will not use it -- David Cheriton
I once got 32 miles per gallon on a trip and they only advertised 28 or something. And here at altitude, I have as yet met even a stock LS2 GTO that can touch my stock SRT. Something to be said for a tiny turbo to make up for all that missing air up here.
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It always makes me smile hearing Americans talk about fuel efficiency in their cars ;o) There is nothing fuel-efficient about a car with a 4 or 5 litre engine (or larger!) America could lower the price of oil the world over if everyone there drove a car with a 1 litre engine. Lets face it, your speed limit is so low, you don't need anything larger... (unrelated...but... do Americans refer to engine sizes in litres? And if so, why is that the only metric measure you've adopted?)
Kyudos wrote:
America could lower the price of oil the world over if everyone there drove a car with a 1 litre engine. Lets face it, your speed limit is so low, you don't need anything larger...
Actually, a well designed aerodynamic shape wouldn't take all that big of an engine to go very fast, but you wouldn't have much room in it. Since half the people here are still in SUVs, they need the 4 or 5 liter engines just to get the things out of the way of other drivers at an intersection. Though, case in point, I have a 2.4 liter engine that has taken me up to 158 mph up a hill and only stopped accelerating due to knowledge of the next turn on the course. I think that is a perfect reason to restrict lambos to 4 cylinders ;)
Kyudos wrote:
And if so, why is that the only metric measure you've adopted?
We are slightly less confusing then the English who not only use MKS units, but when referring to their weight I hear many use stones... As for changing all the way over? Do you have ANY IDEA how many road signs we have? The cost of changing them would be astronomical! (Literally, we could send a robotic spacecraft to Mars for the cost of it) ;)
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Any CPians driving fuel efficient cars ? What are they and how do they rate performance versus efficiency trade off ?
Regards Ray "Je Suis Mort De Rire" Blogging @ Keratoconus Watch If its fast and ugly, they will use it and curse you; if its slow they will not use it -- David Cheriton
I've a 1998 Renault Laguna estate, which does something like 35mpg* on the motorway. However, I really don't consider that fuel efficient - if it was over 60mpg I might be impressed (but don't count on it!). If I had the choice now I'd probably buy a hybrid of some kind when it finally dies - the Golf TDi hybrid (by all accounts) 69mpg, so if they carry that across into the Beetle Convertible I might well be tempted (Bournemouth is too sunny to buy another hard-top!). It's still a parallel drivetrain though - I know from my engineering days how much more efficient an electronic transmission can be than the stone age mechanical or hydraulic transmissions they usually use in the automotive industry. * that's UK gallons, not US ones. 1 UK gallon is roughly 1.2 US gallons, so that 35 mpg goes up to about 42mpg if you measure it in stateside units.
Anna :rose: Having a bad bug day? Anna's Place | Tears and Laughter "If mushy peas are the food of the devil, the stotty cake is the frisbee of God"
modified on Wednesday, June 4, 2008 3:51 AM
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Any CPians driving fuel efficient cars ? What are they and how do they rate performance versus efficiency trade off ?
Regards Ray "Je Suis Mort De Rire" Blogging @ Keratoconus Watch If its fast and ugly, they will use it and curse you; if its slow they will not use it -- David Cheriton
VW Polo, 33 kW 8 to 10 l/100km (0.08 l/km)
Cheers, Sebastian -- "If it was two men, the non-driver would have challenged the driver to simply crash through the gates. The macho image thing, you know." - Marc Clifton
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I have 3 cars :- A Fiesta diesel (hers) - no idea how often she fills it up, probably once a month. An Astra diesel (mine for business), I do ~500 miles a week with a weekly fill up. An Aston DB9 (mine for fun :) ). Ironically the DB9 is the most fuel efficient - it sits in the garage 99% of the time appreciating. There's a lesson in that. Expensive cars are very good for the environment: you'll always be too petrified that some berk in banger is going to rear end you to use them on a regular basis :)
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But there have been quite a few. One example I know off the top of my head, a friend of mine has a Hyndaui minivan. In order to drive it my knees are on the dash and I can't use the mirrors.
Need a C# Consultant? I'm available.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know. -- Ernest Hemingway -
I've a 1998 Renault Laguna estate, which does something like 35mpg* on the motorway. However, I really don't consider that fuel efficient - if it was over 60mpg I might be impressed (but don't count on it!). If I had the choice now I'd probably buy a hybrid of some kind when it finally dies - the Golf TDi hybrid (by all accounts) 69mpg, so if they carry that across into the Beetle Convertible I might well be tempted (Bournemouth is too sunny to buy another hard-top!). It's still a parallel drivetrain though - I know from my engineering days how much more efficient an electronic transmission can be than the stone age mechanical or hydraulic transmissions they usually use in the automotive industry. * that's UK gallons, not US ones. 1 UK gallon is roughly 1.2 US gallons, so that 35 mpg goes up to about 42mpg if you measure it in stateside units.
Anna :rose: Having a bad bug day? Anna's Place | Tears and Laughter "If mushy peas are the food of the devil, the stotty cake is the frisbee of God"
modified on Wednesday, June 4, 2008 3:51 AM
You've done your conversion the wrong way round. US gallons are smaller than UK gallons, so you get fewer miles per US gallon than imperial. Your 35mpg Imperial is equal to 29.1mpg US.
DoEvents: Generating unexpected recursion since 1991
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Swap the Aston for an Aerial Atom :)
Visit http://www.notreadytogiveup.com/[^] and do something special today.
They look like fun - but there's nowhere to put the picnic basket! :)
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I have 3 cars :- A Fiesta diesel (hers) - no idea how often she fills it up, probably once a month. An Astra diesel (mine for business), I do ~500 miles a week with a weekly fill up. An Aston DB9 (mine for fun :) ). Ironically the DB9 is the most fuel efficient - it sits in the garage 99% of the time appreciating. There's a lesson in that. Expensive cars are very good for the environment: you'll always be too petrified that some berk in banger is going to rear end you to use them on a regular basis :)
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Any CPians driving fuel efficient cars ? What are they and how do they rate performance versus efficiency trade off ?
Regards Ray "Je Suis Mort De Rire" Blogging @ Keratoconus Watch If its fast and ugly, they will use it and curse you; if its slow they will not use it -- David Cheriton
Actually my wife and I walk to work, stores, etc. and take a bus or taxi if we need to go anywhere else. The only time we ever use our cars is on vacation. And gas is still about US$ 0.10 per gallon down here. Honest.
The PetroNerd
Walt Fair, Jr. Comport Computing Specializing in Technical Engineering Software
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I have 3 cars :- A Fiesta diesel (hers) - no idea how often she fills it up, probably once a month. An Astra diesel (mine for business), I do ~500 miles a week with a weekly fill up. An Aston DB9 (mine for fun :) ). Ironically the DB9 is the most fuel efficient - it sits in the garage 99% of the time appreciating. There's a lesson in that. Expensive cars are very good for the environment: you'll always be too petrified that some berk in banger is going to rear end you to use them on a regular basis :)
Cheap car can be ecolgical (and must be). Look at http://www.mdi.lu/eng/affiche_eng.php?page=communique3[^] Zero pollution and a price at around € 3500 for urban driver... :)
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Any CPians driving fuel efficient cars ? What are they and how do they rate performance versus efficiency trade off ?
Regards Ray "Je Suis Mort De Rire" Blogging @ Keratoconus Watch If its fast and ugly, they will use it and curse you; if its slow they will not use it -- David Cheriton
Well, I used to have a nice Chevy Silverado pickup, about 17-19 MPG, but when you only drive 20 miles it didn't seem so bad (gas was around $2 a gallon then). But, then came the layoff...out of work...find new job...realize that driving 150 miles a DAY is going to cost a gazillion dollars (exageration) so I bought a Toyota Camry Hybrid. Great car, could easily get 43-47MPG driving it at speed limit, no fast acceleration and so on. Anyway, monthly gas bill is not to bad (wife works from home so she doesn't use much) and then decide we want to get a couple PWC's (Jetski's for those that need to ask). Camry won't tow those, wife's Cadillac won't tow those (she SAID it won't and who am I to argue). So...sell camry...but Toyota Hylander (after researching best small SUV capable of towing said PWC's and getting good gas mileage). So, getting around 28MPG now if I drive speed limit, maybe a bit below but never going above 65MPH (usually 55-60). Gas bill higher. but affordable as it can be...Jetski's however are 250hp supercharged 70MPH beasts...they'll suck down 22 gallons of gas in 4-5 hours...so $180 dollars just to go out for the day is killing me... :)
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The Yaris does great. But also rember that the UK uses imperial gallons and in the US we use well, US liquid gallons. To really gauge this you need to convert apples to apples. Doing so 1 MPG (US) = .425km/L 1 MPG(Imperial) = .354km/L So your Prius is getting 19.2km/L and Colin's Yaris is getting 19.5km/L. Still impressive but also keep in mind that the Yaris is a much smaller and lighter car than the Prius. Also, I am surprised you are only getting 45MPG in your Prius, I've hit that in my Corolla on long road trips and we do consistently 50MPG on our Prius
Sovereign ingredient for a happy marriage: Pay cash or do without. Interest charges not only eat up a household budget; awareness of debt eats up domestic felicity. --Lazarus Long
Chris Austin wrote:
Also, I am surprised you are only getting 45MPG in your Prius, I've hit that in my Corolla on long road trips and we do consistently 50MPG on our Prius
Depends how fast you're driving. A friend of mine has one, he gets 50's in local highway driving and city driving. Only mid 40's on longer highway drives because the fuel savings isn't justified when it means an extra hour instead of an extra 5 minutes on the road.
You know, every time I tried to win a bar-bet about being able to count to 1000 using my fingers I always got punched out when I reached 4.... -- El Corazon
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I am 6'2. There are some compact cars that I cannot physically fit in or drive so a major factor in my car purchase decision is, Do my knees hit the dash and does my head it the roof.
Need a C# Consultant? I'm available.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know. -- Ernest HemingwayDitto. I know a few tall people who *do* drive like that (IIRC fatboy on CP is one of them), but I can't for any longer than to go around the block.
You know, every time I tried to win a bar-bet about being able to count to 1000 using my fingers I always got punched out when I reached 4.... -- El Corazon
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Toyota Prius, getting approx 60mpg (imperial) at present indicated on the multi-function display. Reportedly this can be a bit inaccurate, but when I last refuelled I'd done 453 miles since last fuel and the pump reported 33.49 litres distributed when it cut off. That works out at 61.5mpg. (I'm refuelling with two blobs out of ten left on the fuel gauge, as the manual says that the fuel pump will struggle with less than 25% in the tank, as the fuel pump is cooled by being immersed in the fuel.) The Prius, in the US at least, has a resin bladder to contain the fuel, whose capacity changes according to temperature. This helps to prevent fuel evaporating in the tank. I'm not actually sure if the UK model has this feature - some commenters say no. The fact that the capacity changes makes measuring how much fuel you used quite tricky. Performance - it has no step gears, being an 'electric CVT', so you don't lose any time changing gears. The car can keep the engine turning at peak torque and apply the motor torque as well for fast acceleration (for short periods). It's a lot quicker than my old 1.6 Ford Focus when overtaking. There is a bit of lag as it gets all the motors pointing the right way before it takes off, though. Beware the sticker shock - this car, three months old, ex-demonstrator, cost me £16,350 (less trading in the seven-year-old Focus for £1,750). Small diesels will use less fuel than this even after allowing for the fact that diesel has more energy per unit volume than petrol (it's about 13%, with only a 10% premium in price in the UK). It depends what you want the car to do. Personally the technology in the Prius intrigued me, and I have to say I like the acceleration and the space.
DoEvents: Generating unexpected recursion since 1991
Mike Dimmick wrote:
Performance - it has no step gears, being an 'electric CVT', so you don't lose any time changing gears. The car can keep the engine turning at peak torque and apply the motor torque as well for fast acceleration (for short periods). It's a lot quicker than my old 1.6 Ford Focus when overtaking.
depends what you're comparing with I guess. Compared to my GM 3.8 v6 the prius felt rather pokey on the highway.
You know, every time I tried to win a bar-bet about being able to count to 1000 using my fingers I always got punched out when I reached 4.... -- El Corazon
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Any CPians driving fuel efficient cars ? What are they and how do they rate performance versus efficiency trade off ?
Regards Ray "Je Suis Mort De Rire" Blogging @ Keratoconus Watch If its fast and ugly, they will use it and curse you; if its slow they will not use it -- David Cheriton
A few years back I had a Renault Laguna in which I regularly got 32mpg (UK). During a tanker drivers strike I think it was I had a tank of gas to last until whenever the supplies were restored (no way I was going to queue up for 3 hours at 2am just to get a 2 gallon ration!) Purely with careful driving (rolling stops, slowly pulling away, changing gear at the right time, rolling down hills etc) I managed to get 52mpg. Its amazing how much you can ease off the gas and still get to where you're going within a couple of minutes of the time you used to do it in.
Apathy Rules - I suppose...
Its not the things you fear that come to get you but all the things that you don't expect
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Any CPians driving fuel efficient cars ? What are they and how do they rate performance versus efficiency trade off ?
Regards Ray "Je Suis Mort De Rire" Blogging @ Keratoconus Watch If its fast and ugly, they will use it and curse you; if its slow they will not use it -- David Cheriton
Well if you call them cars: Suzuki Swift '03 - Have yet to drop below 40mpg and that's averaging 70+mph most of the time, or country lanes in low gears. Mitsubishi Shogun '93 - Did a fuel consumption run down from Scotland on motorways at 70mph (cruise control) and then 3 hours low range work in Shropshire then a 4h fast/hard drive down through Wales along the moutains. Carrying 1/2 a tonne she averaged 25mpg (combined figure in manual is given as 27 best case scenario). '83 Land Rover Series III - very fuel efficient[^] :cool: 20 year old tractor - no idea 4 tonne dumper truck - probably about 1mpg if that. 3.5 tonne digger - probably about 4gpm :rolleyes:
I doubt it. If it isn't intuitive then we need to fix it. - Chris Maunder
