Prius driving tips – Getting the most out of your tank
Ok, I’m not a hyper-miler or anything like that, but I do try to see how many MPGs I can squeeze out of my 10.9 gallon tank. It’s kinda like a game to me and being a gadget lover, it’s right down my alley. Without further ado, here are my tips:
1) Inflate your tires. I keep my front tires @ 42psi, and the rear @ 40. Remember to check your pressure during the morning when it’s cool and you haven’t driven yet. The gadget I use to check psi is a small digital unit I purchased from Costco for about $10.
2) Install the EV (electric vehicle) mode hack which allows you to drive without the gas engine. When approaching a stop, I flip the switch to cut the engine and coast/glide to a stop. When I first start up the car, I switch to EV mode until I get out of the parking lot (or neighborhood at home) and go to gas when i can drive at speed. Others have told me to not do this as turning on the engine at speed will actually burn more fuel. I tried this for a couple tanks and didn’t notice any difference so I went back to EV mode at startup. Instructions for this hack can be found online.
3) My commute is 90% highway and I try to average around 60 (which is about the going rate during my commute time with traffic)
4) Yes, I’ve tried drafting a couple times, which does bump up my MPG
5) I try to minimize AC use (I park in the garage at work which keeps the car cool so I don’t need to run the AC much). Tinted windows also helps.
6) I find the key to keeping the MPG high is to start out on a fresh tank with a high avg MPG. I find that if my first 50 miles averages is around 57, it’s easier to keep it around 57 as opposed to having the first 50 miles at 48MPG. I guess it’s better to start high and stay high instead of starting low and trying to raise it. Not sure if i’m making any sense here. 
7) Try to glide as much as possible. To glide, make sure your display is on the energy screen which shows the flow of energy (either to the tires or green from the tires) and it takes a little finesse, but basically you lightly press the gas pedal until there is no in our out energy flow on the display. Basically you’re not using power to drive the wheels nor are you regenerating energy. Some people try to do the “pulse and glide” where you gas it to about 40-45, then try to glide back down to 35-45, then repeat this continually.
Try to keep track of your usage. OK, this can be a little anal, but I use a Google spreadsheet to keep track of all relevant data like date, how much gas I pumped in, cost, # of miles when the little dots disappear, etc. This is the game part for me – I try to beat my averages. A note about Google spreadsheets is that the data is stored online so it’s available whenever you’d like add data (be it at home, work, etc).
Well, that’s it. I’m currently averaging about 56+ MPG and have notice a slight improvement now that the weather is getting warmer.
Hope this helps at least one other Prius driver!
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SteveO