Deflated Prius owner.

[rj_astra]

Fuel econmy has overtaken (pun!) the 1/4 mile time as the bragging rights of the 21st Century - lol.

Have to admit it does add some interest to a long trip trying to keep the average speed close to/over 100km/h and the average l/100km as low as possible.

Bring back the "economy" gauge!

[Paydirt]

You went on the highway in a Festiva? Poor bastard. Did you get lost or take a wrong turn?

I really couldn't care. The car runs, gets me from a-b everyday, runs on the smell of an oily rag, has a/c and has never broken down. Just keep up the regular servicing and it's fine. Pretty good considering it has over 300 000km on the original motor and still going strong.

[carazy]

Driving back from Victoria to SA in a manual Suzuki Swift - average of 6l/100kms with the instant displaying as low as 2.6l/100 while crusing at around 95 (according to GPS) for a while.

Same drive in an XR6 Turbo - average of 11.6/100 for the trip.
Mind you that trip was a crap load more fun and took at least 1.5 hours less :D

[one4spl]

Having done about 3500km in a QLD government Prius i can say its a sweet car, but you're right, it doesnt do much better than many other cars on the highway, the benifit is that it uses hardly any more fuel per km in town than on the highway.

Saying that its hardly any better than a fiesta/jazz/barina is a crock. Its a lot larger, more comforable and I venture to sugest safer, than any of those.

AAA+++ would rent/buy again, unfortunatly my wife thinks they are ugly so were about to buy a Honda Accord Euro instead

[JamesB]

The moment you take a Prius onto the highway, all that clever electrical drive and storage just becomes dead weight that you have to lug around. They get worse economy on the highway than an equivalent sized/engined car.

[Smashed S15 Bloke]

I consistently get 11L/100km around town in my S15 and I drive it like it was meant to be :D

Obviously comes down a lot on the highway.

Mind you, 15psi is probably requiring a fair bit of fuel supply and the wasted fuel out popping out the exhaust when the AFM gets confused by compressor surge (i.e. "flutter/dose" for the swedes that are reading this) isnt helping :D

oh and DIX to the Pious drivers, they are all eco-warrior/council fleet car driving wankers.

[JamesB]

Back in 1994, I spent 2 months in the US, so I rented a 4.6 litre V8 Cougar for the entire duration of my trip. The car was practically brand new when I picked it up with only 1874 miles on the odometer, so it wasn't really fully run in.

My driving included a lot of long hauls using cruise control (West Coast to East Coast to West Coast), some mountain driving in Colorado, and some urban stuff in San Francisco, Washington DC, and Oklahoma City.

I took meticulous records of the mileage and fuel usage, and over the 2 months that I had it, I covered 8447 miles (13591.2 km), and it consumed 307.37 US gallons (1163.51 litres) for a fuel average of 8.56 l/100 over the entire distance.

If I could average 8.5 l/100 in a large 4.6 litre V8 in a mixed 13000 km urban/mountain/highway run, 6.5 l/100 in a Prius doing a highway run doesn't look all that good.

[fury]

prius were cool once, but they're already outdated as other fuel saving improvements have caught up.. a jazz, yaris, pug, etc will now all return 5-6L/100km.

The main advantage is if you're sitting in traffic for long periods the prius doesn't use any fuel, and something about not fucking the planet or something - but who cares about that.

[Billzilla]

The main advantage is if you're sitting in traffic for long periods the prius doesn't use any fuel, and something about not fucking the planet or something - but who cares about that.

I think the average car uses maybe 2 or 3 litres per hour idling, so it's naff-all really anyway.
The only real advantage is the lack of emissions when not using the petrol engine.

[Fatboy]

Speaking of fuel figures, i dragged my 1080 kg half cabin boat down to Sussex Inlet over the long weekend, and managed 14 odd litres per 100km - with 5.7 litres of the generals finest despite three 100+kg fat fools in the car. And i still haven't got around to getting it tuned, it'll go even better then for both power and economy...

Coming home some smug looking prick in a BMW X5 towing a tinny passed me at the bottom of Mount Ousley (big fuck off steep hill near Wollongong) - the look on his face as i cruised past him on the speed limit about halfway up was priceless... :D

[Old Major]

The fuel computer in the Commodore is accurate to 0.01 ltr/ 100 km. I checked it over about 2 500 kms when I first got it because there were stories at the time about the software being out and the fuel consumption reading being out as well.

Pete.

Is that a typo?

[smellytofu]

I think the average car uses maybe 2 or 3 litres per hour idling, so it's naff-all really anyway.
The only real advantage is the lack of emissions when not using the petrol engine.

Not that relevant even in downtown Sydney.. but in Asia where tall buildings block all sorts of winds that can blow the pollution out of built up areas, it's pretty important to have at least air people can breathe as well as transportation for those that require it.

[Billzilla]

Not that relevant even in downtown Sydney.. but in Asia where tall buildings block all sorts of winds that can blow the pollution out of built up areas, it's pretty important to have at least air people can breathe as well as transportation for those that require it.

I mean in general, the addition of pollutants and greenhouses gass to the atmosphere, etc.

[CGRS15]

I had a suzuki baleno which used to do less than 6l/100k's every day of the week.

prius were cool once, but they're already outdated as other fuel saving improvements have caught up.. a jazz, yaris, pug, etc will now all return 5-6L/100km.

The main advantage is if you're sitting in traffic for long periods the prius doesn't use any fuel, and something about not fucking the planet or something - but who cares about that.

The new mini cooper has got some auto-off when the speedo drops to 0kph.

Found it: http://subaruauto.blogspot.com/

Car drives start-stop equipped MINI
Car magazine has test driven the new MINI Cooper 1.6 with BMW's start/stop technology and likes it a lot. The system on the manual transmission car requires you to put the car in neutral when you come to a stop in order for it to work, which does seem a bit funky to us -- we don't know anyone who puts their car in neutral every time they stop at a light. However, once you learn to do that, you'll get all the benefits of having left your engine running, and you'll increase your fuel economy by about 9%.

The system also only kicks in once the car is up to full operating temperature. If you wish to turn it off (and keep the engine running at all times) there's a button near the gear lever. The MINI also benefits from having an alternator that only charges the battery when necessary, and a light indicator telling the driver when to shift up.

Performance-wise, driven with ultimate economy, the MINI matched Prius CO2 emissions and got -- count 'em -- 74 mpg. Assuming Car uses the Imperial MPG metric, that converts to a still impressive 61 mpg in our U.S. cycle. The zippier Cooper S turned in 46 mpg, or 38 mpg in using the U.S. metric. Even accounting for a drop in real-world mileage, those are still impressive numbers. This is the system that BMW is going to introduce across its entire range, and so far, it's an auspicious beginning.

[edo]

My fucking 600+hp 1800kg falcon gets 6.5 sitting on 100-110 on a freeway (not 90...who's nanna are you?).

And its for sale.