No whats going on is top gear is pthththting the fake greens who drive a prius but are anything but green and im asking why is it you can even drive that way in a prius? You asnwered that. I didnt know your milage could go down that fast just speeding up to 75.

 

Good, I was having trouble understanding.
Remember that is the cost to accelerate to 75 mph using maximum accelerator. There may be a more efficient accelerator position to reach 75 mph but I've not tried to map them, yet. Once you get to 75 mph, the sustained speed for an NHW20 is found on this chart:

We have two sets of numbers from NHW20s and at 75 mph (120 kph,) they seem to get about 45 MPG. Now this isn't great until you compare it to the 39 MPG I get with my 2003 Prius!

We believe the 2010 Prius will be significantly better due to:

1. 1.8L engine - turns slower for less friction drag and electric coolant pump for lower coolant drag and exhaust gas recirculation to allow leaner operation at higher power settings.
2. improved transaxle - about 20% reduction in transaxle drag.
3. 0.25 Cd - the NHW20 has 0.26 Cd.

When I get mine I'll do a set of MPG vs MPH charts and we'll see how it maps out.

Bob Wilson

 

You still do not get it... the EPA tests or any other test will never be able to contain every driving style, and from what I understand it people are lucky to see the EPA claims. There is nothing wrong with 100mph... your fast track statement is unfair... that is more like 150mph and alcohol. The M3 was never designed to get better fuel economy than a prius ofcourse they needed to goto the extreme.

The prius is almost a selffulfilling prophecy... people who drive slow and pay attention to fuel economy and therefore drive more economically and ofcourse the prius itself being a hybrid and a small engine... amoung other things to improve fuel economy does help.

Top gear is correct in some sense, but I think they purposely said some things to **** people off. I could show that an 18 wheeler gets better fuel economy than a prius... per ton, or per ton of freight hauled, or a train.

I drive an 02 civic ex, and have averaged about 32mpg in about 25k miles and 2 years. I suspect I would maybe get 35-40 in a prius. I typically drive at 80, accelerate quickly, and idle a lot. There are quite a few who get that in the database. I have received 40mpg on a tank once or twice. What top gear shows is that if a car is claimed to get 30mpg and the prius 45mpg. You would think that means 50% better gas mileage, but if you drive faster than expected that 50% difference could shrink.

 

No problem. My dad was a physician and I've had perhaps a little more exposure to why they say, "Speed Kills" than the usual driver. Also an engineer, I prefer to know what my vehicles should deliver and then check to make sure it is performing within those limits.

Actually "Top Gear" went out of their way to mislead the foolish but I don't suffer fools gladly either. In this case, it works to my advantage too.

The Prius remains in short supply, which the dealers use to gouge Prius buyers. If "Top Gear" keeps the foolish from buying a Prius, that is fine by me. As the dealers accumulate Prius inventory, I'll have a little 'wiggle room' and can maybe get one without a 'dealer markup' and the color and options I want.

That of course changes after someone has committed a years salary to a Prius purchase. They may not understand how the car works. For them, I have a great deal of patience and engineering data and expertise to share. So I share many of the techniques the pioneers shared with me and the few experiments I've performed. It is all good.

BTW, before we bought a Prius, going back as far as 1972 when I bought my first 1.5L vehicle, a VW MicroBus, I don't remember being in a 'hurry.' I tend to leave well in advance of my appointments and time my arrival to include a little "Ok, what have we got here?" Mostly I have always just cruised around the speed limit, right hand lane, and enjoyed the radio or CDs as the miles trundle by. That was how I drove our '91 Camry until 2005 when an accident took it away.

The Prius has the ability to deliver outstanding mileage. If someone handles it badly, I know how to build a microprocessor to fix that but there is no free lunch: good, fast and cheap ... pick two of three. I've always chosen good and cheap.

Bob Wilson

 

He specifically said that he was not saying everyone should go out and buy an M3 instead of a prius, he said it is all about how you drive. Well that is a bit extreme but how you drive has a lot to do with it.

"speed kills" is completely wrong. There is much more to deaths in accidents than speed. Namely the cars capabilities and condition, driver skills, amount of traffic, surrounding traffic speed, and weather conditions. On that note which do you think is more dangerous someone going 90-100 in the passing lane when people expect you to be going around 80 or those people I see in hybrids going 40-45 on when people expect 70. I have seen plenty of moving traffic jams on the highway that turns out to be some hybrid that everyone needs to pass on a 2 lane per direction highway. It is really speed difference and a speed that is out of the expectations of other drivers that kills.

 

"A bit extreme" is why the facts and data "about how you drive" was found here and not in the original "Top Gear" article. "Top Gear" continues to lie about the fuel savings of a Prius, which remains the same today as it has in every one of their Prius reviews.

That seems "a bit extreme." <GRINS>

Bob Wilson

 

"speed kills" is completely wrong by itself is what I meant... relative speed differences whether faster or slower tends to increase the chances of an accident. Or speeding while drunk, in slippery conditions, weaving through traffic, etc. If you exceed the speed limit your car doesn't just automatically get into an accident and drive into a tree. Although technically you could keep your speed at zero and sit in your driveway and never get in an accident, but that is not very practical.

I haven't heard much from top gear about the prius other than he hated the first one and this M3 vs 2nd gen? prius.

I would like to see some data about there other claim that making a prius is less friendly to the enviornment that sounds somewhat valid... what causes less harm making a prius or making a prius without the battery, electric motor, etc.

 

Well I for one thought the show in question was meant to be humorous, as all their shows are. So take it at that. If somebody actually walks away from the show thinking that the bimmer gets better gas mileage than a prius in all cases, then I don't think anything said here could convince them otherwise. People will believe whatever they want to believe, the show didn't mislead anybody.

 

It's not the speed that kills. It's the sudden stop at the bridge abutment or tree when you exceed the available traction to stay on the road.

Corollary to that - it's speed not expected in the context that's a killer. http://www.jacksonville.com/news/met..._recent_patrol shows a CYA exercise by the Jax sheriff for one of his 'finest' killing a civilian by going 98 MPH in a 40 zone, trying to ticket a guy for excessive tint. Now, no way 2X the posted limit is justifiable, esp. since the local context includes school zones and driveways. Just as the cop got a bit of testo-overload by doing 2X the speed limit, a bunch of the 'sports' car guys are also under the delusion that their toys have repealed laws of physics.

As to the original topic - Top Gear "proved" that a Prius sucks as a race car. Well, DUHHH! Wonder why they didn't dunk it in a river and then complain that it didn't make a good boat.