Getting the most out of the 2010 Prius

By Karl W. Ritzler

In a little less than a decade, Toyota’s Prius has established itself as the icon of hybrid cars.
The third generation debuts this spring with the 2010 model that promises more technology, more power and more miles per gallon. As part of its introduction, Prius challenged automotive journalists – usually considered to be lead-foots – to a mileage competition over a 20-or-so-mile suburban course with lots of stop-and-go driving and a short interlude on the freeway. It felt like a typical day behind the wheel.
The Environmental Protection Agency rates the ’10 Prius at 51 mpg city and 48 mpg highway, but Toyota officials said hypermiling experts had squeezed out number in the 90s mpg. My driving partner, Steve Hammes, an automotive videographer and journalist from Albany, N.Y., and I didn’t expect to do that good, but we figured we had a chance to win. We did – by nearly 5 mpg over the second-place finishers.
Like a fisherman telling about the one that got away, we just missed hitting 70 mpg for the trip. We got tripped up on our own strategy. By using the Prius’s electric motors as much as possible during the drive, we were low on battery charge as we rolled into the final mile. The gauge said we were at 69.9 mpg, but the gas we were required to use on the home stretch dropped us about a half-mile per gallon.
We followed a lot of the hypermiling concepts: no quick starting from traffic lights, slowing down well ahead of stops to avoid using the brakes (In the Prius, that meant we weren’t recharging the batteries, either.), and driving at efficient speeds even when traffic is whizzing by you questioning your parentage.
The Prius had three driving modes: Power for getting up to speed quickly upon entering a freeway or for passing, Eco for normal, economical driving, and EV, electric only and good for up to 25 mph for about a mile. We were in Eco the whole time. We had hoped to cruise the last mile on EV, burning no gas at all, but the battery has to be fully charged.
We got lucky, too. At the time of our one-exit sojourn on the freeway, it was jammed – slow but not stopped. It was slow enough to allow maximum efficiency yet smooth enough to avoid sudden braking.
As we came to a halt at the end of the drive, a pair of journalist who had completed the course excitedly said they were in first place at 62 mpg. The very quickly found themselves in second place, and later, even lower.
It’s not the type of driving recommended for normal commutes or errand-running. The slow, rolling starts from traffic lights can be dangerous as others cars pile up behind and try to pass. It’s not safe at all at normal freeway speeds, falling well below the minimum speed posted. And slowing down early in anticipation of stops seems to invite other drivers to cut you off, necessitating one of those dreaded emergency braking maneuvers.
Still 51 mpg isn’t so bad.