Is that Toyota Prius doing 80mph wasted money?

[Imported]

I notice on my commute to work and back to home, I see a number of Prius' and other hybrid cards doing 80+ in the passing lane all the time. I'm just wondering if fuel economy on these cars actually maintains they're estimated MPG going these speeds.. and if they don't, why buy those cars in the first place? It'd take many miles to eat up the difference in cost between a hybrid and a non-hybrid in the first place IMO.

 

[Eli]

It is quite possible that they get the best MPG at those speeds.

 

[suicidalpigeon]

They should've gotten a Yaris.

 

[Alienwho]

Better that they do 80mph like the rest of us than slow us all down by going 65mph.

 

[Imported]

Originally posted by: Alienwho
Better that they do 80mph like the rest of us than slow us all down by going 65mph.

I don't doubt that. I'm usually right behind them going 80 too.. just wondering if the money spent elsewhere would have been a better decision.

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: suicidalpigeon
They should've gotten a Yaris.

Or one of these.

Year: 1986
Make: Honda
Transmission: M5
Engine: 1.5-liter V-4
Model: Civic Coupe HF
City MPG: 52
Highway MPG: 57
Combined MPG: 54
Fuel Type: Regular
Estimated Annual Fuel Cost: $828.73*

 

[Mutilator]

I think most of the cars I've driven have gotten their best mileage at around 80mph. Faster and you get a ticket, slower and you piss people off and cause accidents.

 

[jagec]

Hybrids in general tend to be better at saving gas in the city. Regular gasoline engines are actually quite efficient at steady freeway speeds, if sized correctly. It's only that we have to make them much bigger for anyone to be willing to drive them stoplight to stoplight.

If your commute is mostly high-speed highway, you should just get a civic. If you do a crapload of stop-and-go, a hybrid might well save you some $$$.

Or just ride a scooter.

 

[Mutilator]

Originally posted by: jagec
Or just ride a scooter.

I've noticed a lot more people riding scooters lately... but there's no way you'd get me on one on I40 or 440 around Raleigh. Saving money on gas or not you probably wouldn't be willing to pay me enough to do that... I've seen too many people do too many stupid things while driving.

A motorcycle on the other hand I would consider, because at least that way I know I could accelerate out of danger.

 

[pnad]

Originally posted by: Eli

Originally posted by: suicidalpigeon
They should've gotten a Yaris.

Or one of these.

Year: 1986
Make: Honda
Transmission: M5
Engine: 1.5-liter V-4
Model: Civic Coupe HF
City MPG: 52
Highway MPG: 57
Combined MPG: 54
Fuel Type: Regular
Estimated Annual Fuel Cost: $828.73*

Holy crap, Honda made a V-4? I have seen I-4's and a few odd boxer or H-4's but never a V-4.

 

[chuckywang]

Originally posted by: Eli

Originally posted by: suicidalpigeon
They should've gotten a Yaris.

Or one of these.

Year: 1986
Make: Honda
Transmission: M5
Engine: 1.5-liter V-4
Model: Civic Coupe HF
City MPG: 52
Highway MPG: 57
Combined MPG: 54
Fuel Type: Regular
Estimated Annual Fuel Cost: $828.73*

Good luck living after getting into an accident with that.

 

[OS]

Originally posted by: pnad

Originally posted by: Eli

Originally posted by: suicidalpigeon
They should've gotten a Yaris.

Or one of these.

Year: 1986
Make: Honda
Transmission: M5
Engine: 1.5-liter V-4
Model: Civic Coupe HF
City MPG: 52
Highway MPG: 57
Combined MPG: 54
Fuel Type: Regular
Estimated Annual Fuel Cost: $828.73*

Holy crap, Honda made a V-4? I have seen I-4's and a few odd boxer or H-4's but never a V-4.

bikes, but in this case the original source is a typo

 

[b0mbrman]

Originally posted by: suicidalpigeon
They should've gotten a Yaris.

Prius purchases are never completely done to save money...

 

[aphex]

Well, even at highway speeds those puny little engines get good gas mileage. Isn't it only 75-80hp?

 

[gnumantsc]

Ugh a little known fact is you are actually burning MORE gas if you drive mostly highway with a Prius. The Prius will only save you money if you drive a lot of city where the speed is about 30-40mph.

Most people don't know it because you are running with a 200 pound battery adding more weight and electric and gas engine also is not efficient.

 

[foghorn67]

Prius gets better mileage in traffic. It uses the braking power in the conversion to electric.

 

[oogabooga]

[enter captain obvious]i don't know if anyone has mentioned it, so i will.
prius gets better mpg in traffic, and not highway. So the guy you see driving the prius is actually wasting gas probably anyway.
[/end cpt. obvious]

seriously though - just be grateful he's driving at a decent speed and not one of the self righteous prius owners driving 55 (10 under?! WHY?!) in the carpool and fast lanes.

 

[Eeezee]

crotch rocket FTW

 

[schneiderguy]

Originally posted by: gnumantsc
Ugh a little known fact is you are actually burning MORE gas if you drive mostly highway with a Prius. The Prius will only save you money if you drive a lot of city where the speed is about 30-40mph.

my dad drives 100 miles on the freeway everyday from and to work with his prius. his gas mileage screen thing says he gets around ~45 MPG average. hardly burning more gas than other cars

 

[Itchrelief]

Originally posted by: schneiderguy

Originally posted by: gnumantsc
Ugh a little known fact is you are actually burning MORE gas if you drive mostly highway with a Prius. The Prius will only save you money if you drive a lot of city where the speed is about 30-40mph.

my dad drives 100 miles on the freeway everyday from and to work with his prius. his gas mileage screen thing says he gets around ~45 MPG average. hardly burning more gas than other cars

You could get the same mileage off any other 76hp gasoline engine in a similarly sized vehicle; you'd have to be the worst carmaker in the world to not do that. On the highway a Prius is an overpriced Yaris with junk in the trunk. Well no, if the battery is discharged, its an underpowered Yaris with junk in the trunk.

 

[sinucus]

I see there was only 1 post from someone who even knows someone with a Hybrid.

Prius is meant for city driving < 40mph. They get great gas mileage at those speeds, 50+mpg. At normal highway speeds they get 45mpg. (My father owns the Prius).

Honda Civic Hybrid (which I own) is meant for city driving AND highway driving. In the city I get ~45-55mpg. Driving on the highway which I commute 60 miles round trip I get around 63mpg. That's driving <=65mph and being a conservative driver. If I drove 70-80mph on the highway I would get ~40mpg. The road I drive on is only a 55 which is the PERFECT speed for the honda civic. There is no real difference between the speeds when directly compared to a non-hybrid car. They both lose gas efficiency at the same rate. So your 30mpg highway car will get 25 at 70+ and the prius 50mpg car will get 40mpg at 70+.

I can attest that anyone who buys a Hybrid vehicle for purely finance reasons is out of their mind. On a side note, I bought my civic hybrid new in 04 at a steep discount and it ended up costing LESS than the non-hybrid version. It paid for itself when I drove off the lot. Now, they won't ever pay for themselves in gas savings alone, including the tax rebate that some people can get.

The main reason people get them is because it makes them FEEL good. They think they are helping reduce the US's dependency on foreign oil or helping in reducing greenhouse gases or just making other drivers aware of the asstastic gas mileage that their H1 gets.

So to fully answer the OP's question, YES, the Prius gets crap mileage when driving that fast but Prius crap mileage is still 40+mpg...

*edit, w00t! 2^8 posts...

 

[Random Variable]

Generally speaking the Prius gets optimal fuel economy at about 40 MPH. That having been said, it's still possible to average over 50 MPG when traveling at 65-70 MPH for long distances.

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: b0mbrman

Originally posted by: suicidalpigeon
They should've gotten a Yaris.

Prius purchases are never completely done to save money...

prius also has the interior space of a camry. yaris is a subcompact. its not even fair to compare the two.

and people don't buy them to save money, but to save gas. you know.. reliance on foreign oil/pollution/global warming etc. and also to encourage such technology.

and no care is more efficient speeding. prius is relatively streamlined so it probably doesn't ttake too hrorible a hit.

 

[MDE]

Uh oh, I can already see the smug...

 

[Itchrelief]

Originally posted by: sinucus

So your 30mpg highway car will get 25 at 70+ and the prius 50mpg car will get 40mpg at 70+.

Yes, but that prius getting 40mpg at 70+ is essentially a 70horsepower vehicle It is getting 40mpg because it has a small aerodynamic body optimized for mpg plus a puny engine also optimized for the same.

The electric drive system exists so the internal combustion engine is only used in conditions that it is most efficient (sustained, relatively wide open throttle running). The internal combustion engine is already running in its efficient regime on an uncongested highway, thus the hybrid-electric drive does little for you and it is the efficiency of the gasoline engine that matters.

That car getting 25mpg in your example is a 140+horsepower vehicle (probably 200+hp with the way vehicles are made now). Apples to oranges. Such a car isn't really *that* efficient to begin with, although not a gas guzzler per se. (edit: I would also argue with the fact that a vehicle rated for 30mpg highway would drop to 25mpg at 70+ in the first place. The main reason for failing to reach EPA estimated mpg on highway is traffic; given a wide open stretch of highway most cars going 70+ will still hit their EPA ratings just for the fact that there is no constant braking and subsequent acceleration. Break 80 or 90 and you might have a point, but my experience has been that 70mph is no big deal for modern cars and on long drives during vacations I have ALWAYS met or exceeded EPA highway ratings.)

Make a non-hybrid 70hp vehicle, and it will get the same mileage as the prius on long highway drives if given the same body, tires, aerodynamics, etc. Heck, make a Prius, take out the electric drive components, and it will get 45mpg on sustained highway driving, it just may take you a very long time to get up to speed .

My whole point is that Priuses don't get *CRAP* mileage on the highway, but their mileage on highway driving is not any better than a similarly designed nonhybrid. That 45mpg highway is nothing to brag about; it's the same thing a regular car built the same way (tiny engine, aerodynamic body, low rolling resistance tires, etc. etc.) would get.