This Prius can't even sell itself...

[UnbridledCarnage]

lol prius is ugly and gets 51mpg, my MK1 hatch is decent looking in the driveway and gets 46mpg. plus prius owners smell their own farts...

[mikebontoft]

yes thank you that is incredibly appropriate. (I know the reference though haha)

[revhigh]

Originally Posted by mikebontoft

have you heard this too or was it just a joke from someone? if you get a crossind you could lose that much MPG because they only designed it for a head wind?

No .... I've never heard about that, but I would think that a Prius would be affected about the same as any other car would be. One thing that the designers could count on and design for would be a 'headwind' as it cuts through the air.

The CoD (coefficient of drag) or a Prius is .28 ... lower than ANY OTHER production car, including cars like the Corvette and others like that. I know it's hard to believe, but it's true.

If you've ever been up close to a Nascar race car ... you'll notice how 'slab-sided' they are. They're squared off at all the corners as well, and the sides are almost vertical from the windows down (there are no silly swoopy 'ground effects' that do nothing but cause turbulence which slows a car down).

Now I know this may make some laugh, but the next time you're next to a 2010+ Prius ... take a look at the sides and the corners ... they are virtually identical to the current Nascar race cars. The aerodynamics of the Prius shape is so cutting edge it is unbelievable .... they HAVE to look like they do to be able to accomplish what they accomplish.

Here's a technical discussion of the aero design features of the Prius (which I'm sure nobody is real interested in, but I'll list the link anyway). LOL.

http://jalopnik.com/5128101/2010-toy...sign-dissected


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[mikebontoft]

actually that would make sense then. they are so aerodynamic that any crosswind could have an effect on your mileage.

[revhigh]

Originally Posted by mikebontoft

actually that would make sense then. they are so aerodynamic that any crosswind could have an effect on your mileage.

I will say that I've never noticed any effect that a cross wind has on my MPG, but who is to say that there's a crosswind unless it's so extreme as to actually buffet the car. My best MPG has been 56.7 on an all highway trip of about 250 miles going no faster than 70 MPH. My car has returned just shy of 48 MPG (47.7) overall for the for 40K miles (calculated). I track my mileage religiously as it's a hobby.

Prii drive under the same conditions as any other car, so I'd think that overall, due to it's extreme aerodynamics, that it would be affected less (percentage wise) than other less aerodynamic cars under the same conditions.

All I know is that it works for me. I drive around 525 miles before filling up, and then I take between 10 and 11 gallons. Pretty nice at the pump.

Detractors love to take their all-time-best-mileage (that they've gotten ONCE), and then compare it to the Prius's overall average combined mileage, but that's just not a realistic comparison. The combined mileage of our Foci is about 31 (some get FAR less based on the complaints here on the site) ... the combined mileage of a Prius is 50 .... that means the Prius is more than 1.5 times better OVERALL, which is the real world ... not cherry picking a mileage number of the best mileage that they've ever gotten, and then acting as if that is the average for their car, which is what most people do.

My wife gets 33.4 MPG overall with our manual Focus in about 60% highway, 30% rural, and 10% city driving ... exceptional in my opinion. The best I've ever gotten is 40.1 with the Focus on a 250 mile trip, but that was never going over 60 the whole way ... I just wanted to see what it was capable of.

The C-Max looks VERY promising IMO, but I'm going to wait for real-world mileage reports as well as reliability reports.

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[mikebontoft]

you know what would be a killer Prius? one either dual fuel and hybrid or dedicated cng/ electric hybrid. gas is $1.48 a gallon. lol

[revhigh]

Originally Posted by UnbridledCarnage

my MK1 hatch is decent looking in the driveway and gets 46mpg.

Yeah ... I'm sure it does .....


http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/Power...us&srchtyp=ymm



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[revhigh]

Originally Posted by mikebontoft

you know what would be a killer Prius? one either dual fuel and hybrid or dedicated cng/ electric hybrid. gas is $1.48 a gallon. lol

Yeah ... I wouldn't mind that either. I'm still hoping for a 3 cylinder Diesel Prius .... at about 75+ MPG !!

Unfortunately ... it seems that most companies are going to Plug-in electrics.

The new PiP (Plug in Prius) ... that gets roughly 12-15 electric miles per charge before it becomes a regular Prius .... at $35K+ .... is a non-starter for me. 12-15 electric miles makes no sense at that price ... not ready for prime-time unless your driving is so within that bubble that it would become worth it. Would't work for me ... that's for sure.


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[mikebontoft]

oh cng with diesel adds power too

[swansong]

Originally Posted by revhigh

The CoD (coefficient of drag) or a Prius is .28 ... lower than ANY OTHER production car, including cars like the Corvette and others like that. I know it's hard to believe, but it's true.

Mmm nope.

Given today’s realities, what also counts is new Fusion’s 0.27 coefficient of drag, a number we once saw only on show cars.

Source: Road & Track's 2013 Ford Fusion Review

Can't say if that's the lowest production CoD out there, I'm sure there are some that are lower. In any case, anything below 0.30 is pretty damn slippery.

Edit: Let me correct myself. 2010+ Prius CoD is 0.25, only beaten by the Tesla Model S at 0.24 (for current production cars)
Source: Automobile Drag Coefficient - Wikipedia