Can the circuit be reversed to recover braking power?
You can get 40+ mpgs on a highway with some cars - Civic, Yaris, poss. Corolla. There’s no secret, except that the Prius has a fairly low-power engine that’s backed up by the batteries/motors when needed. A Prius without the electrical stuff would be a dog, IMHO.
IMHO. The additional cost, extra weight, and things to go wrong down the road is not worth what is basically a power booster. I will take it with the little engine, and a stick shift thank you.
Millions of miles of highways times millions of dollars per mile is, um, what is the name of that number, oh yea, trillions of dollars.
How can I give you an idea of just how much money a trillion dollars is? Let’s give this a try, imagine twenty million pounds of $100 dollar bills.
Well, maybe the last thing this discussion needs is a bunch of Prius owners crowing about their particular mileage. But I can’t resist.
I own a 07 Prius with 25K miles. I just returned from a 3100 mile vacation, driving from California to Colorado, crossing many mountain passes and driving a mixture of interstate and state highways. I averaged 53 mpg for the entire trip (Granted, I drive only 65 -68 mph on the interstates even when the limit is 70 or 75 mph). Through my first year of ownership in a combination of long distance and town driving (and winter-summer weather), I averaged 48.5 mpg.
Those are the honest numbers (calculated from actual gas usage). I’m not sure why the EPA highway figure is 44 mpg. The other Prius owners I know get similar mileage.
I’d like to rebut some of the implications that the Prius doesn’t do more than 44 on the highway. With my '07 Prius,I just returned from a weekend trip of 750 miles, mostly interstate at 65 to 70 mph, with 53.6 mpg.
It’s called a Yaris. Same engine, no hybrid stuff. The prius actually gets better milage in city that it does on the highway. The weight isn’t that much different. The battery pack can be lifted out and put back in by one person, but we use two soley for safety’s sake.
IT has regenerative braking that helps keep the batteries charged, and it will use a combination of engine and electic motor for the torque multiplication. I have heard of better, but my personal experience witha Prius on a 50 mile round trip through Orlando was 55mpg, and it was about half 55mph, and half toe & go traffic.
The Prius was origianaly designed for emissions, not fuel economy, and the books had to be rewritten for the new class of cars “Partial Zero Emissions Vehicles”.
My biggest problem with the prius is the blind spot, and the seats, I don’t fit comfortably in one. But, It is pretty stable for it’s size, and I don’t beleive how much it weighs has an ill effect on its fuel economy.
B.L.E. - I’m impressed. WHen I explain that to a customer, I get the ‘deer in the headlight’ look. That is why they only like low grade gas with NO ethenol. The computer is programmed to run on low grade gas, and changing the octin just makes the milage worse.
AS far as what happens if you take out all of the electic hybrid stuff, you would get abslutely NO MILES PER GALLON, since the transaxle is also the alternator and starter, along with beng a variable ratio transmission that uses engine speed as well as the motor/generator #1 for torque multiplication. The Yaris is te closest thing to a Prius that is not a hybird as far as the engine and size goes. Personally, I wouldn’t own a Yaris. Not even to go check my mail with.
“It’s called a Yaris. Same engine, no hybrid stuff”.
Well, not exactly. The Prius engine uses the Atkinson cycle which is more fuel efficient at the expense of horse power, only 76 HP. while the Yaris uses the good old Otto cycle which is more powerful 106 HP, and uses more fuel.
I am not a auto mechanic by trade, but I do understand the difference between a apple and a orange.
BTW, Yaris, and or Scion is on my short list of car I would consider, but at this point I am holding out to 2010, to give time for the market to adjust.
I usually keep a car for a least 14 years, so I like to keep them basic.
I was merely comparing it to the next closest thing. YEs the engines have different strategies…for hybrid reasons. But when you pull them apart, they are basically the same. Same engine family…The prius has the 1NZ-FXE and the yaris has the 1NZ-FE engine. Nothing in here is exact. I am a mechanic by trade, and work on these things everyday. It’s more like an orange and a tangerine.
There is one thing no one is looking at here (except maybe one). What is the total cost during the time you own a car? If you’re in the trap most of us are in, you’re making car payments and then paying higher insurance for Comprehensive and Collision to cover losses to the lender. The cheapest car to drive is the one that’s paid off. You will not be ahead on a Prius for 8 - 10 years if you currently have a car that gets 25 MPG and is paid for! And then you have to replace/recycle the battery pack, and that will probably cost several thousand dollars. I’m sticking with my '01 Sable until it falls apart (as I have done with many cars since 1971). That’s Cheap driving!
You just identified the concept of Life Cycle Cost (LCC). This conept is universally used in industry to decide when to replace equipment, when to upgrade, etc.
My sister is a retired cost accountant. Her version is to buy the car that suits you, and drive it until it 1) dies a natural death, 2) it becomes unsafe or 3) it won’t meet government regulations. The 4th reason might be that it becomes so expensive to maintain that buying a replacement car is actually cheaper using Life Cycle Costing. In the 53 years my sister has owned cars, the 4th reason has never happened to her.
A car’s Economic Life (based on Lowest LCC),is usually close to its Actual Life, the natural life of the car based on normal maintenance and repairs being performed.
An exception would be inheriting an early 70 full size pre-electronics gas guzzler getting 8 mpg city and 14 highway. Such a car should either have an engine transplant or be scrapped.
In other words, since gas is at most 1/3 of the total cost of owning a car, a paid-for car will normally be cheaper to wear out than selling it at a distress price and buying an expensive economy car. Unless you drive a great deal and get no compensation from your employer, you are better off keeping what you have and change your driving habits for greater economy.
Well, I’m confused. What Prius have you been looking at? I’ve owned one since 2005 and there aren’t “hundreds of lbs of batteries…” to carry around. There is a gas tank that you have to fill. The car’s computer automatically switches from gas-powered to electric motor and the battery is charged as you drive on the gas engine. That’s it. No plugs. No cords. The car is light – try driving across the Golden Gate Bridge in one when the wind is blowing in from the Pacific. It’s got a lot of plastic on the body, making denting very easy and has a very low front end (a problem on driveways; see previous note on denting), both of which improve gas mileage. So I’m trying to figure out what you looked at with all the electrical parts and extra weight. I’ve gotten as much as 58 mpg on the highway – admittedly coming back from Oregon so going downhill (54 mpg going uphill) – in large part because I kept my speed to 60-65 mpg. And, BTW, the Prius is the hybrid. So you’d just have a small Toyota without the hybrid components. Just exactly what are you looking for?
An exception would be inheriting an early 70 full size pre-electronics gas guzzler getting 8 mpg city and 14 highway. Such a car should either have an engine transplant or be scrapped.
I wouldn’t scrap something that could be really valuable, depending on what car it would be. Also, owning something like that is usually a hobby car or one that is driven only a couple thousand miles a year, so ownership cost is negligible.
Screw today’s safety equipment, I want a 1970 Chrysler Imperial 
Agree that such a car would be a good hobby car which is driven infrequently, and gas mileage is not an issue! This thread deals with the economics of daily drivers and the total cost per mile of providing reliable transportation.
Agree that the most extravagant and beautiful Imperials were those with the fake Continental spares on the trunk and the raised “sparrow strainer” taillamps, according to Tom McCahill of Mechanix Illustrated.
“I’m not sure why the EPA highway figure is 44 mpg.”
Actually, they measure it. Read about it here:
I believe OP wants to have his/her cake and eat it too. A stripped no-options Yaris would be most appropriate.
I meant that I wanted one because they’re banned from demolition derbies for an unfair advantage. 
For real life mpg, check out www.priuschat.com. 44 is low except in winter. Stop and go and frequent short runs lowers mpg witout special driving techniques. I average 48-52 in town or short runs, 55-60 for highway driving. My Prius is 4 years old
I have done quite a bit of research looking for a hybrid that is cost effective. I would advise against buying any hybrid at this time. There are hidden costs (battery replacement every 4-6years) not to mention safety trade offs whith such a small car. If you are looking for mileage and don’t mind something that won’t protect you, try a motorcycle at 52+mpg, and you don’t have to spend the extra for diesel. Small diesel or turbodiesels are very efficient, but the gas is more than regular gas, the oil changes are alot more oil, and the stink of them irritates my asthma just driving behind one. At 24.000 plus dollars, the prius is unrealistic.
My 1997 1.6L nissan sentra gets 35-40mpg on the highway with performance mods, and was alot cheaper when I bought it new. It has saved me wads of cash over the last 11 years.
Look for a small engine small car, used or new.
If you wan’t to drive the prius for 50 years and buy a whole bank of batteries every 5, good luck. By the time you’re saving $ your grandchildrens children can take over.