Impressed with real life fuel economy

[cyclopathic]

did a regular 120mi round trip commute on Mitsi, and to tell the truth was really impressed with MPG = 54.1. Was cooler yesterday, so it was w/o A/C. The route included some sections of country roads, freeway and 55MPH with traffic lights highway. In similar situation Prius C would have given me ~60-61MPG, with 6-13% of miles in electric mode. Over long term (oil changes) "C" manages ~13-16% in electric mode.

So it looks like if you take the benefits of hybrid, Mirage has very similar efficiency to "C".

[MetroMPG]

I've yet to drive a Prius C, but I have numbers to compare against one on the same "economy run" rally route.

When you drive the Mirage "like a hybrid" (meaning, doing the manual version of Auto Stop & Go, which isn't offered on the North American cars, plus lots of coasting in neutral where appropriate), they're extremely close.

Route: 200 km / 120 miles round trip of challenging, fast twisty country roads, sizeable elevation change (400 m / 1300 ft.), a short bit of freeway driving (~10%), a short bit of sub/urban driving (~10%).

On the identical route in the same conditions...

Prius C: got 4.05 L/100 km = 58.1 mpg US = 24.7 km/L = 69.8 mpg Imp.

Mirage 5-speed, base model: got 3.98 L/100 km = 59.1 mpg US = 25.1 km/L = 71 mpg Imp.

More about the rally in this thread.

[25Plus]

Auto Stop & Go works really good and with the european specification, which includes a longer gear ratio and a different engine tuning, I think the Space Star has a noticeable better fuel economy than the Toyota hybrid cars when driving it like a hybrid outside the city. On my test drives the Yaris Hybrid had a fuel consumption of 4.2 l/100 km and the Space Star 1.2 had a fuel consumption of 4.0 l/100 km. But I didn´t use any tricks to save fuel with the Space Star whereas the Yaris Hybrid uses most tricks by itself. After more than 660 km on my current tank of fuel, fuel consumption is 3.0 l/100 km.

[MetroMPG]

3.0 L/100 km = 78 mpg (US) = 33.3 km/L = 94 mpg (imp).

That's impressive!

[laceygirl]

Where I live, the speed limits on roads are 80-100 kilometres an hour, with exception to driving through suburbs which are usually 50-60 kilometres an hour and 40 k's an hour in a school zone....

Now I have to drive my car a little harder when I go from zero to eighty k's to stay out of the way of traffic and big auto's around me, but even then the fuel economy is excellent...

We pay heaps more for fuel here too... So I'd hate to have a huge car with a big engine to feed....

[cyclopathic]

Where I live, the speed limits on roads are 80-100 kilometres an hour, with exception to driving through suburbs which are usually 50-60 kilometres an hour and 40 k's an hour in a school zone....

Now I have to drive my car a little harder when I go from zero to eighty k's to stay out of the way of traffic and big auto's around me, but even then the fuel economy is excellent...

We pay heaps more for fuel here too... So I'd hate to have a huge car with a big engine to feed....

Actually I am surprised it has enough acceleration as long as you anticipate the shifts.

Yes I know we pay next to nothing for gas, but we drive alot more too and our cars are not getting as good MPG either. I work with a couple guys whose commute is 70mi one way. Another guy who worked found something closer, so it is 90mi one way instead of 100.

[cyclopathic]

Auto Stop & Go works really good and with the european specification, which includes a longer gear ratio and a different engine tuning, I think the Space Star has a noticeable better fuel economy than the Toyota hybrid cars when driving it like a hybrid outside the city. On my test drives the Yaris Hybrid had a fuel consumption of 4.2 l/100 km and the Space Star 1.2 had a fuel consumption of 4.0 l/100 km. But I didn´t use any tricks to save fuel with the Space Star whereas the Yaris Hybrid uses most tricks by itself.

The Big Prius does pretty well the best tank to the date was 670mi with 68.6MPG(US) in extraurban cycle.

I think Yaris has much worse aerodynamics then Prius C (Aqua), and Mirage is better still. The best Mirage MPG seems to be coming from cruising on freeway at 60-65MPH.

What is compression ratio on EU spec engine? Our standard is 87 R+M, ~91 RON. So 10.5:1 to avoid detonation.

How do you like Auto Stop&GO? is it better than one in Fiat? I drove a diesel one a couple years back, and the engine would stall every time off red light. It was partially my fault - I am used to driving manual and it was hard to change timing.

[laceygirl]

Yes I know we pay next to nothing for gas, but we drive alot more too and our cars are not getting as good MPG either. I work with a couple guys whose commute is 70mi one way. Another guy who worked found something closer, so it is 90mi one way instead of 100.

Um Australia is bigger than America and we have a tiny population but we live all over it especially around the edges, so commuting to a job is quite common here... And we are SO spread out, we can do more k's per average just getting around.... Its very common for people in outlying country towns 1-2 sometimes 3 or 4 hours away to make that commute to the city every day... That is no exaggeration....

[inuvik]

Um Australia is bigger than America and we have a tiny population but we live all over it especially around the edges, so commuting to a job is quite common here... And we are SO spread out, we can do more k's per average just getting around.... Its very common for people in outlying country towns 1-2 sometimes 3 or 4 hours away to make that commute to the city every day... That is no exaggeration....

Australia is on my list to visit for sure! I'd like to spend a couple of months some time just exploring.

[cyclopathic]

Um Australia is bigger than America and we have a tiny population but we live all over it especially around the edges, so commuting to a job is quite common here... And we are SO spread out, we can do more k's per average just getting around.... Its very common for people in outlying country towns 1-2 sometimes 3 or 4 hours away to make that commute to the city every day... That is no exaggeration....

According to this US is bigger then Australia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...encies_by_area
US #4 3,678,190 mi2 vs Australia #6 2,969,907. But ConUS and Australia almost the same size (Continues US is 3,120,426.47). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...tories_by_area

How much avg aussie drives?

According to FHWA we drive ~13,500mi, and googling shows that Aussies also drive ~15k (but in km)

some other info:
price of gas
US - $2.59USD (3.50AU)
AU - $4.53AU (3.35USD)

Avg MPG:
AU - 11.3 litres per 100 km (21.4MPG??? WTF? does it include commercial trucks?? or maybe b/c you drive on wrong side of the street?)
US - Light duty: 23.4 MPG short base, 17.2 long base.

If my calculations correct avg aussie burns 448gal and pays $1502(USD) and avg 'merkan burns 665gal and pays $1722. OMFG very close indeed!