howdy Mike, here is a 110 mpg Prius http://www.autoblog.com/2005/08/09/team-achieves-over-100-mpg-in-toyota-prius/
my prius gets about 53 mpg ave during mild weather and drops to the high 40s in really cold weather- a month or two a year. Driving is a mix of highway and city. Highway speed is between 55 and 60. Mike Weaver wrote: > I've done extensive tests, involving titration, iteration, recursions, > incursions and regression to the mean. I've calculated > the modulus and the regulus, not to mention the pendulus and I always > come back to the same thing: I don't really know what > I'm talking about. > > Actually, what I probably should have said was: On long road trips I've > noticed the mileage really starts to drop after the > engine rpm's go past about 1850. At about 1850 rpm, the car is going > around 58-59 mph, and gets around 58-59 mph on > very flat land w/ cruise control. The mileage goes down to the high > 40's if I follow traffic speed- 70 - 75 mph. > > I expect it would do better at 55. > > There is some guy claiming 1440 miles for one tank of gas in a TDI > Golf. My best is only around 850 or so, all highway. > > -Mike > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > >> Some 30 or so years ago I read from several source that the best >> mileage was obtained from North American cars around 35-40 mph. >> >> I understand the the cars in the transcontinental mileage contests that >> used to be held were specially modified with gear rations and >> transmissions to accelerate from about 5 mph to about 15 mph, switch off, >> coast down to 5 mph and start and accelerate again. That way they got the >> drag advantage of low speed plus the engine efficiency advantage of >> operating at high manifold pressure during acceleration (but not too high >> manifold pressure, avoiding rich mixture). >> >> Continuous opertion at a steady speed at high manifold pressure and low >> speed would involve such extreme overdrive (except maybe with a >> continuously variable transmission) that it would be very hard to >> accelererate or handle even gentle hills, and the car would be very hard >> to drive. >> >> Car drag is a mixture of rolling resistance (power consumption varies >> directly as the square of the speed) and air drag (power consumption >> varies directly as the cube of the speed). >> >> I am *really* suprised that someone would get best mileage at 59 mph >> and I suspect something odd going on. It seems to me that the drag would >> be just too high regardless of how the gearing was optimized. >> >> Doug Woodard >> St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada >> >> >> On Mon, 10 Jul 2006, Mike Weaver wrote: >> >> >> >>> for whatever reason my Golf seems to get the best mileage at 59 mph. >>> >>> Jonathan Hardin wrote: >>> >>> >>> >>>> I'm curious about something. In particular the concept of limiting >>>> top speed to 55mph. I understand this being important on any car >>>> build/imported into the US before the speed limit change in the mid >>>> 90's. However, have car companies not modified their timing/ratios on >>>> the transmissions of vehicles built after this point in time? (I >>>> drive a 1990 Camry so the top speed of 55mph is what I try to stick >>>> with, but I am curious about newer cars). I know the adage about >>>> 55mph is from before the speed limit change; and it seems simple for >>>> the car manufacters to change the ratios to move the best ratios up to >>>> a 60 or 65mph area rather then 55mph. Just curious >>>> Jonathan >>>> >>>> >> _______________________________________________ >> Biofuel mailing list >> Biofuel@sustainablelists.org >> http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org >> >> Biofuel at Journey to Forever: >> http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html >> >> Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): >> http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/ >> >> >> > > > _______________________________________________ > Biofuel mailing list > Biofuel@sustainablelists.org > http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org > > Biofuel at Journey to Forever: > http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html > > Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): > http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/ > > > > -- Bob Allen http://ozarker.org/bob "Science is what we have learned about how to keep from fooling ourselves" — Richard Feynman _______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/