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• Reputation: 387 Q&A: 11 0 3 128 21 0 Classifieds: 0 0 what's this? Follow Following 0 Andrew Beck

  3 1 Hybrids are generally not the most efficient for highway driving. They need the stops from city driving to recharge the battery. Your commute is also just long enough so that you won't get enough efficiency gains out of a series hybrid like the Chevy Volt and might push what something like the Nissan Leaf can handle On highways you are better off with a high efficiency internal combustion engine. With something like the TDI Jetta you could approach 50MPG easy on the highway. Unfortunately, I wouldn't recommend a VW unless you buy/lease it new and don't plan to keep it much past the warranty. I'd probably look at something like the Chevy Cruze Eco. It's going to get over 40MPG on the highway which isn't much worse than the Prius and much better than a lot of hybrids. You're going to be worse off in the city than a hybrid though. You will save thousands of dollars upfront (starts around $18 and is totally optioned out at $21), and any thing that does go wrong should be much cheaper to fix on a domestic. Even though it is a new model here, it has been on the road for a while in Europe and Asia; so the bugs should be worked out. The only thing keeping it from being perfect is a wagon/hatch option. Andrew Beck answered in Cars & Motorcycles 10 months ago | Report 4 comments by Tracy M, Andrew Beck, and Jack… 2 0 I've been driving my 2005 Prius for 6 years now, and while city driving is supposed to optimize my mileage, the BEST mpg rates I've ever gotten have been on long roadtrips, with mostly highway driving. My daily commute is short (about 10 miles) and I find that it's only on longer drives (when the engines had time to warm up, or whatever) that the mileage really begins to skyrocket. Still, I average in the low 40's mpg. (And a few roadtrips to CA or Eastern WA have resulted in 50 and 51 mpg). Still, I've a pal with a 2009 Honda Civic (not hybrid) who regularly gets 39 mpg. So there are variables out there. I don't really have any technical knowledge to share, just that I've actually calculated better MPG on long highway trips versus short city trips. I think that long city trips would probably be the best, but who does that? Tracy M commented 10 months ago | Report 1 0 Toyota quotes 51 Highway / 48 City for the 2010 Prius. Your actual results may vary. You can get very good mileage on the highway if you practice good throttle control. But those same things will get you great highway mileage in most cars. Andrew Beck commented 10 months ago | Report 1 0 What you say about hybrids and highway driving is theoretically true. However, despite this the Prius still has the best highway mileage of any car sold in the US. This is because the Prius is almost single-mindedly built for fuel economy, in everything from the tires to the shape. Presumably, if you could buy a Prius without the hybrid system, it would get even better pure highway mileage. Jack commented 10 months ago | Report 2 0 The Prius has the best EPA fuel economy numbers on the highway, but in real world situations the Jetta TDI will best it on the highway. If you follow all the rules, rarely touch the throttle and drive 60-65 MPH; you'll get close to 50 MPG in your Prius. But you can hypermile the TDI and get similar numbers. The Jetta also doesn't suffer much when you need to pass, go faster, and change speeds a lot. The Prius without the Hybrid System would definitely not best the Hybrid in fuel economy on the highway. The gas engine in the Prius is tuned to give low HP and low torque at slower speeds (where the electric motor can kick in). If you took away the electric motor the gas engine would need to be re-tuned (unless you wanted a 20 second 0-60 time). The gas engine in the Prius is basically just the same as everything in the sub compact class (Elantra, Fit, Fiesta, Mazada 2, Versa). All of them use 1.5L - 1.8L engines with 100-130 HP. The Prius engine only puts out 98 HP because of the way it's set up. It's also heavier than all those other cars (and unless the electric drivetrain wieghs 700lbs it still will be even without it). If they were to remove the drive train and go gas only, they'd have to re-tune the engine to be basically the same as it is in the Corolla (they share the same basic engine). You might best the Corolla slightly due to better drag and lower resistance tires, but you wouldn't get much over 40 MPG. Andrew Beck commented 10 months ago | Report Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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  1 0 "would like to consider going a bit more green...saving gas, money, etc." You considered getting a Yaris? Much cheaper and still great mileage. Black Beetles in Amber answered in Cars & Motorcycles 10 months ago | Report Comment on this answer Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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  0 0 For highway cruising, a hybrid has little to no gas mileage advantage over a conventional car. Stop and go driving is where the hybrids really shine. If highway driving is your focus, you should look at a current generation Ford Fiesta or a Hyundai Elantra - both sport 40 MPG highway ratings. The Chevy Cruze and Ford Focus are nipping at their heels around 38 MPG highway - hardly anything else currently being built can compete with those 4 cars. Even the long-time MPG champion Honda Civic is falling behind the pack (28/36). If your budget will support it, you might consider the Audi & VW turbodiesels. They're far more reliable than the gasoline VWs, have a smaller carbon footprint, and will happily burn biofuels. They also hold their value much better than any gasoline car. If you do go the hybrid route, a used 2nd Generation Prius (model year 2004-2008), is the most practical and affordable hybrid available right now. Prices on the used Prius are finally coming down to an affordable level. Earlier models had some undesirable quirks, but mechanics never really had any difficulty working on them. Underneath all those fancy looking electronics are the same old gas engines people have been working on for most of a century. The Prius does get a lot of well-deserved criticism from car magazines regarding its performance and maneuverability (Car & Driver in particular has hammered Toyota hard on this point). By all accounts, the current Honda Insight & Ford Fusion hybrids are head-and-shoulders above both the old & new Prius in terms of driveability. At best, the Prius can be considered on par with a 1990's era compact car for performance & handling. However, this should be acceptable for the vast majority of drivers today. Lack Thereof answered in Cars & Motorcycles 10 months ago | Report Comment on this answer Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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  0 0 The Prius is extremely reliable. There's not a lot of issues with them, and even the hybrid batteries will probably last the life of the car. Generally you're better off having a Toyota dealership do the service, but the need for service is so infrequent it's really a non-issue. I'd feel very confident buying a used Prius with 50K-100K miles on it, but you might want to be cautious with the 1st gen models (2001-2003) if they've got a lot of miles and still have the original battery. And the type of commute you describe is ideal for the Prius. Once you learn how to use the pulse and glide driving technique you'll probably average well above the EPA standards. I get about 50 MPG in my 2008 Prius, and most of my driving is short trips around town. I always get better mileage on the highway. Mr_Friendly answered in Cars & Motorcycles 10 months ago | Report Comment on this answer Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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