Prius report

[fbhjr]

With my fill up with gas this morning, my Prius has saved me just about
$1000. (OK, my estimated gas savings are $997.97, but I’m rounding up.)

That’s 41 tanks of gas in the 318 days since I got it last March.
The average miles/gallon has still not quite cracked 50. It was pretty
close over the summer, but since it got cold has dropped. Now it’s at
48.848. But, that’s still pretty good compared to the 26 the 17 year old
Saturn was getting.


I knew that for various reasons the mileage goes down when it is cold. The
battery in the Prius isn’t as efficient at colder temperatures, and I use
up more power. In the summer I keep the air conditioning on. But, in the
winter it is the heater, the lights, the defrosters and often the
windshield wipers too.
But, I hadn’t really realized just how closely it was tied to temperature
until I plotted them both together. I am using the mean temperature of the
days on which I buy gas. That might not be the most accurate for the
temperature as I often wait an extra day so I can buy gas when its warmer,
but it should still be pretty close.

Not all those peaks and valleys match, but a lot of them do.

I’m still quite happy with my little car and don’t mind saving $1000 on
gas. I’ll grant you that the loan payments on it have added up to a lot
more than $1000 over 10 months. But, given the old car was falling apart,
I really didn’t have a choice about getting a new one. So, if I’ve got to
pay loans, loans on something that saves me a few car payments in 10 months
is a good thing.

Comments

[uawildcatgrl.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking some sort of hybrid (leaning towards the Prius) will be our next car.