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Hybrid Vehicles Toyota Prius Toyota Prius MPG-Real World Numbers
767 messages, Last post on Sep 28, 2009 at 9:21 AM
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Replying to: scottc3 (Jul 16, 2008 3:10 pm) I think you have cleared things up for me now...I own a 2008 Prius for about 6 weeks now and I take care of my terminally ill Mother. This means I barely get to drive the car, I rarely drive it for 2 miles at a time so I only get so the screen reads 36 to 40 mpg. Yes I have begun changing my habit of driving but the mpg is no where what I thought it would be, I took too much for granted. My tires are inflated to 38/40 but I guess it's because I don't drive enough. I did take a trip from Chicago to Kansas City though, used cruise control and got up to 48mpg which made me happy. Now I have 1400 miles on the car drive around town and am back to the 36 to 40mpg. I also was lead to believe when I bought the car that below 48 mph the car ran on the battery so I am confused why miles are so low. The car dealer of course said it's better than standard cars, but whatever that's not their marketing ploy. At any rate so many in these forums are getting GREAT mileage, am I reading the wrong screen or is it because I typically drive so few miles. i know this is lenghty but can any tell I'm confused? Thanks for anyones comments! Jim
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Replying to: mgfullington (Jul 09, 2008 7:30 pm) I've never had a tank as low as 43 mpg in any kind of weather: 85% Hwy  62 mph on average and 15% suburban 'city' driving. I don't pay much attention to any special hypermiling techniques except to use my brain to let off the pedal as early as possible for the given conditions.
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Replying to: jimrey28 (Jul 16, 2008 7:59 pm) One of the key limitations in fuel economy that very very few know is that short trips are death on fuel economy for all vehicles. This is clearly stated on the EPA site www.fueleconomy.gov and most vehicle makers know it but it's rarely explained to the driving public. Why should it have been in past years? Fuel was cheaper than dirt. Now it isn't. As you can see from your own experience 5 min trips are horrible on FE. All vehicles will lose about 20+% from their 'nominal averages'. This is one reason why CR gets so low ratings when they do their own FE tests. As to your question about the battery only driving, the actual number is 41 mph. There are long technical discussions on this subject over at PriusChat.com. Essentially the 'sweet spot' for the HSD vehicles is about 35 mph; i.e. just about normal for city driving. However..... BIG HOWEVER.... you must have a well charged battery in order to gain the most benefit from this. If you come out in the morning and jump in and drive 5 min that's not enough time to charge up the battery. It takes about 8-12 min of continuous driving. After that when you are in the 35 mph range the battery/e-motor can power the vehicle pretty far and pretty often. Also another very common misconception is that 'stop and go' traffic is good for HSD vehicles. Actually stop-and-go driving is bad for all vehicles. The laws of physics ( Newton ) cannot be overwritten; An object at rest...... It takes a lot of energy inputs to get a 3000# vehicle up and rolling even at low city speeds. Try to avoid stopping if at all possible while being safe. Try the UPS solution. |
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Bob thanks for your input. Sounds like I need to drive more! At least you have given me confidence that I'm not getting what I paid for. Eventually I will be driving more and then I should be able to see an increase in my average mpg. Thanks again! Jim
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Last Christmas I rented a Prius that had very few miles on it from Avis. I used it to go to West Virginia to pick up my son for visitation. I was not able to get one for the return trip. The trip was from Jacksonville Florida to the northwestern part of Now, just to let you know, I keep a steady foot on the accelerator, keep off the brakes, etc... Follow trucks maybe a bit too closely but it does save gas as proven on Myth Busters. I would say I average about 40 to 60 feet behind which they proved gave about a 40% increase in mileage. Anyway, like I said, I made the trip up on Christmas Eve and Christmas day to pick him in a Prius and the return trip to drop him off in a Cobalt on January 1 and 2. We added up the gallons used for both cars and I was shocked. Prius = 36.153 gallons used. Cobalt = 37.282 gallons used. These trips were just one week a part and I was the sole driver. I do everything recommended to save gas and things proven to save gas but not necessarily recommended. I am getting ready to make another trip so when Avis wanted a huge rental fee in comparison to a Cobalt, I chose the Cobalt. Difference in rental price was over 100 dollars.
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Replying to: rush_hour (Aug 08, 2008 2:46 pm) You'll have to look hard to find another Prius "driver" with such ridiculously low MPG. Quoting 1 way trip MPG can be very misleading. What if you were driving up hill with the Prius and down hill on your return trip with the Cobalt? The comparison of the resulting two MPGs is apples to oranges. Do the same leg with both or even better do both to and from with both for a scientific comparison. Your Prius was a new car with very few miles on it. There is significant improvement in MPG after the 5K break-in period. How you filled up both tanks pre and after would have a significant impact in your calculated MPG - you have to fill it to the same level to have accurate manually calculated MPG. The Prius has a fuel bladder making this more of a challenge. What did the Prius MFD show for MPG? No one should take your "info" useful as it is not a scientifically calculated result. Gabe |
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I was just reading the posts here regarding the mileage differences and thought I'd chime in with the mileage I achieved around town in NJ and on a recent trip to Vermont. I purchased my '08 Package 6 Super White this May and went on a trip two weeks ago from Central New Jersey to Leicester Vermont (320 miles one way). At the start of my trip, I had approximately 2,700 miles on the odometer. The trip started on the NJ Turnpike, to the Garden State Parkway through New York ... etc. Most of the time I was traveling between 65 and 70 MPH. As we approached New York it was all up hill/down hill and winding road driving ... all the way through Vermont as well. I had my two sons with me and a large 50 lb suitcase in the back and other items to take with us (approx 500+ lbs altogether). I didn't pay attention much to the fuel usage on the MFD like I normally do when driving around my town. I had the GPS on most of the time. I had the cruise control ON most of the time and did not use the air conditioning on the way up ... and I got 52+ MPG. On the way home ... again, I had the cruise control ON and had the same passengers and weight, BUT this time I DID use the air conditioning and was going between 65 and 72 mpg ... and got 54+ MPG. Go figure?? My tires were inflated 42 front & 40 rear. While in Vermont I got 52 mpg average while driving around with 5 adults in the car!! while traveling for the week that we were there visiting. I've been consistently averaging between 52 and 56 MPG at home at each fill-up around town. I travel 10 miles to work and back (traveling 30 - 40 mph) with 12 + stop lights along the way and I'm getting 52 MPG. I once achieved 59 MPG on one tank of gas in NJ. I expect I'll be getting in the 40's in the winter based on what I've read. I couldn't be more pleased with the mileage and performance. I just love my Prius! |
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Replying to: jimrey28 (Jul 18, 2008 2:31 pm) Good luck with that. I drive over 100 miles per day, at least 60 of those miles daily on the freeway and I can't hit 40mpg either, and I'm even trying to drive like a freaking old lady. For me anyway, a cheap Corolla or Civic or something like that would have been a better deal. I've only owned this thing for a couple of weeks, so maybe I'll give it some more time. Frankly, I'd rather drive a car with performance and take the gas hit instead of paying for this and getting mileage barely better than a car half the cost. I've talked to lots of others who drive these in this area, and they regularly report about 40mpg or barely over that. I have no idea how anyone is getting 50+ mpg in these cars. Maybe I'll sell my Pathfinder and the Prius and go buy a Lexus GS hybrid. I'll get performance and a hybrid!
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Jim / Bob, If I were you, I'd start looking for something wrong with the motor / electric system.. Perhaps new plugs in the car? Not much you can do with the electric system.. but I think you should get at least 45mpg and this would be driving it hard. I question the 50+ mpg numbers, but see if you only drove 55mph, or slower, and most if it was down hill, you could bet 55 - 75mpg, but this is not an average of most users. Why not call your dealer and tell them you have several friends that have Prius's and they are getting close to 50mpg... and you are getting less than 40mpg.. something is wrong.. see what they say. Good luck.. sc |
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Replying to: mfarmer1 (Aug 13, 2008 11:14 am) Jim |
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