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Prius Owners w/50K - What We Think Now

256 messages,  Last post on Mar 02, 2013 at 8:01 AM

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What is this discussion about? Toyota Prius, Hybrid Cars, Hatchback, Sedan

Messages Page 24 of 26

#227 of 256 Re: PRIUS OWNERS W/ 50K : WHAT WE THINK NOW [railroadjames] by rick294

Dec 26, 2011 (11:49 pm)

Replying to: railroadjames (Dec 25, 2011 11:06 pm)
We love our '08 Prius - but for the last 3 months we've been getting no better than 40.5 - 42.5 miles per gallon! What in the world is wrong? My mother in law also has a 2008 Prius and regularly gets 46 - 52+ mpg. Another friend also has the same year Prius and gets even better than she does. Our tire pressure is fine and I use full synthetic oil. Anyone have any ideas? Even with a full tank and a long downhill grade, the mpg meter might add a .1 or .2 to the mpg. It used to be a very rapid increase on the same downhill stretch right after filling up.

#228 of 256 Re: PRIUS OWNERS W/ 50K : WHAT WE THINK NOW [rick294] by coontie66

Dec 27, 2011 (9:27 am)

Replying to: rick294 (Dec 26, 2011 11:49 pm)
My question would be is the gas motor running more now as the batteries are older? If so that would explain the drop in mpg. Otherwise I have no idea.

#229 of 256 Milage and batteries by railroadjames

Dec 27, 2011 (10:29 am)

First I'll explain what I think I've come to understand about 2 issues that pertain to the Prius......#1 (milage)..In the winter milage drops due to the design of requiring the "ICE" engine to run until temps will heat the interior. This is a must, otherwise it would take too long to have heat from the heating sys. inside the car. Also note that gas blends in the winter months are such that milage is effected by 3-5 mpg's less.
   #2 (Batteries)...What was once the scariest issue..(longevity of the batteries) seems to be a non-issue since there have been relatively few problems with them. My car is close to 9 yrs old still running strong (summers 45-48 mpg & 40-44 in winters. The secondary battery (small one) is still working fine unlike conventional car batteries that last usually 4-5 yrs. By the way, you can only buy that battery thru Toyota as of today.
   Try not to set your hopes on over 47 mpg's since that requires extreem frugal tactics. Normal driving usually gets you my general mpg's. If you've got bad habits expect less. Plain truths as I see it. Lastly, with nearly 146K miles the Prius has not only proven itself as a leader that set the bar where others can only hope to achieve but the Prius, over the past 8 yrs has saved me over $14,000.00 in gas savings. That ain't hay folks.

#230 of 256 GAS MILEAGE/UP & DOWN by railroadjames

Dec 27, 2011 (11:41 am)

I have to tell you that people often exagerate mileage for ego inflation. Sorry, but I've noticed alot of highly inflated gas milages. I have a tid-bit of a comparison......How many miles to one tank? I got 546 miles on a tank and that is extreemly good on a trip. The tank is only 11.8 gallons so take that into consideration. Good weather ...a tail wind and smooth roads can help get you high mileage. I took a trip from Indiana to western Iowa into a headwind getting a paltry 35 mpg's....BUT.... on my return I got 49 mpg's which just goes to show how the elements effect mileage.

#231 of 256 Re: GAS MILEAGE/UP & DOWN [railroadjames] by bobw3

Dec 28, 2011 (11:14 am)

Replying to: railroadjames (Dec 27, 2011 11:41 am)
My norm MPG for my '06 Prius is mid-40s in winter and high-40s in summer. On long road trips I get in the low-50s if I keep the speed about 65mph, but if I go 70+ it drops back in the upper 40s. One thing I rarely get is above 500 miles on a tank. Even if I wait until the gas light comes on, drive another 25 miles, up it's rare to be able to put over 10gal into the tank. Maybe the bladder in my tank isn't as flexible?
 
Speed, outside temperature and driving style seem to impact the Prius more so than other cars I've driven.

#232 of 256 Re: GAS MILEAGE/UP & DOWN [bobw3] by stevegold

Dec 28, 2011 (11:54 am)

Replying to: bobw3 (Dec 28, 2011 11:14 am)
Same with my 2004 Prius. I can't verify the frozen bladder without being willing to actually run out of gas but even with the indicator flashing on one bar, it never takes more than 6 gallons. It's a real pain but we never let it get that low just to be sure. I could carry a 5 gallons can in the trunk but that doesn't appeal to my wife.

#233 of 256 Thanks, guys by rick294

Dec 28, 2011 (12:11 pm)

It's frustrating to have had terrific mileage in the past, and now I could get this kind of mileage with a much simpler, Corolla or Hyundai. I'm feeling, "what's the point?". I do have a K&N air filter installed which always looks clean. Maybe I should give it a clean-out and see if that makes a difference. Or remove it and install a regular Fram air filter to see if that's the problem. I'm assuming that the amount of ethanol (10%) remains the same year round?

#234 of 256 Re: Thanks, guys [rick294] by jayrider

Dec 28, 2011 (4:52 pm)

Replying to: rick294 (Dec 28, 2011 12:11 pm)
If your prius mpg is down [weather-winter gas-different additives] the corolla is down too. You can't do better than a prius. The K N filter wasn't cheap and any more messing around costs money that effectively lowers your operating costs with no likely improvement. Relax.

#235 of 256 Helpful ideas from you all! by rick294

Dec 29, 2011 (12:41 am)

I just took a trip today to a VA appointment that was 95% freeway travel. As always, I drive conservatively-I don't force the car to stay at 65 uphill, no jackrabbit starts, etc. I got 45 mph; the best I've gotten in 2 months. I do believe the ethanol content in gasoline remains the same year around, but I had forgotten about winter-weather blending that the refineries do. In my area, southern Oregon, it has been bone dry for three weeks (very unusual for this time of the year) and it has been in the teens and twenties most of that time. And during that time I have been getting very low mileage for a Prius. My driving habits have not changed, as I always drive conservatively.
So possibly it could just be the winter formulation. That still doesn't answer why two other people I know also have '08 Priuses and both get better mileage. One of the drivers tend to drive fast, as well. It's a mystery to me.

#236 of 256 Re: Helpful ideas from you all! [rick294] by bobw3

Jan 09, 2012 (10:23 am)

Replying to: rick294 (Dec 29, 2011 12:41 am)
How are the other two people calculating their MPG? If they're only going by the trip computer while you're calculating it manually, then it will inflate their MPG. Also, no two vehicles are identical. You could take two identical '08 Prius, drive them both 60mph on cruise for 400 miles on a highway and they'd get different MPG.
 
That's because individual components are made within tolerance ranges and if you have a car with a lot of components towards the poor side of the tolerance range, then you'll have more friction in those componts and worse MPG when you add up all of those minute variations. For example if you have an inefficient but working alternator/motor, more electricity is needed to turn the motor and less electricity is being generated, so more gas is required.
 
So in other words, you may have a car with more inefficient components than the Prius driven by your friends. And it's possible too, that you may have more part failures for the same reason.

Messages Page 24 of 26

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