04 HCH Rivals 10 Prius IV

Your short distance driving is making your Prius mpg average lower. The Prius warm-up penalty is rather severe in the first few miles, in order for it to squash the emissions during start-up.

I suppose the HCH does not have as much of a warm-up penalty, since the ICE must run whenever the vehicle is moving, due to the design of IMA.

It is one of the Prius' disadvantages, or an advantage if you consider that it is one of the major reasons the Prius' emissions are so low.

I have little doubt that on a 20 mile commute, your Prius' MPG will go up to at least 45 mpg. On a 30 mile commute, you should see 50 mpg. Driven moderately, of course. I also suspect your HCH, on longer distance, will not achieve those mileages.

My weather is completely different, but I would have to drive like a maniac to get 40 mpg.

Today I drove very erratically, 70-80 mph on freeway, gunning it on green lights. Going into power band, major hills, etc. and I got end result about 52 mpg.

 

The Prius is sensitive to pedal pressure. At 45mph, if the HSI bar is below the right side of the ECO logo, it might get 50mpg, If at left side of ECO logo it might get 90mpg but the car wont accelerate or decelerate noticeably.

 

Since you seem to have some expectation based upon EPA mileage estimates, please read http://priuschat.com/forums/other-c...uth-about-epa-city-highway-mpg-estimates.html.

Your new Prius and its tires weren't broken in yet vs. your HCH. Per http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...mpg-effect-replacing-worn-tires-new-ones.html, replacing a set of worn tires w/identical new ones can lower apparent mpg.

You could benefit from grille blocking in colder weather along w/an EBH. Grille blocking is cheap. EBH is a lot more $. Does your drive begin with the city or highway portion?

I can't speak to your HCH's behavior, but during the city portions of your drive w/a cold ICE, you can prevent the ICE from unnecessarily running by better managing heater use and using the eco button (http://priuschat.com/forums/newbie-forum/91431-one-3.html#post1287385).

 

if i only got 40 mpg in winter, i'd trade it in.

 

Not me. I also live in the Twin Cities and have driven over 215,000 miles with 3 different Prius over the past 10.5 years (documented in great detail, see the spreadsheets on my website).

Here's my most recent year's data:


.

 

For some further data points, here's what CR got on the 3rd gen Prius: Most fuel-efficient cars.

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem ConsumerReports.org - Most fuel-efficient cars goes back further enough to cover your gen of HCH. On CR's tests, an 03 HCH CVT got 26 city/45 highway, 36 mpg overall and 44 mpg on 150-mile trip.

 

Really interesting experiment. I like it. It will be interesting to see what you get in the summer.

 

Hmm,

Does the Prius IV have those 17 inch tires ? Nope...

The Prius pedal does take some learing. Its not like previous cars, whereas the HCH is, and presumably you knew how to drive previous cars before getting the HCH. This alone could explain the difference.

Also, the temperature you set the climate control to, as well. A friend of mine has a HCH, the older one, and he is always manipulating the climate control to get the engine to shut off in cold weather. Which is easy. With a Prius, you have to do up/down buttons, but wtih the HCH of my friends, its just a rotary dial with interior temperature markings on it. Perchance you are more familiar with this, than with the Prius temperture control?

Even with the exhaust heat recovery, below 20 F, the Prius works much better with grill blocking, and takes some time to heat up without. There was also the episode where one PC member's Prius was delivered with the coolant system not properly purged, and he was getting very little heat in the winter. The Hybrid control is going to run the engine allot if that happens. As it bases its hybrid operating modes allot on the engine coolant temperature.

And, yea, Toyota made the Prius bigger and heavier, but smaller inside this time around (Gen III) , and the 2nd Gen was even bigger than the HCH II already.

So, given those circumstances, yea, your results could happen.

Hypermilers say a HCH II will outdo the Prius (2nd or 3rd gens) on highway opertion in the upper 50's mph. Maybe Hobbit has something to say about that, though. Whereas, with proper usage, the Prius will far outdistance the HCH II in suburban secondary road usage (at least in the summer).

My experience is the 3rd Gen Prius is not as effective in everyday economy driving as the 2nd Gen. But, my car is realtively new yet, and it may break in some still. The 1.8 liter is big hog in pulse and glide (about 10 mpg worse than the second Gen). And the Cd may be good, but the CdA is not as good as the 2nd Gen. And its really CdA (Coeficient of Drag times cross section Area) that counts. But, it did do about 5 mpg better in the cold weather here, versus about 5 mpg worse in the warm weather (so far) than my 2006 Gen 2 Prus.

 

No, you have to go to Prius V (Five) to get factory 17" wheels.

 

Seems like you have a great vehicle in your '04 HCH. Personally, I would have put more miles onto it if it were mine, but our situations are different.

The solar roof lowers MPG a bit due to its weight, and in that it is not as aerodynamic. Also you are still in your winter formulation of gasoline.

I mean, if you've achieved >50 mpg for a long stretch of flat highway during summer weather, then your vehicle is fine, and your lower mpg is due to particularities of your route and weather, and not your vehicle.

Check your tire pressures on both vehicles and report back if possible.

 

Welcome ! Do stick around.
I'm not aware of anyone else here who owns both the HCH and Prius.

Hopefully, this experiment can be repeated after 5 , 10 , 15 yrs of operation or until one can't run anymore ...
The comparison between the HCH and Prius pitches a normal sedan upgraded with a hybrid system with a purpose built hybrid for maximizing fuel economy, so I totally understand your expectations. Notice the HSD does not perform near as well in terms of fuel economy in any other Toyota sedan other than the Prius.

 

i have a 14 mile round trip commute. i have driven an 04 and 08 for the last 7+ years. i get 50-55 in the winter (it only takes a few miles to warm up) and 60-65 in the summer. my wife gets 40 around town in her hybrid camry. and i disagree with tpfun (what else is new) the hybrid camry is a 30-40% improvement over the regular camry, that puts it in line with the civic i believe.

 

There are a few. MSantos is the first person that comes to mind. I don't remember all the others.