2008 Prius Loss of MPG

If you get 51 mpg on the highway, that's good, it means the car is in working order. It also means the other, lower mileage is related to your routes, terrain, length of trip, and a thousand other variables, including driver operation. If you're getting that "low" in a Prius, a comparable standard car would probably be doing in the 20 mpgs easily or lower. The percentage difference that you are saving on gas is enormous, much more than going from 37 to 50 mpg. Your observations about getting up to speed quickly and holding are spot on, by the way.

I think the mechanic was being a tad disingenuous, or else you misunderstood him. The Prius was designed for low emissions, very true, but to say it's not a high mileage car is...well, wrong First generation Honda Insight aside, it is THE mileage car these days. I could not get 60+ mpg on a tank on the mixed driving I do with any car except the Prius.

 

Concur w/Mike's comments. Most fuel-efficient cars is what Consumer Reports got when testing your generation of Prius. If the city trips are short and have lots of stop and go, esp. in cold weather, the high 30s is about what one can best hope for.

It sounds like Balone has some expectations based upon EPA estimates. If so, please read http://priuschat.com/forums/other-c...uth-about-epa-city-highway-mpg-estimates.html.

 

Hi Folks,
I have a 2007 Prius with 101059 miles on her. She's been a great car. We bought the 100,000 mile/7 year extended warranty through Prius Chat and it's been a life saver for us but only 2 times. The last time was at mile 99,998! I had a "check engine" light tell me something was amiss. The dealer checked it out and found that a coolant valve had failed. So a new one was installed. This change has caused our mileage to drop from an all-around driving average of 49.7MPG to 44.5MPG with the same driving skills, same high pressure tires, same load, same boring trips in Sarasota, FL. Any idea why changing this coolant valve would have affected the mileage? Thanks.

 

I still feel its his tires and his foot

 

Could they have reset the lifetime MPG gauge? I forget how the 2006+ system works.

 

I'm not sure about the lifetime MPG. We reset the MFD each time we fill up and the mileage I quoted was based on an average of our readings prior to filling up each time. What, if anything, is different about resetting the "lifetime" MPG gauge? Is there a separate MPG gauge for lifetime usage?

 

If you are resetting it every time you fill up then my idea is moot. The newer GenIIs (2006+) do not automatically reset the mpg gauge like the 2004-2005 Prius does. So some people go to the dealer and then freak out because their MPG has mysteriously dropped when in reality the dealer reset the computer and the owner lost his/her "lifetime" mpg. I call it lifetime because it doesn't reset unless you manually reset it or the battery is disconnected.

 

Thanks for you clarification of "life time" mileage. I wasn't aware that the earlier Gen II's automatically reset the every time the car was refilled. Even if the dealer/service tech disconnected the battery to do the repair on the coolant valve, I doubt it would have changed our calculations any. So I'm still looking for a explanation for my mileage drop! Thankfully I'm not getting the really poor mileage some folks are reporting (yet).

 

No problem. Sorry for the confusion. I hope it turns out to be something silly and the MPG returns.