Fuel economy much lower than advertised

Leave it in ECO at all times, increase tire pressures to 42 front 40 rear and try different driving patterns. My low tank was 36, best 61 with lifetime 50 mpg.

 

Shorts trips are generally the culprit when some complains about low mpg. Imagine the mpg you would get in a conventional car.

 

http://priuschat.com/forums/other-c...uth-about-epa-city-highway-mpg-estimates.html
http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...mileage-gets-worse-in-winter.html#post1411488
Your Mileage Will Still Vary
Many Factors Affect MPG

Agreed w/Paradox's advice and comments. Without any more info, I'm guessing the OP has very short trips.

Also, besides the car getting more broken in over time, the tires will be more broken in and more worn, resulting in real and apparent mileage increases: Tire Tech Information - Tire Rolling Resistance Part 3: Changes to Expect When Switching from Worn-Out to New Tires.

 

I've been averaging 52.7mpg last 8500 miles without using any special techniques (no ECO, etc). 75% highway/25% city driving.

 

What is the temperature in the OP's area? I would suspect cold. That is also a mileage killer. I'm averaging only 41.4 on the current tank, down from 54 just a few weeks ago. In my case it is shorter trips and cold weather.

Tom

 

In St. Louis I am getting 50 plus. Bought Prius 2011 level 2 in October. Utube has a good Video on driving the Prius.

 

Here is the YouTube video.

 

Savalife,

:welcome: to PRIUSchat, hon. :cheer2:

While I drive a Gen II and you have a Gen III, I think that I can
contribute some general comments that should be helpful.

As noted, short trips, less than ~5 miles for mixed urban driving are
MPG killers.

Those two or three mornings last week when it was mid 30s in the
morning would have been MPG killers if you don't have your grills
blocked.

Heater use can be a big hit too. You need to use it -- full fan on high
heat -- to defrost/demist -- but after that use it as little as you can
until the engine is fully warmed up. For me last week, that was about 5
miles.

One trick is to turn the heater off when the car is not moving, like at
stop lights. If you do this the engine will shut down at stops, even
though the engine is not fully warmed up.

Definitely pump those tires up to 42f/40r, good for 3-5 MPG.

Remember that the EPA numbers are estimates from running the car in
a non-real world test sequence. Your mileage will vary depending on
many factors. Folks who buy their Prius in the warmer months often
get accustomed to getting very good MPG without even trying. Well,
those days are over until the spring. You'll have to use every trick you
can find and read about here just to keep the MPG hit to 10% for the
next 3-4 months.

[Edit] FWIW, once it's been raining and there is standing water on the
roadway, you can expect to see a 3-5 MPG hit depending on the depth.

The Gen III folks have pointed out some threads that should be helpful.
I recommend that you take the time to read them, even If they are
quite long, there's lots of info and many subtleties to be mastered.

Good Luck. :rockon:

 

Also see if you can park your car facing a different direction at night, if the sun comes up before you leave. I found that backing in my driveway results in my windshield being either just wet or clear rather than frosted over in the morning when I pull straight in. That's good for a couple MPG difference, esp given a shorter drive. It's much easier to get the back window cleared than the front, and it doesn't pull the engine heat into the car right away.

 

Your mpg's are based on your driving conditions and your driving style. You can get low mileage just as easily in a Prius as any other car. You may not have any control of your driving conditions but you can modify your driving style and have a huge impact on your mileage.

 

Like others said, really short trips are likely the problem.

 

When I switched to normal mode from eco my mpg's increased by 6.
It helps me feel less disappointed I'm not acheiving epa rating either, especially when I see so many are getting +50mpg's in colder climates than ours.

 

maybe there's something wrong with your car.

 

We don't know since we have insufficient info, at this time. This is why I came up with http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...-answer-these-questions-esp-if-youre-new.html.

Personally, I think it's not worth spending our time any further on this until the OP answers our questions.

 

I'm thinking this is the biggest culprit for this owner.

Original poster has owned the vehicle for at least 19 weeks (first PriusChat post July 10), and claims 2980 miles.
If we assume the vehicle is used as a daily driver and is driven on average twice a day 5 days a week, that works out to 190 trips in the vehicle.

The average trip is 2980 / 190 = 15.7 miles.

If the car has been owned longer than July 10, or is driven more than 10 times per week, then the average trip length is even shorter.

 

probably shorter, cause i drive my gen II 7 miles each way for 14 miles a day and get betweem 55 and 65 mpg depending on weather. maybe he does a lot of 1 and 2 mile trips?

 

you're right, we usually just wind up talking to each other, but what's wrong with that?