Short trips, how much will it affect mpg?

Cindy, I reckon I have the worst case scenario ie, 1.5kms to shops. Park, do shopping then drive home. I'm getting 6.0 litres/100 kms, 39mpg US and it's so much fun creeking up on other shoppers in the carpark, driving on battery. My Toyota Echo (Yaris) could not match these figures under same conditions but keep in mind it never gets really cold here.

 

I don't know all the car sites out there, but this one is really lively. Plus, you meet some of the coolest people around here

 

Allow me tell about a 1 mile trip each way to the grocery store this afternoon, 57 F, dry out.

The gage was 54.5 MPG (180 miles on trip, lot of highway) when starting out. Hadn't driven car yet for the day.

By the time got to the store, it was down 54.1 MPG. In store for 20 minutes.

Leaving the lot, it got down to 54.0 MPG and I thought it would drop down below 54 on the way home, but it did not.

As I got 1/2 mile from home, was able to accelerate slowly and keep the car under 25 MPH and EV the rest of way home. As I pulled in the garage it was back up to 54.1 MPG.

I was happy it did not drop under 54 MPG and actually went back up to 54.1 on the return 1 mile trip. The trip could hardly be shorter.

 

I can see an average in the mid to upper 40s for you overall. Your short in town trips will hurt your MPG, but you'll recoup a lot of that on your longer trips. This is more-so true in the winter months. I wouldn't be too surprised to see you in the mid-upper 30s on your shorter in town commutes, depending upon weather, heater use, defroster use, etc. I tend to not run the heater at all in my car, unless I know the engine is warmed up to some extent. I'll run it on longer trips where I know it is warmed up. However, if I run the heater during my short commute (very similar to what you described) I know it'll cause my MPG to suffer quite a bit. I also leave a bit later for work than you'll start for taking your daughter to school.

If you can, try renting one for a week and seeing how it does during your daily routine. That way, you'll have a baseline for if/when you decide to get one!

 

I almost solely drive my Prius IV on short trips. During the summer I average 56 or 58 depending on how hot it is, and during the winter it's closer to 48-50 depending on if I need to use my bun warmers. My grocery store is only a mile and a half away (which I drive to almost every day), and the other stores I might drive to are only 7 miles away.

I find I actually get better mileage running my short trips, than any of my long trips...BUT usually on longer trips, I'm driving 70+ on the interstate and I have at least 2 more passengers and luggage.

I drive in "normal" mode and have my temp setting at 68 auto in winter, and 78-80 auto in the summer.

You'll LOVE your Prius, no matter the model, imo. Short trips or long, it's an awesome car that uses much less fuel!

 

Left on a 6 mile one-way trip at 47 F, dry outside. Gage at 54.1 MPG. Got on freeway (what freeway, cars going 2 MPH or stopped), got off took city streets.

Arrived after 6 miles and gage was about 53.8. Returned home hour later, 53F but took about 1 1/2 lap around home tract while talking on phone (didn't need to do that)...

pulled in garage, gage went up to 54.4 MPG, so gained 0.3 MPG in 6 mile one-way with a little extra.

 

We have a 1.5 mile commute each way. My wife usually drives Prius. Worst tank 40 mpg in dead of winter with defrosting and heating. Lifetime average over 33,000 miles is 50.3 mpg.

Honda CRV gets ~20mpg and Honda Fit gets ~28mpg in same conditions as Prius got 40..

 

Here's a short trip - 3.6 miles at 53 F, dry out. Car sat 3 hrs after 4 mile trip. Started off with 54.3 mpg indicated.

About a mile from home, had a chance to accelerate quite slow to keep in EVing (gas engine off) up to 25 MPH. Pulled garage, shut off with 54.4 on gage.

So, gained 0.1 MPG in 3.6 mile trip.

Posed question in another section, if I make a habit of eeeking out EV miles while battery bars go down, will this affect the very long term 'health' of the hybrid battery (i.e. have to replace it, say at 11 yrs instead of what might have been 14, for example only)

 

Doubt you're doing anything to seriously affect the battery life, remember you're only using a portion of the actual batteries charge. However, running the battery down will negatively impact your average MPG when the ICE has to run harder to charge the battery back up!

 

I'm gonna dig this slightly old thread to give more short trip data for two 3.6 mile trips. There is about 1,250 miles on ODO.

Started this morning with car sitting all night and 14.8 mi on tripmeter. Since tripmeter is so low, this gives snapshot of what happens to MPG gage on a short trip.

started 14.8 miles on tripmeter, 45.4 on mpg gage. Making the 3.6 mile trip in 54 F dry weather with lots of stoplights on suburb roads, the gage dipped into the 43.x range in first couple miles. As I neared destination, it climbed back to 44.3.

Lot of variation on MPG gage because the tripmeter miles still low.

Car sat for little over 1 hour. 57 deg. F return, gage went from 44.3 to 44.0 with gas engine warmup cycle. Pulled in garage with 46.1 on gage. Yeah, I was taking it fairly easy but no crazy hypermiling (not an expert), going with flow of traffic. Solo trip and no cargo or heater either.

Take off 5% unfortunately for gage error, but still in 43 range for 3.6 mile trip. I think Corolla would be only in high 20s under same conditions.

So, that's what Prius can do. YMMV

 

73% of my journeys are my 3 mile commute to work, 50% of that is with the heater on, and I've still averaged 54 mpg(UK) over 20 months (54 mpg UK = 43.2 mpg US).

 

That is pretty poor fuel mileage for a Prius, especially a GenIII. That is the point of this thread. Short trips really hurt mpg. In the grand scheme, however, 43mpg average is still great.

 

OP - Your "commute" sounds a lot like mine..mostly short trips around town, to and from the kids' schools, etc..
IME for short trips (according to the computer):
Winter, averaging 42mpg
Summer, 48 mpg

I LOVE to go on longer trips because:
Winter, 48 mpg
Summer, 52 mpg

 

Not in my case, the engine doesn't get to full temperature for 3 months or so in the winter on such a short commute so I'd consider it pretty good for a petrol automatic with a cold engine.
Using rough calculations, comparing it to my last Mondeo a 2008 Mk4 2.0 TDCi Automatic which averaged around 42 mpg UK (33.6 mpg US) over a year and the one before, a 2005 Mondeo Mk3 2.0 TDCi manual (stick shift) which averaged about 47 mpg UK (37.6 mpg US) I think it's exceptional.

 

Short trips have a big impact on my Prius. My long term average was around 40MPG, mostly city
But when my wife started driving it to work regularly, about the same as you 5 miles each way,
the MPG dropped to 31 to 35 MPG. Lower in hot weather when the A/C works hard.

Unless you are going to put over 100,000 miles on a Prius, you won't have enough gas savings to justify the excess cost.
I know there are a lot of people on here that are in love with their Pirus, it's a nice car, but comparable cars are less expensive.