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47.3 MPG on new Prius ?

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Fuel Economy' started by rich s, May 7, 2012.

  1. rich s

    rich s Blackie II The Prius

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    Is that normal ? My computer says 52MPG. I know the computer is always high, but it shows I am driving the car correctly. I only have 800 miles on it. Any thoughts on that low of a return? Thanks......Rich [​IMG]
     
  2. kalome

    kalome Member

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  3. El Dobro

    El Dobro A Member

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    The consumption display is fairly optimistic. It usually reads anywhere from 1 to 4 mpg. over what I calculate with pencil and paper.
     
  4. alfon

    alfon Senior Member

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    The Prius computer is off about 3.5 mpg over reading.

    As far as mpg goes check your tire pressure. I keep mine
    at 44 PSI which is max sidewall pressure as listed on the
    tire.

    If you drive in cold wet weather and short trips your
    mpg will be less than if you live in warm dry weather
    and drive longer trips.

    Many factors effect the Prius MPG more than any
    other vehicle on the road today. MPG's can
    very as much as 12 mpg just due to weather and
    temps.
     
  5. cwerdna

    cwerdna Senior Member

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    What are you expecting and why? What do you mean by "it shows I am driving the car correctly"?

    We should be calculating gallonage instead of mileage. See http://priuschat.com/forums/other-c...eage-no-its-your-gallonage-really-counts.html.
    Even though it's not winter now, to quote from http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...mileage-gets-worse-in-winter.html#post1411488
    If you seriously want mileage help, please answer the questions at http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...-answer-these-questions-esp-if-youre-new.html. But frankly, 47.3 mpg is not bad, esp. if you don't know certain techniques and your car and tires aren't broken in yet..
     
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  6. andrew13

    andrew13 New Member

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    that's normal, especially as you learn to drive it, the engine breaks in, and how you drive it. my mileage has been up and down depending on weather and temperature and traffic, but it evens out in the end.

    my car (Toyota Prius) | Fuelly

    my first tank was probably over by 27 miles (what the car had when i picked it up)
    my first 5 tanks in total kinda sucked, with cold wet weather and the car breaking in, but then after that it's been 50's, +-3 mpgs. my last tank was great and it was the second of 80+ temps, the other being the 53.5 in march. i drive all highway and have a running avg of 50.0 now, and hit 56.1 last tank.

    as for the dash, mine's been off about 2.4 from the real world mpg's.
     
  7. tomtomsf

    tomtomsf Junior Member

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    Be grateful you are doing so well! I live near SF and drive into the city 3-4 times a week for work. All the damn hills around the Bay Area seem to really decrease the mileage. I get 43-45 at best on my 2010.

    Tom G.
     
  8. rich s

    rich s Blackie II The Prius

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    Using the correct way of driving from advice here and on videos etc. I was wondering if as time goes by and the car breaks in, will the Mpg go up.
     
  9. F8L

    F8L Protecting Habitat & AG Lands

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    It depends on how long your commute is and how fast you choose to drive. It is very easy to get 50+mpg in this area but a short commute and 75+mph could drop you below that.
     
  10. cwerdna

    cwerdna Senior Member

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    Yep. We know nothing about the OP's commute length in distance and time, his driving habits and speeds.

    As they say, YMMV. As reference for the OP, w/CR intentionally not hypermiling or doing anything special to get better mileage on any car, here's what they got: https://www.consumerreports.org/cro/2012/02/the-most-fuel-efficient-cars/index.htm and https://www.consumerreports.org/cro...-fuel-economy/best-and-worst-fuel-economy.htm.

    Last page of http://www.consumersunion.org/Oct_CR_Fuel_Economy.pdf describes their tests and the old EPA tests. The poor city mileage (on all cars) is no doubt to those short simulated trips.
     
  11. El Dobro

    El Dobro A Member

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    As the weather gets and stays warmer out here, my mileage is getting consistantly higher for my commute.
     
  12. cwerdna

    cwerdna Senior Member

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    It should, but again, what are you expecting and why?
     
  13. thebeed

    thebeed New Member

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    I live IN S.F. and I got 33-35 mpg with my 2010. I paid no attention to driving "correctly" but wasn't a lead foot either. Just lots of short trips, lots of hills and all city driving. I had a Volvo V50 before that and got 16 mpg. Funny thing is now I have a 2012 Prius v and I'm doing as well if not a little better than in my 2010.
     
  14. The Critic

    The Critic Resident Critic

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    47 is actually pretty darn good if you are just driving without utilizing any special techniques.

    As the others have suggested, you can watch the max mpg video and adjust your tire pressure to 3 psi over the cold tire pressure recs of 35/33.
     
  15. walter Lee

    walter Lee Hypermiling Padawan

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    I agree with F8L - all things constant, the Prius MPG is a function of average/top speed and commute trip length/time. At 80 mph, the Prius drops to about 44 mpg. At 75 mph, the Prius fuel efficiency improves to about 46 mpg. Setting the Prius Cruise control at about 70 mph , the Prius should be get about 47 mpg.

    On the other extreme, with the warmer temps, hypermiling and with my current tank's average speed at 18 mph (in city-suburb stop and go traffic), my 2010 Prius MFD estimates I'm getting 66 mpg over the last 625 miles - which is what I got last year about this time...I probably wont be able to squeeze 700 miles out of this tank...
     
  16. F8L

    F8L Protecting Habitat & AG Lands

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    I'm at 48mpg right now and I've been jetting around in power mode, flying down the freeway at 70-75mph, flooring it just because, and I'm running the AC. I have way more short trips on this tank too. LOL

    To contrast this I took it easy a couple of tanks ago and got 59mpg. :D
     
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  17. walter Lee

    walter Lee Hypermiling Padawan

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    The SF area is pretty hilly terrain and having to go uphill from a dead stop can hurt a Prius' fuel efficiency because the Prius electric motor's low end torque is sometimes not enough to compensate for the lack of low end torque from the Atkinson engine on long uphill climbs. Driving the Prius for less than 5 minutes per trip from a cold start and the Prius will barely get over 22 mpg - The Prius fuel efficiency tends to get closer to 50 mpg after 30 to 50 minutes of driving. When going up extended uphill grades, I use normal mode instead of ECO mode because I want to be able to switch to the ICE sooner than later. I do a hypermiling technique call *driving with load*(DWL) where I try to build up the Prius' initial speed before it has to climb uphill. However, If starting from 0mph at the bottom of the hill I quickly try to reach a target top speed for climbing an uphill grade then I drop the throttle back down and hold at about .80 gph ( not too steep) to 1.30 gph ( very steep uphill) until I get to the top of the hill - in most city -suburb situations with this level of effort I found that the Prius speed doesn't drop that much as it goes uphill. I'm using a device called a ScangaugeII do determine my throttle level. In mountainous rural areas of PA, I found that my max throttle level of 1.30 gph was too low for extended uphill climb in mountainous rural areas and that mountainous areas with very steep elevation changes might require something closer to a max throttle level of 2.0 gph to 3.0 gph ( for a 35 mph extended uphill segment climb ).
     
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  18. WE0H

    WE0H Senior Member

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    [​IMG]

    Justin out having fun :p

    Mike
     
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  19. F8L

    F8L Protecting Habitat & AG Lands

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    Heck yeah. I love this car. Sometimes you don't have to wait till after midnight to let it all hang out..... :D