As I'm currently on my first road trip out west to Colorado from the midwest in my 2011 prius, I wanted to get some feedback on what others have gotten while traveling thought Nebraska with the 75 mph speed limit. The worst tank was roughly 37 mpg at 75 mph average. Pretty typical? I'm happy to report the mileage has jumped once I stopped doing 85 down the interstate. Now for a trip to vail. Can't wait to tackle the mountains.
Speed kills the mpg's on the Prius, as it does with any other car. Also if you are on a road trip you probably have the Prius loaded down with gear and people, so hauling extra weight will hurt mpg's as well. As others on here have found as well, the use of cruise control can hurt mpg's as well. You might want to also get on Fuelly for better tracking of your mpg's, and let others learn from your trip. Your homepage on Fuelly gives a nice snapshot of your fuel use. Mine: The Grey Ghost (Toyota Prius) | Fuelly
Cruise control can hurt MPG's, but at the same time, I'd trade that MPG loss for less driver fatigue, depending on how long in duration your travels are.
I am one for CC use too. I love cruise. 75 mph AVG is fast. I noticed you mentioned 85 mph, many of us do not drive that kind of speed and it is why you see some folks with much higher mpgs. I try to set my cruise at 61 on the 70 mph interstate roads; this time of year I have been 60 + mpgs round trip of several 100 miles. my avg speed usually will be in the mid/high 40s because of stops, slower suburb roads when nearing destination and leaving destinations, etc. I can't imagine many other cars getting 37 mpg driving down the road at 85 mph
+1 Basically you determine what mpg you get by choosing how fast you drive. True for all cars, perhaps more so for the Prius. Plus with the Prius (as for most hybrids) the mpg displays make this effect more visible to you.
On long trips I use cruise control at least 90% of the time. Back in 1994 I had a 1994 Civic Hatchback model VX (the high mpg model), it had no cruise control and on a trip from Portland Oregon to LA my right leg was quite sore, and I swore than I would never buy a car without cruise control no matter how good the mpg's were, by the way that Civic was good for 50 + mpg.
In the past I used cruise control and did better mpg's with it than without, the opposite of my experience with the Prius so far.
