So Cal Driver MPG Question

You are getting the EPA mpg's for highway, can't see anything wrong here. If you have more city (slower) traffic you would get better mpg

Sent ?

 

I wouldn't worry about the MPGs when freeway driving, just stay at the posted speed limit and you will do fine. If you push the eco button that will help (take it off when entering or exiting the freeway to accelerate quicker). The mileage will improve in your city driving, taking it easy when stopping and starting on the gas/brake pedals will help substantially and taking off slowly keeping the engine in ev mode as much as possible (unless you are in heavy traffic). We drive nice and slow when no one is behind us in the city and average 48 mpg. Our freeway mileage is 51 mpg and our speed limit is 70 so that is no problem. San Diego is hilly so the up and down is going to affect the gas mileage more than in Los Angeles. You are doing great so don't stress too much just experiment without making the driving public angry. Just not worth an extra mpg or two.

 

I dont any more but a few years ago I lived near L.A. and I feel you about the hightway speeds on the 5. I now live near Chicago and can tell you the highways out by you are crazy. People out there are way more angry and drive way faster. The best I can tell you is that you is that any time some one flashes you the bird, ask your self if they are going to give you gas money? 99.9999% of people are not going to give you gas money so don't worry about them. I think of it as a thumbs up for my rocking mpg when some one flips me off. I also flip off every H2, H3, and Escalate which helps me feel better.

More to your question though. Yes you relative bad mpg is caused by your high way speeds. The C in Prius C is for city because the hatch and small ICE just cant handle 70mph and give you 50+ mpg. Something I would think about is your driving route. Do you have to get on the highway?

 

Clad, (and pardon me if i'm repeating something already said) have you investigated any alternate routes to work? My daily commute is slightly less than 30 minutes... I could take highways or surface streets (with many different surface routes available). I typically leave home more than an hour before I am supposed to be at work, just in case there are any traffic delays, but it also allows me the luxury of experimenting with new routes and driving in a more fuel-efficient manner.

The age/mileage on your car may be a factor as well. I just rolled over 1800 miles, and am still seeing increased fuel efficiency on a weekly basis.

 

Here's what worked for me at highway speeds - take it for what it's worth but usually what I say is worth something.

When I first got my C I would get 40-43MPG on the highway but I have since learned a few things and generally get 55MPG or better on the highway at an average of 70MPH and rediculously better than that at slower speeds. In general I am always pulsing and gliding even at speeds over 70mph.

1. Essencially, unless you are on a hill, you should be gaining speed every single time you hit the gas, but doing it gently. So what I do is gently pulse the car up to 75MPH without using electrical gain (past 65 when I see the green arrows (on energy monitor screen) assisting the gas engine I back off and keep the acceleration gas-only) then I let go of the gas, but keep the pedal depressed so that it is actually ever so slightly ABOVE the regen point (I feather it to find the point where it goes from regen to gas). This is because by using some small gas, you can glidefrom 75MPH to 67MPH or so without slowing down so much that you need a huge pulse recovery. Or if you initiate a glide but realize that you can't make it to the next segment of road without losing too much speed, feather the pedal down even slightly futher than the regen point and into the gas to make sure you can coast at an adequate speed to the next segment because it's better than no pulse-glide at all.

2. Try to time your pulse so that when you are at the start of a hill you are at your fastest speed (75 or greater) then only use as much gas as nessecary to reach the top of the hill at a slow speed (like 65MPH). Remember, if you need to bleed off speed, and you glide up a hill, you may not appear to go very far but you in fact used up your extra momentum efficiently. However, if you screw up and lose too much momentum you will pay a price in gas if you attempt any recovery on an incline. Downhills should be used first to regain speeds higher than your target speed without over exerting the engine (so if your target speed is 70 a decent glide/coast could start at 75), and second as gliding opportunities. In fact, at the start of a downhill, it may be appropriate to push the pedal past it's normal gas-only mode and barely into the electronically assisted mode to further accelerate until you reach a higher speed (sometimes it's hard to use just gas and go from 65-70, but easy to go from 70-75 using just gas), just as I have to do this on steep hills that go on too long.

3. Take advantage of every opportunity to glide for longer periods. The most efficient is when you are at 50-60MPH and you can use warp-stealth instead of some small gas to keep the car above regen when gliding. So if there's a spot to glide from 75MPH to 44MPH then do it, first using some small gas to enhance the glide until 65-56 (depends on your a/c use, radio, and state of charge), then literally letting go of the accelerator and pushing ever so slightly above regen again to engage only the electrical assist and continue the glide down to the 40s or slow speeds - even better try a pulse to 65 or so and use just warp stealth all the way to the 40s then you're in the magic-zone where your car will do strange things like get higher than 70mpg, but I wrote this for people who WANT to drive at >=70MPH. If you have a full battery and you turn off the a/c and radio you can even engage warp stealth as high as 73MPH or more so enjoy hot and quiet rides if you want the most out of warp-stealth.

 

Keep A/C use to a minimum (completely off if possible).

As for the freeway, stay in the slow lane or 2nd lane (next to the slow lane) behind a semi truck and keep a good safe distance in front. For some reason, people will be ok with you being slow when you're behind a semi, and if you leave lots of space, they'll be ok with that too (debris, rock chips, etc).

I find that with some traffic on the FWY, I'd get better MPG (limits my speed).

 

I live in socal as well, and I think it has to be conceded that there are simply a lot of situations here where you are better off just going with the flow. However, that being said, you should keep a persistent eye out for all those vehicles you used to hate: the buses, the trucks, the chugging old junk heaps driven by octagenarians.

All these are now your best friends, and you can happily nestle your car in behind them as they plod down the road, and no other driver will resent you for taking that spot. And it just so happens that the rate at which they accelerate and the speed at which they travel will greatly enhance your mpg. The only downside to that for me (so far) is that I am not sure how much more likely I am to get lung cancer by following too closely behind these vehicles...

 

But this is what the fresh/recycle air toggle switch on the steering wheel is for.

 

Rob beat me to it, I was going to say the same thing. Or you could start carrying a bottle of oxygen in the car with you

 

Rob and Roc: both of you are right of course. But the best protection is something like this:

Full Face Respirator Silicone with Polycarbonate Visor-SR 200 at The Home Depot

 

Someone needs to tell Danny to add that to the Prius chat shop lol.

 

46 mpg is good, if you got flipped off, f'it and laugh at how much it takes them to filler-up.

 

I'm in the San Diego area and I'm averaging 47 MPG, mostly city streets and a little bit of freeway. But I live up this big @&%! hill and it kills my mileage. When I take a road trip to Disneyland I get 51 MPG round trip on the lie-o-meter and I set the cruise control at 68 MPH.

 

Sorry, new C owner and new to the forum, what's the "lie-o-meter"?

I take the most direct route to work, which has a bit more traffic but takes about 10 minutes longer. Comparing day 1 commute (the faster way) to day 2 commute (the slower more traffic route) my MPGs improve from 55mpg to 61.8mpg.

For the OP, This won't help improve your gas mileage but it helps psychologically. Use the cost savings meter and put in your previous car's MPG, which was likely also negatively impacted by the hills and fast highways. Then you'll feel better by comparing to your last car (unless it was a Prius) to your new C, rather than to everyone here.

 

Lie-o-meter is the dash computer MPG readout

 

Did you just get your Prius C? It took me a couple months to learn how to drive it more efficiently. It felt like learning how to drive all over again. Jeremy's post hit most of the important points. I have a 2000 ft net elevation change with up and down hill from Lancaster to LA and I can get 55-65 downhill and 45-50 uphill and that is a 2 hour commute. Shorter driving times don't have as good mpg because the car needs time to warm up. I find that its best to not push the car past its limits. I move to a slower lane on uphills and speed up right before them so I have momentum going into the hill. Then I accelerate before I lose all my speed so I don't use as much gas to maintain my speed. I normally drive 70-75 mph and slow to 65-70 on uphills sometimes even down to 55 if the car can't handle the hill. I use the ECO score a lot to see how much gas what I am doing takes. I know the car a lot better now and don't use it as much but when I first got the car it helped a lot. I actually don't really use ECO mode, I hated how slow it accelerated and felt like it took more gas then if I just spent less time accelerating, can't say that is true or not, just what is best for me (I hated how long it took to get to 60 with it on).

 

Thanks. I decided to fill up my gas tank even though it was only half empty to try this out. Dash said 53.3mpg and the math said 50mpg. Not a huge difference, but a difference nonetheless. Have you been off by much more than this?

 

It's been in that ranger for me too, anywhere from 2-5% difference