So I have a new 12 volt from eLearnAide, new Continental EcoPlus tires and I'm still only getting around 40 MPG. I live in LA, so there is a lot of start and stop driving and I have a bit of a led foot and kind of rush around. I'm pretty sure unless I drive like a gradma, this is the MPG I'm stuck with. Is that the case?
The ProContact tires are great but they are barely LRR so you are about 4mpg lower than if you had bought the Michelin Energy Saver A/S. the ProContact is somewhat comparable to the old Michelin Hydroegde tire in terms of mpg. Read this test. Tire Test Results : When Round and Black Becomes Lean and Green Additionally, new tires always impart lower fuel economy compared to the same tire when worn. They need about 3-4k miles before they are fully broke in. Still, ifyouwant max mpg, switch tires now while you still have the 30day satisfaction guarantee. Tire Tech Information - Tire Rolling Resistance Part 3: Changes to Expect When Switching from Worn-Out to New Tires Winter fuel economy pretty much sucks so if you have not experienced summer fuel economy then you really don't have a good idea of what the car is capable of. I would expect a 5mpg gain during summer months depending on how hard you drive the A/C. If you drive with a lead foot then you'll never achieve EPA. You should still be close during the summer.
MPG has always been around 38. Price point on the Continental was why I went with them. Everything else seemed to be much more expensive.
With the Bridgestone/Michelin $70 rebate those tires are comparable and offer better fuel economy. U fortunately the ProContact doesn't often last the full warranty life so that makes them comparable to the other two tires at 65,000 mile warranty.
i guess if you've always gotten 38, then 40 is fine. you might reset the average mpg and try a good long drive on back roads around 30 -40 mph with a light foot, just to see if the car is okay.you should be able to get around 50.
A;lso in the LA area, not the place to drive for max mpg, and you can see by my fuelly I'm not doing a whole lot better......
Well, basically if you drive like a human, you're not going to get great MPG. I like the tires, they were a good price and they are smooth as hell. Can't complain.
40mpg is not great? If you drive any of the so-called 40mpg non-hybrids like you do this car and you'll be lucky to hit 30mpg average. You just need more seat time and better weather or commute. Sort trips, aggressive driving and winter conditions will kill mpg in any car.
Did you ever test the battery? What are the 3 battery readings? Tire air pressure? Oil weight? All in all, if you drive like you couldn't care less about fuel mileage, 40 mpg is pretty good. I have found to get the best mpg from the car it does take relearning some driving habits.
For a lead foot in los angeles 40 mpg's sounds about right for a gen2. Thats what I got in mine after changing the battery. I tried hypermiling, but it wasnt for me. Too slow, and too many people yelling at me.
That's usually the case in LA and some places in the Bay Area. The rest of California is zombie friendly.
After the factory LRR tires wore out I bought high-performance tires (as in, very sticky). Only went down a few mpg, from 54 to 52 in the summer, 48 to 46 in the winter. I doubt your tires are more than 1 mpg worth of the problem. BTW, my wife has a lead foot and averages 46 mpg in the winter.
This should be repeated. I saw the effect myself: I put some non LRR tires on my Prius (wanted more traction than LRRs had to offer) and saw my fuel efficiency dip to 40 mpg for the first 2k miles. Now, over 4k later, I'm back to 45-46 mpg. Tire wear makes a huge difference!
IIRC, OP's 12 volt was toast awhile ago and he replaced it w/an Optima Yellow Top recently. Yeah, LA driving is not conducive to good FE and his being a lead foot and rushing around doesn't help any. OP should consider grille blocking, better heater management (see Why mileage gets worse in winter | PriusChat) and changing his driving habits, if he wants better FE. If the drives are short, that will kill FE. Not much one can do about that other than making them longer or optimizing the order in which destinations are visited (i.e. going to the furthest point first and then coming back via the closer ones). There are numerous totally safe and legal techniques and tips at Beating the EPA - The Why’s and How to Hypermile - CleanMPG Forums.
