This had been KILLING my mpg!

I drove in the snow and ice today... Was definitely pleased with the car's handling ability and she's still in her Goodyear all-seasons...

Had to do the bank run today and had to go through the drive thru as a disabled car was blocking the out lane and a police car and flatbed we're blocking the in lane.... The teller apologized for the wait and asked, "Is that a Prius? Is it new? I love the color!"

Yup, despite the weather I was definitely feeling the love today....

 

I'm crying too! Had 75 miles on this tank and a 47.5 cons then started a 225 mile interstate drive. Outside Temp started at 12f and dove to 9f. Had a strong headwind for 70 miles then a cross wind for the rest of the drive.Inside temp set at 67. Speed 72. Watched the cons drop to 40.2 and calculated mpg when I filled was 37.4

This is my worst mpg in the 2 years I've had it. Hope spring comes soon since I've been watching my mpg's drop steadily since Dec 2nd when I averaged 50.2!

 

I think my car felt bad for me today (day from hell with doctor's visits and the latest flame calling it quits due to his own issues - did Toyota put a mood sensor in the Prius?! ) - I got the first 10 mile trip of 60.2 - haven't seen numbers like that since fall!

I used to set my "spring is coming" clock by when my horses started shedding their winter coats out... guess I can now add "spring is coming" when the Prius's mileage starts creeping up!

 

Cold temps and fighting headwinds kill mpg.
But, with a good tailwind and fair temps (55deg) yesterday- I got 106 MPG at the end of my 28mi commute to work!

 

My car was getting even with me today. Left home from heated garage, it was -13f degrees outside, set heat at 65f degrees and set heat to defrost and to feet, had to set fan on high to keep frost off of window. Set car to EV, 15.2 miles round trip. 61mpg with 4.7 miles EV left when got home, not to bad for -13f.

 

Try that without the heated garage
Cold soak for 10-12hrs at or below freezing cause almost instant ICE startup as soon as you pull out of your driveway.

 

Yea! I know, that would really be ugly. I don't want to have to do that! I'am sure it takes the car a long time to warm also.

 

Yes- it's very frustrating- the ICE is running just to warm-up and at the same time you're burning up EV power at the same rate as if the ICE isn't running so the ICE drags the MPG way down during the warmup cycle.

I've found that when I'm out of EV power- the PIP gets about 50-55mpg on the side roads strictly running on the ICE. When the dreaded warmup cycle happens- I get 45-50mpg during that period and the EV miles are ticking off like the ICE isn't running at all. So if it takes 2.5 miles to warm up the ICE- I'm down to 6.8 EV miles remaining (I'm starting from 9.3 EV miles at full charge in these cold temps) once the warmup cycle ends and the ICE shuts off- with my trip MPG at 49mpg for the first 2.5 miles. Not good to say the least...

 

I hear ya!.

 

You need to learn to chill.

I know, bad pun. It's a non-issue for me. -6°F on the way to work today. 16.8 miles later, the result was 68 MPG with 3.6 miles of EV remaining. That's remarkable considering the conditions.

Warmup for heat, emission reduction, and battery longevity is a pain, but that's how tradeoffs work. It's a balance of resources & goals.

 

Sounds pretty good to me!

 

Temperatures have been widely fluctuating here in the lower Hudson Valley and my mileage has been too. The worst I've seen has been in the 39 mpg range. I just took my 2011 in for its 10K mile "free" oil change, etc. The service advisor claimed that it wasn't the ambient temperature as much as the winter blend gasoline that is responsible for the poor winter mileage..

 

Well! winter blend gasoline is responsible for poor winter mileage this is true but, ambient temperature makes a huge difference in mpg the colder it gets the lower the mpg. Once below about 50f degrees it goes down noticably, the colder it gets. Try -13f you will see a huge difference! In the low 30's mpg.

 

I dragged upstate NY temps with me to my new home in CT... the old saying up there is "if you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes..." I had a great reading of 60.2 and a low of 38.4... working that bar screen and had lots of bars touching the EV higher levels and a 1/2 car to a full car at the bars... making progress in my braking and pulse & glide abilities....

 

I disagree. We don't have winter blends up here, yet I will loose up to 10 mpg in the winter months.

 

+1
One of my recent fill-ups was 8+ gallons from two of my 6gal reserve Jerry Cans I keep in the shed for my boat. Those tanks were filled in mid August with 100% summer blend. I put them in the Prius cause I didn't want it to go stale- I saw no noticeable improvement over the current winter blend.
Service adviser was talking out of his a$$... blaming it on something that you have no control over which saves him the long conversation about environmental conditions, etc..