Consumer Reports eh what?

i think reasonable driving will get you epa numbers. perhaps extreme hills, high speeds and severe weather might have a negative effect. i always exceed epa and so does my wife who is a bit more lead footed than myself.

 

Am I missing something? I thought that C-MAX was the only well-known hybrid that was getting below the EPA fuel economy.

 

hmm.. since i've had the car.. with all the miles i've put on it (over 37K)

my complete average MPG as of today is at 58.2 mpg.. (calculated and data maintained at Fuelly.. check sig)

yeah.. i'm pretty sure i'm over the EPA rating.

 

As am I. In fact the last 120 miles (my current Trip A) has been nearly all short trips (like 1-2 miles) and I'm averaging 54 mpg. EPA city rating is 53 mpg.

 

I'm averaging 55+ mpg in town and 50+ on relatively flat highway

 

A lot of the problems with EPA ratings "VS" actual MPG has to do with the operator of the vehicles.
Anyone not familiar with driving a Hybrid will get lower MPG's When I got my first Prius, I talked with
several new Prius owners that reported low MPG. One was getting 36 MPG with his. I did an extended
road test with the C-Max Energi plug-in and was able to get 54 MPG with it. It's a great car and has major power
output over the Prius line. The C-Max Hybrid is a different story. It's poor MPG was realized right away.
It only get's 38 MPG as most have reported. They both out perform the Prius line, but only the Energi plug-in can
match the MPG numbers. The only reason I'm not driving a C-Max Energi is the price was $10K more than my C and the dealer was a complete as_hole. They didn't deserve my business

Oh yeah! I almost forgot. I'm getting 52 MPG on average.
I run higher than specified tire pressures and I know how to drive a hybrid. Unfortunately, YMMV

 

The only time I get less than advertised is when it is winter or hard winds. I am talking road trips.
Dan, who could not be happier with our purchase

 

On short trips in the city I'm lucky to break 40mpg, even in summer weather. I get high 40s on the highway, and low-mid 50s if I only take back roads and go slower than the flow of traffic. I know it's better than I'd be getting with most other vehicles, but it's still a little disappointing that after 10 months tracking my tanks on fuelly, I seem to be getting worse than average for the prius c.

And as a note, I am the least aggressive driver imaginable. I keep out of the red "power" zone as much as possible, avoid air conditioning or use a very low setting, try to pulse and glide / roll to stop whenever possible.

 

Register with Fuelly and you'll know exactly what your MPG's are.

 

What air pressure are you running in your tires ? Is the vent for the traction battery blocked ?
It's just above the left rear floor pan. Open the left rear door and have a look. If it's blocked,
you battery can't cool off and will not be efficient because it's to hot.

I run 42 PSI front and rear. I drive it a little hard and still get 52 MPG overall. Also check your oil level.
If it's past the full mark on the stick, the ICE will work harder to run and reduce your MPG's.
Oil viscosity also plays a role here. It should only be 0w-20 synthetic oil. I use Mobile 1.
Check all these things. I bet your MPG's will improve

 

I get 60+ normally.

With rain or A/C worthy weather (high heat + humidity) I still get 56-57.

Beating the EPA estimate even under the worst conditions.

 

I will reg on fuelly and see but I get great mpg's. They must be referring to the other hybrids not Toyota. I was on all the different forums before I bought my priusC and it seemed like hardly anyone got what the cars sticker said it was supposed to. I almost gave up until I got on the prius forums. It was the only forums where most people seemed able to actually get higher than the sticker MPG's. That is what impressed me enough to finally sell my BMW

I avoided Prius's because I thought they were ugly and plastic and designed for people that did not even want to sit in a car with any animal products like leather etc which I love! But the C is adorable and I am making it awesome thanks to all you guys here and your help. And my Clazzo leather seat covers rock!

 

I am with you. I run the posted speed limits on interstates and normally get more than advertised mileage. I can hardly see anyone getting much better on a long trip with one of our cars. I would never have bought a regular Prius due to looks. Just can't get past the way they look. But, they are a very popular car around here so others don't have my hang up
Dan

 

I believe EPA MPG testing is with 100% gaso (no ethanol) and their out-dated test has 55 MPG max speed limit. Not sure if Consumer Reports is using ethanol E10, but they do their own MPG rankings at closer to normal highway speeds. Let's face it many places today people going 75-80+ Miles per hour and so way no to match EPA MPG ratings since speed has a large negative impact on MPG. In that sense, no car tested by CR will meet EPA ratings.

 

Consumer Reports, call me. My C4 averages 53-54mpg city and highway. I don't do anything special; except keep tires 1# over recommended and once in a while, hypermile when I remember. C/R, I will happily let you drive my C.

 

CR's city driving test is brutal. Its short with multiple stops and starts. No car can do really well at at, yet the Prius C has the best city rating of any non electric car CR has ever tested. They even called it "stellar". Nothing at all like the EPAs city test. Unless your city driving is done primarily in places like mid town Manhattan, you're more likely to get the EPA mileage than you are CRs.

My non-highway driving, which is mostly rural roads with some stop and go mixed in is averaging 60 mpg. Highway is around 50 mpg if I keep it to 70 mph or less.

 

We've never got anywhere near the Canadian ratings. To be fair, I think they're acknowledged to be wildly optimistic, and will shortly be revised via a more realistic testing method.

For us, it's mostly short trips, in town. But occasionally out of town road trips. The Prius is at it's best at extended in-town driving, with light traffic, I think.

Our best road trip mileage was around 4.2 liters per 100 km (compares to 52~53 US mpg), which is still higher (worse) than the official highway rating of 4.0.

And 3.7 for in-town driving? Not going to happen, LOL. Still, obviously, this is by far the best car we've had for mileage.



(See I managed to select 2013 year. Thought I'd picked 2010. Anyway, checked: no difference.)

 

We are pretty far apart geographically, but your description of fuel economy performance sounds very close to my own. With very little space between lights I downtown Toronto, my C performs at its absolute WORST during my daily inner-city commute. 6-7 l/100km is a frequent reality. Less dense city driving / low speed highway driving is the only way I can get close to the fuel economy posted by others. I wish there was a way to sort fuelly by very specific regions (ie Toronto, Ontario) and see if my specific region is generally tougher on fuel economy.

MrDiesel, thanks for the tips and I will be sure to look into them! I set my tire pressure at high 30s, which i hoped would deliver reasonably good performance.

 

You do realize he's driving a Prius and not a Prius C. Also the chart is for a Prius and not a C
You should bump your tires up to at least 40 psi, IMO.