Just traded in the wife's VW beetle for a '12 Prius two with 20k miles. She love's it, but I can't say I'm too impressed since the MPG is only ~5 more (46 vs 41) than the bug. I will hold my final feelings until after I can spend some alone time with the Prius ;-). The previous owner did customize a few things, like tinting the windows. I'm also not sure if the leather seats or the 17" wheels are original equipment, but they sure do make the car look good. Before I picked up the car, I ordered an adapter and the software to get rid of the reverse beeping. I look forward to learning from and sharing with the PriusChat group.
Congrats! Enjoy the ride and do read up on the threads about maximizing fuel economy. Best of luck! HTC Evo 3D
Welcome... enjoy the prius... it takes time to learn how to drive it to get the max MPG. Don't worry you don't need to drive it such that you piss off everyone behind you to get good mileage... when I lost my prius getting 500 miles on a tank was getting easier.
Welcome Virginia...I am surprised the Beetle does so well MPG...we must check FuelEconomy.gov vehcile comparison from Fuelly.
That had me wondering too. Since the OP didn't give the year and model, I compared a 2010 automatic transmission VW Beetle with the 2012 Prius. The government site shows 23 MPG combined for the VW versus 50 MPG for the 2012 Prius.
The beetle was a '99 2.0L 5-speed that I tweaked a bit. I'm sure that after I learn to drive the Prius and tweak on it a bit, that 46 will be a distant memory.
OK DoubleTap you'll fit in well here. There is an electronic hack for Gen2 to get better MPG in the first 5-10 minutes, which is when we take a pretty big MPG hit. I do not know if that applies to Gen3 2012. We gotta de-Calfornize, I am thinking.
Welcome from another NoVa Prius owner! We also got less mpg at first with our 2012 hatchback , but DW and I used the Hybrid System display to learn how to drive it more efficiently over several months. Increasing tire pressures on OEM Avids to 40/38 also helped increase mpg according to my records. Good luck and enjoy the ride!
