Am I getting "too good" fuel mileage? Something wrong with my car?

That’s good MPG. Normal 4-cycle motor, even Prius engine, is most fuel efficient at air to fuel ratio that’s also safe. No need to worry.

 

Your mild climate and moderate highway speeds go a good way towards optimizing your mileage.

All that heat in your truck's engine compartment had to come from somewhere. Unless you've got a check engine light on the car's doing fine.

Don't worry about what people tell you. Just enjoy it.

 

The only thing 'wrong' that I can see is that you are not spending much time going 70 - 80 mph on the freeway. The mostly low speed city miles open up a lot of room to produce very high mpg if conditions are favorable and you handle them well.

One possible thing wrong with the car that pops to my mind is tire size -- if the current tires are smaller than original, then the odometer and speedometer shifts will cause mpg calculations to be erroneously high.

 

The reason that people in your neck of the woods sometimes don't get 50mpg and seem to go through brakes every 100,000 miles (or sooner) is because they drive like....well not like you.
I always tell people that if it runs good, it is good.....and it's really hard for a car to knock down 60 mpg when it's not running well.
Check your oil volume semi-occasionally and keep doing what you're doing.

Now....
I'm going to say something that will completely derail the thread and start a huge, pointless fight.
Remember my earlier advice....

Your oil seems a little thick.
My company car (2010/77,000 miles) runs with 5w30, and there are a lot of oil snobs out there that say that if you don't use their brand/viscosity of oil that you will trash your engine.
Of course....in your case that would be like telling an octogenarian that they're not eating enough vegetables and getting enough exercise.
If you've been using QS for very much of the 276,000 miles?
I'd keep doing that, but you might also look at your OM and consider clubbing down to QS 5w30 and see if you notice any difference.


Good Luck!

 

yep, you're the first priuschatter ever to report going less than 75 in LA.

 

Congrats--sounds like you're doing things RIGHT! That's a really nice tank average. I've gotten some of my best fuel economy on crowded highways (70mpg for a few days, in the summertime), but I think the best I've done at the end of a tank is 62.

You're right, the Prius usually produces much less waste heat than a conventional car. In colder weather, fuel economy suffers a fair bit because the car has to run the gasoline engine more just to produce enough heat for the cabin heater. Cold temperatures also reduce the efficiency of the electric drive and the gasoline engine. In warm temps, the Prius can really sip fuel.

 

Obviously the OP must of been driving through a certain crossroad when he said out loud, "I'd sell my soul for better gas mileage!".

There's something unnatural happening now.

Honestly, I wouldn't worry about it. Worry if the gas mileage plummets.

 

Drove through once.

....talked to NO ONE!

 

Hickey, a 2007 Touring Package 2 has 16" 7 spoke wheels, HID headlights and fog lights but doesn't have nav, leather, homelink mirror, & 6 CD changer. A regular Package 2 has 6 spoke 15" wheels. It doesn't have the same stuff as the Touring 2 and it doesn't have the foglights & HID headlights.

 

Lean is mean when talking two strokes, right up to the moment of seizure. But they all make the best power at that point. Good for you for maximizing the potential of your PRI. What two stroke do you pilot?

 

I drive through the crossroads about 4 times a week.

Robert Johnson - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Years ago I used that picture as a screen saver.

 

Don't believe the gauges. Set your odometer every time you fill up the tank, and divide the miles covered by the gallons filled. That gives you the true fuel economy number.

 

Make any deals while you were there?

 

I sold my soul to Region One Mental Health, the Devil is only in second place.

 

Make sure you average it over several tanks full as there's always some inconsistency with the exact fill volume from one tank to the next. It's quite likely that when you average it out that the displayed mpg is reasonably close or slightly optimistic.

Given the speeds that you drive then 55 to 60 MPG is perfectly feasible. Similar to yourself, my average trip speeds are not particularly high and the vast majority of my full tank averages (probably more than 95%) are between 55 and 60 MPG (or 3.9 to 4.3 L/100km as we measure it here).