MPG Drop In 2012 v

check your 12 volt health?

 

I had a rear brake stuck and it wore down one of the rear brake pads that had to be replaced. I had a similar decrease in MPGs like you during the last 2-3 months. I also had new tires to add to the variables, but after I had the brakes repaired I got my summer 8-10 MPG back.

So have your brakes checked.

 

i haven't seen any mention of it. maybe your parking brake is dragging.

 

New tires is just too big of a coincidence to ignore, and its the simplest explanation for your MPG drop. Pump them up to 40psi and see how it does. IOW, don't go looking for problems when the real cause is staring you in the face.

 

I wonder if the OP noticed any hills when driving between central Oregon and Redding.

I've often been amazed at the fuel economy figures reported by people on many different car models - not just the Prius v. I've tracked every gallon of fuel used in all our cars since the 1970's in log books (over 1,000,000 miles) and have rarely exceeded EPA ratings or gotten all that close to EPA ratings on a regular basis.

For January through May of this year, our Prius v Five/ATP averaged 34.6 mpg. The driving was mostly a mix of 25-45 mph city streets and 55-65 mph highways with very little engine idling or traffic jams. Tires were kept at the recommended pressures on the door jam. January through April was on Blizzak WS70 winter tires and May on the OEM 17" tires that came with the car. I didn't calculate the average for June until today but I can see from the individual fill-up data that the overall average would improve to the 37-39 mpg range.

Our Prius v got about 42 mpg on a mostly 65-70 mph, 400 mile trip in June which was the best fuel economy since the car was purchased new in 2012. On that trip, the car carried only a 130 pound person and one light (35 pound?) airline checkable rolling suitcase and was on cruise control 95%+ of the time.

My point is that the fuel economy of our Prius v is fluctuating similar to all the other vehicles on which I have tracked fuel economy and that it is getting about the same average percentages of EPA fuel economy ratings as the other vehicles I've tracked.

 

You can see from my fuelly signature I've averaged very close to EPA (42 EPA) over about 25k miles. I drive mostly through gently rolling terrain with hills of maybe 50-300 feet. Low altitude. Temperatures from 5F to 102F. Mixed small city and interstate driving, mostly one 200lb driver but sometimes 2-3 passengers and a trunk full of luggage. I do run about 38PSI and drive ECO and moderately but no special techniques. On a highway, I'm liable to be 65-67 on cruise control in a 70 zone but mixed in the averages are several 75 MPH 250 mile trips. I'm often the first one out at a light so it isn't like I'm dogging it. I see a slight drop in winter but not enough to even notice. In summer, I run the A/C 100% of the time on auto.

Tires, tire pressure and driving habits would be the only things differing offline's description above from my situation.