New to me 2011 Prius why is it getting 35-37MPG!!!

start with the new brakes, make sure they aren't dragging.
i uppose injectors could be dirty at that mileage. how is the 12v health?
defenders will cost you a couple mpg's, what tyres pressure?

 

That is pretty much what my 2014 (35K miles) gets. I do a significant amount of freeway driving, use cruise control, and am somewhat aggressive on starts. I make no effort to draft behind trucks or stuff like that. I figured this was within the standard deviation, but will be interested to read other replies.

 

What lengths are your trips?

Here is what I found on a '16 v
Summer
1-5 miles 25 mpg
5-10 miles 35 mpg
10+ miles 40+ mpg

Winter is about 2-5 mpg less

 

...er, um, how heavy is your right hoof?

 

Where did you get the brakes done? It's easy for a mechanic not familiar with 3rd gen rear brakes to get the caliper piston orientation wrong, creating a lot of drag. A couple of tests for this:

1. Feel the middle of the rear wheels after an extended drive. They should not feel any more than barely warm. If they are hot to the touch the brakes are dragging.

2. To confirm, jack up the rear of the car (put (wheel chocks on the front wheels), and with the parking braking brake off (obviously) spin the wheels. They will likely drag a bit, but should be fairly easy to spin, go a revolution or two after a good push. The should not be dragging significantly.

If they are, and doubly so if it was non-Toyota mechanic, the caliper pistons are likely mis-positioned, causing drag and uneven brake pad pressure as well. The rear brakes in 3rd gen and onward are disc brakes with integrated parking brake, and the back of the pads have a pin which MUST be positioned and locked between the spokes on the face of the caliper piston. If this doesn't happen the piston is bearing ON the pin, skewing everything, dragging royally, and messing up the rotors.

I'll attach Repair Manual pdf on on the brakes. Rear brakes are the second half, and there's some picture and instruction regarding piston orientation. You want to ensure the pin is in between the spokes, and before parking brake is applied the pads are firmly seated. Best to depress the brake multiple times before reconnection the 12 volt, then test drive, and only then apply the parking brake.

Not sure what a "tune up" is, but judging from the condition of the EGR pipe, and considering 185K on the odo, your EGR cooler, valve, the intake manifold where EGR connects, could all badlly clogged. The EGR pipe is kind of the canary in the coal mine. If it's badly clogged it could be dropping mpg I think.

 

I can easily get 50 mpg. It's all about how you drive. It's not a sports car so don't drive that way. Learn to coast a lot when you see a red light. Stay within the Eco range.

 

Uh oh. Do the tests: they may have done it right, or not.

 

The brake work would have elicited the disconnection of the 12V aux battery, and this will reset various records on the vehicle. So you will have to accumulate some miles to get back to reasonable mpg readings. If it is still low after a week or two then I would look into other possibilities.

 

I've got the impression it takes a couple of start-up-and-drive for the car to "clear it's head". After doing brake work with 12 volt disconnect, the car will display a somewhat alarming revving up, especially just after starting, like it's recalibrating throttle response or something. I would say within a day it's back to status quo, just my impression though.

Also, who knows what Belle Auto did. It's not the usual to need to disconnect 12 volt. Maybe they didn't, and got lucky?

It's may not strictly be needed, if you're very careful not to open driver's door, and also tromp the brake pedal multiple times before restarting the car, so that an "excess brake pedal travel" is not detected.

All speculation though. For the DIY'r, it's better safe than sorry, doing the 12 volt disconnect.

 

Run it in ECON mode, not Normal mode. When you are circling a parking lot looking for a parking spot, or on a long, level lower speed limit section of road, hit the EV button. You can't get 50 mpg in a Prius and drive it like a sports car.

When I first got my 2011 used Prius I ran a set of Lucas Oil Complete Fuel System Renewal through it (4 successive tankfuls) - after oil change and spark plug change.

Bump the tire pressure up. I like to run 42 front/40 rear. Some owners go to 44 front/42 rear.

Try Mobil 1 0w-20 Advanced Fuel Economy oil. Frequently check the dipstick for oil consumption and only switch to High Mileage oil if you have to. Most oil additives are higher weight (usually 30W), so I wouldn't use any of them.

Don't expect overnight jumps to 50 MPG. Use Trip A to record long distance average MPG and I like to reset Trip B every tank of gas.

My 135,000 mile 2011 Prius Three was running 48.5 mpg long term over the Winter. Last tank of gas is at 50.5 mpg now that the weather has warmed up here in NW Washington State.

 

I am wondering if the battery pack is bad. The mileage you are getting sounds like ICE operation only. The mileage is similar to what I get in the winter when the ICE has to run a lot more to achieve operating temperature.

 

agreed.

 

defenders might be costing you 305 mpg, are you running 42/40?

 

The causal locus of your poor mpg is ambiguous. Can you find a friendly nearby experienced Prius driver to test drive your car and see what he/she gets, AND watch you drive your car to fine tune the way you operate it? Hopefully that would either isolate the cause in the way the car is operated , or in the physical aspects of the car, and we can go from there. Good luck!