Terrible MPG: What am I doing wrong?

Damn I drive a 2010 Prius 4 with the Solar Panel Sunroof(which is supposed to be heavier) with 84,672 miles and I'm averaging 50.3 MPG I though the Generation 4 was to get better gas mileage . One thing I do in my Prius is I put a bottle of ZMAX in during oil changes Plus I have a K&N filter in.

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Previous poster is a new Prius owner driving in very cold conditions (by Seattle standards). He'll be doing much better about April or May or June. Depending on when our spring rains stop. Ok, maybe July.

 

I hear you I just brought my Prius two weeks ago and by doing some reading and research almost all Prius cars get better gas milage in the Spring and Summer time I suspect mines will probably be around 53 MPG by then

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I'd be pleased to get 50+mpg in USA at this time of year, is what I'm saying.

 

Yeah, on our west coast, more typically just rainy, it's stayed stubbornly cold for about 6 weeks, and the latest tank is 5.6 liters per 100 km. Converts to 42.2 mpg (US gallons). A lot of short shopping trips, and I'm doing the minority of the driving.

 

That mileage is not too bad for a Gen 3 Prius.

 

Winter takes it's toll. Temps dropped precipitously for over a month too. And..., DW was principal driver of late, oh well.

I tried to change units to US mpg, but Fuelly was having none of it. So anyway, higher is worse, equals more liters per 100 km's consumed:

 

Took a 87 miles trip this morning averaged 57. MPG

 

The "MPG game" is something almost every hybrid owner loves to play. But, as mentioned, just don't obsess about it. A few things you can count on: people posting trips with MPG you could only dream of, and advice on how to achieve said mpg. But unless they're traveling in your car, on your commute, in the same weather, etc. just forget about it.

Better to remember that regardless of what it says, it's better than the non-hybrid car you could be driving.

Also, I like heat, and cooling, and conveniences that come with the modern world. It's all about trade-offs.

DO do the things that make a difference - keep tires aired up, no drag racing, and drive like you don't have brakes!

Otherwise, just drive and enjoy!

 

With one of my car's i have in city with air conditioning on 9-11 MPG and on highway without going hard ...17 MPG
And this is 2017 German made car....
So when you see 45+ in bad weather going posted speed limit with all things on without trying to fight for best MPG this is something that will make me smile....And once i have 60+ MPG on good day in my Prime ...I'm happy again

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I am doing fine with 64MPG most of the time. Sometimes low 70's sometimes 51MPG.

Mostly foot related and tire pressure. Drive like the just put a steel plate in your foot and it hurts like hell.

 

I think your kitchen is in California, though. Some of us have colder conditions to endure.

 

It is typical for cold climates. Mine is in the thirties (MPG) but if I hit the freeway, it goes into the middle forties. Once your temperatures get above 60, you will see a vast improvement. My 2012 that I had, got 46 in the Winter and I was disappointed and then it got worse. I just got a 2017 in the last two weeks and have easily hit 57MPG, and that is in Wisconsin. Hoping for the 60's for mileage when the temp get near 70, which by the way is when you don't need AC and you don't need heat.

 

And my suspicion is that the A/C doesn't affect your economy as much as HEAT as it doesn't run the ICE as much.

 

We have seen triple digit weather last few weeks and it really kills mpg's.

 

^^^ do not know bout that. I'm in Central California where the temps have been 100+ almost since the start of summer. Driving in Eco mode, two bars on the fan motor, 72 degrees on the temp setting, S-Flow on and driving at most 55 mph on my 44 mile round trip commute I get 70 mpg.

It really does depend on the driver.

 

I had better economy in summer than in our mild winters. Summer a/c still allows the hybrid to operate as a hybrid, using the battery as a buffer and the ICE goes on and off not much more than in mild weather. In winter (and I'd suspect cold winters would be much worse), the ICE runs much more if I ask it to keep the interior warm.

 

It really depends on how long the trip is.

I've found that in my 5 mile one way/10 mile round trip commute, done mostly on 35 MPH speed limit roads at about 40 indicated speed, I take a pretty hard hit if I use AC instead of rolling down the windows - maybe 50-60 MPG instead of 60-75 MPG.

Now, winter, I take a harder hit, on a cold winter day, getting below 40 MPG has happened, and 50 is hard to get, because of the engine running for heat.

In any case, HVAC does use a considerable amount of energy to cool the cabin to the setpoint, and that means that the engine needs to run more to replenish the battery, which does hit mileage.

Interestingly, I've found that in winter, it's far less sensitive to driving style. This is largely because, with the engine constantly running to bring the car up to the HVAC setpoint, the battery is often being charged to full or near full, and therefore aggressive acceleration helps to deplete the battery, giving room for the engine to recharge it.

 

one little tip, if you are making more than one stop on a short shopping trip go to the one that is farther out 1st (it gives the car more time to warm up) then make the next stop on the way home. My sound funny but it works.