Fuel economy 2019 awd-e LE Prius

You didn't put faster shoes on? Or more spirited music?

 

William Tell Overture...

True story:

I was working for a small steel detailing outfit; the boss happened to be sitting next to me. He had some mix-of-classical CD's playing, background music. The William Tell Overture came on (the Lone Ranger theme song?). I caught his eye, telepathically saying "I bet you wish this was always playing, eh...".

 

I only ever listen to Classical Music - absolutely hate it when they put you on hold on the phone and it's BOOM BOOM BOOM - "music".

When I was Business Manager in a large school, I had control of the on-hold music ... guess it had to be Classical. But we got a lot of compliments on the on-hold music, never a complaint.

 

Usually, the opposite can be true. When the oil is too full, the crankshaft can hit the pool and foam the oil, leading to lower oil pressure. The PCV system maintains the crankcase pressure (different than the old pressure) to the proper level regardless of oil level, typically.

 

I recently had my first "longish" out-and-back with the LE-AWD (28 miles each way): 59.9 mpg outbound, 85.4 mpg returning. That's mostly "fast backroads" style driving, i.e. no freeways, some stoplights, speed limits mostly around 45-60. My overall average is now 54.1 mpg after ~900 miles.

I think, summer MPGs will be much better than winter because
1) Longer trips - engine has a chance to warm up
2) "Summer gas" is supposedly better for MPG than winter
3) ? Maybe hillier driving (i.e. mountains) is better for MPG - that's been my sense so far, but hopefully I'll have more "data" this summer to decide if it's the hilliness, or just the longer drives.

 

Hi all, I finally got around to estimating real gas mileage to date.
The computer on the AWD-e says the overall average gas mileage is 55.6 mpg (USA).
The car has gone 1388 miles. I kept track of gas added, although, I felt it too much hassle to enter that data into the car display at just the right moment, so I just write it on sticky notes. So I've used up about 24 gal, which I calculate to be 57.83 mpg!
So, that's a little puzzling, I thought the Prius computer was supposed to be "overly optimistic", but mine seems to overly pessimistic?

As for the recent trips, I've had three longish trips now 35-90 miles each way):
one more or less straight west/up into the mountains, mostly on the freeway = 45.3 outbound, 80.5 return = 57.97 round-trip average
one south along hill and dale = 59.9 outbound, 85.4 return = 70.4 round-trip average
and one north along hill and dale but outbound was about 35% on the freeway = 62.6 outbound, 76.4 return = 69.7 round-trip average
So, around 70 mpg over hill and dale, 60 mpg on steep mountains. (As noted in the "mountains" thread, this is the opposite pattern from what I used to see in my non-hybrid car, which did best in the mountains - the big killer to gas mileage in the Prius on mountains seems to be the need to stay at normal traffic speed, which burns huge amount of extra gas on long uphill segments.)

 

Calculate it tank-by-tank.

1. Note odometer reading right after a fill up. (Does fourth gen display this for about 15 seconds, every time the car is shut down? Third gen is thus.)
2. Drive till it's time for another fill up, whatever your comfort level, doesn't really matter. I tend to fill up ridiculously early, mainly because I want to be the one doing the fill up.
3. Fill up using the same technique as last time. Simplest would be to fill up till it shuts off automatically, then stop.
4. Note the odometer reading a second time.
5. Subtract the first odometer reading from the second, and divide the difference by the gallons just pumped. The result is your mpg for that tank.

Note, you can also reset a trip meter, each time you fill up. I do that, but rely on it just as a check, base my calc on the two odometer readings. The should be the same, but stuff can happen, trip meter accidentally reset.

 

Good idea, I will start doing that.
Usually (as per Murphy's Law) my wife is in the car when I refuel, which means no tolerance for any perceived delays directly attributable to "gas-mileage obsession".

 

Just write the odometer reading on the printed receipt from the pump, then do the math at home. Or, take a quick photo of the odometer for the same purpose.

 

With PRIUS - I doubt that she'd complain - seeing it's almost 1000km between fills. I started recording every fill in 1974, and my wife would always write the fuel in the notebook on the odd occasions she filled up.

 

I guarantee she will complain...

but I think the quickest way is to
1) memorize the last 3 digits (or more) of odometer as I pull into gas station
2) write them on my sticky notes while the gas is filling

 

Another option, just reset your Trip A or Trip B (whichever you use to track a tank), then when you get home subtract that odometer reading from the master odometer and you have the odometer reading at the time of fill.

 

When I shut down at the gas station, I read and memorize the odo reading (it always displays). That used to be smooth sailing, but a year or two back they changed all the pumps, so that now you need to enter your credit/bak card's PIN. I can just about accomplish that, without dropping the odometer reading. Most times. If I'm dubious, I'll start and stop the car once make sure I've got it right.

And yeah record that number on the gas receipt, along with with the trip meter, and the displayed mpg. The latter just to see what kind of error. If the display says (for example) 4.8 liters per 100 km, the calculated will invariably be 5.1~5.2. I'm struggling of late, new tires taking a bit of a toll. Think they're coming around, slowly.

 

so - you don't get a chance to record the answer to the question your PRIUS asks you - to record the $price? Or reset the trip ODO?

 

No, I have never recorded the price... But I definitely will start recording ODO at future fill-ups.