You can believe that all you want, but I know people who get better mileage than me who don't "hypermile". Even if we're not "experienced" we should be able to get 50, right? 45, best tank ever.
i have not driven the car for a long time but i am noticing a trend. if you cannot get better then 35, your car is messed up or you drive it like a sports car. if you cannot get better then 40, you probably need to learn how to save gas through common sense things. do not speed up to red lights. coast more. try to take turns where you end up still having some momentum left. set cruise control to 60 on the highway. if you get 45 mph you are an average prius driver who lets the car do its thing naturally. if you get 50 plus you are a pro gas conservation driver or your driving conditions are truly ideal for the prius, distance wise, nice and level, etc... if you get 60 plus, simply wow!
Sounds about right to me. Although I live on a hill and still manage almost 60mpg without trying too hard.
Another rarely mentioned factoid. I work in SE VA and live in NC. I commute back and forth every day at 150 mi RT. In VA I buy E10 gas and in NC I buy 100% gas. I notice a 2 mpg difference from my 78000 mi mean; i.e. I get 45 mpg using VA E10 and 50 mpg using NC 100% gas. To the ones with issues here are a few other considerations. No matter what you do technique-wise the best you can get on the highway segment of your drive is about 50-51 mpg. That's the tops. Using 48 mpg as the mean of all users reporting ( GreenHybrid and EPA databases ) assuming 100% gas. Over 70 mph your fuel economy will drop precipitously. In cold weather your fuel economy will drop about 15%. In inclement weather your fuel economy will drop about 10%. Wind can take another 10% off your mean number. In City driving stop and go's will kill your fuel economy by as much as 30%. Short trips of any kind are death on fuel economy, doubly so in Winter. KEY POINT: These factor can be accumulated such that it's possible to get as low as 25 mpg in all the 'wrong' circumstances. I've sold about 500-600 of them and drive one daily 150 mi. I've never been unable to get 50-ish mpg on any of them.
Forgive a couple more probably obvious questions: Are you sure the parking brake is not hung up? (Using the parking brake every time helps keep it from sticking.) Have you taken it to more than one dealer for diagnosis? This may be a shock but they don't all know what they're doing.
2 cents here: 1) Sell the car that is causing so much grief. resale of Prii is pretty high. 2) Try a Civic Hybrid, maybe that would suit u better. 3) Do an apples to apples compare of a standard gas-only sedan versus the Prius on a similar route/conditions. Let me know which one sucks. 4) Again, just sell the car that sucks. No one should be stuck with something they don't like. It just may be the best decision you make. the rest of us here really think buying and driving a Prius is the best decision. To each their own. It's a car. Just a car. Not everyone will like it. Move on. Be happy.
Just so I don't give the wrong impression here, I love my Prius. (I just wish I didn't get a runt of the litter!) I will look closer at the rear breaks and appreciate all the good feedback and other suggestions. It's not really about the money savings either. We all know it's about that cool feeling you get when you see great numbers on your dash. (Anyone that buys a "new" car at all isn't really that interested in saving money!) I don't know if others have experienced this as well, but after learning to drive the Prius, the gas mileage I get on my VW Jetta, using some of the same ideas, have vastly improved in general as well. Coasting much more and using the breaks only when actually needed. Good things for all drivers to learn. The computer really helps teach how fuel economy actually works, even without the regenerative aspects factored in.
I do apply what I've learned on this forum to the cars I drive every day (I don't have my Prius yet), to the point that the kids are keeping an eye on things too, asking "what's your instant mileage, Mom?" or "here we go hypermiling". Pretty cool, they're learning young. It has helped my mpg as much as can be expected in a regular car, I guess.
Lets go back to the original post......Tex got 38 MPG on his Prius and was complaining? Name 2 similiar sized vehicles that claim 38 MPG combinned? Tex needs to put down the barbacue and pick up a calculator
Tell you what ... anyone with an '08 "runt" that wants to trade for my '04 (which btw has a lifetime average between 53mpg & 54mpg) ... please step up to the plate. I got those HOV stickers to sweeten the deal. Current mpg on this most recent tank of gas (only half full now with over 300 miles traveled so far) is "DOWN to only 61mpg because I had to make a 30 mile commute to the Doctor at 70mph-80mph speeds. Otherwise, it'd be still over 64mpg on this tankful. After logging 70K-ish miles, any moron can do it. I'm living proof. Just be patient, and use all the tricks you can learn here at PC. .
I live in San Jose, I drive 40 miles one way (10 miles City and 30 miles Freeway 101N) currently I got 55MPG (summer) for 2007 Prius 35K miles. I turn Air on when outside is around 75F and above. I can get better MPG if my eyes constantly looking at the MDF (my foot on gas pedal will adjust accordingly). I got worst MPG if I am on the phone etc...I got about 50MPG in Winter time. 37 PSI for both front and rear tires (my comfortable is 35PSI). 1st tank of gas get around 50MPG, now 35K after 19 months of driving get around 55MPG in Summer and around 50-52 MPG in Winter.
I'll perform the same service as Hill for anyone unhappy with their gas guzzling 2006 - 2008 Prius in Australia. If you have a 06 to 08 Prius which is only getting 5.2L/100km or worse on your commute I'll swap with you. I have a 2004 with accessories (see sig) which gets a consistent 4.2 to 4.4 litres per 100 kilometres on a daily commute but the swap is not reversible. Straight swap, no cash to change hands. Both parties pay own statutory costs. Any takers?
A few more bright ideas: You *don't* use "B" for everyday driving, right? Do you spend lunch hours sitting in the car parked with it ON, listening to music and the A/C running? (Forgive me for asking; you sound like you know what you're doing but what people don't know about cars is sometimes amazing.)
See, some of us Prius owners are glad to help. I don't immediately blame the drive for the low 38MPG. I think there might be a mechanical issue, or the terrain or driving patterns could be a big factor. Personally, I've never averaged lower than 44MPG on a tank, and I usually see 47-50 MPG. I now have 124,000 miles on my 2004 Prius.
The prius gas mileage doesnt suck, your driving habit does. Once you get used to driving the prius you will see better gas mileage. And you don't have to be a slow poke to get it either. I speed, beat people off the line and I still get hi 40's low 50's and thats speeding on the highway as well. Right now my tank mpg says 54.7 with 40 something miles on the tank (and that is bad for that low of miles driven). And once you break it in you will also see an improvement even if you don't change your habit. Once you get used to everything you will be pleased. especially when gas hits $5. Try filling up your old pickup with $50 bucks and making it last 500 miles......
You can get 50 mpg pretty easily if you coast down hills and aren't lead-footed around town. And keep your tire pressures at least at the recommended level. I don't think you need all that hypermiling glide stuff. That's for drivers who want to get in the Guinness record book for mileage--LOL.
The helpful folks are great! The judgmental post that are sure that it is all user error, not so much. It is easy to judge when your Prius is doing well. If I didn't test to make sure it wasn't me, I might be in that camp as well. Hopefully not. If any of you volunteering to trade cars ever get any takers and then end up with bad mileage still. Please be sure swallow your pride and post the results. It might help to humble some of the others that are sitting so high and mighty on their Prius pedestals. (Hyperglide or otherwise) Personally, I haven't given up on finding what is wrong with mine yet and I still love my car.
I'm not being derogatory in offering to swap cars but providing a genuine and real way out for anyone with a later model low mileage Prius which isn't returning satisfactory fuel economy. Call it the benevolent Pat Sparks
Anything under 60 MPG trips, I feel like I have been bad. I have been averaging 65MPG on my 70+ mile daily commute -- high of 73.7 MPG. I have only owned my Prius for 8 weeks, still learning.
