honest mpg for 2006

i am going to guess you have normal person driving habits. accelerate quickly,
do not use momentum properly when you know you have to stop ahead, drive
quick and fast on the highway passing often, do a lot of quick city type driving
which means the prius never warms up and perform optimally, etc...

describe for example, honestly, how you drive when you are stopped at a red
light and there is another light 200 yards ahead. do you try to gun it and make
then next light while it is green only to find yourself stopping due to it being red?

it is driving like that which is very wasteful.

 

I've owned a 2005, a 2007 and a 2008 Prius, and none has averaged under 47 mpg. My 2008 is currently on a 50+MPG tank. In normal driving without using any special techniques you should get at least 45mpg.

Driving style and weather conditions do affect mileage pretty significantly, but if you are getting mileage at 40 or under something is not right.

Of course, if all you drive are short (under 10 minute) trips you are going to get low mileage. (Any car gets really bad mileage until it warms up.) Beyond that, check tire pressures and look at your driving style. The lighter your throttle the better the mileage.

 

I'm consistently getting 50+ (sometimes 51) on my commute of 17 miles each way. This is on a 2006 package 8 model.

Before I changed to the current job, I had a 13 mile commute each way, but a LOT more stop and go, and the mileage was anywhere from 45 to 48.

Weekends, with lots of short trips around town, would tend to lower the cumulative average. Cold weather also tends to lower it as well, as the engine runs longer on AM startup to warm up the CAT. (And here in CA, with cold weather comes the "winter blend" gas, which intrinsically gets lower mileage. Not sure what the situation is in WA regarding that.) Really hot weather will also lower mileage, though not nearly as noticeably.

Wet pavement will lower mileage.

Finally, of course, as others have said, your personal driving habits have a bearing as well, though if you've been driving the Prius for long and have been paying attention to the consumption bars, I would expect you're doing most of the things right there.

In your situation, I would check that the tires are properly inflated (I carry mine slightly higher than recommended at 36-38 PSI). Check the tread on the tires for excessive or uneven wear (always a good idea anyway). You might want to have the alignment checked also: if the wheels aren't tracking properly, that will affect things. Does the engine turn off at lights? Once it's warmed up, it should. Has the car had its regular services?

That's all I can think of.

 

Honest mileage:

53+ on long trips
49 on medium trips
46 on short trips in nice weather
42 on short trips requiring ac or heat.

Because 95% of my driving is short trips, my overall average is the low 40s.
I know what the car *can* do. I've had tanks average over 60. But my normal daily commute (55MPH + stoplights), just blows for getting exceptional mileage.

-Ken

 

I have had my 06 T4 (UK Spec) for 2 years and 3 months it now has completed 54,000 miles and has averaged 55.8 MPG Imperial (46.5 MPG US) now our gas is £1.20 a litre (over $10 a Imperial Gallon - $9.10 US / Gallon) I have started to drive a bit more carefully and am gettining neare 60 Imperial (50 US).
My commute is 60 miles a day over hilly terrain - car is also used for business trips.

 

My lifetime avg. from manual calculations is just barely over 46 mpg. I'm at 32K miles now and got my car in January 06.

The only time I can manage 50+ mpg on a tank (per the trip computer) is if I (struggle) to keep it under 70 mph on the highway. My commute is ~25 miles each way and takes me normally 28-32 minutes w/the first 8-10 mins being city followed by expressway (45 mph).

 

As others suggest, individual driving conditions mean a lot. Tell us more about your drives: typical length, traffic, any stop-and-go, terrain, speeds, etc.

I won't be so quick to assume you're driving like a bat out of h***, but driving technique does come into play. EPA mileage estimates are not based on someone driving like Granny (or like some of us around here ), but they're not based on jackrabbit starts and slam-the-brakes-at-the-last-minute red light approaches either.

That 70 MPH highway piece may be part of it. You can expect mid-40s for MPG in warm weather (70F) at that speed and around 40 MPG in cool weather (30F). That's assuming sustained driving at a steady speed, dry pavement, level terrain, and no wind. Add in even a light wind (a 5 MPH head or cross wind can drop it by 5% or more), substantial hills, wet pavement (you DO have some of that in Seattle, don't you? ), and short segments with frequent entries and exits onto the highway, and it will be considerably lower. Average a poor highway segment with a 45-50 MPG city segment, and results like yours are not unexpected.

 

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What did your previous vehicle deliver for MPG? Extreme driving conditions will harm efficiency regardless of what you drive.

It is rather odd that you have never seen a high average. At some point over the last year and a half, there should have been a break from the routine... perhaps a weekend trip or something? You'll discover quite a difference by not always following the same pattern. Heck, even letting someone else drive can be quite informative.

As for "honest", that particular choice of adjective does make one wonder. Climate, fuel, and road conditions vary quite a bit throughout the country. So, there will always be owner differences.

.

 

Even if I try .... really hard .... I cannot get such poor fuel economy. The worst I've ever seen for a tank was a bit over 45 mpg - and that was all highway at 80+ mph.

... Brad

 

1) Check your tire pressure. The recommendation that you'll find all over this site is 42 front/40 rear or 44/42. When you get it from the dealer it will be something like 35/33. So the first thing you do is pump up.

2) Now find an open freeway. Turn off your air conditioner and roll up your windows. After about 5 minutes of driving to warm up the car and charge the battery, reset the computer and slow down to 55-60 mph.

3) Keep steady pressure on the accelerator, letting the vehicle slow down as you go uphill and speed up as you go downhill.

Do this for 30 minutes and then see what the computer says. In my new 2008 I know I would easily get 55-60 mpg.

If you are still getting ~40 mpg then there is something wrong with the car. But more than likely, this will teach you something about highway driving and it will prove that your car is just fine. Next step is avoiding short trips and learning how to drive in the city. Lots of information about that here.

Tim

 

I have a 2008 SPM and have about 4500 mile on it. I average about 52mpg but I have a 20 min commute to work mostly at 60mph. There have been a couple people to report that they get less than 40mpg. Since it hard to believe that the mileage could be so bad under any condition I wonder if there are some Prii that have problems right from the factory.... something like a stuck break might make that happen. It would be interesting to have someone who does well with their Prius drive yours and see what kind of mileage they get.

Has anyone done any research to find out if some Prii do better than others under the exact same conditions? If that could be proven then I would imagine that the ones that did better could command a premium price.

G

 

45ish mpg is typical for us, driving our '05.

It could be the car, it could be your driving style. Which do you think it is?

 

46 average for a 2006.

45 worst, 49 best.

Mostly short trips around town, 5-10 miles, lots of hills. Long trip every two weeks, 250 miles each way over two mountain passes (0' to 5000' to 1000' to 5000' to 800' elevation changes) is usually 48-49 mpg.

BTW, this is exactly what I used to get with a 2004 Civic Hybrid. Of course the Prius is a much nicer vehicle to drive IMO.

 

Hills!

Something to consider. If you live in a hilly area, as I do, you will take a significant MPG hit. Very modest hills, where you can coast down (using no gas) and perhaps drive back up at a 30 mpg (giving a 60 mpg average) are great. Unfortunately around my neighborhood we have hills that are steep enough that no matter what speed you take them at, you'll be doing no better than 20 mpg, giving an average of 40 mpg for both directions.
My usual tank in 42 - 45 mpg, but without hills I'm sure I'd easily get 48 - 50 mpg...

 

1-check your cabin air filter, just wash it and stick it back in
2-cycle your emergency brake a few times, it may actually be dragging
3-air up your tires 42-40 or more
4-have your alignment checked, when the milege is as bad as yours I'd suspect the alignment
5-mobil 1 0-30 weight will make your ice nice
6-to much oil in the crankcase seems to have an effect on mileage, mine is 3/4th's of the way up the dip stick marks
7-don't carry any unneeded weight
works for me

 

As you will note I'm just one package away and the same year; however after 43K miles I'm just over 49 mpg average without any special driving techniques other than I do tend to drive the speed limit. About half of this mileage was acquired in south Florida with no hills and the other half here in the Metroplex with hills. Air used in both places and heat here in Texas during the winter. Unless all of your trips are very short, 5 miles or less, I would believe there is a problem with your vehicle.

 

Just thought I would chime in on this also. I am a relative newcomer to the site myself and just took delivery of my 2008 on July 23. I drove it straight home from the dealership with the odometer starting at 1 mile.

The next day I decided to drive it on my first in-state business trip which consisted of 2 round trips both Thursday and Friday of that week between NW Columbus, OH to Sidney, OH. Overall, I put about 350 miles on the car over those 2 days. I tried to drive my "normal" style which includes occassionally exceeding the speed limit slightly, but usually stay around 65 depending on which highway or backroad I am on. I was thrilled to average 47.3 mpg during these 2-days given it was mostly highway driving and the car is still in the "break-in" stage.

Now granted, I was careful since it is a new car and yes I tried some pulse & glide; but it mostly ended up being occassional coasting when appropriate. However, I am a complete novice at this stage at the hypermiling game and thought this performance was excellent and totally reaffirmed my decision in purchasing this vehicle. When I have the need for speed, I pull out one of our speed demons - but that's a whole different kinda priority. I now have a little over 500 miles on the car in mixed driving daily and still am averaging 45.6 to 46.8 depending on how aggressive I drive. (If you can't tell, I am generally more used to sports cars and have to occassionally remind myself to take it down a notch.)

My advice for what's it's worth given my limited experience, is try to adapt your driving style a little and take advantage of the hyper techniques when appropriate, but don't drive yourself crazy watching that screen and trying to be religious about it if it's not your thing. The best thing to do is enjoy the car and see if you can casually tweak your style of driving to inch those numbers up.

I enjoy reading everyone's posts and learning all the tips, so I hope this helps.

 

I went in to my Toyota dealership around march and the tech asked me about my mileage. I said it "sucked" since I was only getting about 37.5 mpg.. I knew coming out of winter with a lot of heat use it would suffer, but that was the worst ever. He gave me a big article on driving a hybrid with some great techniques and insights. You don't have to be super aware and Puls and Glide on EVERY trip though to get decent mileage. Since that day, I haven't seen a tank under 52mpg. As such, I get much better mileage than my husband gets since I pay a bit more attention to coasting, gliding and acceleration than he does. He drives it like he would any car, and he gets much worse mileage when he drives (thought it's infinitly better than the Wrangler he used to drive). I spend my trips making up for his trips!!!