55 mpg

That is great. Based on my 4000 mile experience, you will continue to do better and better. Plus, you will learn a bit more about how to drive the Prius.

Keep us posted from time to time.

 

I stopped worrying about it and driving like granpa, so I've settled in to ~50 mpg's from ~55 the first week or two. Still, I'm a happy camper.

 

Are these calculated or computed values?

 

Since he has yet to fill the car up, I would assume it's the numbers the car is giving him.

 

My numbers are actually going down over time (click the Fuelly icon in my sig for a graph).

 

Mine are going up. I just posted a my all time best tank #9 on the mpg thread of 69.3 comp, 65.23 calculated. it's getting cooler so it will probably level off but I AM going to hit 70 before this time next year.

My Fuelly page

 

Don't forget you dash MPG is not accurate. You can count on an over reading of 2-4 MPG. My last trip with 355 miles my computer stated 61.5 MPG.

When I calculated MPG by miles driven and gasoline use it came out to 57.49MPG.

So if you are reading 55 MPG on your dash guage your probably in reality getting 51-52 MPG or so.

Still that's not too bad.

Most cars don't even get 40 MPG's.

alfon

 

?!

How many even get 40? Aside from the Civic and Insight hybrids (and the Jetta TDI in highway driving), I don't know of any.

You are being most generous!

I suppose some cars might get a good one-way 100-mile jaunt in the upper 30s or even into the 40s, but not many cars will even get 30 MPG, tank after tank.

 

My numbers are starting to go down too because:

1- Dramatic increase in MPH (from 31-32 to 65-66) due to 95% HWY driving.
2- Cold weather.

At some point, I was scoring a tleast 64 MPG (MID), but now just in the low 50's. Still not bad given the circunstances...

 

Depends on who's driving the car . My 99 Elantra (replaced by the Prius) easily gave me 42-47 MPG averages on the highway. The only constraints I used were to keep it below 60 MPH, no A/C, and gentle acceleration. However, most people cannot abide those constraints on their driving habits.

 

I have seen this statement several times. Why would colder weather lower mileage? More dense fuel and more dense air seems to spell more miles per gallon. What am I missing?

 

The Atkinson cycle engine is a lower-pressure engine, therefore it can be made lighter weight. It is a small aluminum engine that runs most efficiently at a fairly high temperature, but looses its heat easily.

This is why grill blocking was so popular in the Gen2. Some already are trying it with the Gen3. I do not have a scanguage, so I will be waiting for good information from others before I consider grill blocking on my 2010.

 

Frankly, I don't know the technical details about it but fact is cold weather has historically always impacted the MPG of all my cars. My only car that has a very low MPG hit during winters is my Minivan (Honda Odyssey), which is also the biggest car/engine I ever owned, so my uneducated guess is: the larger the engine the smaller the MPG hit during winters... is that fair to say?

 

EPA hwy numbers can be beat in many cars. I used to have a 99 Elantra too and a 03 Civic, both of which could get more than 40 MPG in the hwy despite of EPA lower estimates. It required some effort in the Elantra, like going considerably bellow the speed limit, but in the Civic, I used to get 40 MPG or a little better driving on or even over the speed limit.

There are many other cars that can do 40 in the hwy if driven gently, some with a strong effort and others with much less: Fit, Yaris, Corolla, Accent, Versa, Sentra, Rio, Smart, Focus, Rabbit, GTI, Aveo, Cobalt, etc...

So, what makes the Prius distinct is that you don’t need much effort to consistently get 48-52 city/hwy combined lifetime MPG. Can the cars listed above and others get 40 MPG in the hwy in optimal conditions? Yes they can and they do but their city/hwy combined lifetime MPG is most likely around 26-30.

 

Another reason for reduced MPG in winter is that the gas gets cold weather additives put in and that reduces it right there. So we end up with a double hit - the cold block takes a bit longer to heat up (hence grill blocking and the EBH), and the gas doesn't contain as much energy or can't release it as well (not much can be done about that).