What Is Your WORST Prius Fuel Economy?

Question here... When mileage per gallon figures are quoted what do you use for a source? Do you do it the old fashioned way or do you use the figures on the console readout? Also, how often do you reset the consumption screen?

 

Hi Richard. Mine resets itself every time I fill up.

Most people use the console readout but some people also like to do it from "at the pump" measurements as well. If you do "at the pump" measurements then you have to be very careful about the amount of fuel you pump because apparently the fill volumes can be quite inconsistent (from fill to fill) due to the rubber bladder in the gas tank. (we don't have the rubber bladders here in Australia, but this is what I've been told is the case in North America).

If you average the fuel usage over several tanks then you'll get more accurate results. I'd recommend doing this just to be sure that your displayed MPG is reasonably accurate, but then if it is confirmed accurate then I'd not bother with the old fashion calculations after that.

 

I use the MFD, but I also do hand calcs (fill quantity and odometer readings). Hand calcs for the GenII Prius are misleading for individual tanks due to excessive variation in fill volumes. However, over the long haul the MFD and the hand calcs for mine are in close agreement.

I reset the MFD each tank (or it resets itself if I don't beat it to it.)

GenIII's have a large discrepancy between MFD and actual MPG.

 

my worst was this past December. we had over 2 feet of snow, and the snow plow came down our street, exactly...well, ok, it did come within a mile of our street.

so, every morning, i had to go out, start up Pri, get shovel out and dig, because all night long, cars driving by would push slush over a foot deep into drifts that piled up in front of the Pri.

then, i get in and start rocking. this took anywhere from a minute to as much as 15 minutes one day (neighbor finally came out and pushed me)....gas mileage for the tank, 32 mpg (in 5 years had 3 tanks in 30's including two last winter)

on the highway, dont know, but lowest probably around 45-46 during winter sometime although that was pretty rare to be below 50 mpg

 

Worst trip was in April, 2009, in my 09 Touring Edition, with a full load of luggage, two adults, two ten-year-old twins, and a Thule roof rack carrying a Sears X-Cargo full of even more luggage. We went from Charlotte to Myrtle Beach, and got 37.5 MPG, at or above the speed limit, calculated by hand. I'll take it!

However, my best mileage is about 44, calculated by hand. I've never seen better in 15,000 miles. That said, I drive assertively in Charlotte, so as not to get run over. And I do shamelessly enjoy the automatic AC. I bought the car for its amenities *and* its high mileage, not because I'm a tree hugger. My '98 Corolla (now my daughter's car) gets 25.5 MPG under similar circumstances (averaged over about 76,000 miles), and my wife's old Sienna averaged just over 19 MPG under similar circumstances. So the average we get in the Prius, about 40, seems perfectly acceptable.

 

Wisconsin to Florida last winter.
Way down: 30.6
Way back: 28.6

 

I recorded every fill-up for the three years I owned my 2006 Prius. Average mpg over 3 years was 43mpg. My absolute worst tank mileage was 25mpg last January! MFD showed 28, so it wasn't a calculation error. It was just short-trip, stop-and-go, hilly driving and extremely cold.
Do I win the prize? :cheer2:

 

lol... i guess that Cd rating kinda got shot to Hell...how fast were you driving?

i have done a lot of "heavy trips" i posted an IKEA trip from last summer, and unlike the VW in the commercial, i could still get under the bridge, and what i got was at least 3-400 lbs and we still averaged 52 MPG on way home...but with that stuff tied to roof, we were only doing about 50-55 on freeway on way home

 

lol... i guess that Cd rating kinda got shot to Hell...how fast were you driving?

Speed was held to about 75mph.
Car handled it really well.

 

33-34 mpg city/ 37-41 city-hwy
temps 15-30F
tires 42/40

Bought used 2006 past summer, got in minor accident in September, car was in shop for a month. My mechanic (who works exclusively on Toyotas and Hondas) insists this mileage is normal for this weather. I beg to differ!

 

I have a 2006 prius. In the beginning I got upto 50 MPG. Now I get less than 30 MPG. The mileage has been going down since the last 2 oil changes. Took it back to the dealer a few times but can't figure out the problem. The temps here are in Mid 60s/Mid-High 30s. I've been driving on the same streets, with the same load (my two kids). Not sure what changed. I am frustrated.

 

desiprius, I'd check that emergency brake if I were you. :huh:

Right now, I'm averaging about 46-48 per tank. Driving too fast over some mountains, with the heater "too warm"... in pretty cold weather, often with deluge rain. We just pumped the tires up again this morning.

 

10mpg

 

My last two fill-ups have been 32mpg. (Average is around 44.) Short daily commutes, subfreezing temperatures, and serveral feet of snow can do that to a little Prius!

 

My worst tank mpg was 39.82 during the last week of Decemeber. I was on vacation, short trips around town and temperatures in the high teens to low thirties F.

 

last winter was the worst i had seen in my 2006. had tanks of 34 and 37 mpg. had a pile of snow backed up by temps 30º below normal for nearly a month.

that sucked. despite being the state capital, Olympia does not have snowplows, so they took regular trucks and mounted sand blades on them. that worked well enough to knock down the deeper stuff, but that privilege was relegated to the streets in and around the capital only.

our street never got touched and i was parked on the street so all night long, cars would drive by pushing snow and ice up against my car. i would get up the next morning, it would be completely iced over and i would have to rock back and forth a few minutes just to get enough momentum to get over that 4 inch hump of ice...

now, the past 6 weeks or so, we have had nearly the opposite weather. 10-15 º above normal and you can see by my stats, the mileage went up nearly as much as the mercury

 

Mine was 44 mpg in a tank where I drove up Mt Washington in September. Just slightly worse than my worst winter tank (45 mpg in late December, with a mean ambient temp of 15 degrees that week).

Otherwise, I've averaged 53.5 since I bought my 09 last June (21k already!).

 

logged over 100,000 miles between 04 and 08, worst tank 48 mpg.
really cold, really short trips. that was the 04, i think the 08 is improved. worst tank so far 54 mpg.

 

37MPG was the worst tank I had. Short commute and winter weather is what killed the economy. If I only commuted, the number would be significantly worse.

 

My worst in the two years of driving Rachel Prius is now. new tires and cold for central florida ( 40's) and I am now averaging 48.9 on winter gas.

The tires may have a lot to do with that tho as they have less than 300 miles on them.