Up until three weeks ago, I was getting about 49mpg. Occassionally, I brushed past 50, but I never got the spectacular numbers some other members have. That's okay. I live at the edge of the Ozark uplift, and it's pretty darned hilly along my daily commuting route. Plus, the speed limit here is 70, which means my Prius spends a lot of the day in the 65-75 range. Back in the first week of June, I set a new record, getting nearly 52MPG from a tank. I thought I had learned to control the car better, and that with warm weather coming on, I could see even better mileage. Instead, things took a turn for the worse. In the previous tank, mileage took a dive to 46.5. With 300 miles on the current tank, I'm running only 44.2. However, before I go questing for a more elaborate excuse, there's one obvious answer: it's damn hot. The temp. here was 103 degrees yesterday, and the humidity near 80%. The last couple of weeks, 95+ temps and 80+ humidity has been the norm -- like living in a sauna. And I can definitely tell that the Prius AC is churning in an attempt to keep up. What's the group experience? Can frequent (more like constant) AC use account for a 5-7MPG drop? Thanks.
And now that I post this, I see other folks are also complaining about the heat eating into the all important numbers. I'd have noticed that before, if I wasn't so scorched by the heat.
Yea, probably A/C. Try setting it to 78 or 79 degrees and see if that doesn't help and still keep you relatively comfortable. At 70mph you're going to be taxing the Prius a bit and it'll be reflected in the MPG drop since the ICE will have to work so much harder. What part of the Ozarks?? You don't have your location in your profile (hint, hint)!
I had a significant drop in mpg's about two weeks ago. I checked the tires and noticed that one was going flat. I further investigated and found a nail lodged in the tire. After a removal and plug I am now getting the mpg's that I had been.
