Gen III Prius, 51 city mpg, Myth or Fact ?

I drive 24 miles, one-way to work. I kept it in ECO mode the entire way and tried to keep the MPG up, I made it to work with 60.2 MPGs!!

 

I don't normally have enough pure city driving on a warm engine on sufficiently flat terrain to give a qualifying answer. But traffic jams during a commute earlier this week pushed me to a purely city route, both directions, producing 63 indicated mpg, round trip (36 miles). With a cold start in both directions.

Commutes normally have a significant chunk of highway miles, but the evening run usually includes a fairly good long level city stretch on a warm engine. Indicated daily mpg normally is climbing upwards through 60 on this stretch, only to fall to the upper 50s on the final steep climb home.

Looking forward to warm weather to get some real numbers.

 

My "city" drives are generally under 40 mph and this past tank I averaged 55 mpg ... this is with Pkg V which supposedly gets 3 mpg less than the other models.

 

Downtown Newark, main street freehold and Elizabeth is where i would compare to NY city driving. I could be wrong, have not been to NY for a long time

 

Don't believe what the MPG computer tells you. Calculate it by dividing your mileage by the actual gallons of gas you use at fill up.

With 9800 miles on the odometer, my best actual calculated is 50.2 MPG. 482 miles / 9.601 gallons of gas is 50.2 MPG

In the winter I get 43MPG. Now that it has warmed up and air conditioning is not needed I expect to stay in th 50MPG area.

Once it gets hot here in VA, my MPG drops to about 48MPG.

 

Your join date, Oct 2009, suggests you've only had cold weather driving and that is a significant hit. But you asked:

If you click on either of my signatures, you'll find my per-tank record for each Prius.

I would recommend finding a mileage data base and track your tanks. This will make it a lot easier to see the impact of different driving styles and weather.

Bob Wilson

 

Invalid. The EU test cycle is much weaker and doesn't cover high-speed driving, cold-weather driving, or use of air-conditioning.

The 2010 Prius gets 72.4mpg (imperial) on the EU urban cycle and 76.4mpg extra-urban, 72.4mpg combined. In addition, those imperial numbers are not actually the test results. The tests are done in metric, rounded to 0.1 L/100km, and only then converted for the British market. The Prius numbers are 3.9 L/100km and the Auris 3.8, so it could be even closer than that if one figure rounds one way and the other rounds the other (they could both be close to 3.85). The CO2 emissions are identical at 89g/km.

Why is the smaller Auris not significantly better? Partly aerodynamics - the frontal area is about the same but the drag coefficient is 0.283 compared to the Prius 0.25. While it's likely to be lighter (we don't know that yet), it's not going to be a lot lighter: the kerb weight of the regular 1.33L manual is 1280kg compared to the Prius 1420kg. The 1.4L diesel is 1310kg. It depends how heavy the transmissions are (the battery will continue to weigh 39kg). Kerb weight calculations are with a full fuel load and current Auris has a 55L fuel tank (Prius: 45L).

The Auris is being built in Britain so you may not get it in the US at all.

 

I vote fact but all things being equal your MPG will depend on the skill of person in the drivers seat.

A skilled hypermiler driving your car same route/conditions will always exceed a lesser skilled MPG driver.

I average 65MPG calculated tanks in the warmer months and 55MPG in the colder months. (Mostly city driving)

If you personally know a hypermiler ask them to drive your car under the same conditions and see how they do.

 

Any tips would be appreciated. I keep my Prius in ECO mode, no jack rabbit starts and lmiited A/C use. Most of my driving is highway and I keep it at 70MPH. No excess junk in car and tires at 42PSI.

 

50 mpg sounds about right for 70 mph. My Prius gets very little time on roads with speed limits that high.

 

70mph is your first killer. There is a nice chart I have bookmarked at home, but I'm at work. Perhaps someone will link to it. At 70, your MPG will be 50 or less I believe. At 60 it's about 60 MPG. The wife and I just use the right hand lane and set the CC at 56 and get about 62 MPG as we smile and wave at the infamous radar cameras sprinkled all around the freeway loops around Phoenix.
Found the chart. Here is the link. Dark blue line is displayed mileage and the light blue is actual calculated mileage.

 

Last Friday until one hour ago - 470 km (about 200 highway, the remainder city) - computer says 3.9 L/100 km.

 

I drove (23.1 miles) from Brooklyn to Queens (loaded with cargo) and it took over 50 minutes. The average speed is about 28 mph. I averaged around 70 MPG and it was documented in a video.

Video: Relocate home with Prius and got 70 MPG (2/2)

Route

 

Myth for most of us. The key determinants seem to be length of trip, temperature, frequency of stops, hills. Some definitely bring up the average with long trips and lower frequency of stops.

 

If you are forced to stop more often than the EPA cycle assumes, your mileage will not meet the EPA result, other things being equal. That is not limited to the Prius. YMMV.

 

I was able to get 60mpg on my 2007 in backroads/city driving. I'm sure I could do it in the 2010 but I don't have the free time to commute backroads anymore.

Rush rush rush :/

 

I average about 49-54 in strictly city driving. That is about five or six lights and an overall trip of about 15-20 minutes. Speed limits are between 20-50 depending on which leg of the trip, but I have found that if I pay attention to the Eco bar, drive solely in Eco Mode, and also pay attention to where the bar is on the 0-100 MPG meeter on the speedometer, I can push the car to get better MPG. Yesterday, I got 56!

 

Even though I do not do a lot of city driving, I can maintain 50+ mpg when driving. We have a lot of 45 mph thoroughfares which is perfect for P&G or just coasting when up to speed. This is just right for the 47 mph cutoff for the ICE stopping when up to speed and letting off of the accelerator.

 

I don't understand why the electric motor can't provide more horse power to go faster/climb hills? As soon as you pass 40mph on a flat road, the gas engine turns to provide the extra power.

 

People claiming they are getting 60 - 70 mpg combined . Is that over a full tank of gas?