who is averaging 50 MPG true?

After six years with my 2004 Prius I keep detailed fuel economy records and now have just over 65 mpg lifetime at 40000 miles.

I will be buying a 2010 Prius and hope to do even better.

 

I kept a complete mileage/gas log for my 2010 Prius. Bought it new in August 2009. So far logged over 17,730 miles. Overall display MPG is 54 and overall actual MPG is 50.8 which is right on target.

 

Just finished my first tank on my Prius 2010 Level III. Ended at 564 miles and then filled up a full tank that came to 9.5 gallons. The Prius computer shows that I averaged 52 MPG. However maybe I'm doing my calculations wrong but 564/9.5 = 59.3.

I did buy the Prius with 22 or 24 miles on it, so recalculating with that in mind (564-24)/9.5=56.8.

The trend on these forums seems to be that the Prius's computer is a bit optimistic, but mine seems pessimistic. Am I just doing the math wrong?

 

Wait a few more fill ups and use the average. Good number for your first tank.

 

Maybe its the tires. I live in the Portland area too and am averaging about 50-55 mpg overall in my 2006 Pkg 4 even in the rain and living in a hilly neighborhood. Mileage is usually around 55 mpg when traveling the highways mostly. If I have a lot of stop and go driving to do it tends to drop down closer to 50mpg but eventually works its way back up after being on the highway awhile. My ScanGauge II correlates closely. I drive mostly by cruise control and almost never do any pulse & glide (not very good at it). I do have my grill blocked about 75% to allow it to heat up faster and use the new Michelin EnergySaver A/S tires inflated to just under 50psi. Switching tires alone boosted me from about 43mpg to over 50mpg immediately (often well over with ScanGauge trips in the 60s and 70s in good conditions) and things have only gotten better as they wear in.

I first realized I had a tire problem after switching from winter tires back to all-season tires early this spring. I had bought a new set of Michelin X-Ice snow tires and averaged at or near 50mpg all winter long. Then when spring came along I switched back to the Yokohama Avid H4S all-season tires that came with the car and expected a nice mileage increase over the winter tires. I was shocked to see an immediate 7 or 8mpg drop to 42 or 43mpg. For over a month, no matter what I did I couldn't even begin to approach the mileage I was getting with snow tires...just the opposite of what you would expect. That's when I started researching tires for increased mileage and learned the Yokohamas are a good tire for cornering and gripping the road, in other words, high rolling resistance. I'm still not sure why the Toyota dealership would install such a fuel inefficient tire on their most fuel efficient car but they did. A little more research and I found the EnergySavers. They made a huge difference in mileage with zero change in driving style.

 

I go over that west hill hwy 26 couple times a day,put about 130 miles a day, which take a big hit on my MPG but I still get real 52+MPG, 54.5 on display. Saving huge over my stage 2 OBXT, which got real 19MPG LOL. Saving big here.

 

The true still now - mainly normal mode, never ECO.

 

2000 miles and a tad over 43 mpg average. All in ECO mod, 35 lbs in tires, 30% highway driving. Surprisingly, the best so far was on the highway--49 mpg. This last tankful I'm trying normal mod only. We'll see....

 

57.4 MPG on my second tank. Mostly ECO mode but about 60 highway miles. Was 58.8 before the highway trip. I haven't even looked at the tire pressure as I'm driving it exactly as it was received from the dealer. I may take a look at the pressure today.

 

52.3 in first tank 2nd tank I am running 50.1 been using the air alot and rain.

I am very happy with car . Have 950 miles on it


Sushi Steve

 

Who is averaging 50 mpg? Not me. I'm not pumping the tires up to 60 psi or drafting 18-wheelers. I just want to reach my destination swiftly without drama. My principal driver, Mrs. Voltan, however, has already achieved 48 mpg, and plans to reach and exceed 50 mpg by drafting a graffiti-covered ice cream truck around the city of Schenectady.

 

I'm at 9000+ miles since August in my 2010. I've stopped keeping track of of my fuel and mileage data, but tend to see 46.5 mpg indicated. I figure it must be that my drive to work is only 9 miles, and not enough time to get truly efficient. Also, I tend to drive in an unPrius-like manner. I should check my tire pressure more often too. So there's areas where I could improve. Although it's not 50, I'm very pleased. It's much better than when I drive my 14 mpg (indicated) truck!

I should add that I've been known to idle a little while at lunchtime with my heater or A/C if it's not windows down weather, so I'm really getting better than indicated.

 

There are many owners who JUST DRIVE IT and still achieve 50 MPG anyway.

Not having really short commutes (5 minutes) or driving long stretches at high speeds (+70 MPH) makes a big difference.
.

 

Not me. Look at my Fuelly average.

I didn't do so well over the winter months. It's starting to get better one again.

 

This last tank I was down to 46.8 rain , Alot of air conditioning and defroster and more aggresive driving around 68-75 on open road


Sushi

 

We bought our 2010 Prius II in late December. It now has 1900 miles and I filled up for the fourth time today. Actual MPG for each successive tank: 48.7, 49.7, 50.7, and 51.7. I'm very happy with those results since they represent mostly cold weather driving as well as consistent improvement (And no, I'm not gaming the numbers...and yes, I think it's a little odd that each tank is exactly 1.0 mpg more!). Dashboard readings are +3 mpg for each tank.

 

Just filled up after my first tank from the dealer.......

Tank Distance: 500 miles
MFD MPG: 57.1
Gallons Pumped: 9.27
Calculated MPG: 53.94

Filled up the tank for 29 bucks and change. 500 miles for 29 bucks! I still can't believe that just happened. When gas was two bucks last year, you all must have had a blast taking road trips!

I increased my PSI to 44/42 tonight also to see if I can do better. The dealer left me well below that, so I think I can do much better. I sure am happy I bought this car.

 

Hmmm, I'm on tank #6 and it just keeps getting better as I get used to the car and the weather is getting warmer:

distance = 550 miles
MFD MPG = 58.8 mpg
actual = 56.8 mpg

I'm at about 200 miles on the current tank and it is at 61 on the MFD. I'm running in ECO mode with the AC on full time. I have modified my driving behavior a bit, i.e. I decelerate going up hills and try to coast down them, but I also drive 65-70 on the highway. However, even when I was being more aggression with the car and in colder weather i was still getting 52 on the MFD (49-50 actual).

 

I still think the tires must have an awful lot to do with mileage people are getting. We just did the 400+ mile round trip from Portland area to Yakima, WA for Mothers Day over hills and mountain passes with hard rain for miles driving by cruise control alone...no pulse & glide, drafting, nothing. As the day heated up we even had the A/C on for a while. Speed was usually around 65 - 68mph for most of the way with a few accelerated passing situations over 80mph (my wife was driving). We still averaged 55.6mpg. I think we could have even done a little better if I had been driving as I'm much more patient than she is and would have driven just under the speed limit without the aggressive passing.

My wife has a cousin who has a 2007 Prius who recently complained that she's only getting about 38mpg in Portland. I'm not sure what kind of tires she has yet but I won't be surprised if they are those high rolling resistance Yokohamas or something similar to the ones I had before switching to the EnergySavers A/S. I'm certainly no expert, but other than driving style, it just doesn't seem there could be that much variability in mileage between individual cars without some major factor like tires being the culprit.

 

I have had mine for right at 1 year now and have 9700 miles on it. For those 9700, I am averaging just over 50 mpg. I think as the warms up, I should pick up a couples of miles per gallon.