Not getting 50 MPG on new Prius?

You need to give us something to work with. What are your local temperatures? How long is your typical trip? What speed do you drive? What are your tire pressures?

Tom

 

You have a combination of factors collaborating to produce less than ideal mileage:

1) Cold weather.

2) City driving.

3) Short trips.

Check your tire pressure. Soft tires are also mileage killers.

Tom

 

OP, check a few other mpg threads and you'll see that most everyone has a dip in gas mileage in the winter, as do ALL vehicles. I averaged mid 50's this summer, with a couple of 60 mpg tanks, and now I'm down to high 40s in the New England cold, with studded snow tires. The reason mine is as good as it is: 42/40 tire PSI, and I don't do very many short trips.

If you winter mpg is 40 and your summer is 60, then you've got 50 mpg as an annual average.

 

One more thought: the gas mileage will improve with more miles on the car. I didn't see 50 mpg until I got about 4,000 miles on the car. So be patient and wait for spring when the Prius will really start to pay off. In the meantime, you are still getting better mileage than anyone else in your neighborhood.

 

The Prius likes it warm, until about 80F, the EPA tests with a fully waarmed up engine.

The Prius like long distances, my 55 mile each way 'commute' takes about 10 miless to warm up in summer, closer to 15 in winter.

Toyota has the tire pressures set for maximum comfort. For best mileage, tire wear, and cornering, consider 42 PSI in front and 40 PSI in back. then back down until you are comfortable.

I am not very concerned how fast you go, try to be very gentle stopping. Try to pretend you have no brakes and time your commute never to stop.

I get 42 MPG in the summer, 47 MPG in fall and spring, and 40 MPG in winter (all heavily loaded) so both outside and inside air temperature make a difference.

 

Hi Jarubenking,

Also do a search on "Gen III Grill Bocking". This is espcially helpful below freezing, for the length of trips you take.

 

new tires also tend to give less mileage.

 

Man, what up with all this low mileage madness??? I'm driving a Gen II and my last 3 fill ups have been 51, 47, 54, mpg. Of course its been 55 degrees here. But that's cold for me!

 

What did you use to drive and what kind of mileage were you getting? Do you start the car to warm up before you drive off? Consider grill blocking, check your tire's, get used to letting up on the gas more and use coasting/gliding techiniques, and if you have to scrap ice/brush snow off, do that first, then get in and push the power button and go. I know it's hard to move away from a stop sign or stop light without going into the power zone on the energy monitor but ease up back to the ECO zone as quickly as you can without holding up traffic and look ahead to anticipate when you need to slow or stop. These techniques will help you get your mileage up to the mid to high 40's at least.

 

The Owners Manual suggests to accelerate (moderately) to speed, then lift your foot off the gas, then gently re-apply gas, as a way to conserve gas. Doesn't always work, depends on various factors, but often this will put you into electric-only mode.

Have the diplay showing the Hybrid System Indicator (HSI):




With the engine is warmed up, and driving at moderate speeds, any time you release the gas pedal, then re-apply gently, keeping the HSI bar to the left of center line, there is a good chance the car will go into electric-only mode. Keep an eye on the Realtime Mileage Display for verification:



If it's showing no gas consumption (metric) or 99+ mpg (imperial), you're in.

If you keep a gentle touch on the gas, and traffic (irate tailgaters) is light enough that you can allow speed to fall off when encountering upgrade, you can actually go considerable distances using zero gas.

The party comes to an end when the hybrid battery state-of-charge gets low, but even that can sometimes be restored on-the-fly: every time you coast and/or brake the electric motor converts to a generator and starts recharging the battery.

Last night, coming back from running a chore, I nudged it into electric at the commence of a short downhill. I got lucky with the lights and traffic, and managed to make it all the way into our garage on electric. Just checking on Google Maps, I see it was 1.4 km, roughly one mile.

 

me too.

 

A few expectation managing statements

A) The EPA test is for comparison only.
B]The Prius is designed for lowest emissions FIRST, Fuel economy SECOND.
C) Your mileage will improve. Every year there is a spike in the fuel economy posts of poor mileage in the winter. By the time the warmer weather returns, the low mileage posts taper off. Try to manage your expectations accordingly.

There is a sticky on this forum.

http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...-answer-these-questions-esp-if-youre-new.html

While some of the questions will seem overkill, it does give the old hands all the info they need to help out.

But some of the biggest (in Winter) mileage detractors are

1) Cold Temperatures - heating the cabin takes heat from the engine which in turn requires the engine to run more to keep itself warm. Engine running = gasoline burning = less MPG.

2) Winter Blend Gasoline = easier to start in cold weather, but at the expense of MPG's.

3) Rain/snow/cold air = more resistance for the car to move through = more gasoline to propel the car = lower fuel mileage.

All year round mileage killers

4) Short Trips = mileage killer. The car takes ~ 4 - 5 minutes to warm up. The vehicle gets its best mileage once warmed up, so you will take a hit early on in the drive and it will steadily improve during the course of the drive. Take a look at the 5 minute bars for more insight.

5) Lower tire air pressure - lower ambient air temps will lower your tire pressures, keep 'em pumped up the closer to max psi the better (for handling, mileage and even wear).


Good luck, you've got yourself a great car and it does a phenomenal job at keeping tailpipe emissions low, fuel mileage high, while being able to transport 4 adults or 2 people and a lot of cargo.

 

Had my Gen III for about 1.5 months, have 2K miles on it, averaging high 40's mpg with a best of 56. Mostly freeway driving in 50-60 degree weather. Am going to try increased tire pressure and see what the difference is.

 

try upping tire pressure that makes a huge difference !!!!!!

 

I have been driving for nearly 45 years now. The Prius gas mileage
fluctuate's more than any other car I have ever owned.

In the summer MPG will be in the low to mid 50's, in the winter mid 40's or so.

These are temps in the 40's or so during the winter.

When its real cold you can probably expect 35 mpg to be the norm.

Cold is a true killer for the Prius MPG.

al

 

I agree mpg's on the Prius will seem to fluctuate more, but on a percentage basis, it's no different than other vehicles. If the Prius drops from 50 to 40, it's the equivalent of a car/truck that can get 20 mpg dropping to 16, which we know how easy that is to do. What new owners need to understand is if their driving habits were not economical in their previous vehicle, the same driving habits will not result in optimal efficiency in the Prius either. High mpg's in the Prius or any other vehicle requires constant attention to speed, driving technique, and surrounding traffic versus just following the car in front of you. I'm sure I'm not the first to assume that 99% of mileage complaints are the direct result of how a driver operates the vehicle and behaves behind the wheel when it's in motion.

 

Like stated above, it's all about percentages. In the Prius the MPG is high so when you drop 15% in MPG you will see a larger number than say an inefficient vehicle like a truck. Overall you end up spending more money on fuel for that inefficient truck even though the MPG drop appears to be less.

Another factor that could be applicable to you is your tire choice. If you are running a tire that does not pump water well then you may experience a larger drop in MPG during the winter than someone else that lives in the same area but uses tires that are specifically designed to pump water efficiently. Just a thought.

 

As others have directed, please answer http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...-answer-these-questions-esp-if-youre-new.html.

Why do you expect 50 mpg? Have you read http://priuschat.com/forums/other-c...th-about-epa-city-highway-mpg-estimates.html?