October MPG Averages<img alt="" src="chrome://easygestures/skin/xLink.png" style="border: 0px none ;

You need to learn driving with a CVT tanny 101. You have to learn to let up once your at speed just a tiny bit until the mpg instant indicator is way up. Then just enjoy the ride, brake lightly if you have to stop so you regen for as long as possible.
Jim

 

Jim,

Thanks for responding to the previous poster's long-ago question.

I'm just writing to repeat my posting that a thread should be created for October 2005 MPG Averages. I'm not creating a second one because I expect Danny will be able to retrieve it.

This thread has 2004 data and there will be a place to post 2005 data. Thanks.

 

2003 prius.
ave mileage first year 48.2
ave mileage second yr 50.6

 

newbie here. I have a new 2005 Prius, approaching 1000 miles.

On my most recent fill up, the Prius computer stated I had gotten ~54 MPG. Pleasantly surprised, since I heard the first few tanks don't get the greatest MPG. Then I divided the actual miles driven since the prior fill up by the amount of gas I pumped in at the current fill up and came up with ~57 MPG. Even more pleasantly surprised. But...

This seems like the most accurate way to compute MPG, however I am curious to know what other methods exist.

I have inflated my tires to 42/40, try to stay below 65 on the highways, and have begun tailgating -- er, drafting -- trucks and buses. Any other MPG extending tips? I'm not dissatisfied with anything over 50 MPG, but would love to hit 60.

 

Tank Miles: 379
Total Miles: 3779
Tank MPG MFD: 47.8
Tank MPG Calculated: 47.4
Avg Temp: 58
Price of Tank: $ 22
Price per Gal: $ 2.74

Tire pressure 42/40.

 

Any tips on what's the best way to accelerate?

I used to think that for best MPG it was best to accelerate as gradual as possible while keeping slightly ahead of the acceleration of the cars behind you. Often this translates into what feels like a drawn out motion with the MPG meter at around 8 MPG. Only when you can begin to cruise does the meter let up and give you above 50 MPG.

So one day, I needed to merge into brisk traffic, so I had to floor the pedal. I got up to speed quickly and my meter only went down to 6.8 MPG during all out acceleration! And then I was able to quickly cruise with above 50 MPG. So I wondered if my best bet to use less gas is to just be floor the thing more often.

I've also noticed on some accelerations if I push on the pedal to increase acceleration the mileage on the display goes up a little. It's as if at times the gas motor is doing much of the work and my desire to have more acceleration kicks in the electric and then my mileage goes down.

All of this at times seems counter intuitive.

I wonder if it's just a matter of you as an intelligent driver knowing how to best trigger the electric motor kick-in or is it just the accuracy of the instantaneous MPG meter. For example when you are idling at a traffic light using no gas at all, the math doesn't work because you can't divide by zero. But the software just pegs it a zero MPG. Also when you are coasting down a steep hill the MPG never goes above 99.9, which once again shows that the software just pegs out at 99.9. So maybe all this creates a descrepancy between the MPG the Prius software estimates and the true MPG that you can calculate by measuring the amount of gas it takes to fill the tank and dividing that into the mileage traveled since the last full tank.

 

Tank miles: 475
Total miles: 1,500 (approx.)
Tank MPG MFD: 49
Tank MPG calculated: 48.7
Avg. temp: 60
Tank price: $25.00
Price per gallon: $2.50
Tank fill: 10 gallons

 

I AM HAVING MPG PROBLEMS ALSO.
HAVE MY 2004 PRIUS NOW 1 YEAR. AVERAGE 38-40 IN TOWN
40-44 HIGHWAY
IN THE WINTER EVERYONE SAYS WELL THE CAR HAS TO HEAT SO USE MORE GAS... IN THE SUMMER IT'S THE AC
NOW IT'S 50-65 f OUTSIDE AND MILEAGE STILL BAD
BROUGHT INTO TOYOTA THEY SAY IT'S HOW I DRIVE.
NO WAY.... I AM CAREFUL AS TO FAST EXCEL.
MAYBE TOO CAREFUL WATCHING THE SCREEN.
LOCALS HAVE 2005 PRIUS AND THEY GET 48-52 MPG :angry:

 

I'm getting only 38-40 mpg also. I have a 07/2005 prius. However, I drive 95% around town to drop off and pick up kids, errands all day long. Limited freeway driving. Could this kind of driving cause this low mpg?

 

I am getting 46 mpg. I had hit 50 mgp a couple of times. I was hoping someone would have some advice on how to get the best mileage.

 

I'm on my 2nd tank of gas since I bought my 2005 prius. My first tank started out lack luster around 38 mpg as initially I was just test driving the car and so accelerated hard to test out acceleration. Towards the later 3/4 of a tank I started paying more attention to the screen and as much as possible backing off the pedal as much as possible to get the car into pure electric mode. I ended up averaging about 46 mpg.

On my 2nd tank of gas I was a bit more concious of my driving and turned off the A/C system as it was about 50 deg F outside. I quickly go my average up to about 49.8 mpg. I'm now about 130 miles into my 2nd tank and the colder weather plus a couple days of more aggressive driving and I'm back down to about 47.8 mpg.

The key to getting into the 50 mpg is that you need to try real hard to keep the car out of pure gas mode as much as possible. When you accelerate from a traffic light that's not very possible so you end up watching your screen sometimes as low as 6 mpg. See if there is any way possible to stay out of any single digit mpg zones as they can really kill your average. Oddly sometimes if you step on the pedal just a tad bit more sometimes the electric motor kicks in slightly more and so the mpg improves slightly. Probably, the biggest area where you need to make up you poor mileage when accelerating are those times you are simply cruising at the speed limit.

If it's a 35 mph zone and cars are starting to creep past you at over 40 mph, considering backing off the pedal just slightly. To make the 50 mpg category I think you need to get long sustained periods of 99.9 mpg. Whe in entering a parking lot to park your prius you should be driving on pure electric, no gas. If the gas kicks in, back off completely, coast on the momentum and then gradually push on the pedal just slightly as needed. If you've crested over a hill, you need to get those mpg numbers I'd say about 68 mpg or higher. If you're on a highway than you'll probably need to stay at 60 mpg or lower and use cruise control.

 

I'm on my third tank. First two were 48.76 and 50.07 MPG respectively. Currently with the lower temps I'm sitting at 49.6 MPG (MFD). Most of my driving is characterisized by short commutes (5 mi ~ 12 minutes) in fairly hilly terrain. I havn't made any adjustments to the car, though I'm thinking about bumping up the tyre pressure to 40/38 for starters. I have the OEM tyres.

I think my average on this tank is gonna be worse because for the first 90 mi (I'm currently at about 180 mi) I was averaging nearly 60 MPG (1 round trip to the airport). Since then the temps have come down a bit and I'm back to my routine driving.

If you live in a hilly area avoid cruise control as it tends to be overly aggressive in maintaining the speed you've set it at. Follow the advice that folks here have posted. It works. One thing that I've found though is that if I'm distracted while driving my MPG suffers (having a conversation, for example) because I fall back into my old driving habits.