Hey everyone, just a quick report on my experience w/ the Prius lll I purchased last April (2011). I live in northern New Jersey and couldn't be happier w/ the car. 1st tank: 53mpg Then I read a thread here on the forum that took me to a video one or our forum members made about how to drive the car for max. miles. The video was very informative and once I trained myself to drive differently I saw my mileage improve. I also inflated my tires to 40 psi front and 38 psi rear. All tanks since: 57-61mpg. Avg around 58.5mpg. First 3mos mostly hwy...second 3mos about equal city/hwy. Things that hurt mileage: A/C...drops it about 3mpg if it's on a lot. Frequent turning on /off of the car as in running quick errands around town.....Wind hurts milage if it is a head or strong side wind. I fill up at 600 miles and it usually takes around 10,5 - 10.8 gallons. usually closer to 10.5. I keep a close watch on my mpg's and if I'm using more fuel than usual I'll fill up before 600 miles...but I've only had to to that twice....first tank and once when I ran the A/C the entire time (filled at 585). Best tank mpg: 611 miles 61mpg. Farthest range was 623miles...took 11.2gal. Research done here by forum members indicates about 2 gal's left in the tank when you hear the beep and the fuel ga. starts flashing. I think that estimate is pretty accurate based upon my mileage and fill ups... I purchased side moldings, USA mud flaps(smaller ones) and the Prius fog lights from our Prius chat shop. Toyota wanted $600 to install. I went to Zippos's in Bellville NJ...does leather and electric after-market....did a super job for $200 to install all three. I'm thinking of going back for leather but in all honesty the cloth seats have been fine so far. I'm used to leather so I was plannning on installing it but I drive a lot (have 10k miles so far) and I find the seats confortable. If I trash them maybe then I'll install leather. Things I like the most: Mileage, quietness, double glove compartment, triple trunk, Sat. radio and the hands free phone was worth the extra cost. Things I like the least: Horrible visibility out our four corners and the back. I can't change lanes quickly. I don't have a back-up camera. I can see how it would be helpful w/ this car, but the upgrade cost too much. I'm fine w/ my Mio Moov GPS from Radio Shack...tiny ...inexpensive....very user friendly......about $70.....fits in my glove conpartment....I only need it once in a while....so I didn't spend the extra money for the built in GPS/ Back-up camera. So far I'm very happy with the car. Mark C.
I bet I could get much better MPG in the GenIII than in my GenII because of my commute (uphill) and my larger wheels. The extra torque from the larger engine helps a lot. Ugg I want one so bad.
happy with mine too! so far. but then, seven years isn't much of a sample. i'll give it a few more before making a final analysis.
Those Are Great Numbers!, my best is 61.2mpg for 600 miles, with city, highway and traffic combined, ive been trying to beat that record for some time now..., but its difficult to get higher than mid 60's...
Glad to hear you are happy, Mark! Mark is a PC conquest. He was barraged with info until he capitulated http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...90901-engine-strain-200k-city-vs-highway.html http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...91131-prius-over-golf-tdi-mixed-feelings.html http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-prius-main-forum/90697-maintenance-costs-prius-ll.html By the way Mark, didn't we guess you would average about 55 mpg ? You may think you have trumped the experts, but the winter will bring you closer to the pack Cheers!
With over 58,000 miles on our Prius 50+ MPG, calculated, is normal during summer months. But summer here in Northwestern Oregon is only about 3 months; July, August, Sept, after that you can expect 40-50 degree weather with rain 8 days a week. Calculated MPG during the winter is mid to high 40's MPG. This is with 10% Ethanol which is required all year long in Oegon. AC does not appear to have an effect on MPG's especially if temps are only in the 80's and here on the coast you only get 3-4 days a year with temps in the 80's. ( There are several days a year where during the summer it is warmer in Fairbanks Alaska than Seaside Oregon). alfon
Congratulations, Mark! I am extremely pleased with my mpg too: I had been hoping for 50mpg from the car and am getting low 60's (actual). Just one thing: are you aware that the HSI display mpg reads about 5% high? I find this extremely annoying: I finish a tank and think I'm doing better than I really am. Despite knowing that the HSI is off, I can't help basing my expectation on the HSI number. What made me wonder if you are using HSI numbers is that you said your longest distance tank was 623 miles on 11.2 gallons, which would be an actual 55.6mpg. Adding 5% to that would make it 58.4mpg, right within the range of 57-61mpg that you quoted.
Yes, I'm taking my estimates from the computer w/o doing the math myself. I didn't know that the reading was high...But I guess 55.6 is still pretty good! Mark
Yes Sage, I was a bit of a hard sell v.s. the Golf TDI but I definitely made the right choice, mostly thanks to you and the forum members who made a lot of sense with your advice and input. I haven't regretted my decision for a second. Other than mileage and the other things I've mentioned, I've spent the summer hauling stuff in that car that never would have fit in the Golf. I loved the way the Golf drove but the Prius is a better overall car for me. Thanks. Mark C
Beyond "pretty good", it's excellent. That's what I hoped for when I bought my Prius. It probably has a lot to do with how you drive. I too looked hard at a VW TDI: a Jetta Sportwagon. But it cost $2000 more than the Prius Two when I bought it, plus I never would have gotten the mpg I get with the Prius, especially around town. I was also surprised to discover that my Prius has exactly the same cargo capacity as the 2003 Subaru Outback Wagon I had before. Rowing shell wing riggers that just exactly fit into the Outback also fit exactly into the Prius (rear seats flipped down in both cases). And oars (9'6") also fit inside. Looking at the two cars, I never would have guessed that.
I have a 2003 Jetta TDI Wagon/ Gl Model / with 5-speed manual. The Jetta is more consistent than the Prius in MPG's. The Jetta averages about 51-53 mpg year round. The Prius can obtain 53-56 mpg normal driving in the summer, but the winter takes a bigger toll on mpg's than the Jetta. The Prius usually get mid to low 40's mpg in the winter while the Jetta still gets about 50 mpg consistently. The real advantage of the Prius is that gas is $3.669 / gal and Diesel is $3.96 per gallon. The price for Diesel is even more during the winter as diesel fuel is basically # 2 fuel heating oil, the same heating oil used for residential heating. alfon
Mark, since you're in the Mid-Atlantic region like me, you might want to consider grill blocking now to keep your Prius a tad warmer so your MPGs stay high a tad longer this fall-winter. To avoid using the defogger - there are chemicals that you can apply to the interior side of your windshield to minimize condensation/fog during the winter/fall, e.g. RainX makes one.... BTW: Because the Prius saves its coolant in a thermally insulated container it can be turned off for short periods of time and still maintain enough energy to keep the engine warm- Thus a group of short trips which are done successively with the Prius turned off for only 5 to 10 minutes between each short trip will look like one long trip to the Prius because the warm-up penalty cost on FE is mitigated with the thermally insulated coolant container. Thus the Prius FE will go up with each additional short trip. For example, At the end of the first trip at 25 minutes the Prius get 48 mpg for the first trip, you stop and park the prius and take 7 minutes to pickup some carryout, you restart the Prius and the second trip of 20 minutes going home the Prius get 58 mpg. I got an inexpensive Garmin Nuvi GPS portable unit, I'm fairly happy with it, too. There are aftermarket wireless back-up cameras (e.g. Peak) that you can stick onto the license plate holder but I couldn't figure how I could justify it. The bluetooth speakerphone for the cellphone is wonderful - but when someone in the backseat want to talk too they always seem to have to shout right next to my ears so that they are heard ( geez just thinking about this makes me feel dizzy)...:blink: ... I wish there was an extendable microphone I could switch on in the rear row... I've been toying with the idea of tinting the windows to keep the car cool during the summer but I haven't made the plunge yet. Walter Lee 2010 Toyota Prius III, Blue Ribbon/Dk Grey, oem floormats Yokohama Avid S33 (50/48 psi) ScangaugeII (FwT, RPM, SoC, GPH) 100% grill blocking ( top and bottom blocked thanks spidey ) Odeometer +15400 miles, overall 60mpg Hypermiler apprentice in MD
Sorry to be a pain, but I recall reading somewhere here that the Gen-III Prius does not have a thermos in the coolant system??? The Gen-II does. If they eliminated it from the Gen-III, I wonder why??
Thanks. Gotta get those facts straight. I went outside to look at my 2010 Prius III and what do you know ??? There is a big space in the front left lower side of the engine compartment (behind the front left corner of the bumper) where in a 2nd generation Prius there would be a 3L Coolant Heat Storage (CHS) tank!! I forgot that Toyota had eliminated the CHS system on the 3rd gen Prius and replaced it with a Exhaust Heat Recovery (EHR) System which uses heat from the Catalytic Converter to heat up the the ICE coolant. The 3rd gen Prius has an uninsulated coolant reservoir tank. I guess it was wishful thinking - but the CHS tank was one of the 2nd gen Prius better ideas - it could reportedly keep the coolant warm for a dozen hours !! however, it was heavy and the Toyota designers were told to trim weight off to make space for a heavier battery. With a gen2, reportedly one could restart it in the summer after 3 or 6 hours sitting in the parking lot and the warmup cost would have been paid off - ah but not so for a gen3 Prius. However, the catalytic converter get super hot and it normally will stay hot for one hour or so even after you turn off the car so it can reheat the coolant if the stop overs are short. Walter
An engine that heats coolant. I wonder why I never thought of that. I've been using the Fuelly.com website to track mileage using my iPhone. My last tank was 58 MPG actual, which is a record for me. The tank was much higher, showing 64 for the first half, but mileage dropped when I had to drive a carload of business colleagues a fairly long distance. My results in over a year and 30,000 miles are consistently 47-48 actual MPG, with ordinary freeway driving, setting the cruise control to 70 MPH. My 64 MPG came by driving much more slowly and using great care to maximize mileage. Now that I've owned the car for a year, I'm much better able to sense when it's about to change gear or engage the ICE. I've learned that when you kick in the ICE, I don't take my foot off to stop it, but instead I accelerate gently to use some of it's energy. I only drive with the HSI display, in ECO mode. I almost never accelerate hard enough to move the bar into the PWR area. When driving for highest mileage, I rarely let the HSI indicator move to the right of the ECO indicator. But, to get my ordinary 48 MPG (actual), I don't pay attention, I just drive. I don't drive like an idiot, I accelerate normally and quickly to get on and off of the freeway and I cruise at 70 when possible.
I agree. With nearly 60,000 miles on our Prius the lowest mpg that I recorded, calculated of course, was about 40.8 MPG. This was during the coldest part of the winter, temps in the high teens to low 30's. With the car parked for several minutes warming up, and my wife making short trips to school etc. Even when she drives it, and she does not drive for mpg's, she easily gets 50 plus MPG during the summer and the mid to high 40's in winter in the northwest, with wet roads, pouring rain, and temps that hoover in the mid 30's to low 50's for about 7-8 months a year. Of course, when I drive I easily get at least 3-5 mpg more than when she drives. Not too many cars can compete with the Prius.....
