Best tank of gas- 649 km

Isn't the touring package awesome?!?!?

I never use ECO mode. Weather is getting colder now so getting really good MPG is hard now. Check your tires pressures. I run mine 40psi all around. No A/C, fan on one pip if needed.

MPG depends on your driving habits too. Too many short trips (under 15min) will hurt MPGs. Speed is another big killer. Under acceleration, I keep it just at start of the PWR zone. It's slow for most other people but you'll get used to it if you haven't yet. I try to time traffic lights to maximize pulse/glide technique. When driving at night and nobodies around, I often go below speed limit. Also, we don't have freeways in Winnipeg and I rarely drive on highways, so I don't often go above 100km/h.

My two tanks in Aug and Sept reached 816km and 823km and I did not drain it as much as you did.

 

On 17" use 36 front 34 rear. I would not go more than 38 because of low comfort level.


iPhone ?
Zdenok

 

I'd start calculating your mileage. Basically, record the gas purchase quantity, and the distance travelled. You can use the trip meter for this, or the odometer. I prefer the odo, and still use the tripmeter, just for back up, and see what the car claims I'm doing for mileage (typically the latter is 6~8 % optimistic). The odo is just safer: an accidental reset of the trip meter can hoop your calculations.

In Canada with metric measure, the usual method is a ratio equation, to determine liters per 100 km.

For example, if you went 650 km, and when you refilled it took 32.5 liters, the equation would be:

32.5 is to 650

as

x is to 100

To solve, in a nutshell: multiply your gas (in liters) by 100 and divide by the distance. For the above example:

32.5*100/650=5.0 (liters per 100 km)

Ok, the math lesson out of the way, LOL, things to do for mileage:

1. Start grill blocking. Personally, as long as there's a chance I'll need AC I don't grill block, figuring it will impact AC efficiency. But once the temps start dropping, it's worthwhile using sections of pipe insulation.

There are strategies for how much and which zones. Here's a few links:

http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...62556-2010-prius-grill-blocking-strategy.html

A Hybrid Owner’s winter survival guide - CleanMPG Forums

2. Install and use a block heater. See the second link above, and there is a lot more on the net. The Prius block heater is a bit tricky to install, hard to access. Depending on your mechanical aptitude, might be best left to the dealership.

3. Use you HSI display in the dash. You don't need to drive extremely conservatively, that's actually counterproductive. Pulse and glide, anticipate slow downs and red lights. You can often force it into electric only by lifting off the gas and gently re-applying.

Be sure to keep the HSI bar to the left of center, to stay in electric only mode. Near center can be bad though, eats up the battery charge quick. In that case I'll just kick it over the center boundary, starting the engine, and pulse it for a while.

Anyway, we've got the same Touring Model. Really love the steering feel, and the look of the vehicle. I switched it from ECO to "normal" (no buttons pushed), a few months back, and didn't notice a change in mileage. I didn't like the too sluggish pedal feel. I think you can accomplish more-or-less the same by just using a gentle touch. The mileage is likely a little worse than the models with 15" tires, but you can get it close.

 

I see a tendency for it to snap to zero from somewhere around 5 to 20 miles, depending on the road and any hill climbing. Panic is usually unnecessary, as there is still roughly two gallons left.

At least in most of our cars. But gauges will vary from car to car, and somebody has to have the car with the least safety margin.

 

Our best tank was 4.4 liters/100km, last July (calculated). Most of it was a run over to Long Beach on the west coast of the island. The Prius is funny though, it can actually do better around town, with careful driving, and as long as it's not short trips. I've pushed the in-dash display down to 3.8, which likely equates to 4.0~4.1.

Steady driving flat highways with a new tank and reset tripmeter, I'll see the in-dash display drop down to around 4.0, and then settle there. Maybe tick down to 3.9. Hit a bit of grade and it'll start climbing. It's worthwhile keeping your speed down. Stay to the right, keep at or under the limit, you'll reep some benefit, as long as you don't get hassled.

But, with short trips and the reality of day-to-day driving, we're in the mid 4's, in winter low 5's. Our average, year to date is 5.0, next year should be better

And, I'm mostly just the "pit crew", my wife is the usual driver. She tries too, but she's not as avid as me.

We had the dealer put in the block heater, right at the outset. Very pricey, frustrating: I wish they put that in at the factory, I'm sure it would be cheaper. At least the prius block heater does not require coolant drain: it's in a little pocket adjacent to the coolant, but not directly immersed.

I also got snow tires: Michelin XIce, in the 15" size, on Corolla steel rims. Used Westminster Toyota for that, it went well, the price was reasonable. Not as good as Costco, but a safer route, considering there might have been fit issues. Also got utilitarian lug nuts. Here's the info:

snow tire: Michelin X-Ice 195/65R15
Corolla steel rim, part no: 42611-02471)-SW
steel rim lug nuts: 90942-01007

Our car purchase dealership was Open Road in Port Moody, but they basically stonewalled me on steel rims for snows on the Prius, saying it's their "flag ship" vehicle, and there was no steel rim option that would work. So I emailed around and Westminster Toyota came through.

Uhm, that's it, I think. Been thinking of getting replacement mats. The OEM driver's mat blew a hole right through within 5000 km. There's no rubber protector zone on it. Basically a POS.

Our OEM tire is Michelin Pilot HX MXM4 215/45R17. I'm used to setting our tires at 42/40 front back, or higher, so I did that initially. But that's with higher profile tires, and with 215/45R17's I found the ride too harsh. I read up some, there's an article here, I guy that tried various pressures, and finally settled on 38 front 36 rear. There did not seem to be a drop in mileage, so I stuck with that. It's easier riding, and I think less wear-and-tear on suspension.

When I swap over to the 15" Michelin snows I keep them over 40, though.

 

No, you're dealing with a plodder, LOL.

What's trd brake pads? FWIW, driven conservatively (I sense you're starting to yawn), the brakes are rarely even used. I believe as long as you brake gently enough that the charge bar on the HSI doesn't competely fill, the brake pads are not even used.

"Better" air filters is a slippery slope. I did play with that, with alternate carb jets, on a bike I had, but with something like the Prius I don't see the point.

There are people trying sway bars, again, our g-forces are very low, LOL.

 

I find the tires are too mushy and rolling resistance increases too much at such low pressure. I run 52/50 in mine.

 

I just use normal mode. Yes, 40psi for the 17 inchers.

 

Unlike the trip computer the fuel gauge is very pessimistic !
Even if it shows you "0" you can still go at least another 100 Km very comfortably and there will still be 3 or 4 liters fuel left in the tank !

 

When I read all of you running the car with little or no gas on the tank, I have a question:
Isn't the fuel pump supposed to cool down from the gas inside the tank?
Don't you have the risk burning the pump if you let the tank dry out?
I did that once with my previous car, and I went back to the repair shop.
Is prius fuel pump different?

 

Coming late on this one, but you might want to read this post:
Tips & tricks for the “normal” driver to achieve satisfying fuel efficiency on the Prius Gen 3 « Prius 3 experiences from Europe

FYI, contrary to what the owner's manual says, the fuel gauge will start blinking when you still have about 10L of fuel, which means a range of at least 150km (if you really drive badly)...

To know how much you really have left in the tank, reset the Trip A or B counter after fuel up, and when it beeps, check out how many km you have drive already, multiply that with the average fuel consumption, multiply that by 1.08 (to take into account optimistic FE estimation and as a buffer) and divide by 100 - those are the litres you used so far. Subtract 45 and you get what you have in the tank. Multiply by, say, 20, and you get the "true" distance to dry...

The distance to empty of the MFD is a bit of a joke, I am afraid...

 

I'm confused.

Do you mean 649 km or miles?

Because I currently have a 1995 Tercel (gonna have my Prius tomorrow or monday) and I did 710 km on one tank two weeks ago. I kind of expected the Prius to easily reach 1000 km on one tank.

 

It all depends on your driving technique, conditions, and number of short trips as well as how far you want to push your luck after the low fuel warning appears. 1000 km is well within the reach of the average Geniii Prius driver. Then Genii maxes out around 400-500 miles with an average mpg of 50-55.