2010 Prius MPG in cold weather?

fyp.

 

That may be the offical US Government calculations. But 3-5 mpg is the real world loss....

al

 

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I asked how much and they said $100 for labor not including the block heater. Most other body shops said between $70 and $100 for labor. Which is why I chose to do it myself but, it would be worth it for the short trips I think. I plugged in outside when it was just above freezing and my car switched to stealth mode in less than 5 minutes. Do you have any mechanically inclined friends? I could try to find the priuschat link with the all the info and pics on how to install it or you could do a search on the forums.

 

I too had the same concerns. Got mine in August and enjoyed 61 mpg on the Cape. I noticed the mpg nosedive when the cold temps moved in. My commute is maybe 10 miles. I have since blocked off the lower grill as suggested on this forum and it does make a bit of a difference. I should add that I have steel wheels with Blizzak snow tires and use a remote start to defrost the windshield some mornings. My mpg is about 45. All things being equal, it is still at least twice as much as the 2009 Civic I traded in. Enjoy your new Prius.

 

3% is the completely unofficial galactic physics number. The nasty US gubmint is sucking up to forenners.

 

Thats normal to a bit low, but winter warm up time takes a real bite out of average mpg.
My 2010 Prius in North Dakota makes low to mid 50's in warm weather and mid to high 40's in winter depending how much I allow the car to warm before driving off.

I am surprised to hear some with a gen 3 Prius are seeing lower MPG with E10.
In very careful tests using fuel from my local station's blender pump, I compared MPG using several tanks each of 87 octane gasoline, 90 octane E10, and 91 octane premium gasoline. E10 did the best by 2 MPG.
The problem may be that some stations use a low quality gasoline stock and add Ethanol until it meets the minimum 87 octane.
The company I buy from uses their good quality 87 octane gasoline and blend in 10% ethenol to make their 90 octane E10. I try to fuel up at that company whenever possible.

In winter I notice it takes 10+ miles until the car warms up and rolls free enough so near 50 mpg comes back.

 

fmr: