Power Mode gas mileage?

Car and Driver: Mileage? No, it's Your Gallonage that Really Counts | PriusChat

Run some gallonage calculations for yourself about how deceptive "large" changes in mpg when the baseline # is high. I have a few at Why mileage gets worse in winter | PriusChat

Most fuel-efficient cars

You can see what the 2 '12 Focuses got on CR's tests at Best & worst cars review, fuel-efficient vehicles. The Prius gets about 57% better overall mileage than the Focus. The Focus got a predicted reliability of worse than average in CR. "Based on the latest survey, we expect reliability of new models will be 21% below average."

Prius got much better than average. "Based on the latest survey, we expect reliability of new models will be 54% above average."

You might also find Car and Driver: The Truth About EPA City / Highway MPG Estimates | PriusChat insightful.

I can't speak to your driving position likes/dislikes, but hopefully you tried adjusting the seat height. The 2nd gen didn't have any height adjust.

There are some other advantages to the Prius besides the ICE not idling uselessly while stopped. Examples: no drive belts and brakes last forever due to regen. Take a look at the histories of the Gen 3 Priuses at Advanced Vehicle Testing Activity - Hybrid Electric Vehicles

BTW, I've referred to myself as an enginerd before.

 

That's not quite right.

Most people average 45-55mpg in the GenIII Prius depending on their commute. Driving style doesn't have a lot to do with those averages. The people getting 55-65mpg are usually the ones being more careful about driving techniques and or they have the perfect commute. The people getting below 45mpg almost always have short commutes totaling less than 7-10miles. The short trips really kill mpg but they do that in any car. If the Prius is getting 40mpg for someone with a short commute then the so-called 40mpg traditional cars like the Cruze, Fiesta, Elantra etc. would have a hard time breaking 30mpg. Hell most of those cars that are city driven with short commutes are only pulling mid to high 20s. Check out their respective forums for more details.

The take home message here is that every car benefits from slower speeds and commutes that are at least long enough for the car to reach optimal operating temperature. So if the Prius is turning low mpg compared to EPA ratings then so will a conventional car. The difference is that the very high mpg number of the Prius makes the loss appear larger than it really is. A 10% loss at 50mpg produces a larger number than 10% at 20mpg but the 10% loss at 20mpg will use a lot more fuel. It drives home the point that we should be measuring gallonage instead of mpg.

http://priuschat.com/forums/other-c...eage-no-its-your-gallonage-really-counts.html

Regardless of your choice I wish you the best of luck with whatever vehicle you purchase.

 

God damn you Andrew. While I was trying type all of this out on my new iPad you had already stolen my thunder.

 

I just wanted to say to Enginerd, drive well in whatever vehicle you end up in, and ...

As you observed there is a big variance in driving styles within the Prius community. I think this is because it is FUN to try different styles and observe the results in the MPG numbers. My slogan for the Prius is "Early Prius (Gen I & II) make it fun to drive economically, and Current Prius (with power mode) make it fun to drive aggressive.

I hope you are considering the focus hybrid so you get to play the hybrid game soon. Ford swapped patents with Toyota to get Prius Gen II technology (someone will correct me if I got that wrong). I favor American companies and American built cars, all things being equal. I think Ford is getting close to that equal point. I just want to see reliability pans out for the Ford hybrids.

Drive well everybody.

 

As an example, my other vehicle is a Jeep TJ. It is smaller than the Prius, about the same weight, and both have four cylinder engines. The Jeep has bigger tires, but it also has a five speed manual transmission. In ideal conditions my Jeep can get around 22 mpg. With snow and cold weather, plus all short trips, my mileage at the last fill-up was 14.5 mpg. That's a drop of 34%.

Tom

 

i have about 14000 miles on my 2011 prius and i bought it about 4 months ago.
I have a long drive to work and i drive a lot.
i mostly keep it in PWR mode going to work in the morning then i keep it in ECO mode while coming home so it evens out..
i have been keeping track and no matter how i drive end of every tank it get 50 to 51 mpg....

 

Good luck, my experience with Ford products suggests you will be back here well before 2022

 

You just had to go and quote from my Bible, didn’t you? Now I’m all wishy washy about my decision. Crap.

When I got the seat high enough to see the front of the car, I couldn’t see the stoplights. I think the problem is the seating position is too close to the middle of the car.

^ Reason #613 why I hate my iPad. At least once a week I get the urge to pitch it out a window.

My experience with Ford products suggests you are right. The extended service plan which gets me 7 years/125k gives me a warm fuzzy, but that DCT gearbox still makes me nervous.

I found a 2010 Prius III with 35k, a set of snows on steel wheels, and the 100k warranty extension for $16.5k. Saving $8k would take the sting out of driving a car I don't really like. I may have to go and look at it. I just like the Focus so much more, and given that I will spend roughly six months of my life in it, I need to like it as least a little bit. Maybe I should give up and get an SRT8 Challenger.

 

Woah... that's at the complete opposite in spectrum in power and FE. If you really want more power and want good FE, how about a '12 HyCam? Yeah yeah, the exterior styling isn't the great but it's reasonably quick. See http://priuschat.com/forums/prius-h...mry-hybrid-best-family-sedan.html#post1442719

Unfortunately, CR didn't test the SRT8 version but on the '11 R/T w/5.7L V8 and 6MT, they got 13 mpg city/28 highway, 19 overall and 23 on a 150 mile trip.

 

I already own a Toyota Anti-Prius (the '95 LandCruiser). If you want some entertaining reading about people with Toyota issues that are 180 degrees from yours, visit forum.ih8mud.com/80-series-tech/.

I got sick of flip flopping this afternoon and pulled the trigger on the Focus. I promise I'll check back in when I have to replace the transmission just to give all of you the satisfaction of saying "told ya so".

 

Before pulling the trigger for my wife's used Civic, I test drove the 2012 Focus three times. I really enjoyed the "manual-matic" transmission and with a little bit of hypermiling, I saw 42-43 mpg on the fuel display.

 

To Enginerd: I just bought a 2010 Prius, with about 35K miles on it, top of the line (in Canada we don't have 1, 2, 3...5. But it's got the AT package, leather seats, solar roof, radar cruise, etc.) I started driving it in Power Mode after a while, and what a nice difference. You still get 50mpg. I really love this car. And this thread has convinced me to stay in Power Mode a lot more. Makes the Prius much more fun to drive. And it seems to have very little effect on the mileage. BTW: I had a 2000 Ford Focus ZX3 before this. So yah, there's a difference all right. But the Prius feels like a way fancier car. And just the efficiency and the technology are so wonderful. I love it. Get one. You won't be sorry. Plus I like the hatchback, keyless operation, etc. Really great car. As an engineer you will simply love just figuring out how the thing works. Go play with this: Toyota Prius - Power Split Device

 

From my experience with the Prius you can drive it "normally" and still average 46-48 mpg over the course of a year if you don't have a short commute. Lower in the winter and higher in the summer. That is much higher than you will get with any non-hybrid driving in the same manner.

I've been tracking fuel economy for one of my co-workers who just gets in and drives and he is averaging 47.8mpg for the first 24,000 miles. I do much better but I drive efficiently.

 

Guys.....I got my 2011 prius over the weekend with full tank of gas. I am only getting 396 miles on full tank of gas....with 1 bar left.

I always put on ECO mode. Am I doing anything wrong here ?

 

^^ How many gallons did the refill take? We cannot compute MPG without that number. But we also suggest not showing much concern about the first tank because you don't really know how it was filled by the seller. Wait until your second refill.

As for range on a tank of fuel, typical car fuel gauges have a few gallons of safety margin, and the Prius is no different. This protects against inevitable measurement inaccuracies, driver miscalculations, and the very highly variable nature of fuel consumption under different driving conditions.

For the long story on the Gen3, read [WARNING] Running out of gas (Gen III).

 

I refilled it with almost 9 1/2 gallon.

Btw: how many gallons do Prius take inside the tank ?

 

If you want fuel economy help, please answer the questions at http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...-answer-these-questions-esp-if-youre-new.html.

 

I'm all for maximizing mileage guys...but damn, EV when you take off, then PWR mode, then gas it to desired speed, glide, brake gently, back to EV mode...by the time I get to work I'm gonna need a nap, all to get a couple extra miles a gallon, not me fellas...I'm ok with my 46mpg, I came from a vehicle that on its best day got 17.

 

EXACTLY!:cheer2:

I drove the car in eco at first, but actually got slightly better mpgs when driving it normally...the harder to push gas pedal made me over compensate. I might try the power button on a trip for comparison though.

 

100% nailed it. I just test drove a Gen III and coming from Hondas, the pedal travel and throttle response is ATROCIOUS