I have a 2011 Prius, and have gone thru my first winter. Last Nov. when I put on my snow tires, I noticed my gas mileage went from 51+ to around 45. I read on here that that was normal because of getting the engine heated, the enterior heater, winter gas formula, etc. I just switched from my 4 Nokia winter tires back to my original tires, and the mileage immediately jumped back to 50+. It is still relatively cold here ( northern MN. -8 this morning). Can winter tires alone cause that much of a difference? Maybe the "knobby" winter tires with soft rubber just don't roll that easily? Anyone else notice this?
While I am sure you lost some to the winter tires, you probably lost as much to the winter alone. We live in Madison , WI and both of our 2011 Prius cars went from 51 summer average to 45-47 winter average. It's funny because when it was really cold we just got 45MPG, however the last weeks that mainly stayed in the 30's we have been averaging 47 to 47.5 MPG. Oh, we also kept our factory tires on all winter. Hope this helps.
I suppose you're wondering why I took the winter tires off so early with a very snowy month still to come. The reason is I'm very close to trading the Prius I have for a Prius V. I have a cabin I go to a lot during the summer, and I could use the extra room in the "v" for hauling. I'm worried about the "v" dropping into the 30's during the winter, when I'm so use to getting in the 40's and 50's.
Up here in Alberta I've been getting what I calculate to be about 42.6 miles per gallon with snow tires on my new v. My daily drive is a combination of city and highway driving. I expect that when temperatures get back above freezing and I put my low friction tires on, the mileage will increase considerably.
