Don't you just love the highway MPG figues only in ads for conventionals? How about their 'grand benchmark' of 40 MPG highway* (usually for select models in a lineup)? * I can find my way to fuelly.com to see most owners getting about 33 MPG average in their Fiesta, Fit or Focus. I'm looking at an ad banner here showing 2012 Prius at 51 MPG. I've seen that in the paper recently too. I think it's great! All the other conventional cars advertise their highest number which is highway MPG. I hope Toyota advertises 53 MPG for Prius c to differentiate it from the liftback and further boost it over conventionals like Fiesta or Fit which should be rated about 38 or 40 highway. Also, Prius v at 42 MPG will look better over the 30 MPG highway rating for a CR-V type vehicle, its competitor. Give conventionals a taste of their own medicine
It seems fairly new because I've heard so many commericials and newspaper ads saying 50 MPG with Prius. Maybe a strategy to differentiate liftback from the Prius c. They wouldn't want to call out 50 MPG average for both!
But this really isn't news to those of us who know what the Prius can deliver. My most recent fill-up (today) in mostly city driving gave me an actual 55.2 mpg for the 563.7 miles I put on the last tank fill-up.
I agree. I am totally new to this, but the only time I average much below 50 is if I am not really paying attention on the interstate, or if I am running a few minutes behind. For the most part I stay between 52 - 55. I have hit as much as 68.1 on an in town trip of 15 miles.
It could be a new strategy. Claim the higher value knowing that anyone who calls them out will just bring attention to the misleading emphasis of highway mileage.
It's been going on for years and Toyota's previous approach of using the middling figure didn't seem to make a dent.
I am loving my 2012 so far in the first week and a half. Thought of some of the 40mpg hwy cars in my looking at a new car. But most of my driving is "city" driving. So far it is comforting to know that I can get about 50mpg regardless of my driving long term. Add to that I never found a 40mpg hwy car with the space, comfort, and reliability of the Prius for someone that kept his 2003 Subaru Baja till now...
Unfortunately this kind of advertising works. Most people never check their mileage and if you ask them what they get they will quote you a number the salesman told them which will, of course, be the highway number or something he made up. Most car buyers don't do any research and don't think things out very well, most of the people on this site are an exception.
Its all about selling the c. Toyota had claimed that it would get better mpg than the lift back. It did not, so they splashed 53 mpg on the prius c collateral material as the more efficient one. This smacks of dishonesty why you are advertising combined on the liftback. I'm sure someone at toyota realized this and switched the liftback to be more consistent. In the prius ads, 51 does not really sound better than 50, but for prius c 53 does sound better than 50. 46 mpg highway is still on the prius c's sticker if you see it at the dealership.
Citation needed. As I recall they said they wanted to make it the most efficient and said it would be the most efficient in the city but never claimed it would be the most efficient. In fact, based on what hypermilers can get out of it, it seems that it is more efficient, but they can't say so because of the EPA rating.
I can look up the old press releases, if its really necessary, but when I did this on an earlier thread they seemed to get ignored. Does it really matter? They changed around November. You can see from Danny's review that Toyota thought they would do better. They clearly want to push its the most efficient car. They can't. So they push its the most efficient car in the city. To do this and not look like your cooking your numbers you need to use the same metric for other cars in the prius family. I'm sure toyota could say the prius c is more efficient for hyper-milers than the Prius. I don't think that would be good for the brand. Most of these folks already have a prius, and I don't think toyota really to spend marketing bucks to get them to buy a prius c instead of liftback. Not a bad point for people to make on this site, but bad to put out as a message.
I'm fine with Toyota stating .. 53 MPG for Prius c 51 for Prius 42 for Prius v 6x for Prius Plug-in (combined equivalent) For newspaper ads, TV, online. All in favor say 'aye' Today's paper has .. 37 MPG* Ford Fusion 38 MPG* Ford Focus 35 MPG* Camry * EPA highway results YMMV
I drive a lot. I bought my Prius the third of February 2012. I use millage keeper on my iPhone. I have driven 2218 miles at my last fill-up using 44.43 gallons of gas. That averages 49.6 MPG. Going from 22 MPG, the Prius is a dream and a $300 a month gas savings.
