The basic idea is that you're playing a game against the car's computer. The car's computer knows: - your speed - how much oomph you're wanting right now - the current level of charge in the battery Based on the current state and, I guess, a "normal" driving pattern it can estimate how it should blend everything. (And remember that the car's aim isn't necessarily to maximize mpg: it wants a healthy hybrid system, low emissions and good mileage). You don't necessarily know what's the most efficient thing to do (although you can learn more over time) but your advantage over the car is that you have knowledge of what's coming up and what special driving techniques you can use. So, in terms of EV driving, if you're fighting against the car to do it, it should be because you know something it doesn't or doesn't care about, like you have a good regeneration opportunity coming up or you don't mind rolling slowly very slowly and it's still warming up. It's OK just to drive it and let the computer decide, but if you're trying to maximize mileage a good general rule is that you either want to be gliding (not coasting), using a very small amount of battery or using the gas. Heavy use of the battery has the double whammy of being less efficient EV and causing the engine to run more to recharge. .
Looks like I have some more studying to do. My mindset has been, the less the gas engine runs the better. I think I'm thinking more like the Volt, drive on electric as far as possible, then switch to gas, instead of really grasping the "hybrid" part of the Prius. I'll study up some more. Thanks guys.
I've gotten 72.5mpg over 115 miles so far this tank. In city average is 78-80 with one run at 84.5. Yes, mpg in the C is awesome.
After my first fill up, I drove 510 miles and refilled with 8.31 gallons. (61.4 mpg). I took three ~60 mile round trip highway trips and the rest city driving. So 180/510 or ~35% was highway miles. (I have not tried drafting yet.) The computer says I get ~70 mpg in city driving conditions. The computer said I got 55-65 mpg for each highway trip. Throw in a few short trips from work to lunch, that only get 40-50 mpg, and you get the 61.4 mpg avg for the tank.
Looks like your C is getting the mileage I was expecting, with the vehicles getting broken in and the weather being mild and dry. Isn't it nice to get motorcyle mileage in a car.....
I filled up yesterday 360 miles with 6.4 gallons which is 56mpg. Not bad for the first tank. I imagine I could get it above 60 with improving my driving techniques and the car breaking in.
This is so exciting. Ya'll are getting crazy numbers and you have not fully learned how to exploit the car and the tires are still new!
From Castle Peak ( Boreal Ridge ) to Reno 85.5 mpg, that is predominantly downhill. On my return: Reno to 20 miles short of Sacto the C averaged 65.1 mpg for 122 miles. The worst mpg was up the mountain to Reno, at the peak the C was at 34 mpg. Still pretty good for a 7300 feet ascent.
I managed last year to get a 60.7 mpg fill up. I was fortunate to have a good commute to do it on, and it was still a lot of work getting it. Lots of hills here. Now my commute is 4.9 miles and the car is barely warm when I arrive at work. A lot simply has to do with what kind of commute fate has given you.
My commute to work is 2.9 miles, I park in a garage so the car is partially warm when I start. My mpg is in the toilet with this cold weather, I think the high today is going to be 25 deg. F, I put in pipe insulation for a upper and lower grill block, but I noticed that the car still runs a lot, even though I keep the heat down at 65. I am considering enclosing the bottom of the engine like the prius liftback to help keep the engine warmer. in the warm summer I could get great mpg well over 65 calculated and now I am getting 51.? on the display which will be more like 49-50 that is still great but after summer it seems dissapointing
The only vehicle that will do any better would be an EV/PHEV. Less than 3 miles is barely enough to warm the engine. If it makes you feel any better, most of the cars on the road would be getting much worse mileage.
I had a neon before my prius c, I would end up with about 30 mpg, and before that a rabbit diesel and it was just over 40 mpg. I don't think anything without a plug in can beat my C. with my daily routine an elec would do the trick, but with my occasional trips up the interstate I need somthing that can go further. I noticed last month that 1yr old PIP were being sold I think the price was 24K if I knew that was going to happen I may have spent the extra 3.5K. I really like the thought of being able to go all elec for normal driving and use gas if making longer trips.
The computers all tend to say our prius are getting more gas mileage than they are try the old school method of testing your gas milage fill your tank all the way up reset one of the trip meters when you refuel the next time divide the amount of gallons of fuel purchased to refill your tank into what the mileage was during that period my computer is always off by almost 3 MPG everytime when most say what they believe they are getting for mileage all they are doing is reading what the computer is saying EVERY PRIUS i have checked the mileage the old school way they all have been less than what the computer has said check yours here's the worst mine has been
If you take a look at my Fuelly page, you'll see I put down what the trip computer says in the Note section, along with the difference in MPG between it and what fuelly calculates for me. I average a difference of about 3 to 4 MPG where the trip computer is optimistic. I also wanted to mention that I don't do any hypermiling tricks when I drive. I set my cruise control 90% of the time and let the car do its thing. What I do differently than most is stick to 55 MPH on the highways, and 40 or 50 on city streets when I can. This lets me get over 60 MPG avg my my round trips, with the occasional 70 MPG on various 100+ mile segments due to weather mostly.
My mpg calculated "old school" vs my trip computer is much closer to each other than your is. my worst was 3mpg and it is usually about 1mpg, I drive in town almost all the time. my best tank so far was in warm weather over 500 miles and old school calulation shows 70.7
have been getting at least 60 mpg since beginning - my worse mpg posted today 56mpg on fuelly (pugsli) - just keep it in the green
