I bought our Prius C almost a month ago now, and we have filled up twice since then. Our gas mileage seems to be going up, but I'm stilled not satisfied. We are getting right where the sticker says we should, but I'm driving it like a granny trying to get more out of it. The EPA drives it like a normal vehicle and is able to get 53mpg in the city, so shouldn't I be able to get at least 60-65 if I'm driving it like a granny and using the special techniques? It has 1100 miles now, and I was able to achieve 78mpg on the way to work and 61mpg on the way home this morning, both bests. So maybe it will get better as the engine breaks in?
Your mileage will keep getting better as both the car is broken in and you become better practiced with the driving techniques. Your last two mpg readouts show that both are occurring. Driving a Prius is really quite different from driving a regular car. Make sure you're using the ICE, conservatively, to accelerate away from stops, then, when you've hit desired speed, drop back on the throttle and maintain speed as well as you can with the EV (as little EV as possible- I try to use a sliver). Make use of slow stops to regen as much energy as possible. Maintain as much momentum through stoplights as you can (slowing down much earlier so that you don't come to a complete stop). Try to limit short trips so that you're not warming up the ICE from cold all the time- try to string errands together to maintain a warmer engine. There's lots more, but doing these things you should be able to fairly easily maintain 65 mpg in the city. On the freeway, the basic idea is slower is better. You can get 60 mpg or better without a headwind going between 50 and 55 mph- try to protect the car from air drag as much as possible. And make use of the glide as much as possible (speeding up slowly first, if needed) when going down inclines. The car will keeping breaking in and you'll keep getting better at driving it. At only 1100 miles, I imagine your mpg will continue rising. I'm coming up on 3K now, and mine is still getting better.
Where did you get this idea? The EPA "city" test cycles are not much like driving in a real city at all. You may want to check your source of that information.
I'm pretty sure that the "city" cycle of the test is still done on a dynamo (no elevation change, no surface aberration, no rain, no wind, no turns) and doesn't include A/C use. Then separate tests are run for A/C, high speed, and cold weather. The results of those separate tests are used to adjust the city values to get a number closer to what you would get by driving it "like a normal vehicle", but it is certainly not a guarantee that any individual will get such numbers and I certainly wouldn't say that they "drive it like a normal vehicle". Detailed Test Information
Here is some info from the EPA, not sure how up to date it is: Regulatory Announcement: EPA Issues New Test Methods for Fuel Economy Window Stickers | Fuel Economy | US EPA Here is another link that details the testing methods: Detailed Test Information
