Real world fuel mileage of the Prius V?

I live in Pennsylvania. From November to March, I was averaging 39 mpg. That is what was in the Prius v data and my calculations through Gas Cubby app.

From April till today, my average has been 42-44mpg.

I drive mostly back roads, which is like the highway for speed but I have a lot of steep hills, slow downs with old people and trucks, etc. I do drive in city and on highway too. I would say I average about 100 miles a day.

I also still drive like a regular car and don't draft or hypermill or anything different. I also carry kids and dogs and stuff...so this is also under the strain of a load. I am amazed at the mileage I am getting (an average of 400+ miles a tank).

 

Just did 485 miles on 9.7 gallons = 50 mpg. My computer reading = 51.1 mpg. Not too far off (~2%). I love driving the Prius on business trips. I did Bucks County PA<-->Gaithersburg MD on Tuesday. I think my fuel costs were around $30 + $9 for tolls = $39 total. My firm will reimburse at the IRS rate of $0.555/mile. Round trip mileage was about 380 miles. Reimbursement = $211, personal profit = $172 (a big chunk of my monthly car payment). Making money with the Prius.

 

My wife and I travel from LA to Phoenix and average just a tad over 40 with AC on and cruise set at 75 to 80...

 

As another point of reference, my month-old Prius v3 has now been driven for about 1000 miles and has been filled up 3 times and has averaged 50.2 mpg. (Mpg was calculated by dividing the miles driven since the first fill-up by the total gallons used to drive that distance. I don't pay much attention to the mpg calculations by the car's computer.) I followed the recommended break-in procedure. Most of my mileage was on the freeway at speeds between 50 and 60 mph and I varied the speed slightly every 20 minutes or so. The air temperature was between 60 and 70 degrees F. The roads were fairly flat, but there were some rolling hills. I expect that now that the break-in period os over, and I start driving 70 mph on the freeway plus a higher percentage of city driving, my gas mileage will drop well below 50 mpg. But it's still going to be better than my 12 mpg full sized pickup.

 

Do a controlled round trip test. Fill your tank to the first click, then go out and drive for a few hours. Come back to the same gas station and the same pump. Fill back up to the first click. Calculate mpg. This will really tell you if there is a problem and eliminate the possibility of someone screwing with your car.

Note: Check tire pressure!

It sounds like a pain, but at least it's hard evidence if there is an issue or not!

 

The best way to check to see if there is something wrong with the mpg you are getting is make a highway trip of at least 100 miles. Start the trip by resetting the trip meter (and mpg indicator if it is separate). Drive for 100+ miles on the highway at a steady speed of 55-65mph (obeying local speed laws) and then look at your average mpg. Now drive back home on the same highway and check your average mpg. The resulting number should be close to or well above the EPA rating. in most cases people find this to be true and it is simply their daily commute or routine that kills their mpg. Remember, short frequent trips kill mpg in any vehicle!

 

I drive a Prius as a Prius can be driven- to optimize mileage. By computer, after 17000 miles in 14 months, I am averaging 59.2 mpg. By bought gasoline, gallons/miles, I'm averaging 56. On the highway I try to average 55, on back roads 40, and in town I fail if I stop at a light. In winter (NH, no garage) my mileage dropped 10%.

I've gone 600 miles on a tank often.

If you don't want to change driving habits forget getting this- but you can.

 

According to your stats you drive a Prius Liftback. If so make sure you let others know so they dont think you are talking about the Prius v.

 

Check out the FUELLY WEBSITE...this site will provide you with all the answers.

 

Just drove our new Prius V from CT to St. Louis, MO and back. 65 to 75 miles per hour most of the time. We got a solid 42 mpg. We had the car pretty well loaded too. We were two adults and about 150 lbs. of stuff. We are getting about 45.3 average around town now that we are back home. I love this car! The drive train is very clever. Enough power for me, and comfortable too!

 

Along the way, you can find sporatic stations that sell 100% pure(ethanol-free) gasoline. However, if you make a southerly loop into southern states, the concentration of stations selling 100% pure gasoline goes way up! Go to pure-gas.org for addresses, details, & a great zoomable map to the 5400+ stations selling 100% pure gas in the U.S. & Canada. Traveling thru southeastern Pennsylvania, W.Virginia, S. Kentucky, Tennessee, & up to Missouri you should find 100% gasoline all the way to St. Louis. If you think 42 mpg is solid, wait till you try 100% pure gasoline. You should get high 40mpg. Your engine was designed to use 100% pure gasoline. It was NOT made to use ethanol. Ethanol needs much higher compression ratio ethanol engines to gain its efficiency. If you want to slow down to see parts of the country you might not have seen before, 100% pure gasoline should plunk you deep into 50+mpg(mid-50's?).

 

I'm not sure I buy that. The rough testing performed by other PC members did not show much of an increase when using non-enthanol gas.

 

Agree, even noticed for the first time in filling up that the gas cap tells us not to use more than 10% ethanol.

The issue is that once one gets to the mpg's that the Prii get, changes in fuel might be hard to detect. Unlike the differences in tires...

Savings might be had. Like my driving about 10 miles out of my way to get bragging rights to $3.06 a gallon, passing by some stations with $3.11... <grin>

At that point the MFD was showing the trip at like 63mpg. That was at highway speeds, with the AC going on a route from Reston to Fredricksbirg VA....

 

The las pip started blinking today and there is a nearby station that supposedly sells non ethanol gas, so I'll try it and see if there's any significant improvement that outweighs the additional cost. Litesong also claimed it will reduce gear hunting in my automatic transmission, so I'm eager to find out if that's true... LOL!

 

Another poster, unable to do mathematics & bamboozled by the ethanol industry into believing their lies that 10% ethanol blends & 100% pure gasoline are nearly the same. Many have showed(numerous on PriusChat) that engines designed to use gasoline, perform best with 100% pure gasoline(duh). Not only does 10% ethanol blends NOT have the btus of 100% pure gasoline, but ethanol needs high compression ethanol engines to get power efficiently. Why do you think the ethanol industry makes such a big deal of the Indy cars, with their high compression ethanol engines?

With accurate years long & months long, before & after records, our 3 cars' mpg increased 8.5%, 7-8%, & 5%. All 3 engines are quieter, smoother, & have more power, such that less downshifting is needed to ascend hills.

 

You will need numerous tanks of 100% pure gasoline tanks to test. Hopefully you already have long accurate records of 10% ethanol blend mpg. My records reach 10 months of 100% pure gasoline use. Yes, I have claimed many things for 100% pure gasoline, but reduced gear hunting isn't one of them. I did say less downshifting is necessary. So if reduced gear hunting comes with less downshifting, then so be it. But I don't claim it. Erikon may claim it, if such occurs with his automatic tranny.

The one automatic transmission I do have is a CVT, which when feather footed, eliminated all gear hunting. Yes, CVTs are exquisitely elegant.

 

Yes, that was the joke, no Prius downshifts, they use a planetary gear set called the PSD. Like a CVT, but more advanced.

 

Many have shown on this forums that there was no improvement in the 3rd Gen Prius.

First, the problem is that many other variables (more/less traffic, temperature, headwind/tailwind, different roads, road grade, tire pressures, more/less pedal acceleration... to name a few) affect a tank's mpg more so when comparing an ethanol tank. It's almost impossible to do a reliable experiment in the real world.

Second, the higher price of ethanol free gas usually doesn't match the possible slight increase in mpg's.

Third, I think that there is a placebo effect. You tend to "see" an improvement in mpg where there is none. Kind of like people who put premium gas in cars that call for 87 oct. and claim that the car gets better gas mileage and runs better.

This is one of those arguments that we can all discuss all day long and no one can definitely prove the other side is wrong.

By all means, use it if you want. But don't expect miracle (or percetible) improvements.

On another note....

I drove my car yesterday by just "driving it" (ie. no hypermiling) and got a solid 51 mpg). My commute is 33-34 mi. each way. I normally see between 54-58 mpg on this leg.

Not bad ... 51 mpg ... without even trying.

 

I have just returned from a solo 5 day trip from Boise, ID to Portland, Astoria, Arch Cape & Tillamook Oregon and return. Boise is at approximately 2500 feet and you have to go over the Blue Mountains in Oregon to get to Portland and the coast. The road tops out at about 4250 feet and then down to sea level. Driving through the Columbia Gorge is beautiful, but the headwinds encountered on the way to the coast where a pretty constant 20 mph with gusts up to 30 mph. I usually travel at 5 mph over the 65 speed limit and on this section I got my lowest mpg since buying the car 3 weeks ago at 36.486, but that entailed high speed, high altitude and high headwinds. On the return trip, even though I had to climb from sea level, even at the same high speed and high altitude, but with tailwinds through the Gorge, I got 43.572 mpg. As for range, I filled up in Tillamook (on the coast) and filled up again at Ontario Oregon, a total of 472.8 miles with 10.85 gallons used. I was not trying to set any range records, but just missed the last gas station before a very long stretch without any. The last 50 miles the car indicated 0 range and there were no bars in the gas gauge. I was certain that I was going to run out, but made it. I was very impressed and thankful I didn't have to deal with running out of gas. Even though the range was spectacular, especially with the climb from sea level to over 4250 feet, I won't ever push it that far again. Hope this helps with your mileage questions. On, this was virtually all freeway driving, though some stop and go through Portland.

 

Do people ever check which forum they are in or do they just post at random?