What is your lowest M.P.G

WOW, 31?

I believe I've read a thread of someone with his very, very, very pregnant wife on the way to the hospital flooring when possible even uphill got 36. You got a new record.

 

Was it also a short trip in terms of distance? Mostly stop and go?

 

On my regular commute, probably low 40s. But on a short jaunt down the street? Can be in the 20s due to lack of warmed up engine.

 

Hills are evil. I've had a few shorter (under 5 mile) trips in the 20mpg range because of hills. Some 5-10 mile trips in the mid to high 40s (again, hills). But longer than 10 mile trips have all been over 50mpg. Love this car.

 

Just wait until winter arrives. There will be reports of dipping into the 30's, often caused by extremely short trips with a cold engine. Thankfully, they'll be countered reports of unusually high MPG caused by traffic naturally driving slower due to seasonal change.

Prius uses a surprisingly dynamic system. Just think what you'd be getting for MPG otherwise, not to mention emissions not being as clean.

 

36 MPG on a 175 mile trip on Flat highways, low wind, 78 dgrees, Cruise set at 68MPH, ECO Mode, A/C off.
38 MPG on the return trip with same stats.

 

^^^
Woah. That sounds really low. Were you able to stay mostly at 68 mph?

Underinflated tires? Alignment probs? Changed you tires and wheels? Brakes dragging?

On my Gen 2 Prius, on my previous commute, I could achieve a tank of just over 50 mpg if I kept my speed on the highway <70 mph for the whole tank.

 

It is low but according to the service Department - my car is fine and the MPG sounds "Pretty good". My 2010 Liftback did the same trip many times and easily topped 50MPG.

Car only had 800 Miles on it when I started the trip - alignment and tires are good - 42PSI all around brakes are not dragging. I am at about 1300 miles now and my averages (i track this religiously) are 42City 37 Hwy 40 Combined. There is something definitely off with my specific car - but toyota will not look at the HSD system without a light on the dash - I took it in this morning and they said all is good and it must be my driving (not likely - i am an expereinced hypermiler - 40MPG out of my 2006 Scion XB, and 60's regularly out of the 2010 Prius)

 

You definitely need to escalate this to corporate.

 

Check the oil level. Toyota dealers are a bunch of crooks and assholes who can't seem to figure out how to change the oil. Anyways, make sure the oil is below the "F" mark (but above the halfway between low and full).

Try using cruise control for over 30 mph and see it that improves things.

 

With only 1300 miles It has not yet had an oil change, I did check the oil (thanks for the idea - I had not looked at that yet) and it looks good. Beside that - I don't let anyone do maintenance on my car but me - I don't trust anyone else to do the job correctly - especially a big time stealership.

 

Yes, experienced a similar effect this past week with heavy air conditioning use, although not as dramatic as yours. My normal average is 55, but with temps in the mid to high 90s and air on all the time with highest fan setting, it dropped to the mid 40s. Watching the monitor, I could see very little battery feed to the wheels. It was all ICE with the battery concentrating on keeping the AC going. It takes a long time to cool off this car with temps in the 90s.

 

I know this might sound crazy. But I have found turning off the AC if the ICE is not running can help keep the MPG way up. (long stoplights, heavy traffic, etc.) AC on without ICE being on can deplete the battery at a rate up to 8 times faster than with AC off. (confirmed by scangauge)...

-M

 

Winter? Yep - might get down into the low 60s or even high 50s for a couple days or nights...may even get some snow on Mauna Kea or Haleakala.

Oh wait - you're in MN. One Minnesotan(?) I knew - when asked why he moved to Hawaii - said: "You've never lived through a Minnesota winter!" (And he was not smiling when he said this.)

Just kidding

 

Hey M, how would someone turn off the ICE?
I noticed you mentioned this up above.

 

You actually cannot; however, you can delay it from coming on.

The A/C is electric. There's only a finite amount of electricity available. When you run out, the engine starts. Keeping cool by opening the windows can be more efficient at slower speeds.

The heater gets heat from the engine. Hot coolant will feed it for awhile. But when it cools down too much (the threshold in ECO mode for the regular model Prius is 114°F) the engine will start. Keeping the blower on low helps draw out the no-run time. (Blocking the grille of the car does too.)

 

I was referring to when the car goes into EV mode at stoplights, slow traffic, the ICE turns off on its own.

-M

 

About 22.5 MPG 100 mph in the NHW11. The ZVW20 was similar at 100 mph but I didn't have my scanner setup to monitor the exact value. For planning purposes, 22.5 MPG is close enough at 100 mph.

Bob Wilson