Arizona Prii Drivers

2011 base, bought new about a year and 3 months ago.
I commute about 140 miles a day five days a week. This is mostly freeway driving although I do stop every morning to feed my face a doughnut and Monster to help wake up. Also lots of short mpg killing trips on the weekend.
I'm at about 42,000 miles now. Just recently put a set of Michelin Energy Saver tires on. I have always ran the tire pressure at 40.

I have kept track of every time I have stopped and got gas noting the computer mpg and overall mileage. I am now on tank # 113. I am a school teacher and as such my driving drops off in June (still working about half the month doing professional development stuff) and not working in July.

When school is going and I am driving my highway miles, my mileage is right at 50/52 (computer). When it warms up starting in late April/May but school is still in session I get 48/49. It is bad right now with my driving only being short trips to the grocery store etc and my ac running in full tilt survival mode, I have to be careful to keep it at 39/40.

I have kept the "B" display going and never reset it. It shows a running total mpg of 47.9.

PS. I love this car!!!!

 

I don't have any experience in the winter with the 2012 yet, but my running average since delivery in May is 51.7. That's taking into account the first two tanks that had time with the dealership, tint installer, etc., doing some mods to the car. My three most recent tanks (June and July) were 53.0, 52.5, and 54.6 calculated mpg. And this is with 17" tires, compared to the 15's I had on the 2004.

I was getting the low 50's in my 2004 during the winter months. I don't remember ever having a calculated fill-up below 50 in that car.

I have noticed that the A/C use on the 2012 doesn't seem to hit the mpg as hard as it did on the 2004.

My daily commutes are between 13 & 15 miles (changed jobs), with about 60% considered city driving.

 

Sorry I didn't reply to your question. I only get on here now and then.
Before I bought the tires I read a lot of posts on here about the comparisons of tires and how they "ride". I can't honestly say I see much difference in how they feel.
As far as the MPG goes, yeah they probably help some, but I'm sure you know that it's more complicated than just saying my better gas mileage is due to the tires. There are posts on here somewhere that give some great advice about how to approach using the ac in hot climates. I had been doing some of it but not all of it. My last tank was a stinky 37. And I was on the last 3 bars on a tank showing 38. I had been running the ac set at like 69 and the fan full blast. Pretty stupid huh? No don't answer that. Anyway I changed it to 82 and lowered the fan and watched the MPG slowly inch back up until I finished the tank at 43.6. I thought that was pretty good for the being the very tail end of the tank.
I have another two and half weeks or so until school starts back up and I go back to my freeway commuting and thereby better MPG. In the meantime I'll be running my ac as noted above. Makes a difference.

Adios
Z

 

Green Va. to Oro Valley (near Tucson), 2004 around 100mile commute/day. Hit 50mpg if I kept freeway driving between 65-70mph, 3-4mph over speed limit in all other situations. I did swing shift work so home bound was late at nite when it was cooler. Tucsons about 7 degrees cooler than Pheonix. winter was about 2mpg lower. Put Hymotion pack in 2008 and millage went up to around 66mpg (including 2-3mpg improvement with Michellin high millage tires), no charging at work. and stick at 70-72mph on freeways now. Town driving really increases overall mpg (2-300mpg).

 

Yeah, this commute is why I have 257K miles on my Prius, but the gas savings just keep piling up. No major repair and the Hybrid Bat. is still hanging in there. The Plug-in bat. is probably protecting the hybrid bat. some. Also I think keeping the windows closed is keeping the Hybrid Bat. fan from getting clogged up with the excessive dust in this area. Mine was only clogged about 20% after 8.5years. Be sure to replace the transmission oil every 60K where you live.

That is a nice Museum, also next to the American Legion I belong to.

 

someone said older prius had shiftstick problem in hot weather. Has anyone had this?

 

I meant Gen2 in Arizona. Prius Hates Heat ! (Extreme Prius Driving Part 1) | PriusChat

 

Never had a problem with my '04 during the 8 years I had it.I remember seeing some triple digit (you know, above 109) on the temp display many times and never had an issue.

I've replace the shifter in my '12 with a Stage-10 ESS, so I can't provide any insight on the '12 for comparison.

 

Sorry to jump in on your question to zzzzz, but for my Michelin Energy Saver A/S tires, I've seen zero decrease in MPG's compared to my worn (2/32) Yokohama's. I'm working on my best tank now (will fill it up tonight) and these new tires only have about 3000 miles on them. The only downside I've seen so far is some tramlining on grooved concrete surfaces, although I might be able to mitigate it if I play around with tire pressures.

 

My pressures are set at 44 PSI fronts and 42 PSI rears (same as Yokohamas).

I have seen a mileage increase. There was zero drop off from when I switched out from worn Yokos to brand new Michelin's, in fact my mileage went from 65.0 (last 5 or 6 fill ups with Yokos) to 65.5 (3 fill ups with Michelins).

A better comparison may be from last August to this August. Last August, we finally got our warm weather and my Yokohamas had 30,000 to 35,000 miles on them (i.e. well broken in).

Aug 2011 = Calculated - 59.6, 64.1, and 65.6
July 2012 = Calculated - 67.3, 67.0, and 64.1.

So a definite gain in MPG's. This current tank will come in at 67+ mpg as well.

Aug - Sep 2011 - average MPG was 63.2 mpg.
First 3 fill ups on new tires - Average MPG = 66.1 mpg

 

Not me, but Green Va. (So. of Tucson) is a little cooler, and I work swingshift; and come home when it's cooler at night.

 

My last tank came in at a displayed 71.3 mpg (calculated 67.4 mpg).

 

^^ That's a great tank. But, are you in AZ or Pleasanton????