Welcome to PC and congratulations on your ride. Let us know what you think after you to get used to driving it for a while.
So far my only complaint is how long it takes to cool the car down. I still need to learn how to drive proper as I am averaging 38.1 mpg But that could also have to do with the fact I accidently reset the information at around 70 miles of driving so its probably better than that.
Well, to be honest, expect your MPG to be lower than the posted combined MPG... Like look at my Fuelly... To be honest, my low MPG is due to the fact that I drive 10-12 miles between where I live and work. The terrain has slight up and downs, and 80% of the driving is on Highway. So I hover around the 37-38 mpg on average. On my first fuelup, I also was driving like I did my old Sentra, 75-80mph on the highway and a few short trips which got me down to 33 mpg. Depending on the terrain and your traffic conditions, you will find your MPG going up and down like a yo-yo anyways. The important thing is... Try not to ride the brakes or the Pedal as much as you can. The most common problem with drivers, especially going from a normal car to a Prius is the bad habit driving. People don't coast with their cars, they hit the brakes a lot when slowing down instead of looking ahead and just coast. The great thing about the Prius in general is the use of the Instant MPG announcement indicator. If you are constantly pushing your car so that it shows your MPG is 10-20 MPG, you are whittling away on your overall MPG. If you drive so you are around the higher levels, like 40 to 50+, your overall MPG will go up. In city driving, you will see 8-15 MPG if you try to accelerate hard from stop, but if you are lucky in lights, maintaining momentum is less about pushing the engine hard, but just gradually pushing up will help too.
I am used to my Jeep Liberty and used the Tach alot trying to never go over 2000 and when moving from a stop not going over 1500 like at a stoplight. I managed to coax around 23 - 24.7 mpg out of a car that was supposed to average 20-21 mpg. I am trying real hard to keep the Prius V's power indicator in the middle or lower but not having a lot of luck yet.
