I also need some reassurance. I just drove in the city approximately 15 miles. On screen i was looking at the ECO. and my average was only 23? I was not driving fast mind you, at all quite the opposite. i stayed at or just above the eco line in the middle. This morning i drove about the same distance and i got up to 50 mpg. Would the A/C being cranked high affect it that much? That is all i can think would. Also, it is very hot outside..
Without details you'll get a generic answer. Short hop fuel economy is very variable. The engine has to run to get everything up to temperature. If the traction battery is low it will run to charge the battery. It may be running to power the heater or air conditioner. Crawling in city traffic is the worst. The fuel economy will be very high until the traction battery gets depleted. At that point the engine will cycle on & off to charge the battery just enough to get it over the threshold. To answer your question, the AC is not going to knock 27mpg off your average.
The variables Jim mentions above are all valid. That said, the A/C cranked way up on the smaller Prius c will have a larger effect than in Jim's liftback. (The battery is smaller.) A/C, speed, repid acceleration, terrain, and lack of attention to the finer points of maximizing fuel economycan all add up to decrease MPG averages. The longer you have the car, the more attuned to these variables you will become. Don't worry, be happy Now, when it comes to the Dolphins, I'm plenty worried. BUT I am optimistic at the same time. I think they are better than most of the pundits give them credit for. Go Fins! (Ican't really lose this weekend since the Texans are my second team - adopted when I moved to Tx from Fl.
Thanks ufourya and jim! I do need to learn a new way to drive and im starting to get it by keeping an eye on the eco meter. Easy starts and long gradual stops and things as such. Ill get it! Also, yeah im hoping the fins can have a decent season 6 or so wins I believe would be great! The hurricanes took a dump though. I just thought of something I can drive across the state now and watch a game and finally not worry about gas!
When you first start on a new "trip" it seems to take some miles before the average mpg shows a higher average. It starts out quite low but increases as you add miles. Also light touch on stopping and starting helps a great deal (check the gauge that goes up and down as you press on the gas pedal and keep it under the orange zone all the way to the right). When we restart the trip function it always shows a low in the 20s mpg average and as we add miles it climbs up to the high 40s and 50s.
Maybe not that bad, but I think it depends. Today I took a trip, same as I do several times a week, same traffic, etc. Normally, I can get MPGs in the high 60s to low 90s on this trip - but I make the trip alone and without running the a/c. Today, with a passenger in the car, I had the a/c cranked up and could not get better MPG than 50. Other than the weight of a (small) passenger and the cranked a/c, nothing else about the trip was any different than the times I get such great mileage. So I suspect there are times when the a/c can have a significant impact on MPG.
There are times when I struggle to break 42mpg using A/C in Eco mode on a very hot day. It makes a huge amount of difference on efficiency.
True, I have been driving with the a/c cranked up due to high temps. So it will be interesting to see what mpgs we get when the weather changes.
Since I bought this car, we have had one day of cooler temperatures and rain (relatively speaking, for Vegas), and on that day, when I ran no fan, no a/c, I got the best mileage ever. I can't wait for the temperatures to drop.
