Will the fuel economy be upped from the 2012 44/40? Also, now that we are at the end of October--is there a release date yet for the 2013 Prius V? Thinking about getting one now (2012) but I can wait if the MPG will improve in the 2013 model... Thanks!
No. I wouldn't expect any significant fuel economy changes for at least 3 more years. The car is only a year old. 2013 Prius Hatchback, Prius v, and Prius Plug-in Details & Changes | Page 2 | PriusChat
Don't count on it. This model was just released. The numbers might improve when they release PIP V in 2015, maybe. Besides, almost everybody is getting much better numbers than 44/40. I'm getting 47-50 city and 52-highway (the last time I checked) calculated at the pump.
I concur, as bad as the numbers might look on paper I still continue to be impressed by the real world mileage of my V. First few thousand kilometers of ownership in early september the weather was much better than it is now and i got up to 50mpg(US) on one tank by mostly city driving. My average with mix of 50/50 hwy/city though was more like 46mpg. I'm a little dissapointed now that winter is here with snow/ice/slush covered roads, minus something temperatures, underinflated tires, and mostly highway driving crusing at 70mph(when the roads are good) i'm averaging 38mpg. This i'm assuming would be worse case scenario in this area for fuel economy. I can see eventually getting 35mpg in the dead of winter when it gets down to -30 but will have to wait and see for sure. Considering the last car I owned, a 2008 Honda Fit, got 35mpg average, in ideal conditions, i'm very satisfied with the "much larger" car's mpg.
The only changes I know of for 2013 are a new color (sea glass) and a Softex steering wheel on the 5 trim. I just bought a 2012 v 5 and love it, and the mileage exceeds the rating so far (47+ on the computer).
I'm currently at 53.1 mpg 440 miles into the tank (4th tank). I'm driving carefully to make it that high, trying to test the limits of the car. I drove home on local streets from work yesterday and registered 58.1 mpg on the trip. It's quite possible to beat the EPA. I'm pleased.
I have the 2013's on ground. They are a carryover model - no changes to the 2013 from the 2012 at this time.
I'm glad you-all are getting such great mileage! My conservatively-driven v is averaging 37.5 mpg on the urban streets of in-town Atlanta. Should I take it in to the dealer and complain?
Something is really wrong with your driving technique, or the car. You should be getting at least 44 mpg around town.
It depends a lot on driving technique, speeds and most importantly, trip length. In CR's tests, they rated gave the Prius v 41 mpg overall and got 31 in their city tests. See last page of http://www.consumersunion.org/Oct_CR_Fuel_Economy.pdf for a description of their tests vs. the old EPA ones. MadHungarian: If you want FE help, please start a new thread w/answers to Fuel economy complaints/queries? Please copy, paste & answer these questions, esp. if you're new | PriusChat.
Hey MadHungarian, as cwerdna suggested check out those links. In my case I was getting about 39 mpg in city only driving but my trip length was usually short (1/2 mile first trip) and about 4 miles with a lot of stop signs and lights (unless I wanted to sit in traffic for 45 minutes- an hour) My biggest problem was getting and keeping the battery charged above 45%. Slow driving with starts and stops using electric only (it defaulted to electric) but not enough time to get up to speed to recharge the battery fully before I was stopping again (and yes I was using regen braking as much as possible) . Then the engine kicks on and killed my millage. My new route to work is now 21 miles (the distance sucks) but I still have 4 miles city, and 16 miles split between 55 and 65 mph freeway. My first tank on this new route was 55mpg (hand calculated) and now averaging about 48-50mpg (getting colder here nowadays. ) Good luck with your v!
Thanks for the comments--I was just looking for a reality check re. mpg in response to the posted claims. The CR piece puts mpg in perspective. Thanks for that, cwerdna (?). I suggest someone with more expertise and ingenuity than I start and report the results of a survey looking at the effects some of the major determinants on the v: 1. Average mpg 2. Average length of each trip 3. Average percent of stop-and-go versus freeway/highway driving 4. Typical terrain: flat (e.g. cornfields of Kansas) vs. hilly (e.g. streets of San Francisco)
Whoops, in my post, I forgot to post some CR mileage results, so you can get an idea of how much better the Prius V wagon is than almost every non-hybrid. And, I also made a typo. The Prius v in CR's tests got 33 mpg city, not 31. The most fuel-efficient cars | Consumer Reports Best vehicles for city & highway mpg | Consumer Reports Best & worst fuel economy | Consumer Reports
