Gen II owners- what did you have to "unlearn" when you got a Prius v?

Disclaimer: This is my first Prius so I can't help with the "unlearn" part.

What was your average tank mpg on your Gen II?

I can consistently get 50 mpg (indicated) tanks with mine but I have to keep it at 60 mph on the freeway. I can't get a pulse and glide either because it takes more energy to speed up than the mpg gains on the glide as you discovered. I do glide whenever possible on the down hills of my commute and that makes a huge difference on my trip mpg's and eventually the tank mpg.

 

when you glide, keep the hsi bar slightly to the right of the line. otherwise, it could be in regen.

 

What's the speed limit there? How fast do you drive on the interstate (95?, Turpike)?

 

There you go then.... At 72 mph, 37-39 mpg is as good as it gets for the V. AC off my get you to 39-42 which is right in the ball park for the EPA mpg.

This tread may shed some light....

(Nearly) worst-case scenario mileage... | PriusChat

72 mph so you won't get run over ? Man! Those retirees sure are in a hurry nowadays. When I lived down there you were lucky if you got to the speed limit because of all the traffic, tourist, retirees, and the State Troopers every few miles.

 

I noticed that you just bought your 2013 (did you trade in 2006?). I'm sure you mpg's will improve a little more as the car is broken in.

Is your commute still 75 miles? Is that round trip or one way?

 

I get down to FL once in a while and I do recall it is like a race track on the highways sometimes. I usually hang out in the Miami/Fort L area. At least you have the warm weather which helps MPG. Although you may do better in the 80's as far as MPG.

I do not know what tires you have but when you change 'em out there is an opportunity to get better MPG tires.

 

I don't know, I consistently get upper-40s indicated on my commute without even trying, even with temperatures in the high 20s/low 30s. I am generally going 65-70MPH. This is my first hybrid so I don't know any different techniques that I had to unlearn. Mostly I try to avoid getting the HSI into the PWR zone when accelerating and I've noticed that at highway speeds, if I keep within 2 pips of the EV/ICE line my instant MPG is always at 50MPG or above and there's enough power to maintain speed on flat terrain and even slight inclines, so I try to keep it there when I'm cruising. I glide at zero or 1 pip showing, but I do not know if that's a true glide or not. I don't do a whole lot of pulse and glide...seems like there's always someone behind me or I'm going up a hill. I've usually got the auto climate control set to 68.

So far I have not tried using ECO or PWR mode because I wanted to break in and then get a baseline in "normal" mode to compare against. I will probably try ECO starting next week, do that for awhile, then try PWR.

 

The Prius v station wagon is heavier and less aerodynamic than a gen2 Prius - so when accelerating the Prius v try timing your accelerations when going downhill or accelerating more gently when traffic allows for it. I found the trick to getting better mpg on the super highway is to:

1) keep your speed as low as possible [this is problematic for you],
2) reduce your rolling resistance by inflating your tires near the max sidewall pressure,
3) reduce your wind resistance [ keep your windows rolled up and remove any exterior items from the roof],
and
4) avoid regenerative braking.

Regenerative braking is a lossy energy translation from mechanical to electrical energy and its more energy efficient to just let the car go alittle faster than to allow the regen brakes to activate. Regenerative braking occurs most often in high speeds when you use the cruise control and the car is going faster than the target speed. One of the reason a hypermiler can often get better MPGs than just using cruise control (CC) on the superhighway is because he/she can prevents the Prius' regen brakes from being activated at high speeds. To prevent the regen brakes from going on you need to have a very accurate timing wrt to the accelerator so you need to be in normal or pwr mode rather than eco mode. The deductive result of this phenomena is that putting too much energy into the Prius v is more wasteful than putting too much energy into the gen2 Prius - hence, you need a more sensitive accelerator touch for the Prius v to get better results... ah but you already knew that didn't you?

hope this helps

Walter

 

I didn’t know any of that. Thank you. I just got my V and am dismayed that the tank appears to hold 11 gallons and its showing me a total cruising range of 382 miles.... that seems disappointing to me and the math doesn’t make sense. If 40 mpg is an conservative estimate, shouldn’t I then have 440 miles give or take in the tank.
I was always so excited to break 425 miles on the Gen 11 per tank.. and I believe that tank held less. And I could go forever between pips.. (plus I liked the surprise of never really knowing how many miles I’d get on a tank and the cruising range is handy but kind of a buzzkill..like, where’s the element of surprise).
I’ve driven 70 miles and only have a cruising range of 312 to go and have guzzled 3 pips worth.

Could anyone suggest how I might best drive when breaking in a car with 70 miles. I thought I was supposed to drive in Eco mode. and how a newbie can get the best possible mileage.Also,in history, it says, my best mileage to date was 58 mpg but was that for like, 3 seconds ?


- a somewhat bewildered V-irgin who misses her simple idiot proof driving and graphics on the Gen 11.

By the way.. is anyone else getting weird radio reception. Whatever program I’m listening to ‘live’ skips, goes back in time and repeats itself; kind of echo-ing.

Thanks....

 

The cruising range is pretty pessimistic from what I've found. After 1000 miles or so, mine has been pretty consistent at showing around 450 when the tank is full. There's also a good bit left in the tank after it hits zero. In any case, you should see it improve over the next month or two.

Breaking it in, basically just drive normally. Avoid wide-open throttle accelerating. Otherwise you're just supposed to vary engine RPMs, but that happens pretty naturally with the CVT.

Also, that history screen is pretty whacky. When you press update, it locks in the current MPG on the ODO display (but not the trip A/B MPGs) and the resets the ODO MPG (thus, making it impossible to use that thing AND track lifetime MPG that way). Pretty senseless.

 

Thanks... that’s really reassuring. I was starting to have terrible buyer’s remorse.

 

FYI...The range is based on the average mpg for that tank. There's a lot of good information within the Gen-III forum. There's also a lot of Prius experts (F8L, Bob Wilson, JimboPalmer, just to name a few) there as well. Take the time to browse that forum.

 

Toyota's on board computer's cruising range is a conservative number because - it wants to discourage the driver from driving the gas tank to near empty. The Gen3 Prius signals the empty and begins flashing the first bar of the fuel tank display when the sensors read 1.7 gallons of gas are left in the car (I know this because I have a ScangaugeII Flv xgauge connected to my Prius). 0.7 gallons is the minimal reading by the fuel tank sensor (when the Prius is standing still level with the ground) - after the fuel tank drops below that level the sensors become unreliable. Depending on how the Prius is tilted the sensor reads differently - If the Prius is pointed downward (front nose is lower than the back) the sensors read less gasoline is in the fuel tank. If the Prius is pointed upward (front nose is higher than the rear end of the car) then the fuel tank sensor reads more gasoline.

Bob Wilson has tested fuel tank capacity of the 3rd gen Priusby actually running the 3rd gen Prius dry until there isn't any fuel left! Wilson estimates there is about 2.1 gallons left in the tank at the first beep which reminds the driver to fillup the Prius (when the ScangaugeII reads 1.7 gallons). Just as Your Mileage May Vary (YMMV) so does the range vary for the last 2 gallons of gas in your Prius. I normally multiply my current estimated MPG by 2 to get my range then I minus off 10 miles just to give me a safety margin to work with.

I had my 2010 Prius for about three years. My impression is that any fuel efficiency increase due to mechanically *breaking-in* is minor compared to the *learning curve* most drivers need to drive it efficiently. My overall fuel efficiency is about 60 mpg for about three years - but if you examine my fuel log you'll see that in my MPG for first year was only in the mid 50 and that over the last few years my running average MPG has climbed (and my top tank mpg has climbed from 66 to 70 to 71 ) so that in my last year I got 71 MPG. This fuel efficiency driving thingy is not just book knowledge - it is a bit of skill, some talent, a good deal of effort, and a bit of good fortune to boot. Don't beat yourself up too bad about it - just by driving a Prius - you are ahead of the game already... stand tall - be proud !