First Tank MPG

First Tank MPG:

You hit the nail on the head on both accounts. My first tank revealed 38.2 mpg at about 650 miles. But, after practicing "mastering the technology" as you put it, my second tank registered 44.4 mpg. How did I do it? I read some articles about "HOW" to drive a hybrid and one point stood out among the others: "Try to coast as much as you can instead of keeping your foot on the pedal as in non-hybrid vehicles. That was the key. I kept seeing 99.9 mpg when coasting, even though I wasn't losing my place in traffic. And, when traveling at low speeds, that 99.9 comes up a lot, with just a little weight on the gas.........almost like letting your foot rest on the pedal without pushing too much. I have a lot more to learn but my Prius v (five) really surprised me. And, also without the winter, frosty mornings, defrosting didn't enter into my mpg equation on the second tank.

Jack

 

My wife has a 2012 V 3, drives it like a normal American (terribly, accelerating to stops, never coasts at all) and gets 43 lifetime on the car computer, which is probable close to 41 real MPG. I have a regular Gen III 2013 and am getting about 50 MPG real about 52 on the MFD.

 

I "think" what I've learned is to allow for the "Synergy" in the Hybrid Synergy Drive.

The first week of ownership I was driving the Prius way too conservatively, really trying to promote EV or battery drive as much as possible. So I was really forcing the Prius into a Battery or Engine Recharge scenario.

As I've lightened up a bit...and actually started to drive the Prius a little more like a "normal" vehicle, I think I'm letting the synergy do the work. I find the computer is actually better at knowing what energy source to choose in whatever situation and the system itself is better at knowing what resources to blend and tap.

You still of course benefit from hypermiling techniques and not driving like you are in a NASCAR race, but so far I'm actually finding benefit in NOT thinking about it as much as I was, and simply driving.

 

First tank: 40.1 mpg, 405 miles. I think I'm doing better with the second tank.

 

Not bad, My MPG keeps going up, the last tank (as viewable in my signature on fuelly) was mid 30's. Car was loaded down driving around 70-75mph hwy coming back from the beach. But i've been very happy with the results so far, car still has under 1200miles.

 

We just got a 2013 Prius v 2 and had been getting a max of 43, averaging between 42 and 43 with a mix of highway and hilly moderately traffic-lighted roads. For comparison, we'd come from a 2010 regular Prius (also lowest model) and doing mostly highway driving I'd get around 49 mpg.

We got the v on Saturday. Last night I read up on maximizing fuel economy on this site and since then I've driven 33 miles and am running at 55 mpg. If I'd found this forum with the previous car, I'd have been upwards of 60 for sure!

I think I intuitive utilized "Pump and Glide" without even realizing the technique, but since I've started playing with Eco mode more and Power on hills (I'd already been coasting near the peak of hills) and major highways I've been seeing huge changes in mpg...an increase of 13 (and more with practice).

 

Don't forget that there is a 5000 mile 'wear-in' period for the car.
This includes the tires, and all the mechanicals that have moving/rotating
parts.

At least in the Gen II, wear-in was good for +3-5 MPG.

 

I'm confused because it appears I have a higher calculated MPG than displayed, where most people get the opposite.
I just filled up after depleting our first tank.

Drove 503 miles, filled with 10.11 gallons, range showed 13 mi. left. Avg. mpg showed 48.0, but 503/10.11 = 49.75.
Am I missing something?

 

Hi Aran;

This happens to me occasionally. For me, I have tracked it down to inconsistent fill ups. I find it difficult to fill up to the same level every time. When I fill it up more than usual, that fill-up in fuelly will have higher MPG, relative to (or just plain higher than) car reported MPG. The next fill-up when I hit normal fill level, fuelly reports a much MUCH lower MPG relative to car reported MPG. It all averages out in the end to %5.8 higher MPG reported by car that calculated at the pump for my 2012 prius v (wagon) 5 w/ ATP, 17 inch wheels.

Now I can get fuel level in gallons on my ScanGaugeII, and I'm consistently filling to 11.6 gallons and my fuelly MPG stats are more stable relative to car reported MPG.

Check out fuelly.com if you want to track fill-ups and ongoing MPG statistics.
Search on ScanGaugeII if you want to learn about that gadget that can act like extra instrument gauges, or for reading error codes from the car, or for turning reverse beep into a single beep.

 

Excellent. Thanks! Does the fact that our car's a lease affect the feasibility of using Scangauge? What's the installation like?