Mileage still sucks...302 to a tank...all city driving

I don't have enough information to figure. What speeds do you travel on the highway? What is the elevation change on your trips? How far are your trips? Is your vent blocked? What is your tire pressure? Is your foot made of metal? What is the wind speed of a swallow?

 

Tony, see all of our responses to your other thread:

Miles to go after filling up? | PriusChat

You have already indicated that you use the air conditioner a lot in your car. And given that the heat index around Miami has been near 100 degrees, I would expect you to use air conditioning. If you are stuck in city traffic while using the air conditioner, then your fuel economy will be lower, since the energy to run your air conditioner comes from your battery. Therefore, your reported mileages seem reasonable.

Also, you haven't yet stated what your typical highway speed is. Is it 70mph? Have you tried going 60mph instead? Again, see previous thread.

 

Air conditioning will mess with those mpgs

Instead of setting the AC to LO, I set it 10 degrees cooler than outside. One time I was driving through Barstow CA(90f) and I set the climate control to 80. It didn't feel like 80. But if the outside temp were to reach 100, I'd probably give in and set it 20 degrees cooler.

 

Oh, one more question... what was your previous car and what mileage did you get in it on the same trip?

 

Fuel economy complaints/queries? Please copy, paste & answer these questions, esp. if you're new

 

I get horrible MPG in city traffic when the AC is on. I was averaging high 30's low 40's in these heat waves we've been having. The past couple days without AC, I'm at 54 MPG easy. Also constant stop and then going while entering "PWR" mode doesn't help. I try to use less AC and coast as much as possible.

I got 60 MPG today on the highway staying below 55 mph. If I go above 70, same thing high 30's low 40's for MPG.

 

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African or European?

Tony, the distance of your typical trip may be an issue, so might many other things.
Many people here can and are quite happy to help. They need more information from you though.

 

My summer MPG dropped from 48 to 45. Much of that is the constant AC on in the summer. My work commute dropped from 18 Highway Miles one way to 7 City Miles one way. I live in a hilly area also. I did check the tire inflation and increase from 33 to 40 PSI and that helped. If you can get non ethanol gas you may see an improvement.

You may want to use Fuelly or any other MPG tracker to help. www.fuelly.com

This is a very short video and it may help.

 

I was going 80mph for part of a road trip last weekend with no AC and the car said it was doing 49MPG consistently. This was through large hills, no mods, regular gas. Near sea level.

 

Nothing wrong with the car. I think it's a matter of more STOP than GO in his city driving and/or his trips are very short. Likely too when he does highway driving, my guess is he's starting with a lower battery too or drives like a bat out of hell or both. I'll bet the ICE spends a lot of time recharging the battery.

 

There are many factors that prevent MPG from what people expect, based on the big numbers on the window-sticker. New owners aren't aware of them until they start driving around with their new Prius, which has a display and begins to point out those factors. Assumptions don't make themselves known until they seek advice online.

Efficiency has always been that way. Most people have no idea though. In fact, they usually aren't even aware that the window-sticker also contains small numbers too... specifying a range, trying to highlight the reality that result will vary.

Fortunately, even under the worst conditions, Prius still does better than other vehicles at their best. It's too bad that new owners don't have data prior to their purchase available for comparison. Their previous vehicle didn't have a display. They had no idea things like temperature, short-trips, tire-pressure, or winter-formula fuel could make such a difference.

So, all we can really do is assure the new owner their Prius is just fine and encourage them to explore the technology. Drive something other than the daily routine. Watch the difference it can make. Also, give the new car some time to break-in too.

 

I typically take the back roads home from work (18.5 miles total). Yesterday I decided to take the bumper to bumper highway route (not all highway but 18 miles total) to see if I would get better mpgs or save anything by going .5 miles less. The mileage was terrible. ~10 mpgs less than the backroads.

 

I have gotten anywhere from 46 mpg to 82 mpg depending on the route I take, how I drive and whether there is anyone behind me. Most of the time I drive back and forth to work on a 25 mile trip through a few miles of 30 mph subdivision as well as winding hilly country roads; gas mileage can vary from the mid 50s to 69 mpg --usually in the mid 60s. I pulse and glide as much as I can. My tires are at 40 psi --tire inflation makes a big difference.

edit: oops! I put a 5 mile trip to work--should have been 25 miles--I fixed it.

 

I live near Philadelphia, when I drive into the city, I get my best MPG trips. I always drive in Eco Mode and keep the score in the EV section until the battery is close to empty. The toughest part of switching to a prius was the psychological barrier of being a "slow driver". Once I came to terms, I've been posting 55-65 mpg trips very regularly and occasionally a 70+ mpg trip.

 

It's hard to get 53 mpg, you have to going far enough to let the engine warm up to get that mpg. Doing 2 miles trips won't get you 53 mpg

 

I've had my 2012 Prius c Four for about 7 months now. When I got it showed 47 mpg fuel economy. It had about 1/2 tank of fuel when I got it (it was a dealer demo model that had been used for car shows). I continued to get 47 mpg for the remainder of the tank of gas. But ever since I have averaged only around 39 mpg. My first tank of gas was Shell 87 octane, and since then I've used Quick Trip (QT) 87 octane. Both are tier one gasoline, though in Texas it is difficult to tell whether they include ethanol as they only have to label it if it is over 10%, I think. Okay here is the break down:

• I drive mostly short trips in town (10 miles or less, 20 minutes or less)
• I use the AC a lot (I live in HELL, err North Texas, pretty much the same thing)
• I'm never a lead foot or speeder, no jackrabbit starts
• I'm 6'2" and 215 pounds (maybe extra weight makes a difference)
• I rarely use ECO mode in town due to lack of power (I don't won't to get run over)

I don't drive that much or that far, but it would be nice to get back to the 47 mpg I got with the first half tank of gasoline. I understand from comments above that the AC eats away at mpg, but during the winter I didn't use it much and I've consistently gotten 39 mpg from February to August. I'm thinking the brand of gasoline is probably a huge factor and I've stuck with tier one suggested by the dealership's chief maintenance guy. I'm taking a short highway trip this coming weekend, so perhaps I will get better mpg then.

 

Check your tire pressure. But my guess is that because of your short trips and heavy AC use, you'll do better in the winter than the summer.

 

I think this OP is trolling. Not one reply back and claiming poor city mileage in a car that excels in city MPG

That or he flunked math class