Low Rolling Resistance Tire Help!!

I know there are other threads concerning this, but they have been going for a while and some information is out of date, and I've found that the tire selection for LRR 17" has really decreased apparently. I bought a pre-owned 2010 model V in March of this year, and it still had what I'm assuming are factory Toyo tires, though the Toyota dealer wasn't quite sure. From March to August, I drove with those tires on and had no problem getting 50mpg or more daily, and around 45mpg on long interstate trips. I replaced the tires a few weeks ago and since then have not been able to get more that 40-42mpg. After many discussions with Toyota and the Firestone dealer that put the Bridgestone (Protenza) tires on, we came to the conclusion that these are not LRR tires and I was never told that's what I needed for a hybrid to maximize fuel economy. Also, my Prius has low-pro 17" tires, which are apparently rare on the Prius and really expensive in the LRR. The Firestone people are going to switch out for free to a new tire, and they recommend the Bridgestone Ecopia ep422 that others have mentioned. Most other tires in a LRR/green model from Goodyear, Michelin and Toyo are not available or out of stock at all their warehouses, but I've tried to research some on Tire Rack and am a little confused--don't know much about tires. My EO specs: 215/45/17 Any thoughts/suggestions? Should I just go with the Ecopia's? What have other people thought of them? I'm mainly looking for longevity and fuel economy. I'm not a speed demon and don't need really fancy handling or anything like that. I live in Tennessee, which can have really humid summers, but not enough cold weather issues to worry about. Please help!

 

Yeah, I've found that most items are out of stock or not available very often... It even took the Toyota dealer quite a while to give me a recommendation. I honestly should have looked into it more when purchasing the car, but I'm not all that auto savvy, and my husband didn't really know anything about hybrids. It was a pre-owned, so it came with whatever the original owner wanted, and had a lot of bells and whistles. We didn't want most of it but bought it anyway because it was the best deal for all it offered. I had never paid more than about $89 for a tire and experienced a bit of sticker shock when shopping around! Thanks for the reply!

 

Thanks, that's what I'm hoping, too. For some reason, I can't seem to find the Energy Saver ones in my tire size/specs. The only Michelin that Toyota recommended to me is the Michelin Pilot mxm4 green x, but according to Tire Rack, the mxm4 doesn't come with the "green x stamp" in that size (215/45/17).

 

Thanks, that's helpful info. Firestone and Toyota both told me to stick to the EO numbers exactly in order to maintain fuel economy, so I hadn't really branched out my search.