February MPG Averages<img alt="" src="chrome://easygestures/skin/xLink.png" style="border: 0px none

MPG Averages

I just joined, mainly to learn more about improving my gas mileage. Looking through a few posting, it seems everyone's getting great gas mileage but me! I live in CT and have had my Prius about 6 weeks. In town I'm only averaging 42-44 mpg. Even worse on a 600 mile trip, mostly highway. Any suggestions?

 

Re: February MPG Averages

It is July and temps have heated up. I have about 20k miles on my '04 and have been averaging around 52 mpg. I did notice my mileage improved by putting more miles on the car. Around 5k, my mileage jumped up from around 45 to over 50. You do learn how to drive to maximize mileage with experience. Most of my driving is on the freeway. I drop around 4 mpg if I only drive around town. 50 seems like a magic number to me. If I average 50 mpg on a tank, I feel great. If it is in the 40's, I feel like I could have driven better (easy acceleration, coasting, etc.). I am also amazed at this thread. A few short years ago, mileage in the 40's would have been unthinkable! Now I am upset unless I get at least 50. I still love my Prius and look forward to the day we chat about 100 mpg!

 

Driving Techniques for Improving MPG

I love my Prius, even if my mileage isn't in the 50's but I would really love to be able to brag about great mileage. I still have under 3000 miles so maybe things will improve as the car gets broken in. Are there any specific driving techniques that will improve gas mileage?

 

Main technique: no short trips, moderate speeds.

 

Feb 2006

2nd tank - 553 miles - 37.5 mpg

Mostly short trips, ambient temps from mid-20's to mid-40's.

 

And warm temps, no hills. I don't think I'll ever come close to Florida mileage.

 

I just had my worst tank in months. We had subfreezing temps for a few days and it knocked an otherwise good tank down a good bit. I also had the bad luck to drive right into a 20 mph head wind both ways a couple of times as a joke on me from mother nature. Before the cold icy rainy weather the average was up around 58 MPG. The final result was-


625 miles at 55.4 MPG. Still not exactly bad.

 

New 2006 Prius - 2nd tank - Largo, FL - I was very happy!
533 miles on the tank
10.22 gallons
53 mpg on the MFD
52.15 calculated
Only 825 miles on the Odometer.

Driving conditions:
* Temps have been averaging 65-70.
Weather wise, I think this is perfect for gas mileage (no a/c, or heat).
* I'm assuming things will get better as the car breaks in.
* I try to drive conservatively - no jack rabbit starts, coasting to lights as long as reasonably possible. I use the car primarly for local city driving (lots of traffic lights) - 45mph average. One highway trip - about 150 miles.
* 30 minute trip to work. I drop my kids off to school within 5 minutes.
* Level roads
* Tires inflated to 38 front 36 back ( a little high is ok - no?)

Black - package 3 - just added mud flaps. Love the car!

 

My 04' 512 miles to 11.0 gal each week fill up every Sunday..

 

Living in Southern Florida (Boynton Beach) I am averaging between 47 and 50 mpg city driving and at spseds of 75- 80 mph I am sveraging about 45 mpg. I have a 05 Prius that has a little over 10,000 miles on it. A lot of my driving is done with cruise control which seems to help my mileage,

 

I live in Oxford, MA (10 minutes from CT) and honestly, I've been consistently getting 43mpg on my 2006 Prius since I bought it new in January. I seem to remember also that with my 2005 I got around the same mpg (44-45mpg) during the winter and it went up to around 48-49mpg during the summer.

That's still really good gas mileage to brag about quite frankly.

I'm actually impressed with 43mpg given all the hills in the area and my lead foot driving style (75-80mph.) I doubt many other cars would do as well.

The other thing you could do is if you really want to save mpg's is drive a little "easier." When my wife drives my Prius she always seems to get about 4-5 mpg more than I do as she's afraid to drive fast or push the car since it's a hybrid. Personally, I drive it just as hard as I would drive any other vehicle.

Good luck.

 

Current tank average is about 49-50 MPG.

 

Unless your gas tank is some 15+ gallons large, one of the two numbers doesn't quite add up...

 

i recently changed my driving style on the highway...went from going 70-80 mph and getting around 43 MPG to going 50-60 mph and getting 56 mpg. its all about the speed moderation and decent sized trips like dan said. i'm happy. : ) What is an extra 5-10 minutes to get to work anyway?? (i just lay back and enjoy some tunes)

 

Tank 3, odometer 1213 miles
9.45 gallons for 450 miles = 47.61
Computer said 50.5 mpg??? Pretty big difference....