2013 Prius v (lowercase v) 50+mpg

35-45 is right in the sweet spot., especially if you don't have too many stops. congrats!

 

The computer is roughly 5% over-generous on the MPG. It takes the car a few thousand miles to loosen up and do its best, so you're right on track, and with the warmer weather. It should fall off a bit once you start working the A/C hard. I find I do best when ambient temps are around 70-80'.

 

Check the mileage when you fill up to know for sure. The computer is usually off, but seems pretty consistent in my experience.
Having your tires pumped up where they are definitely helps. One thing that may be hurting your mileage a bit is accelerating slow. Brisk acceleration is generally considered best for mileage as long as you won't have to slow down right after.

 

Fill your Prius full of gas; trip distance meter to " 0 " ( A or B ) ; and drive to a point when the
" FUEL" light comes on. ( don't worry , you will not run out of gas, you will still have about 1 1/2 gallons left in the tank ) Gas it up to full; check mileage on trip meter { 572 miles example } and divide it by how much fuel you put in { 10.3 U S gallons example } = to 55.5 MPG example. Try to gas up on level ground and don't top off the tank. If you need to put 50 more cents in the Prius to round up to a dollar, that's ok!!

 

No question, the Florida roads and temps are appreciated by the Prius.

35-35 mph is a definite sweet spot for mpg, but the highway mileage is sweet as well.

 

Just had the snow tires taken off Thursday, and I haven't gotten to check the tire pressure yet. But my displayed mileage is a little higher, but I've not done the same trips yet on the highway. My OEM tires are the Yokohama Blue earth LRR's. The trouble with most of those tires is their tread wear rating, usually a lower number on the 300's. The Yokohama's on our Camry Hybrid have a tread wear rating in the high 500's, are not LRR's, and the fuel mileage is stellar. Typically, these tires will last almost twice as long as most LRR's will. An exception I recently saw was a new Yokohama Avid Ascend, an LRR tire, which has an incredible tread wear rating of 740.

 

One of the biggest drains on gas economy is the AC when you've got it on full blast so you'll get your real figure later on. That said, glad you're enjoying your Prius, the mpg makes it perfect for daily use, it's great.

 

In my experience, the very worst mileage is when it's cold, and/or windy. My highest mileage ratings on trips were obtained regardless of AC blasting or not. I haven't noticed much of a change there. The wind is particularly cruel to hybrid gas milage.

 

^^^
Agreed, the A/C is the least of the possible detriments to MPG.

 

Rain and thus driving through puddles in the ruts on older roads increases the rolling resistance and kills mileage.

 

I currently get 52 MPG and I do a mix of 65 MPH highway driving and 35-45 MPH in-town driving. With the way traffic is around here, fuel economy is not a focus of my driving. I do keep the climate control on and usually have something playing on the audio system.


I think the tires make the biggest difference. I am on the factory-installed Bridgestone Turanza tires and I'm really surprised to get mileage like this given the general consensus that these tires are of mediocre quality.

I plan on switching to Yokohama tires in the spring, and I expect my MPG number to change somewhat.

 

At 75 to 85 mph driving round trip between Las Vegas to Thousand Oaks, California I get 38.6 mpg. as an average. I do not drive for mileage but to get this nice person-flattening trip over as soon as possible. Also sometimes I hit the PWR button to do faster merging from on-ramps when traffic is congested. Then I hit ECO after that.

I have 215/50/17" Yokohama 580 tires (V rated) so they are not the skinniest tires but I got them for better handling and braking.

Also my v is lowered 1 inch on Tanabe springs so that may help a tiny bit.

"Supposably" my INJEN cold air intake lowers mileage too but I really doubt that.

 

My v now has over 13,000 miles in 10 months of driving all over the southwest. And finally it is getting better mileage. I think the piston rings take longer to seat well due to the synthetic oil Toyota uses (and which I've used exclusively since 1989).

Also I notice a bit better acceleration which I attribute to the same thing. I've had my cold air intake on since the 7,000 mile mark but am lately getting even more power.

 

i do about 70-80 with cruise and get about 42-44mpg.

 

My fellow hybrid driver today got 35 round trip. Dropped to the teens with a very stiff Northwest wind. My mileage since last summer's trip East is now at 40.5 mpg over 8,500 miles. I would easily be at 43 lifetime or so if I don't live here.

 

I originally got a 2011 hatch from carmax (avoid that place like the plague) returned it after 30 days, i only drove it 4 and was in a loaner the rest of the time, anyway, I picked up a 2013 v (lowercase v for the Prius v wagon) five from a private party and love it, over the first 250ish miles I'm averaging 51.6 mpg, I live in SW Florida and go 63 on the highway, limit in town. I got around to increasing the tire psi to sidewall spec and hopefully it will go up

 

Usually going higher than recommend on tire pressure actually costs more in the long run due to irregular tire wear. You want to go off the placard on the driver side door jam for your tire pressure, not the tire's sidewall. The sidewall pressure is the MAX pressure that the tire can be inflated to. Premature tire wear will cost you far more than any MPG gains.

 

With 25K miles on my EnergySaver A/S at 42psi, there is zero indication of unusual wear. Running MFG suggest pressure is almost always going to result in wear patterns consistent with under-inflation.

What used to be true for high-profile radials in days past with respect to pressure and wear is no longer true with low-profile tires.

 

Do what you want with your tires, I'm just telling you what I have seen and learned from being in the tire industry for ten years, and taking tons of classes from Michelin.

You are changing the contact patch of the tire with the road, and there are consequences. What small amount you may gain in MPG, you lose in breaking ability, handling, you hydroplane easier, there is risk of belt separation from an impact, and you could develop a irregular wear pattern that will result in loss of tire life. That will also void your mileage warranty of 55k.

Someone once told me a good question to ask yourself before you change something on your car:
"Am I smarter than all the engineers who decided to do this this way?"