Why Don't I Get The EPA Mileage?

Re: Why Don't I Get The EPA Mileage?

Pulse and Glide plus Warp Stealth in the Prius II for maximum FE … - CleanMPG Forums

 

Re: Why Don't I Get The EPA Mileage?

I bought a used 2007 Prius in September and got between 48 and 51mpg for the first 6 weeks. Then it dropped to in the area of 42-44mpg. Now i am in the area of 32-33mpg. Took it to the dealer and was told that this was normal for winter driving - cold (20ish) here but no snow. What say you?

 

Fill out the gas milage questionaire. 40's are normal in the cold. 30's are normal with agressive driving and/or short trips and/or extreme climate control use.

 

Re: Why Don't I Get The EPA Mileage?

Where do I find the fuel mileage questionnaire? I am definitely not an aggressive driver - the granddaughter will testify to that .
Being new today I confess I am having some trouble navagating this site .

 

Re: Why Don't I Get The EPA Mileage?

If you look in the fuel economy section of the GenII discussion area (Gen II Prius Fuel Economy - PriusChat Forums) you will see a couple of "stickies" at the top of the list. These always remain there while the rest of the non-stickies are sorted chronologically by their last post.

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

Make a new thread and follow those guidelines. Feel free to PM me once you get it up.

 

This is my first Toyota and hybrid and it has made me feel like a real idiot. My dad was a GM design engineer and I have dropped a transmission, done a valve job etc - so I am not totally a babe in the woods with cars

 

LOl why is this thread so long..the answer sweet and simple

EPA-Liers/Controlled testing

vs real world driving and there are to many factors..

thats why LOL

 

Re: Why Don't I Get The EPA Mileage?

That has nothing to do with it. Most people beat the EPA mileage because their short test includes the warmpup cycle.

 

My 2004 prius gets 40-44 mpg most of the time, with lots of long distance commutes. The ABS system never worked, and three different dealers seem to just reset the dash lights without fixing anything, so "repairs" last only a mile or so, if they were repaired at all. ABS has caused front wheels to drag mercilessly, lowering mpg to 24 mpg, several times when the fragile sensor wires just inside the front tires get broken. I resolder them now, no more replacing them. The right front corner of my car dips hard every time I brake, always did. Worthless lack of traction on wet or snowy roads... all due to bad ABS. Am considering going to Harrys U-Pull It junkyard to get a bunch of control modules for in the fusebox to try swapping them out. And still under warranty! Anybody getting really bad mileage, like suddenly 24, needs to jack the car up and see if wheels are dragging. If so loosen the brake fluid bleeders and retighten them to release pressure on the dragging brake, and turn the car back on and apply the brakes once. If any wheel drags again it's probably those flimsy sensor wires having been broken by ice and snow. Take the wheel off, find and repair the broken wire yourself. The dealers are clueless or they play dumb... I do not know which. They usually try to sell me a new traction battery when an ABS sensor wire is broken. (My traction battery is fine at almost 100,000 miles.) By the way, they are all Americans... it isn't the car, it's the dealerships that I fault for it, and the American rip-off ethic. You get the same with Ford or Chevy dealerships...

 

It’s a brand new Prius V. According to my trip computer, I’m averaging 25 MPG. I was expecting better than this, but not 40 to 44 MPG because we’re new to the car and just learning how to drive it. We’ve been driving it for short trips of 5 to 10 miles combined city and highway running the heater in severe cold Minnesota winter temperatures: 0 to 10 degrees F. Our average speed is approx. 40 MPH. There is a fair amount of stop and go on flat to gentle terrain. Interestingly, this mileage the same as what I’m currently getting in my 2005 Corolla, and I normally get around 33 MPG in that car. I’m in ‘normal’ mode trying to avoid the ‘power’ zone as much as I can. I’m in ‘D’ not ‘B’

 

Please go back to your original post, click on 'Prius v Fuel Economy' (a Forum), click on 'Post New Thread', then start answering the questionnaire that I pointed to.

The short trips combined with severe cold will slash MPG, especially if you use a lot of cabin heat. But there are other factors that can contribute, and things you can do to help.

Did the Corolla's 33 mpg also occur on these same short trips and same severe cold? If that was a summer or year-round measure that included longer highway runs, it is not at all comparable.

 

I'm of course new to this as I've recently purchased a 2011 Prius and the 1st thing I've done was reset the trip in order to see how good my MPG was. Well I'm down to half a tank and have traveled 130miles.. (Average of 21.6mpg)What am I doing wrong? Ac is on auto with recirculating vent to hybrid batteries.


Car info:
2011 Prius fully loaded (if that means anything? With jbl nav and solar roof.. The works)

31k miles.

My worries/story. During the purchase the finance manager knew the lady that traded this car in and let me know that it had sat for 2-3 years because her husband got sick. In this time he had a tragedy and car NEVER got used until one day she said "it was time to let go of sentimental car" so she traded this in. I got "told" that I have to let the battery charge up with time it'll get better from the dealer because I noticed the hybrid batteries get drained out within 20miles of 3/4 charge. As I look more into this I've found that you should NEVER deplete your hybrid system right? What I'm getting at is... Now I'm NOT feeling comfortable knowing that happened and looking to push for a new hybrid batteries with the dealer cause of it, Any help/recommendations would be great!!

Ps. I have a feeling because the car was in such great shape they felt nothing would be wrong with the hybrid system and never bothered to check.

 

what you're doing wrong: panicking. fill the tank to first click, drive until 2 pips left on the gas gauge, refill to first click and repeat a few times. calculate you average mpg over the total miles driven and report back here.

you can't 'deplete the hybrid system', the car takes care of itself. the only thing you might want to do is check the 12 volt battery health. all the best!

 

Please fill out this questionnaire and post as many answers as practical. That will give us many more clues to help guide feedback:
Fuel economy complaints/queries? Please copy, paste & answer these questions, esp. if you're new | PriusChat

Is that what the dashboard display says? Or did you calculate that by assuming 'half a tank' means 6 gallons burned? If the later, that is incorrect because it the gauge is not even close to 'ideal'.

AC on Auto, with temperature LO, can consumer significant fuel in hot conditions. If you can stay reasonably comfortable with the fan turned down a ways, and the set temperature boosted to something in the 76 - 80 range, it will burn less fuel. You may want to redirect some of the vent air directly towards you.

Not an issue. In city traffic, it may deplete relatively quickly, just a few miles, if the traffic conditions have you using mostly electric mode. But the computers won't let it drop below 2 bars, instead firing up the gas engine to recharge.

Don't intentionally try to use electric mode until you know the car better. Many neophytes overdo it and hurt overall MPG. The car is already quite smart about when to use electric of gas, and it takes some practice in order to do better. Remember, this is not an electric car. Drive 'normally' for a tank or two to get a baseline, before trying to outsmart the computer.

 

if that's the case, how does he find out? would shortened life affect current mpg's? no lites or codes.

i wonder how the lady got it started and to the dealer?

 

so, do you think his 21.6 mpg qualifies?