Notes from a 4,000-mile road trip

Indicated is almost exactly 5% above calculated, which is what others have reported here. For your calculations are you using odometer readings (which is what I do) or GPS data?

 

I figured you knew. I haven't been able to check mine yet. So I have been scanning other peoples' results to see what error I might expect to see in my car. It has been remarkably consistent around 5%, which is also the same as what I consistently saw in my 2011 Prius. I wonder where it comes from.

 

If you're getting flashed, your headlights are quite possibly aimed high. And if you went on a 4000mile road trip, I assume you had a bunch of crap in the boot for the journey as well. Load the rear, the front aims up. Now you blind everyone. This is why some high end cars have the auto leveling headlights so that no matter what the loading, they recenter.

 

5% exaggeration is a little better, than the 7.5% average I've settle in on, with a third gen.

 

Don't worry about the headlights. It'll fade. Literally. I used to be flashed all the time on low beams with my 2002 WRX. But a few years of sun will fade the plastic and the problem will sort itself out.

 

i still get flashed in my 4 year old pip. toyota isn't going to address anything. take it back to the dealer and have them checked. you're under warranty.

great write up, thanks!

 

I have the same problem with my Two Eco and I carry nothing in my trunk. I think part of the problem is that LED's are much brighter and other drivers aren't used to them. I find myself flashing other cars with LED's that are not Prii and they flash back showing that they are not on high beam. Fortunately, the headlight aim is adjustable. See page 634 in the manual.

 

same here, checking manual now. thanks

 

My 3rd-generation is consistently at or very near 5% error (i.e., actual mpg is 95% of what the display claims).
Haven't some 4th-generation owners reported near 0% error?

 

if any, not many. some reviews of pre production models.

 

Not that I have seen. There was a report that a pre-production model had a small error but evidently that did not carry over to the production models.

 

Fly on the wall at Toyota:

"Ok that's it then, we can start releasing production models? Oh wait a sec, we forgot to fix that accurate mpg display. There, done."

 

I was getting flashed a lot. I also noticed that the low beams lit the road up very far ahead, and activating the high beams only illuminated the upper parts of the forest lining the road. (Do note this was with just me in the car, no load.) The owner's manual has do it your self instructions for aligning the headlights. It is a weird arrangement of channel / funnel to a gear wheel that a Philips head screwdriver engages. I did each side CCW three full turns to get the low beams down to shine no further than about 200-250 feet in front of the car. Apparently the low beam and the high beam are the same, the low beam is accomplished by some mechanical shutter inside the light assembly that blocks the upper half of the high beam to keep it out of others eyes. The brightness of the low beam light on the road is unchanging whether the "high beam" is on or not. Your story leads me to believe that the factory is not properly adjusting the light level. Too bad this not like Europe where dash controlled or auto leveling lights are required.

As to your best fuel economy on the trip, I live here in Summit County, I have always noticed the best MPGs on a road trip is the first tank, the one where just about any other destination is a loss in elevation.

There a setting on the touch screen that turns DRLs off with the parking lights.

Having troubles with Internet Exploder here, so if this post has some glitches, my apologies.

 

LED headlamps in Canada MUST be auto-leveling. As do HIDs. Even so, they can still be set too high, such that the auto leveling part adjusts them to blind oncoming drivers. So adjusting them is a "good idea" (tm).
Those who add aftermarket HID kits and LED kits have no clue they're illegal, and most police also don't know or perhaps don't have time to care.

I'd take the car back to the dealer and insist they make it comply to regulations!

 

Clarification here, I turned the screwdriver CCW three 360 degree turns, not the gear wheel to lower the headlight aim.
When I did that, it revealed that the low beam pattern cast on the road is nicely dipped just for the opposing lane, even as my lane ahead is lit up a good 50-60 more feet down the road.
I posted this on another thread, and I will repeat it here. My traded in '13 Prius c had the better headlights. The low beam was properly aligned to limit their reach, and the dedicated high beams were the brightest and most far reaching ones I have ever experienced. I even had riders comment about them.