Today was the first nice warm 75F day we've had here this year. I ran some errands, filled up at the gas station, zeroed both Trip A and Trip B, and ran some more errands. Probably about 15 miles on expressways, the rest on local roads varying between 40 and 25MPH speed limits (which I obey). I'm quite sure I did not leave the solar system during this exercise. This is what I got at the end: On the one hand I "cheated" by starting out with the engine fully warmed up. On the other hand I was going about my daily business, not driving slowly around a loop somewhere. So is this "real world" MPG? Because it does not include at least one warmup from cold, I think it's just entertainment, not something I would expect to be able to replicate daily. The last leg coming home from the supermarket was especially odd and I definitely would not consider this result "real world"/typical: This route is gently rolling, so I used battery on the flats and downhills and ran the engine on the short uphills along the way to gain back a bar or two The battery was at 2 bars when I got home. I wouldn't put too much meaning into this but it certainly was fun! These results show how nebulous the concept of "real world" MPG is. As others have said, it seems that the Gen 4's MPG performance is particularly sensitive to temperature.
I own a Gen 3, but every spring and summer I am "Re-Amazed" as improving weather conditions and temperatures result in improving gas mileage. I suppose to a degree this has been happening every Spring, Summer, and even Fall, with every vehicle I have owned. But not as dramatic, or dramatically revealed as with The Prius.
it is real world, but it is not an average of all driving. every ball player hits a home run now and then, well done!
I'm not making any friends with these comments... but I don't even watch or check those short-term fuel figures anymore. It's silly. It's become boring. You used a good word, "entertainment." For me, it's not real world at all, especially the "from the flag" fuel figures. Mine was at 189 mpg for several miles. Am I supposed to believe that and get all excited? (I question why the Toyota designers felt that feature was even necessary.) The only true gas mileage figure I look at, is when I fill up with a whole tank. Anything over 40, and I'm loving it.
From the flag would have been really handy for me when I was commuting 34 miles each way to/from work. Wouldn't have needed to remember to set Trip B to see how I was doing that day, which made commuting actually interesting. I sort of agree, but tank MPG's vary a lot with the season, and with the type of driving one is doing (highway long trips vs local errands) - even for the same person and car.
Yup. As I recall it was 86.something before that adventure. And without the final 4.1 miles I would still be sitting at the supermarket.
Same for me - I need to reset trip B on my Gen 3 *each* time to make stats on any trip I take and particularly on my commute. My 2002 Polo had a "from start" fuel consumption and time/average speed which was really helpful. So I am glad that the Prius has this now and even a "lifetime" fuel consumption" - that is also really cool.
On my 4 mile commute, from a cold engine and ambient temps over 12 deg C, if I start with a good charge in the HV battery I'll get high 80s mpg (UKg) and end with a low charge left in the HV battery. On the same journey, if I start with a low HV, I get around 60 mpg and end up with a decent charge in the HV battery. Another thing I noticed when we had a few warm days last week, is that if I don't have the climate control on, my gen 4 doesn't start the ICE straight away from cold when the HV battery has a good charge and the ambient temps are over 20 deg C, it lets the HV drive the car until it drops to 3 bars.
With our 2010 Prius with dry roads and temps in the upper 50's to low 60's, average temps for this time of year in the Oregon Northwest Coast it is easy to get nearly 70 mpg indicated on the gauge at 40-45 mph on the Coast Highway, Highway 101. However for the entire 450-550 mile tank indicated mpg is 58 - 60 with calculated at 55-57 or so mpg.
@JohnF The more tanks you log mpg, the realer it gets. You guys are getting crazy good numbers too, have to say.
"Real World" or not? Both.... Or neither. The MDF is pretty inaccurate. I always hand calculate tank averages, which starts to look a lot more real-world than a day trip from the summit of some big hill. My G3 gets in the low 50's. Rain or shine. Summer or winter. THAT's real-world. Everything else is just 'statistics.' However....comma! I've bagged on the G4 a lot, for a lot of things, but one thing is pretty undeniable: You don't have to cheat much to get some pretty good efficiency numbers. If I drove a G4 like I drive my G3, I'd probably be in the sixties.
I discovered the from the flag feature just this morning. I think having it on will help me remember to try to drive conservatively. For that, I feel it's handy. But clearly tracking each tank in something like fuelly is a better way to set real expectations.
I track each tank with the "a" trip odometer and reset the MDF on each fillup. The "b" trip odometer has never been reset and has the lifetime numbers.
