80 MPH = Less than 40 MPG on the highway

From the FWIW department...

This is with our new 2016 Prius v Three model which of course is a bit different than the regular Prius.

My wife and recently returned from a 3899.3 mile (6275.3 km) road trip from Oklahoma to Fargo, ND, then on to Glacier National Park (NW Montana)/ Waterton Lakes NP (Southern Alberta, Canada) and home again. Driving was mostly highway/interstate travel (about 90% of the time) with speed limits up to 85 MPH (136.8 kph). I stayed at or just under the speed limits at all times while on the open highways/interstates. Two people with assorted luggage, etc in the backend.

We averaged 39.23 MPG (16.68 km/l) for the trip. That is a real world number based on miles driven and gas purchased and not what the car computer was saying. I found the car computer over estimates MPG by about 2-3 MPG...

 

Sorry, no idea - we can't drive at 80 MPH here except on a very short stretch about 3 or 4 days drive away. The rest of the country, it's 68MPH max - and we've got about the highest ratio of RADAR liquidity generators for Government on Earth.

 

Off topic, but is that a screen shot of an application on your phone? If so, which app is it and what is the product name that plugs into the car?

 

I agree - terrible mpg at high speeds. Took a day trip to Santa Barbara this weekend and set the DRCC for 73 (to at least keep up with traffic!). Only averaged ~45mpg, time travelled was 60 min, avg speed 60mph and 2% EV!! Terrible. I definitely could have done better without the DRCC. There are hills and I noticed DRCC kept ICE running even on the downhill.

Headed on another weekend trip Friday night, will avoid the DRCC and see what kind of mileage we get.

 

Searched this page for "slow", as in "slow down": no matches found, lol.

Speed vs mpg has a very direct correlation.

Updated MPG vs MPH chart | PriusChat

 

Rob, That's strange you got such low gas mileage. Maybe you need to drive a farther distance to get a truer reading? I don't put much faith in those short-trip mpg figures.

I recently did a freeway test, 73 miles driven, and at least 60 of those miles I was able to keep the speed over 70. Got up to 80 mph for a few miles. I used the "From the Flag"' counter. The computer display said I averaged 67 mpg for those 73 miles... but real life was probably closer to 61 or 62?

I never know which counter I should be looking at. Trip A? (Zeroed out at start) Or, From the Flag? I kind of gave up trying to figure it out. Now I just use the Trip A to "estimate" my mpg.

 

Don't say this sounds crazy, until you try it. I suggest people try putting the drive mode in PWR, with the radar cruise off. Zero out your Trip A counter, and take a nice long drive. You may be surprised at the mpg results, and also pleasantly surprised at how much nicer your Prius performs. (Even just around town, I get a little better gas mileage and the car drives so much better.)

 

Thanks! I'll give it a shot. I definitely think the car responds better on PWR. It still amazes me that a Prius can have that much power..I always thought it would be more like driving a golf cart..

 

That's funny!

I didn't know WHAT to expect. My first Prius. I don't drive like a wild man, but the car definitely has enough get up & go for my needs. I drove for a whole tank of gas in Eco mode. Then did another whole tank in Normal. Then switched over to PWR for the 3rd tank... and never went back. Around town, the gas mileage was very similar in all 3 modes; 60 to 62 mpg. But again, I'm not speeding around, just keeping up with the flow of traffic in the city. Everything just feels "lighter" and more responsive in PWR. Nothing is restricted. Even the AC seems colder for some weird reason.

I need to get out and do 400 to 500 miles at constant freeway speeds, and see what kind of mpg I get. Maybe leave at 3 am on a Sunday morning when traffic is real light.

 

That might be by design. ECO for sure made the AC a little less powerful/responsive, compared to Normal, on 3rd gen. Could be the variations extend to PWR on 4th gen.

 

Looks like, based on Wayne's graph, 121 minus your speed is the mileage you can expect. Steady State Speed vs Fuel Economy results | Page 8 | CleanMPG

 

I'm going to be driving fro Portland, OR to San Diego, CA soon and plan on driving the (very fast) speed of traffic when I get to Southern California. I'll be sure to post some results.

 

I did the Seattle to San Fran trip (approx. 800 miles) and averaged in the mid 40s. There's a serious bump to go over where OR meets CA.

 

Check the graph out here - explains it a bit:

Alternative Fuels Data Center: Maps and Data - Fuel Economy at Various Driving Speeds

 

(a copy and paste from another thread . . . . . )

Now that I have 1600+ miles, and the '16 Two Eco is broken in, I just got back from a 120 mile drive primarily on Interstate Highway, over a mountain pass and back. Just for fun, MPG's be damned! Speeds ranged from 65 to 85, mostly in the 75-80mph range with one 12 mile section that gained 2300 feet in elevation at 68 MPH, which the car did with lots of power to spare and no noticeable battery drain. The battery icon showed half full at the top of the pass, and most of the time it was charging rather than discharging.
Returned home with 53.3 on the dash counter.
Two factors to note, temps ranging around 40, and thin high altitude air, 6300 to 10,600.

 

I agree. Once you go PWR, you'll never go back. The A/C has a separate ECO mode from the powertrain modes. When in ECO engine mode, the ECO A/C turns on. It saves gas, but it doesn't cool down.

Right now, I'm having another A/C problem with my gen 2 because the driver A/C vents are warm and the passenger vents are cold.

 

WHAT??? I've never had over 57 MPG on a full tank!

Try keeping the trip computer on Trip A. This shows you the full tank MPG. "From the flag" is sort of pointless. Maybe keeping a trip B could give you lifetime MPG!