Fuel consumption on short trips (5 and 6 miles)

The prius tries to be both a green car and give great fuel efficieny. It will sacrifice FE for being greener through.

From a cold start (car standing for awhile) it will run the engine quite a bit the first 5 minutes to warm up the catalytic converter. This will eat up the gas milage for your short trips. I normally get around ~30MPG (US) for the first 5 minutes. After that I get around 55 MPG (on back roads), on the high way after warm-up time you could expect to get closer to 50MPG as long as you keep it under 80mph. I find that on the freeway using the cruise control is the easiest way to keep the MPG number up.

I'm a little suprised to hear that the Ford Mondeo gets 40.5MPG. it seems a little high for me.

That said the Prius will give you about the same or slightly better MPG for your commute and using gasoline it will be overall less polluting.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Luc Declercq @ Jun 30 2006, 12:22 PM) [snapback]279193[/snapback]</div>

that's an interesting idea, to check mpg after the warm-up period by resetting the display, hmmm?

but is it 5 miles or 5 minutes, might want to do a search to see what exactly determines the warm-up period, and if it is temperature then that's really hard to tell without someting like the ICAN (sp).

but here's the question I have: how descriptive would a 'trip' mileage be versus a 'tank' mileage? but it still is an interesting indicator for discussion.

Sadly, in our area it would barely be useful, for instance, my wife just drove to university, the commute in my signature, so by the time she gets there the prius isn't even warmed up if the parameter is 5 miles, about 10 minutes; but when we go to Costco, our longest non-vacation trip, that's a 7 mile one-way trip, about 15 minutes w/ partial freeway, so my 'trip' mileage would be only based upon 2 miles, but that last 2 miles is downhill, LOL. EDIT: but even 35-38 for not being warmed up is not too shabby, eh?

 

Disclaimer: your results may vary :-p

Everyone's posted about the same results from short trips (~5 min) low MPG. for me (in Minnesota), during the winter when the engine is truely cold, the first 5 min or so shows around 30MPG. during the summer, however, my first 5 min are more like 40 MPG.

Highway trips really depend on speed. I usually keep my around 65-70, depending on the posted speed limit here, and find that i can hit 50 MPG fairly consistently (although short highway trips are extremely bad due to the large amount of gas used to get up to speed).

My commute is about 5-6 miles, similar to your 33% short trips. The roads i'm on range in speed limit from 35-55, and i manage to average 45 MPG from this alone. the occasional longer trip usually bumps this up a little.

If you're looking for the cheepest vehicle for a commute, then you might just want to stay with what you've got for now (the possible MPG improvement for the prius probably wouldn't outweigh the extra cost of gas over diesel)

I feel i should also mention the talk of the G3 Prius to come out in 2009 MY. It is expected to have better batteries, and possibly even a plug-in option, which could give you the option to run on pure electric for ~30 miles per charge, and make those short trips extremely cost effective (assuming power off the grid is as cheep there as it is here, at least compared to gas).

 

Never heard of a Mondeo before. :huh: I see on Wikipedia it was the European equivalent of the US Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique up until 2000 when they stopped making them for the US market.

I don't think you'll do much better than 40.5 MPG, at least not enough to warrant buying a brand new car on that alone. I think you could reliably get between 43-48 MPG in the Prius if I had to guess.
I base this on my '04 Prius getting 44 MPG average with a slightly longer trip of 8.5 miles, but I am guessing that I drive a bit more aggressively than you. Also, I have put on 1" wider non-low-rolling-resistance tires which has dropped me from getting an average of 48 MPG on the 8.5 mile trips.

I hope you are not looking at switching vehicles based mostly on an improvement in fuel economy. I would have to say it is not worth it if that is the only reason.

Good luck with your decision.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(SomervillePrius @ Jun 30 2006, 10:37 AM) [snapback]279200[/snapback]</div>

Did you miss reading "Diesel"? If an Mercedes Benz E class diesel can get around 30 MPG, I don't see why the Mondeo, which is smaller and lighter, cannot get in the 40 MPG range. Then there is the question of whether the OP referred to Imperial gallons or U.S. gallons.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Luc Declercq @ Jun 30 2006, 10:22 AM) [snapback]279193[/snapback]</div>

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Luc Declercq @ Jun 30 2006, 01:22 PM) [snapback]279193[/snapback]</div>

Most of my trips are 5 miles each way to/from work, local roads. I've had mine since April 19, and I'm 70% through my 4th tank. The first tank got me 43, the next were around 48, and this tank looks to be about the same. The longest trip I've taken is 25 miles.

My typical 15-20 minute ride gets me somewhere around 25-36 MPH in the first 5 minutes, 50+ the next 5 and maybe 60-75 the next 5 and maybe 50 the last 5 (on the way to work, where the last bit is up a hill) and around 50-60 on the last 5 on the way home.

Hope that gives you an idea of what to expect.

 

for my commute first 5 min for me is usually around 25-40 range(gettin out of the area), mostly not over 50, then 10min of 99+MPG(goin downhill toward the freeway), then 50-55 on freeway driving around 65-70

and 2day i drove 65 all the way, and when i saw this cop i automatically have the reaction of oh s**t, and slow down, but right before i hit the brake, i realize im goin 65, so no worries for me

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Luc Declercq @ Jun 30 2006, 10:22 AM) [snapback]279193[/snapback]</div>

Luc,

I'm going to try to answer your question as directly as possible, but I need to clear up a couple of things first.

1. You say 1/3 of your trips are 5 or 6 miles. About how long are the other 2/3, or are they variable?

2. When you say 1/3 is highway, what do you mean? 1/3 of the 5 or 6 miles, or 1/3 of your overall driving? If you mean 1/3 of your overall driving, do you mean 2/3 of your driving is in the city?

3. Prius MPG is, obviously, affected MAINLY by the speed(s) you drive, but it is also affected by other things. What are typical outside temperatures you drive in? Warm enough much of the time to require that you use air conditioning?

4. Do you need to get another car anyway, or are you thinking of the Prius mainly because you think you can get better MPG than the Ford?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Luc Declercq @ Jun 30 2006, 11:37 PM) [snapback]279572[/snapback]</div>

That is an accurate calculation.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Luc Declercq @ Jul 1 2006, 10:20 AM) [snapback]279733[/snapback]</div>

Based on that info, I'd think you'd average 45-48 MPG overall, depending on your driving "style"/habits---especially avoiding pedal-to-the-floor acceleration. But just on those short trips you'd be lucky to get 38-40. Guess is based on my experience driving four Priuses over five years.

Good luck!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Luc Declercq @ Jul 2 2006, 05:37 AM) [snapback]280050[/snapback]</div>

Nothing. It is most definitely better than my French and Flemish. The composition box has a spell checker. Simply click on the icon after you type your message and before you click on Add Reply.

 

Since you're in EU, your Prius would have the EV button. That can
help somewhat during those early still-warming-up phases; you can
explicitly tell the engine to shut down when you know you've got a
glide coming. If you can keep your speed under 34 mph during that
time, the short-trip hit isn't quite as bad.
.
_H*