Why did you buy your Prime?

I bought a Prime for exactly what I am getting...last filled up with gas on May 27th...still have 2/3rds of a tank left...currently have 263 MPGe and counting.

 

Enjoyed reading your entire post, but I'm curious about that last bit and just GOTTA' ask: So what IS your (typical / average) HV-mode MPG? And this is for trips of how many total miles? We don't go on long trips very often, but it's about 600 miles one way to family NE Kansas, and about 700 miles to family in up-state NY. If making such a trip, I'd still want to do it in a single day, with POSSIBLY one or two PARTIAL charges - such as when having meals - along the way. So "true" HV mpg would be very important on such trips.

WOW... is that 263 MPGe what your Advanced displays? And do you "confirm" that figure with some form of "hand calculation"? If so, how do you accomplish that... what sort of data / equation do you use?

 

The MPG counter only goes up to 199.9 and stops there. With Entune you can see where you are as you rack up more mileage.

 

Had a 2010 Prius, which I loved. Zero maintenance for over 100k miles
When I was forced to get a new car, I couldn't argue with the reliability of Toyota.
Bought the Prime, because I wanted the 11" screen and I liked the back better.
I love it. The electronics in this car are incredible for the $$, the ride is a big step up from my 2010.
The mileage is insane, but its all about the clean pass sticker for me.
The HOV lane was the clincher.

 

I have crappy night vision. I started down the road toward a Prime (from a 2009 Prius) after reading a review of the headlights. Teslas may be sexier, but the Prime has much better headlights. And my Tesla owner friends agree!

 

As far as MPG:
I've been resetting my "Trip A" odometer often, as soon as I get out of EV mode to see what kind of HV miles I get.

It varies widely depending on if it's slower city/rush hour traffic, or fast nighttime driving, but I seem to get between 55-70 pretty regularly (sometimes as low as lower 50s if I'm just going fast with no stops, other times I've had as high as 75mpg for a careful HV 10-mile city drive). But I'd say pretty regularly the range is easily something like 55-65 if there's mix of driving speeds and such (all HV miles, of course). Notes: unlike EV (where I put it in "B" for city/rush-hour/start-stop driving), my HV driving is always in "D", the air-con is almost always off, I'm in ECO mode, and I'm gentle with my starts.

That said, I did an experiment not too long ago on a trip where I had to carpool with someone. I didn't use EV at all (100% HV), had a 2nd person in the car (he's a pretty big guy), plus a heavy item put in the back. Trip was 80 miles round trip freeway during rush hour (there and back), and had the aircon on for the entire trip (he needs aircon). I was amazed, I got about 53mpg, even with the aircon on! Speeds were generally MPG-friendly though (30-40mph a lot, though some start and stop) but still... my old Civic Hybrid would've been at LEAST 15mpg less under those circumstances.

 

Where do you get to use the HOV lanes in NY/NJ?

 

What's the advantage of keeping it B mode while in EV, when stuck in traffic?

 

There's a whole other thread on this, so I'll direct you to that thread ("Driving in B Mode Regularly") so as not to go off topic here.

Note that there's a lot you can do to extend your MPG -- for aircon, even putting it on a higher number still really seems to cool the cabin (no need to set it at 60). Gentle starts are your friend (helped along by ECOMode's head-game of making the driver have to press harder on the gas pedal), and whether it be HV or EV, you'll get better mileage if you have a mix of driving (not just straight high-speed freeway driving).

 

Just to show you that the Prime can get along nicely with its cousins...

I recently passed a house in a residential neighborhood that had two cars in the driveway:
(1) 2017 Prius Prime
(2) 2017 Toyota Mirai
(This IS California, remember...)

 

Nothing like that in NY/NJ - why are we so behind?!

 

At least you have better pizza...

 

I was asking about MPG in HV mode... not EV / MPGe. In other words... on LONG trips, AFTER the initial battery charge has been depleted after going the first 25-35 miles or so.

 

I think this is frequently conflated but looking at MPG after driving in ev mode is not the same as MPG-e which is this confusing mess. The car really should have a miles/kWh consumption monitor and keep mpg separate but I know toyota doesn’t want you to think you’re driving an electric car.