Good Morning- first time car owner and it’s a prius

Good morning!

My name is Phoenix, I’m a 16yo boy and have had my license for about 9 months. Over the summer I moved in with a parent I had not previously been living with and he gave me his Prius that I can drive as my own car. We both thought this was best as I have about a 30 mile one way commute to school and a 25 mile one way commute to work. The other car we own is a Chevy Trailblazer and while it’s a nice SUV it’s not realistic for me to be driving it that far when it makes 15mpg, lol.

Anyways, I have come to really love this car over the past few months. While yes it would be nice to own a bit more of a “fun” car, there’s truly nothing that beats the gas prices for this thing. It’s just a 2011 Prius, nothing special on it essentially stock straight from the dealership. I got rear ended in this car so I didn’t have it for about a month while it was in the shop, and I just got it back and am thrilled!

I wanted to come on here and ask how my car is making as good gas mileage as it is though (not that i’m complaining) it just seems almost abnormally high. Again this is a 2011 so it probably isn’t making as good as the newer ones on the market, but I reset my trip yesterday morning, have driven 81 miles and am currently averaging at 55.2mpg!! For reference almost my entire commute to both school and work is on the interstate and i’m going 70+, also people around here drive like they want to die so I have to accelerate pretty often. I never put it in eco or power mode, I change the temperature setting in my car constantly, and I sit in the parking lot with it running for 30+ minutes. I truly have no idea how I’m making gas mileage this good when I’m not even testing the limit of how good it is!!

 

Thanks! and Yes I figured it would be mostly electricity because it usually is not running the engine. It does still come on though to charge the battery for a moment. I was thinking more that just because the car was on it would lower the average, but it would make sense that as a hybrid it would recognize that gas wasn’t being used. The trailblazer’s mileage will go down a lot if it sits running even if very little gas is used.

Thanks! it has 168 thousand on it and running like a champ!

 

Definitely set at miles, not km. If he is messing with me I’m not complaining!

Sorry for the late response, you are probably correct. And, after having my car back a little longer it’s averaging around 51 now which makes more sense. I think those particular trips I wasn’t driving as many highway miles as I normally do.
I’ve noticed I tend to accelerate slower than other cars around me which is also probably a factor. Like at traffic lights, it takes me the longest to get back up to the speed limit.
Some trips my mileage hovers around 47 or 48, probably if I have to sit in traffic longer than usual or if I’m having to pass people.
So, mystery solved - just a couple trips that I got better than the usual!