MarketWatch Auto Review: 2007 Toyota Prius

"the Prius gave us 38.7 miles per gallon."
:blink:
Just spent two hours cruising down the 405 at 70+MPH, got close to 49 mpg.
Even my lead-foot wife gets close to 50 mpg driving a city/freeway mix.
At least the rest of the article was neutral/positive.

 

38.7 MPG... that's about what I got for my first tank, but granted, I was driving around the hilly local roads of Ithaca, NY.

Since then, on the typical uncrowded rural road with few stops, i can achieve between 55 and 60, if not better.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jmccord @ Feb 24 2007, 10:44 PM) [snapback]396107[/snapback]</div>

I'm not THAT surprised about 38.7 since we don't know how short their drives were and it's a hell of a lot colder in Maryland than in San Diego. Just look at http://www.weather.com/weather/pastweather...pnav_undeclared. In Baltimore (couldn't get weather data for Darnestown), on 2/19, the high was 36F and low was 14F. I'm sure they had to run their heater more which kept the ICE on more, further hurting their fuel mileage and I bet they also didn't know the interaction between heater keeping the ICE on. I also doubt they know many of the techniques to improve mileage on a Prius and also doubt they overinflated their tires.

FWIW, my lifetime avg. is only 45.4 mpg after almost 16K miles. My 1st "tank" by my calculations was only ~38 mpg. My worst "tank" was 30 mpg (but that was from a VERY short fill (2 gallons) == big margin of error) and best "tank" was 54 mpg. My commute and drives are generally not conducive to pulse and glide. My best and worst "tanks" if I go by the MFD were 42 mpg and 48.5 mpg respectively.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(cwerdna @ Feb 25 2007, 08:13 PM) [snapback]396451[/snapback]</div>

It's a hell of a lot colder here in New York than Maryland, and I get just shy of 45 mpg now, in the depths of winter.

I couldn't get as low as 38.7 mpg if I tried.

Harry

 

Don't worry about the complaining media to sell some more paper.

At this rate of gas prices already in only late Feb. It might get close to 4 bucks by the time mid summer comes around. Then lets see who is laughing then? Probably not those SUV owning reporters, for sure.

 

Tell them to block front grills!!! My previous tank was 39.x but after I block 2/3 of front grills, my current average is about 46. I got 49mpg for first 150 miles of this tank, then i decide to push accelerator fast.

DC area is getting warm, that probably contributed to higher number.

 

Hi All,

49.9 mpg at 2/3's of a tank, in near freezing weather here in Chicagoland. Radiator mostly blocked. But also driving in the precipitation, which always nocks down the mileage too.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Earthling @ Feb 26 2007, 06:07 AM) [snapback]396631[/snapback]</div>

You obviously haven't tried. Never go more than 2 miles at a time, leaving the car off at least a half hour between each restart. I guarantee you'll be able to get below 40 mpg. I've doing about 45 mpg right now. It's not that cold (right now it's about 30 F). But the only reason it's as high as 45 mpg is because there have been at least one trip of at least 30 miles (out of our current 120 miles). Going into Spokane, I get it back up closer to 50 mpg, but with one mile or less trips 3 or 4 times a day, it gradually drops back down.

If there were no trips of over 3 miles at a time, the average would be definitely below 40 mpg this time of year.
Last winter, without the block heater or blocked grill I did get as low at 35 mpg.

Dave M.

 

Hi All,

For anybody who doubts the gasoline situation, its only taken one month for the price of gas to increase by 25 % in the Chicagoland western Burbs. The end of January gas was $1.999, now its $2.499.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(donee @ Feb 27 2007, 09:32 AM) [snapback]397267[/snapback]</div>

At least it is only $2.50. We were paying about that at the lowest point. We are above $2.80 now in SF Bay Area.

 

I forgot all about the reverse beep! I turned it off a few days after we bought the car, thank god! That was the worse thing about the car, I can't believe they did that.

My tank average over 2500 miles is just shy of 43mpg. Hoping for 50+ this summer!

Dave

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(dipper @ Feb 27 2007, 10:44 AM) [snapback]397321[/snapback]</div>

http://www.fuelgaugereport.com/ has the averages for the nation and metropolitan areas. San Jose is up $2.893/gal on avg and SF is up to an avg of $3.007.

 

I've had my 2007 Prius for 6 weeks now. For some reason, my first tank of gas only gave me 29 MPG Since then, I have averaged 42 MPG

This has been the coldest winter I've experienced since moving to Western Oregon in 1993.

I was shocked when I checked the tire pressure on my Prius, and discovered that my Toyota Dealer had already set the front tires to 42 psi, and the rear to 40!

Are many dealers now doing this?

Lance

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(LanceinOregon @ Feb 28 2007, 02:16 PM) [snapback]397963[/snapback]</div>

Sounds like time to block your grill.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(LanceinOregon @ Feb 28 2007, 11:16 AM) [snapback]397963[/snapback]</div>

I discovered that my former 02 Maxima had come with its tires way overinflated (at least 4-6 psi over the max cold pressure on the tire). I've heard that dealers tend to do that to avoid flat spotting tires.