60 mpg is a pipe dream...

Hi Rxmxsh,

60 mpg is the old EPA test city rating. One can get it if one drives per the EPA "City" test. I think if you review that test specifics, you will find that your "city" driving does not match the EPA "city" driving profile.

That being said, I finished my last tank at 60.8 mpg doing a suburban commute - each way at 23 miles. Due to the heavy volume of traffic, I rarely was at highway speed, even though I was out on the interstate for 3/4 s of these trips. And many times at a very slow crawl on the interstate.

I think my recent driving enviorment matches the socalled "City" EPA test closely.

 

I live near Seattle and still haven't been able to break the 45mpg mark in our 07 Prius. It's currently at 44.7mpg lifetime for around 5200 miles. I don't drive the car timidly at all either, but I do keep the tires inflated to 40/38 and try to coast as much as I can. Our home is surrounded by steep hills, so this probably has an effect too.

All in all however, I'm very happy with the milage and have no complaints.

-wiiprii

 

Well the EPA ratings may not be 'real life' but 60 MPG is far from a pipe dream even on a newer engine. I'm at a little over 3000 miles and currently sitting on my best tank at 68.9 MPG (320 Miles in). This is in hilly terrain with mostly local driving. I am far from a hardcore hypermiler but I do use the terrain when I can to my advantage and also avoid any short trips or trips with multiple stops. With each tank I continue to improve and just when I feel I've topped out my MPG I seem to get a little more.

My post is not for bragging its merely to mention that you can achieve great MPG by following some or all of the tips mentioned on this site. All in all its a learning process, almost like learning to drive all over again, your reward for the practice though is increased MPG.

 

Remember, the EPA numbers are actually 20% less than the vehicle actually achieved during testing. So, in the EPA test, the Prius actually achieved 75mpg city and 64mpg highway.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Winston @ Jun 18 2007, 11:39 AM) [snapback]464147[/snapback]</div>

No, the Prius never "actually achieved" those milage figures, the EPA doesn't do real-world testing. If all I did was drive my Prius on a dynometer all day, I'd get that milage too!

-wiiprii

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Rxmxsh @ Jun 18 2007, 03:45 PM) [snapback]464189[/snapback]</div>

Highway driving is much more simple than city driving because of traffic, terrain, absence of traffic lights constant speed and longer commutes.

You just have to keep the engine at its most efficient range (MPH<MPGx2 or MPG must be between 35 and 75mpg) when you have to accelerate, or attain the yellow-arrow only condition when going straight or downhill. I think 55mpg is doable on the highway under these conditions with 44/42psi and not too heavy a load at this time of the year.

I think Toyota SHOULD include such tips with the car and perhaps even consider a "highway efficiency" button. They would have many more satisfied customers.

 

Until warmer weather arrived in Central New York, I averaged 36-38 mpg during milder days, mid-20s on bitterly cold days, and then the mileage popped up into the hi-40s and lo-50s, where is has consistently remained depending on how far I drive and the terrain. Typically, mileage hovers around 46-47 now that we have 80+plus weather. I have not changed the tire pressure, do not normally use A/C, and pulse and glide whenever possible. Best tank was 52.2 mpg on a 550 round-trip to NYC and back. My '06 Prius has 7,700 miles now after 9 months. I believe me experience to date is fairly typical with most Prius users.

 

Hey Rxmxsh !!
We're practicly neighbors ! We're just off of the El Toro 'Y' between Bake & Lake Forest. Be patient ~ your mileage will get better. I just broke my 1st 700 mile tank of gas last week ... with 71.2 on the MFD. Woo Hoo! Took me appx 3 years. During that quest, there were nearly 2 dozen tanks over 60mpg. I've found that the more the car gets broken in, the better the mpg gets. Except for new tires. We're on our 3rd set, as we close in on 60K miles.

Side note: Your trip up highway One will kill mpg because it's continually requiring you to accel & decel. Further, you loose 2% of your mpg for each 100lbs of cargo / people in the car. So when you have a passenger, it's going to smoke the mpg. Add winding hilly roads? Forget it.

Be sure to wave if you see our white egg driving around.

 

I think trip length is a huge factor. Now that the warm weather is here, I rarely get a day that my average mileage is less than 55 mpg with my 94 mile round-trip commute. I reset the mileage guage daily. Each morning I don't break 50 mpg until after about the first 20 miles. - Granted, the first 15 miles or so are mostly a gradual up-hill climb. But the engine warm-up is a killer too.

I don't drive super slow either. - Pretty much stick to the speed limit - slightly slower going up hills, slightly faster on flats and slight downhill grades. For serious down hill I have no problem going as fast as the gravity assist will let me while maintaining 60+ mpg on the guage. This can easily be 80-85 mph in some cases. My commute is about 70% highway and 30% secondary roads. The secondary roads portion is where the real mileage boost comes in. 60+ mpg days are rare for me. But I could see if someone had long trips composed mostly of secondary roads, it wouldn't be a stretch to get 60+ mpg on average.

 

I got my Pri in Feb of this year. I reset the MFD average on the 1st of every month. From March - May I averaged between 48 - 50 mpg each month. During that period I changed the oil once at 4k miles with regular motor oil. At the very end of May I changed the oil again, this time at 9.5k miles and this time used Mobile 1 synthetic. For the month of June I have put over 1k miles on the vehicle and am averaging almost 54 mpg. I can only surmise that the synthetic may have helped but that most importantly the vehicle is now broken in. The best part is that in June I'm running the AC almost all of the time where in prior months I did not. Go figure!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jackovalltrades @ Jun 19 2007, 02:56 PM) [snapback]464817[/snapback]</div>

Confounded variables.

 

Driving technique makes a huge difference in MPG. I "just drive it" and get around 48-50mpg, and when my friend drives my car he consistently babies the gas pedal and gets northward of 52 mpg in my same car. Windows open vs. closed also affects mpg.

 

I don't do a thing in my car to improve MPG (i.e., I have factory tires, no overinflating the tires, no pulse & glide, no limiting short trips, drive 70-80 on the interstate, etc.). I have a lifetime average (over about 13,000 miles) of 44.2MPG (according to the MFD). I'm very happy with this. Maybe someday I will try harder and get closer to 50!

 

I live in Auburn and work just north of Tukwila. My commute, garage-parking lot is about 15 miles in each direction. I go down in the Southcenter Hill in the AM and up in the PM. Since the weather has gotten warmer my current tank, I'm averaging about 54.6 mpg. I have about 350 miles on this tank. Since owning the car in Jan '06, I have not had my MPG go below 47 mpg. For about a year now, I've consistantly gone over 52 MPG. Hopefully your MPG will get higher.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(wiiprii @ Jun 18 2007, 10:51 AM) [snapback]464107[/snapback]</div>