2007 with 4K miles on it--lost it's fricking mind

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jeffgb @ Jul 12 2007, 02:56 PM) [snapback]477620[/snapback]</div>

Looks and sounds like a troll...Please don't feed!!

 

What's an obsessive compulsive mpg watcher? Someone who watches his mpg screen while driving down the driveway, and along neighborhood streets. Get a life.

 

Is there some reason the OP should not be bothered by abnormally low fuel efficiency or not be looking at the screen Toyota includes in the car to monitor such things? Funny, I thought that was what it was there for.

 

This may actually be normal. The Prius is most efficient at 30-40 MPH like most cars. Going very slow is actually very bad for mileage.

To use an analogy, if you walking up some stairs at a normal pace, you're comfortable because you're moving at the pace your body was designed to. If you ran up the stairs instead, you'd naturally be burning up a lot more energy and struggling more, as expected. However if you tried to go up the stairs in super slow motion, it would actually be a lot more difficult than if you were just walking normally (and your quads might start burning sooner than if you were running, even!).

5-10 MPH is "super slow motion" for the Prius, and I sometimes get very low mileage figures (5 MPG) when I'm driving that slow. Try speeding up a little and see what difference that makes.

Granted, if you have a good charge on the battery you may end up going into all-electric mode at that speed which would drastically improve the MPG rating, but I wouldn't necessarily say that what you're experiencing is out of the ordinary.

 

The consumption screen takes into account gas used and distance travelled. If you spend any time at all parked with the engine running, the initial mileage won't look very good. Hopefully your longer-term average mileage looks more normal.

 

Troll troll troll, troll troll troll troll!

Any real Prius driver knows there are a lot of factors that go into the MFD mpg reading. Namely engine temp, load, etc.

If he had been driving a HUMMER, the reading would have been even lower...

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jeffgb @ Jul 12 2007, 03:23 PM) [snapback]477639[/snapback]</div>

Do you have pointy hair?

Tom

 

I must be missing something!

OP says his Prius is acting differently than it had, and that the shop wants to look at it. Instead of offering moral/emotional support, he's being labelled a troll?

What's up with this?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jeffgb @ Jul 12 2007, 11:56 AM) [snapback]477620[/snapback]</div>

I think his post is reasonable if I throw in the assumption that this is just after the car is powered on. (Which I think is reasonable. If you just got in your car and are going out the driveway, it can't have been on that long.) I'm also further assuming that he's talking about the instantaneous readings, not the 5-minute averages on the Consumption screen.

So then his engine is running to warm itself and the catalytic converter stuff up. It may have been using the electric motor entirely, but the engine would still be running. I've noticed this when leaving home for work; until I press the gas a certain amount, I'm basically running with the motors only, but the engine is still going.

If all this is true, then Jeff, this is normal. Until the engine is warmed up sufficiently it will keep turning and you'll get bad mileage until it's done. And then even afterwards, whenever you accelerate, your instant readings are going to dip just because you're expending more energy to move faster.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(wiiprii @ Jul 12 2007, 01:00 PM) [snapback]477665[/snapback]</div>

Why do we have one new member who joined 1.5 months ago identifying another new member who joined just one month later as a the T word? The question sounded like a reasonable concern to me for someone who has 4,000 miles on a new car less than one month old. If the requirement is to become a Prius Expert in less than one month, then I guess I am a T-Word too.

To be honest, I have never looked at the MPG display while backing up, but I wouldn't expect to get any meaningful data, as the car was in reverse. I doubt that reverse mileage is included in the MPG calculations. Reverse is probably treated as waisted gas just like idling. If anything, the proper reading on the display would be 0 MPG.

I probably wouldn't worry about it if the average MPG readings over time make sense. The instantanious MPG is just a tool to know when the car is least efficient to fine tune driving habits.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(NoMoShocks @ Jul 12 2007, 04:14 PM) [snapback]477674[/snapback]</div>

I was wondering about the troll thing, too.



Trolls need love, too.

 

What is the point of calling people names? How about someone who joins a forum on May 25, 07 and is calling other people the T-Word by July 12, 07.

 

That actually wasn't the first one to call the OP a troll.
The first one is someone that's been here a year...

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Rae Vynn @ Jul 12 2007, 01:27 PM) [snapback]477682[/snapback]</div>

Yeah, you are right. I miss read the date. It turns out the first guy to say the T word has been here for 1 year and six days. I am going to go back under my bridge and see who is walking over it.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jeffgb @ Jul 12 2007, 02:56 PM) [snapback]477620[/snapback]</div>

The first half sounds normal if backing out is within the first couple of minutes after going ready. The engine is running to heat the catalytic converter and running very rich to do so. I see this a lot with my 2006 and even moreso with Barb's 2005. If I take my foot off the accelerator, the instantaneous mileage stays below 50 mpg, forward or reverse for that first minute or two.

After the first couple of minutes, coasting at low speeds (foot off the accelerator) should cause a 100 mpg instantaneous reading. So having this happening at the end of the trip doesn't sound right unless going up a grade. Does the mpg shoot up if you lift your foot off the accelerator? If so, the car is probably OK. If not, then it does sound like there is a problem. The trip to the dealer can't hurt unless the service department is one of the bad ones we sometimes hear about.

Good luck with it.

- Tom

 

quote name='priusmaybe' date='Jul 12 2007, 01:19 PM' post='477678']
I was wondering about the troll thing, too.
Trolls need love, too.
quote]

What is the point of calling people names? How about someone who joins a forum on May 25, 07 and is calling other people the T-Word by July 12, 07.


I was not "calling" anyone a troll. I was questioneing the practice.


I think the question the original poster has is reasonable. But I don't care for being policed.