Following my recent post re low mileage (see http://priuschat.com/index.php?showtopic=39517&hl=), I was able to finish the tank @ 47.6MPG. Previous one was 53.9. So, what happened? A combination of: - colder weather - numerous short trips during the first weekend after I filled up the tank - lots and lots of rain Of these 3 factors, short trips are somewhat under my control. For the most part I was able to compensate for the horrible mileage I was getting, which is how I ended up closer to 48 than to 42. Colder weather, per se, didn't seem to contribute much to the low MPG. Yes, the engine took longer to warm up, but this tended to make a difference only during - you've guessed it - short trips... I didn't find it more difficult to p&g etc. during cold-but-dry days. From my point of view, cold weather has a secondary effect, tied closely to short trips. The #1 culprit, IMHO, is the rain. It's been raining (Vancouver-style), and often the roads are not "wet", they are "WET". You can feel the drag on the car as it's trying to negotiate all that water. Acceleration suffers, the car slows down much faster while gliding, etc. Also, when it rains, I need to turn on the windshield defogger. I'm not sure why, but it seems to be almost as bad on MPG as the AC is. As soon as I turn it on, I notice either an MPG drop, a difficulty in entering/maintaining glide, or a tendency to turn the engine on. Not sure if this is normal or not. It hardly rained the previous month, and while the temperature did drop, I attribute most of the MGP drop to the rain, which is too bad, as rain is the one constant fact of life here Oh well, new tank, new game...
I average 49.5 with my 07 touring Prius. While I wish I could get it over 50, I almost always make short trips. Even so, I think this is great MPG given the level of comfort and smooth ride I get- like a luxury car, not an economy car. It's really too cool......... B)
I avg. less than 48..about 47.2 to .3 after 6 weeks of ownership and 2500 miles driving.........jeeez...what am I doing wrong.....my best can't even compare to your worst.....sigh
Sea-horsea, I am also plagued by the short trip problem, and the colder weather doesn't help. This year I'm going into winter with an EBH thanks to FireEngineer, and that has so far kept me just above 50. But by Friday it will probably be under. The other changes that made a difference for me were getting the tire pressure higher and getting the front end aligned. These together got me from the low 40's last year when the car was new to the mid 50's this summer. I noticed a difference at around 3K miles too. I even managed one 60 mpg tank this summer after I blocked the top grill. I now have almost the entire grill blocked for winter now that I got my Scangauge II. That "60" was sweet to see, but after seeing it I am now disappointed with anything less. Boxster you must really find it tough where you are. You definitely need the EBH and grill block - probably most of the year too. But even my worst is still way better than what I was getting with my Corolla. You gotta look at the positives and just keep plugging away.
P+G seems to work the best for me- when I don't do it I have gone as low as 38 MPG. other than that, I just don't drive agressively at all, unless I need to get out of a dangerous situation. In general I don't do fast accelerations unless I know I will need the speed over the long run. There's so much traffic in L.A. that it's not hard to P+G. Don't know about other places.... :mellow:
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(orenf @ Oct 17 2007, 01:23 AM) [snapback]526716[/snapback]</div> I believe that as soon as you choose Windshield, it automatically turns on A/C as well to help clear the windows, so that may explain the hit on MPG. Also, you will notice that if you have the Windshield setting selected when you start the car, the ICE will fire up right away rather than waiting the ~7 seconds. On a side note, I think 47MPG as a "worst" is pretty darn good.
I was damn happy with my latest tank of 45.0 MPG. Some day I'm going to have to drive longer than three miles (round trip).
I've filled up 3 times so far - gotten 40, 45 and 44. I take mostly short trips, so that's the culprit, but my 626 under similar conditions struggled to beat 15 mpg, so I'm not disappointed. My current tank began with a 45-50 mile stretch at 55 mpg, but now that I'm up to 270miles, I'm down to 44 again. sigh. This site is depressing though. I'm taking my prius on a longer trip next week and looking forward to having a full tank over 50. We'll see.
Now my average over several tanks is 46.1 but when I make a short run up a steep hill it will go down. When I come down the hill (and traffic permitting) I keep a light foot on the break to keep the battery pumped up so its not a total loss. Then when I make long trips the average will go up. Am going on a 300+ mile trip Monday so I am anxious to see how much it will go up. This will be 4th or 5th tank since the last time I reset.
