The 35-40 Avg Mpg Club

Well I'm glad I found this thread. I'll add my own 2 cents here and there, from time to time, from now on. : )

Sooooo, I've owned the car for a little over a month now, and have not managed to break the 40mpg mark. I'm getting 39, roughly, give or take (see below signature). Still, I'm only spending about $30 a week in gas, and getting approx. 400 miles before I have to fill up again. The pump usually stops at 9 gallons, and that's awesome, 400 miles on 9 gallons!

Compare that to the car I had before: A 2005 Subaru WRX all wheel drive. The most I got out of that car was 24mpg, if I drove really slow and in 5th gear keeping the rpms around 1500K. I'd spend $90 a week in gas (93oct+), and would get approx. 310 miles before I'd have to fill up again. Usually the pump would stop at 14 gallons. So 310 to 320 miles on 14 gallons. Ouch!

Anyway, I drive a little slower than I used to, but not enough to be a nuisance. I'm usually at limit or 5-10 mph above limit. I glide around town in 30mph zones. Normal stuff. Let's not get crazy.

Something I HAVE noticed more and more since driving the car and changing my style is how other drivers are in such a hurry to get everywhere. It's unbelievable sometimes. I'll be doing 55mph on the West Side Highway here in New York (limit is 50mph), and feel like I'm standing still. More often than not, I HAVE to get in the right lane, just to get out of the way!

Peace.

 

I bought my car December 2nd from a dealer in the RI/MA area who shall remain nameless and have seen temps as low as 8 degrees F to 61 degrees F and have 5,000 miles on the car so far. My mileage is 45 but when the weather warmed up it was 56mpg and went to a low of 38 mpg at 8 degrees. The best part was I got stuck in all the massive Boston traffic for over 8 hours coming home a month ago or so and didn't have to worry at all about running out of gas!! (but the ole Irish/Italian bladder was screaming to me).

 

hey all currently have alittle over 400 miles on the car and mpg average just hit 42 when i pulled into my house. im a faster drive usually around 70-75 mph. today i decided im gonna try for good gas milage and what a chore everyone was passing me cursing me out but when i got home it felt good to hit 42mpg. will try again tomorrow to see if itll go higher

 

yes! a club for me!

i'm always the first off the line. i'm always the fastest. I out handle just about everyone... except those motorcycles on 9... they are pretty fast.

i used to never get blow 40mpg till i installed my huge tires. hehe

 

Well, my first month of Prius ownership, and I couldn't even make it into this club (at the low end). When I first got it, temps were (and are) low, the tires weren't properly inflated, and I wasn't used to the slightly different driving. Lots of 5 minute or less trips, and no grill blocking until last week or so. I just filled up 28 liters and I had gone 390 kilometers, so just over 32 MPG. (7.2l/100KM). Hopefully, I'll be into the club from my first road trip this weekend...

 

This is deffinently the group I belong in.

SInce I've driven an 02 Jaguar X-type for 4 years, oh yes all wheel drive, 5spd, Arden sport tuned suspension, argh, argh, argh, I've been tainted with the need, not for speed but with handling. Anyone can go fast in a straight line, but go fast in corners..... now THAT'S fun.

On the way to and from work it's cruise control at 60, or 70 on the interstate. I found out years ago the cops don't like 75. I don't slow down for turns unless it's less than half my going speed at the time. In the Jag I was getting around 20mpg, now I'm doing 43mpg consistantly. AND I've gone from premium to regular gas. Monthly fuel costs are less than half.

I was thinking about getting a bank of 4 Hella rallye car lights on the front with a 3" tubular stepside installed, just like the big trucks. So what it adds weight, it'll be original

 

I baught my wife a new prius in July 2007. We have enjoyed the car beyond words. We have a 17 mile commute to work. It takes about 30-40 mins in the morning and about hour or more in the evening. It's stop and go the whole way. The highest we were at was 39.9 mpg. Right now we have been holding steady at 34.5 mpg. We haven't been able to crack the 40. mpg yet but I think we will some day. The only thing we seem to not like about the car is how it cut's on and off while sitting still in traffic. Some days more than others, but when it does cut on and off from electric to gas it's sometimes seems violent, and the car will actually lung forward... Do you guys exp the same thing.

 

Hey,can i join, 65 yr old exhotrodder, motorcycle and tractor man, love the car, can go over 70mph and still get good gas mileage. TBRAD

 

If you hold you foot firmly on the brake pedal when stopped it isn't too bad. If you use the energy screen hold your foot firmly enough on the brake that there are no arrows from the battery to the motor, you will find the engine doesn't start as often, the car is less inclined to feel like it is lunging forward and although it feels like a pain to hold the pedal so hard you do get used to it and it becomes second nature. You also win a little extra mileage because if there is a line from battery to motor it results in energy loss as heat.

 

Please, I am rather new, what is 'pulse and glide'? I can guess, but I bet asking is best. Thanks.

Alan

 

Second try: Please, I am rather new, what is 'pulse and glide'? I can guess, but I bet asking is best. Thanks again.

Alan

 

If you search for pulse and glide, you'll likely find a description that will assist, but in (very) brief, you accelerate your vehicle to a good clip (pulse) and then coast (without regenerative braking - which requires a minute pressure on the accelerator pedal) to a slow speed, and repeat as needed.

Just got back from my trip, and for my second fill-up am just outside the club on the high side - put in 32.62 liters for 576.9 km for 5.65 l/100 km (41.6 MPG). And the car's figures were off by a MUCH bigger amount than with the first fill-up.

 

It seems I get 35-40mpg on road trips where the speed limit is 65mph+ (and I generally drive at least 10mph over the speed limit in road trips)...or when I drive short distances in bad weather.

 

Here's a club my wife can join. She's currently averaging around 35 mpg this winter. In the summer she might get as high as 45.

Of course she often managed to get 20mpg in her last car, a 2001 Civic LX with EPA ratings of over 30 mpg. Then again, she's also managed to blow out 3 tires in the last 5 years, two in the Civic, one in the Prius. I was only in the car for one of them. She was driving a sustained speed of 90mph in the Civic (heavily loaded with 4 passengers and about 150 pounds of luggage in the trunk) when a rear tire blew out. Luckily nobody was hurt.

It's not the cars. Once when she was in India for a month, I drove the Civic for a couple tanks and averaged 36mpg (compared to her 20-26). In the Prius I get 50-65 under standard conditions or 80-100 mpg using pulse and glide under favorable conditions.

I often feel that the fuel efficient design is wasted with her driving and that she drives the Prius not to use less fuel but to look like she uses less. Then I consider that by lowering her fuel consumption from 20 mpg (11.7L/100km) to 35mpg (6.7L/100km) compared to the Civic, the Prius saves more fuel than it could by lowering my consumption from 36mpg (6.5L/100km) to 65mpg (3.6 L/100km). Even though her lead foot, binary application of the accelerator pedal, and fondness for the brake pedal costs a great deal in gas consumption and emissions, it gives the Prius even greater opportunity to save her gas, measured as fuel consumed, not as mpg.

It's much like the argument that a hybrid drivetrain can do more to reduce fuel consumption in an overweight SUV than in a lightweight fuel miser.

Still I wonder if she might do better with a larger engine that she might not redline so much of the time. I'm looking at buying a used Infiniti I30 (Maxima) for my mother who recently retired and moved here from Arizona. I'm curious to see what mpg my wife might obtain in the I30. I hope she wouldn't redline the I30 engine as often, with its 227 horsepower compared to the 76 from the Prius ICE.

Sometimes when I drive the Prius I will reset the mpg display to show her that her car is quite capable of 60-80 mpg. Within a day or two, she'll have the mpg average back down below 40.

In the end, my wife gets to feel smug about driving a fuel efficient car, while I get to feel smug about coaxing very similar fuel efficiency from my much less expensive and somewhat better performing Elantra.

 

That's right ... it is all about you isn't it? How about the idiots that drive too fast for conditions (traffic and or weather) risking everyone inclusing themselves.

 

I have to watch out for those idiots all the time...I'm still only getting 40.5!

 

Made it! (I would be happier to be outside again (on the more efficient end of things, but...)).

Most recent tank was 6L/100KM or 39 MPG. No special attempts to drive efficiently, since the opportunities for it are few and far between (lots of traffic to prevent P&G, no real stretches to use cruise control). Weather has been in the 5-10 Celsius range (40-50 F), and though the front grill is mostly blocked, it is the high number of short (under 5 mile) trips that has had the most deleterious effect on mileage.

I must say however that I am much happier with this car than with the 1986 Camry it replaces, for more than just mileage reasons.

 

How much mileage did you lose upgrading tires, and what did you change to??

Thank you for the info
Elizabeth

 

I'm an unwilling member of this club. I've had my car for almost two weeks and I'm averaging 39 mpg (reset the tracker before I drove it out of the lot at the dealership).

Contributing factors:

-Only 500 miles on it, so it hasn't been broken in yet.
-Haven't yet gotten my tires up to 42/40 psi (plan to do that today)
-Still running on the gasoline from the dealership (not sure if that matters)
-Temperatures have been consistently below 40 degrees F since I've had the car
-Most of my trips are short ones. I live fairly close to work, so I don't get the car fully warmed up until I'm nearly finished with my drive.


I am pulsing an gliding whereever possible. This isn't often, as my primary route to get to work has a 50 mph speed limit, and quite a few traffic lights. I've recently found a different way to go on which I can get much better FE, so I'll start taking that.

I'm really looking forward to getting my gas mileage up above 50.