December MPG Averages<img alt="" src="chrome://easygestures/skin/xLink.png" style="border: 0px none

Re: December MPG Averages

I know this is old news, but I'm really amazed at how much cold weather affects the mileage of the Prius. (A side comment: Are other cars affected this way, too?)

I'm only at around the 3,000 mile mark, so I still have plenty of breaking in to do, but when it got down to the 20's here (and below), my current tank was averaging 38mpg. Now that the weather has warmed up to the 60s (that's crazy St. Louis for you!), I'm back to 46mpg.

I'm eagerly anticipating summertime & my psychological target of 50mpg

 

I've had my car since Dec. 2. I'm on my 2nd tank of gas. So far, I've been getting around 35-36 mpg. Not great. But I've been doing lots of stop & go driving. (Drive 1-2 blocks, stop at a stop sign.) I'm looking forward to getting better mileage once I do more long distance driving. Of course, as disappointed as I am, I have to remind myself that I used to get only 22 mpg in my Camry ... on a good day.

 

Re: December MPG Averages

Just filled up on my second tank today.
My average has been running around 51.5
I'm amazed how well this car has preformed with less
than 1000 miles on it. Haven't done the tire pressures either
same as what was delivered to me from the factory. I've
got a 12v pump coming so I'll see if I increase the pressures
I'll even get better mileage.

 

Re: December MPG Averages

Tank Miles: 650km or 38liter
Total Miles: 1754km
Tank MPG: 16.5km/l
Lifetime km/l: 19.4km/l
Avg Temp: 7c
Price of Tank: $4000yen ($38 or Ave 37liter)
Price per liter: 110yen ($1per liter or Ave $3.75 for gallon)

Fuel milage is dropping so BAD :cussing: past few days its like 14km/l!

 

I have experienced the same drop in mileage. I have about 22k miles on the car and I believe it is the fuel not the car. At 20 degrees saw 37 mpg. When temp went back up to 50 degrees it went back to 45mpg. Car seems to run the ICE more often to keep the cat. conv. hot so that it does not pollute. Also the winter fuel does not have the same BTU rating but has increased volitiity. I am still convinced that this is the best car I have ever owned. Poor mileage or not.

 

Re: December MPG Averages

Ok...the verdict is in for December...seeing how we varied in temperature from -29F to +61F in 5 days...a 90degree(f) change...no wonder the prius goes bananas...we went 2310 miles with with 50.3 gals(us) which equates to 45.92mpg...not bad given my neighbors blazer is getting a big total of 8-10mpg...

 

Re: December MPG Averages

MPG dropping likea no tommorow!
Now it seems alike around 14km/l! :cussing: and if 4passenge with 4 golf bags drop to 12km/l!
this is bad rally bad

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(scott\";p=\"60121)</div>

Scott, sounds like you have to learn how to drive this car. It's a bit different. The first tank tends to be off anyway. I started out at 35 mpg and worked up to 49.8 mpg thus far.

Some tips:

#1 Take your foot off the gas.

Make long coasting stops. Anticipate them and glide into them with your foot off the gas.

Get up to speed quickly but not rapidly. Then maintain a coasting speed where your foot is mostly off the gas. You can easily maintain "99.9 mpg" in electric mode at around 35 miles per hour. You can do some great cruising around 72 miles per hour as well, but overall the message seems to be maintain speed. Don't keep accelerating to catch up with the pulsing of the traffic in front of you.

Hope this helps and that others have ideas to add/revise to this.

Ryan

 

Re: December MPG Averages

Ryan, thanks. However, I am doing exactly what you describe. I was told this car does better in local driving. I do ALOT of local driving and I got much better mileage on a long highway trip with my in-law's prius.

I find that 40-50 mph has no decent efficiency. If I go 58 I can get good mileage. I'm telling you, this is WAY disappointing.

I'm holding out, however.

 

Re: December MPG Averages

Yes, the 60 mpg number sets a high (impossible) bar.

I think you will see a few things improve. When the weather gets warmer there should be a significant jump in mpg. Additionally, it will take several tanks of gas before the bladder starts giving you more accurate mpg numbers.

Until then, if you are doing a lot of driving between 40-50 mph, I would recommend not trying to race from light to light with the rest of the traffic. Get to 35 mph then gently work your way up so you minimize your acceleration periods.

I can understand how you may be disappointed, but I am actually encouraged by what I have seen from other Prius owners. The potential to hit 52-54 is there. Trying to get the high score makes my bumper-to-bumper commute more like a game than a pointless waste of time.

 

Re: December MPG Averages

i can get those higher mpg numbers, but only for brief portions. I don't race light to light. In fact, I try to feather the accelerator so as to go on electric for as long as possible. I find it a game to see how well i can get the mpg #s, but it's a game i'm losing.

A patient of mine got a Honda Civic Hybrid last month and she's averaging MORE than me. I'm not lead-footing it either. When I told her she was so surprised and had a faint look like "phew, I knew I didn't need to spend the extra on the Prius"

 

OK Ya'll, I know we don't get cold here, but today's temperatures were between 34 and 38 degrees all day long. I put 108 miles on my car with two long commutes and three short trips. I averaged 52.4 MPG for the day. My best all time tank was 763 miles at just under 60 MPG in mixed driving. I usually average around 56 MPG in moderate temperatures. I don't think we have winter blend gas here. The cold temps cause the car to run for warmth when it would otherwise be off, so mileage does suffer but I think the biggest difference is driving style and the type of commute. All of the mentioned factors come into play. One thing you can do is to turn off the heater when you are stopped and turn it back on when you are moving again if you really want to play the mileage game. It really is a game though as the difference between 45 and 55 is not that significant and the difference between 53 and 55 is just for pure sport.

 

Re: December MPG Averages

2001 Prius
Snow tires
Vancouver BC

Fuel/Gallons 63.83
Distance/Miles 2854.71
Display Mileage 47.26
Actual Mileage 44.27
Total Cost $178.70can

 

I, too, have recently passed the 15.000 mile mark. I live in the S.F. Bay Area and have noticed an strange and sudden dip in mileage. I'm getting a disappointing 45 mpg average on a tank down from 49-50.
Anybody have any ideas why?

 

Tank Miles: 409
Total Miles: 409 (First tank)
Tank MPG: 50.2
Lifetime MPG: 50.2
Avg Temp: 60
Price of Tank: Dealer 1st tank free
Price per Gal: $2.19 (current cost at pump)
Bars remaining: 3

 

Sorry I haven't keep as detailed record as most people do in these postings but here's roughly what I've experienced in my coldest weather mileage to date. Keep in mind I'm still under 2000 miles on my 2005 Prius.

Region: Delaware
Temperature: 14 to 45 deg F
Tank Average: 40.1

I should mention that achieving 40 mpg this time of the year TAKES SOME EFFORT. If I were to drive like a normal car I'd probably get in the mid 30's. To start things off I decided to intentionally get terrible gas mileage. I started my Prius cold in 14 deg F weather. Drove 1/4 mile to a gas station to fill up the tank and reset the mileage computer. Then drove on a short 6 mile round trip drive to McDonalds and back with heater on. The gas engine never got a chance to shut down. I floored the Prius a few times for maximum acceleration. My average was 29 mpg. After that terrible start I managed to pull my tank average in at 40.1 mpg.

As long as my commutes were around 20 minutes or longer than I could always eek out just around 40 mpg, while keeping in line with the surrounding traffice that generally likes to drive 15-20 mph over the speed limit. When caught in a traffice light I'd hessitate starting so that the car in front of me gets a bit of lead. The car behind me doesn't get too annoyed as I just seem like a sluggish driver. Then before I feel just on the edge of becoming a bit annoying I accelerate fairly hard (accerator about 1/2 way) with the goal of closing in fast on the car in front of me. As soon as it feels like I'm about to be tailgating the front car and I'm going about as fast as the fastest car in traffic, I lift off the accelerator completely and milk out as much of the 99.9 mpg as I can before the car behind starts catching up again. I keep doing this as much as I can. In tight traffic I might be accelerating hard for 3 seconds, coasting for 3 seconds, accelerating hard for 3 seconds and coasting for 3 seconds. What this translates into is 3 seconds of 7 mpg and 3 seconds of 99 mpg. If you do the math the average is somewhere around 50 mpg. To the surrounding traffic I look like a erratic stressed out and inattentive driver that makes jack rabbit starts and stops. But there are so many people that drive this way that I just blend in.

One big rule that makes the difference between staying in the 30's and crossing into the 40's is if you are on top of a big hill or long descent and there are no cars behind you, you absolutely need to take advantage of the coasting opportunity. There have been times where I'd coast along at 30 mph in a 45 mph zone with cars passing me downhill at 55 mph headed straight for a red light! Using no gas or electric I'd pick up speed to 45 mph, watch the light turn green and catch up and have to put on my brakes because they are all moving too slow for me.

The other habit I adopt is when I'm getting ready to park, I try and stay in electric as long as possible. Parking is the pay back time for getting your mileage back up. This is the time to accelerate with a feather touch and avoid triggering the gas engine. It's true that you may end up draining your hybrid battery so that you won't be able to make use of electric the next time you start your Prius. However, in cold weather the odds are the next time you start your Prius you'lll never get to take advantage of a fully charged battery. On a cold weather start, any empty battery will get charged up during the time the gas engine is trying to warm up.

Oh yeah one more thing. When stopped at a traffic light, if your gas engine doesn't seem to turn off, consider shutting off the heater. And then turning it back on when you start moving for an extended period. You are not going to freeze if you turn the heat off a few minutes, especially if you're like most people who drive wearing their winter coats.

 

December Miles: 1873.9
December Gas (gals): 32.67
December MPG: 57.3
Avg Arizona December Temp during drive: 60 degrees F.
----------
Total Miles: 7122
Price per Gal: $2.12 (current cost at pump)
General strategy: pulse and glide to 1 tick remaining, then
refill to pump auto-shut off. 70% surface street driving,
30% hwy driving at 60-70 mph.

 

Nice post, driveprius. I've had my Prius since May. I've been on this site several times to look at mileage posts but I've been meaning to look into the drop in gas mileage during the winter months. I live in Illinois. We've had a particularly cold December (betweeen 0 - 40 F with the average around 25 F). I've seen my summer and fall numbers drop from the low to mid 50s down to the low 40s. When I started thinking about it, I realized that a 20% drop in mileage due to colder temps is a big deal for a hybrid owner. A friend of mine just purchase a hybrid Highlander. He's fretting about a drop from 27 to 21 mpg. So, I guess I shouldn't complain about a 10 mpg drop in these cold temps. I've read Evan's post in the Knowledge section about mpg. Lots of good tips. It is amazing how one's driving habits change from the Consumption "biofeedback."