Just don't get EPA's Prius ratings....

HA! So you admit it! You're one of 'em light-footed Prius drivers!!

This, of course, is one of the big "secrets" to getting good mileage in any car.

 

I hear that Light footed types can actually get married in Mass. and California and some other places! Oh No! I'm a fairly hvy footer and still get almost exactly the same as mr light foot; so drive it as you want to! It's all good!

 

+1

my mileage just drops the usual amount in winter, but the EBH has really helped that a lot.....

 

I've never understood the new EPA estimates either.

 

I'll have to admit that I'm perplexed on this one as well. My wife has been driving the car for about a month and has gone from avg of 49 to and avg of 51 (she's getting pretty good at stealth). We loaded the car with three adults and three medium size dogs plus luggage for a short (400 mile) 2-day trip and it only got worse -- 56mpg. :rant: Guess we'll just have to buy less gas.

 

I have a problem with short drives either to work or around town. My mpg's are low, but still between 43 to 45 mpg's. I don't drive heavy for light, but how the traffic allows. If I try I can get over 50 mpg, but on short drives it is boring.

 

You know how your second bar is always higher than your first?

I don't, because I almost never drive long enough to see that second bar.

 

Only until the courts or voters declare that everyone must drive with a heavy foot, and two Prius house holds a right out....every driveway must have one gas guzzler and one hybrid.....

Sorry, it was too easy...

Like the OP, I've only had one tank of less than 50 mpg and that's without really trying. However, the caveat is that I live in the land mild and honey for the Prius (flat and perpetually warm.) My less than 50 tank was driving across Alligator Alley at 75 mph. (OK, I haven't had the car for nearly as long, and that may change...)

People get way to hung up on those EPA numbers (first they were too high, now they're a little low.) The plain fact of the matter is that I don't think I've ever driven any car where I got the EPA numbers simply because my reality never matches their tests. As always with FE numbers "your millage may vary", and will depend heavily on how you drive, where you drive, and how you maintain your vehicle.

For instance, on weekends when I do alot more short trips running errands than I do on the weekdays, my day-to-day FE is much lower. On weekdays when I have longer commutes, my FE is much better. The two average out to give an overall FE number.

Yes, it is annoying when people use that as a weapon against the Prius, however since the price of gas went through the roof, there's been less of that type of whining. In some ways I understand the whine, people are skeptical of something that sounds too good to be true. There's just enough stories out there of people who loudly complain that they're significantly below the EPA numbers for reinforce that skepticism.

There was a story to the effect on a local TV station here last week. The basic premise was that some guy had bought a Camry Hybrid because the EPA claims said it got an average 40 mpg. Well, after driving the car for a while (and apparently getting help from some online communities) he still couldn't get near that. He turned to this local legal advice segment. They got Toyota involved; techs were sent to inspect the car (twice). They even drove with him to show him what the car would do. However, he claims that he still can't get that kind of FE on his own. They didn't exactly dissect the whys of that, but strongly hinted that it was due to his "driving habits."

That kind of story, while reasonably well done for Fox, and not at all hybrid bashing, did have undercurrents of "not everyone can make these cars 'work'."

It's not so much that these are exception cases as it is that they're "fruit salad" comparisons. There are likely other factors, including the foot weight thing, that are contributing.

 

Ok.. maybe someone can answer this one once and for all...

I'm in the UK witha 2008 Prius.. only about 1,600 miles on the clock..

The MFD says I get 48.6mpg so far.. I drive it normally. Nothing fancy.. the fual gauge says add fuel at the moment.. light came on on the way to work. I get around 440 miles on a tank full. That's flashing pip to flashing pip.

If it's recording miles per "imperial" gallons on the MFD then by a conversion to US gallons I'm getting around 40mpg!?

Most normally drivers in the US report 48mpg or there abouts.. that's what I'm seeing too.

So which is it ? Imperial or US Gallons ? Toyota are no help on this.

 

your driving conditions and how you use the car are optimal for good gas mileage.
others have a more typical pattern which results in the epa estimate.

i am one of those who get exactly epa mileage with typical driving.
i can of course do better but i just drive it!

 

Does the English manual use an adjective when describing the MFD's gallons? If not, can you set the MFD for liters?

 

Everyone's driving conditions are different.
My worst was 33.6mpg(14.3km/L) and the best was 80.7mpg(34.3km/L) by the same driver and the same Prius but different driving conditions.

Ken@Japan

 

thats some nice mileage ur getting. we can NEVER get pass 52mpg in ours since we got it new in february and we're no hypermiler nor heavy-footed.. we just drive it like a normal cars. we dont always turn on the AC. we have the tire pressure set to 42 front and 40 rear. we have no racks on top. the only problem i see is my wife's 6-mile commute to work... (or another potential problem is how she really drives it...?)..

 

For that 6 miles I would guess high 20's-low 30's mpg. I'm not sure how much difference driving style would make. If 52mpg is your average you're doing good. I don't get the EPA numbers either. When asked "Do you really get 50mpg?" my reply is "If I only got 50mpg I would cry."

 

sadly 52mpg is the best we've gotten... we're averaging about 48mpg... what the EPA estimate is

 

I'm on the opposite end from y'all. I have never gotten better than 42 mpg in my Prius. Granted, it's more than double what my Murano got, but still much less than I expected. Most of the time I am lucky if I get 40 out of it. Most of my driving is the 3 1/2 mile trip to take my son to school or the 1 1/2 mile trip to work & Walmart. Living in Texas, turning off the a/c is not an option for about 7 months of the year. I am not a creeper, but don't consider myself to be a leadfoot, either. What's more, I actually get better gas mileage on the highway than in town. What gives?

 

I think you've given enough information to explain your mileage numbers.

You simply are not driving long enough at any one time to have the engine warm up enough to develop the higher MPGs most people are getting. With such short commutes and A/C, you will not get high mileage. You would not be getting high mileage in any other car, though, so there is little to complain about.

Have you ever taken your car out for a longer drive than 10 or 15 minutes? Take a look at what happens to your mileage when you do this. You mentioned better mileage when you are on the highway, so you've likely noticed the MPGs increase when you drive the car a bit longer. Next time you drive the car for 20 or 30 minutes on the highway, go back and retrace your steps on the shorter in-town routes, I bet you'll see much higher mileage when driving those routes with a warm engine.

Let us know if this makes a difference for you.