You will not get 50 MPG if...

I still think the issue as to whether the 2010 is using has 17" wheels or 15" needs to be an up front reveal when discussing gas mileage as we know the 17" wheels gives a 3mpg loss when installed.

They admitted it right up front when we asked the Engineer.
However, I mentioned that fact to the dealer yesterday as he was supposed to be the "prius genius" there and he didnt' know.

They are still getting educated on the 2010, and admittedly, we actually know more than them still at this point!

But your right, its not flaunted in the advertising schemes for sure as I'm sure many things are not flaunted with the Volts advertising schemes, or Honda doesn't mention how clunky their hybrid is as the ICE kicks in and out!

This is why its never wise to buy cutting edge until its been out long enough for the other folks who can't wait to give feedback.

 

I basically felt like I HAD to interject a little bit here which is to say: I feel like, as far as people who work at a dealership are concerned (and many but not all) it doesn't matter what the topic is they'll contradict you every time, or change their answer just slightly so as NOT to acknowledge that you the consumer might know anything they don't know.

I'm not disrespecting anybody who works in a dealership but it's so bad sometimes that it's actually frustrating because I can tell what a person knows about a car after a minute into the conversation and usually I know more because I've read up on it.

 

Just got my first Prius, a Prius IV w/solar roof on a clunker deal July 29 and have 1400 miles on the odo. Never got above 45 mpg and just started my 4th tank of gas. However, when I fill up I don't put in more than 9.33 gallons. Computer reads 44mpg and it calcs to around 41.8mpg so it's consistent with some variance. Have mixture of city and hwy driving. Range is consistently about 500 miles. Does the use of a/c alter mpg substantially? I assume PWR mode would and try not to accelerate in that mode too much. Is this consistent with anyone's experience? Right after fill up, mpg is 36 for the first 50-100 miles.

 

ECO mode reduces throttle response, but it also tones down the AC reducing its impact on your mileage. granted, i do not live in a hot climate (although we did just go thru the hottest summer ever) so, the ECO AC setting works fine for me. even in very hot weather, the fan blows out "cooler" air within a few seconds. sometimes i will set the fan on high for the first few minutes (the fan will slow back down on its own)

 

In my defense, I don't think I'm mixing up anything. I'm responding to your post specificly. It is a fact that there are numerous and diverse and conflicting philosophies and approaches to driving a Prius. It's also a fact that they are reflected within this forum. I have read posts, threads and the like where the recommendation to a newbie obssesing over his/her new Prius and gas mileage has been, "Don't worry about it, just drive and let the machine/computer handle it" and I've read post's and threads more along your lines, with advice in employing techniques and recognizing realities. My feeling is there is a suportable validity to both approaches. There of course is also personal choice.

Basicly my point is really simple. You title your thread with "You will not get 50 MPG if..." Then you go on to "reverse" recommend certain driving techniques that in your opinion will help drivers achieve or get closer to achieving 50mpg.

I'm NOT saying your recommendations and observations are wrong. I'm saying for a lot of people they just aren't going to be willing to employ a lot of them. Right or wrong, most people just look at the EPA and expect to drive as per their "normal" and achieve close to the EPA rating.

When Toyota markets The Prius, they say, Welcome to Prius, Welcome to 50mpg. They don't say, Welcome to Prius, Welcome to 50mpg but only IF you....then provide a laundry list of things you shouldn't be doing and should be doing.

I do think most owners of Prius are willing to adapt driving habits to try and maximize fuel efficency. With the information provide on the dash, The Prius as a machine has been designed to help and encourage in this area.

However, if we the general buying public and Toyota are moving towards the mainstreaming of Hybrids, it is also my opinion that we need evaluation of MPG's based closer to the driving habits of the majority, and you must admit, most people do not employ even a 1/4th of what you are recommending. I'm talking about the entire driving public not Prius drivers that frequent this forum.

My original hope with my original response was not to make you defensive about your "tips" because my feeling is they are perfectly valid. If you wish to maximize your fuel efficency, being aware of the observations and tips you provided will be helpful, but my original hope was to get some feedback as to what the "real world" MPG of The Prius can be expected to be, as driven by people maybe not adapting any of those tips and/or only a portion.

Then hopefully we could say you can easily expect to get XXmpg driving a Prius, instead of saying You will not get 50 MPG if....

 

I think most people buying a Prius are now, for the first time actually tracking their MPG. This is where some of the problems discussed come in.
I know my old truck was rated at 18 mpg by EPA. I had no way to track my MPG other than the old fashioned pencil and paper tracking on fill up. My truck didn't give instantaneous feedback so I didn't really care about how I was driving. I'll bet if I just would have made a log of my MPG I would have been getting less than 18 due to poor driving habits.
However, just by making the decision to track MPG, many people will suddenly, miraculously, change their habits simply because they are now tracking the statistic. This has been proven in many fields.
I think most people, particularly in the cities where PC folks say they can't avoid starting from a stop without going into the red zone on the HSI w/out fear of being run over or killed by someone from road rage, are not getting close to the EPA figures for their respective vehicles. They simply drive to aggressively.
Then, when newbies start driving a Prius, they drive like they used to (which was less MPG than the EPA rating on their old car cause they drove like a fire was under them) and are surprised that they get less MPG than EPA w/ thier new car.
Somebody who drove their old car and got higher EPA MPG on their old car will also do the same in a Prius, I believe, without any difficulty cause they were already versed in how to drive to exceed EPA MPG.

 

Before the Prius, my primary vehicle was a Chevy Avalanche z71. I consistently exceeded EPA MPG. We traded a Dodge Grand Caravan AWD (C4C) in on the Prius. I consistently exceeded EPA MPG. I have driven approximately 2500 miles on my 2010 Prius V, and consistently fall short of EPA MPG numbers.

Don't get me wrong- we are happy with our purchase and have significantly reduced our fuel use. However I am at least one exception to your statement above- and I have been trying VERY hard to maximize the MPG on the Prius.

Sure- part of the reason may be that I have a Package V with the larger wheels. I believe the biggest factor is that the Prius is not optimized for my typical route.

 

I must agree with Blackpolish instead, this Prius is not the same animal as past cars. Blackpolish can't beat EPA with it on his routes. I can on mine, but by much smaller margins than with my pre-hybrids.

I've been tracking MPG since acquiring an Accord in 1986. It beat its original EPA highway sticker right out of the box, in winter, and regularly pulled 25-32% over (new EPA highway scale) in summer, before hypermiling (HM).

My '97 Legacy was a much tougher cookie to crack, and did not beat its original EPA sticker until I learned some intermediate HM. But with those methods last summer, it averaged 27.4% over new EPA highway. Since my HM career began, the old Honda got very little highway time before being replaced by the Prius, but two consecutive highway tanks did pull 38.4% over new EPA.

My new Prius now has a lifetime MPG of just 13.7% over EPA highway, or 9.2% over EPA combined, and is not yet showing any upward trend.

While many drivers are beating EPA by a little bit, this new and very efficient Prius seems to be leaving much less room for improvement than we are accustomed to.

 

Amen.

 

I got 62.8mpg this morning coming to work and I was in "Normal" mode.

I just finished a 10 hour trip and I found I don't really like Eco mode when drivng fast as the pedal is too spongy.
However taking off at stop lights etc, its very easy to push too hard if "not" in eco mode.

I've discovered that eco mode is an excellent training tool, but now that I'm used to watching the gauges more and know what to do, I can achieve the same mileage in normal mode that I can in eco mode.

I haven't tried leaving it in power mode yet and don't think I will.. it already takes allot of skill to mimic eco mode while in normal mode, but my foot is very sensitive and I prefer not having to move the pedal so much to so things.

I set my computer mouse the same way.... very sensitive...

But I think leaving it in power mode would be too much... besides, it resets to normal mode anyway when you turn off the car.

 

I think you just have some cocky salesman that are insecure.
I had the opposite reaction.

Erica really paved the way for me in advance and they knew I was knowledgable and they didnt challenge me and in fact were glad to hear what I had to say.
Of course we didnt have an audience of laypersons or it may have been different, every manager treated me as an equal.

I did in fact get to talk to the regional service manager as he happened to be there when I came by and it was fascinating to learn from him as he hinted of future things.

I was discussing the navigation backup tool in the hidden menu with the prius mechanic as I wanted them to backup all the contacts from my old nav 2006 and paste them into the new nav 2010... thats when he stepped up and cleared the confusion.... you can only copy from one nav and paste to another of exact same type and motherboard etc... so I was out of luck

The local prius mechanic didnt know that function was even possible.

 

...says CHEECH to Tin Cup.

More importantly the three posters above getting in the low 40's haven't provided much info about driving styles or physical environment. This is the most critical info.

I can get any value from 25 MPG to 65 MPG on demand for an entire day's driving.

 

i've got a friend who just got his 2010. he's not necessarily a "green" person and he doesn't really know about P&G but he still averages 50 mpg.

his attitude is...... accelerate conservatively to speed, then just cruise.

while many here would have a much more scientific solution, try that, see if that helps.

 

It takes a while to learn and improve the stats. I'm still learning, and getting to know my P2010. Presently I am experimenting with different driving technics. Slow vs fast acceleration, to cruise or not to cruise, that is the question. Every car has a personality. Get to know each other. Have some nice, quiet afternoons together. Talk to each other, and respect each other's feelings. When finally everything is in perfect harmony. Remember: fools rush in. And then.....a smile, a kiss, and La Vien Rose.
Everything will come together for you and then the two of you will be one.

 

i do notice that when people are NOT behind me, i'll tend to accelerate a bit slower. when there is traffic behind me, i will go the speed limit or about 5 above the limit, as long as i'm not using constant load. then there are those times where i have procrastinated, very late and mileage goes OUT the window......those are the times when my prius becomes just like everyone else going fast.

 

Me, too!

 

I've had my 2010 III for about 10 days, so I can't speak with authority on MPG yet. But I've done a mix of city (street/freeway) driving, along with one long-distance trip (PHX - L.A....r/t about 740 miles), and according to the car's feedback I'm averaging about 48 (haven't verified that with pen & paper, but seems pretty close). I've stayed away from CC while breaking it in, averaging around 70-75 on the way to LA, around 75-80 coming back. (Though I noticed it's easy to find yourself doing 85 or more if you don't pay attention.) I'm now up to around 1300 miles and feel like I'm just getting the feel of it. I can easily see getting over 50 once it's broken in.

 

welcome to the Forum... it sounds like your right on the money and doing as expected.

You drive alot like I drive.... going those speeds will not get you 55+mph.... you will have to take it easier to do that, then if your drive on rice paper, you can get 60+.... but thats not as much fun unless you get all your jollys from watching your gas mileage.

Not many cars can drive 75 - 80 and bump 50mph.

 

I've only had mine for about a week, but i'm always in ECO mode, I never stray into PWR unless it's absolutely necessary to get up a hill or to pull out into busy traffic. Checking my 5 min. consumption i am able to maintain at LEAST 50mpg on the highway. In city, I can usually squeeze out somewhere between 50-75mpg 5 min. averages. The average fuel consumption was at around 35mpg when I first picked up the car, and after almost a week it's at 48mpg and still climbing.

One tip i picked up that I think helps is once you finish accelerating, release the gas pedal and gently press it again. This seems to favor use of the traction motor over the gas engine. Many times, what the traction motor puts out is just enough to maintain speed.

As far as speed goes, I frequently find myself at about 50-55 on the freeways (loving the right lane...) and 30-45 on main streets. Sometimes this winds up being a little under the speed limit.

My wife was giving me grief for driving too slow though. My last car was a 07 civic Si which i drove like i stole it... she complained about my driving then too. Can't please some people .

I suppose having patience and leaving a few minutes early lets you kind of run at the pace of the terrain and favor a consistent load over a consistent speed.

my $.02