So I've had my Prius one week. On the occasional short freeway drive at around 60 mph, I can see from the instantaneous fuel consumption screen that getting 50 mpg+ shouldn't be too tough on the highway. However, getting that sort of mileage around town and the suburbs seems to be almost impossible. The ICE kicks in when accelerating (not hard mind you), and the general density of traffic means you're always accelerating and decelerating. I leave the A/C on Auto, as I understand it only kicks in when necessary. Not that I'm unhappy in the least. Equivalent driving in my old '97 Ford Taurus station wagon yields an appalling 16 - 18 mpg.
Have to say it is somewhat depressing to watch the current MPG read only 20 mpg or less, in normal acceleration from a stop, forinstance. I'm at 200 + miles total myself! lol From what the experienced drivers say: Brake less and more gradually (anticipate stops farther out and coast more to slow down). I actually have started to set my display on audio screen, so I wouldn't have to see the fluctuating numbers all the time - sort of like a Chinese water torture, no?!? I drive conservatively still, and attempt to conform to more proficient conservation each drive too...just don't want to see the mpg in my face all the time. With custom 17" wheels, I've managed to avg 46.5 mpg thus far and am pretty content with this start. Cheers~
Few things to get that higher city mileage: o wait for the car to break in o make sure you have 3.5qt of oil and no more (~2-5mpg right there) o make sure your driving style conforms to the recommendations in some other thread which involves coasting/cruising a lot, accelerating more aggressively (or not), not racing to red lights, etc. So yes, short stretches of city-streets don't help, but also they're short so factor that into the math.
If the entire trip is short, you'll get a hit from that too, as you are driving mostly during the warmup phase, which yields about 25-35 MPG.
I assume that 3.5qt (US). Dang it. I just checked my oil and it's overfilled =(. Anyway, your lower mileage could be the result of a short trip when the engine is cold, rush hour traffic (that drains the battery) and that you only have 130 miles =).
