2006 MPG???

Sometimes being lightfooted may work against you.... I learned from some of the veterans that its actually good to go ahead and give it the gas to get up to speed. The atkinson engine does better at higher rpms for efficiency... and if you notice your mpg's as you give it gas "as long as you don't floor it", it really doesn't pull the mpgs down.
Your mpg rating has a play with time. If you spend 1 full minute at 16mpg slowly speeding up verses go ahead and give it the gas and drop to 10 or 12mph for 60 seconds... guess which one gets the best mileage? "the faster one"
I would have to drop to 8mpg for 60 seconds to equal 16mpg for a minute.
Don't baby it too much... just drive it!

Where you will really help your mileage is just driving smart... don't hit the brakes all the time unless needed.. watch the traffic ahead... etc.
As your car gets broke in, it will get better and better.. esp with summer coming on.

It varies alot based on weather temp, terrain, driving habits... whether the trips are short verses long and whether the car is broke in.

Your new so I want to welcome you to the forum... there are alot of smart folks out here "and they dont' all agree".. thats what makes it fun!...

I don't know if you've noticed the forum we have on Fuel economy "mileage", but there you can go and see many different years of prius's and areas "warm climates verses colder" as well as analyse the different seasons of the year.
A quite informative site.... http://priuschat.com/Fuel-Economy-f18.html

 

Hi

I too live in your same area. I am in field sales so I travel anywhere from Thousand Oaks to Long Beach. Still on my first tank, but I have averaged 48mpg so far and I expect to do better once I get it broken in.

I have noticed much better MPG in stop and go traffic and on surface streets where I can coast/glide more and take advantage of the ICE not running, or barely running.

On a straight freeway commute with no traffic, it does dip down some, especially if there are any inclines (even if they are slight, but sustained). For example, coming to the 405/101 split in Valley from Valencia I easily average over 50mpg...but that same strech on my way home is good for only 35mpg.

I think the biggest problem out here is the speed. When the freeways are moving, they are going 70-75+...and at 70+ I have much more trouble backing off the gas to conserve. It has been a difficult 450 miles, but I am getting used to driving in the slower lanes when the freeway is at full speed.

I am also looking for routes that have more sustained downhill streches, so I can make up for any uphill streches!

 

I'm in lower mpg range as well. Hopefully this can attributed to new everything not broken in yet, cool temps, short trips, hilly terrain. But it is a bit weird. Today, I got new tires and the Venture Clear Shield treatment. Other folks were driving the car to deliver to my office and I noticed the trip mpgs lower (40.5) after I had been babying it up to about 42 on the MFD. <_< However, when I filled it up and did the math, I get a calculated 45.8 mpg. Not sure why this is? Anyhow, based on the extensive experience of this board, I'm looking forward to summer temps and fully broken in mpg. The car is very young and we're both still learning each other's habits.

 

Thats my problem too... I have driven so many years at the higher speeds... I hate cruising less than 70.... I know 55 would add some miles.. but its far and few between when I go that speed on the open highway..... you just get ran over if you try... and I must admit "I'm addicted".

The prius is trying to break me... but 30+ years of driving is hard to break.

 

Sometimes I wonder if the car is more accurate than our manual calculations?

Unless you go to the same pump every time, and its the approx same temp every time, I've noticed each pump cuts off at a different level based on how fast it pumps, how good the cut-off is, and how cold it is from day to day "your tank shrinks when its cold".

I go to one station and I can fill it up till I physically see it to the brim, others I could never get it there if I tried for 10 minutes.

Unless we know exactly how much physical fuel we have and then can guarantee we can get it there again with the next fillup, manual calculations are iffy.

 

Yup! Reality in sig.

Every day I've driven it, I've ended up with a higher average than the day before. I've got a few years of EV efficiency training under my belt though, so I started with a bit of an advantage. I have found that not all the same tricks work with this car though!

Two things:
1. 43 ain't all that bad.
2. Practice will improve just about anything.

 

Our new '06 has a lifetime average of 46.5 mpg over 2000 miles. We are not MPG freaks and drive it with gusto. We bought it in Indiana (out of region) to get option package 8 and drove it back to Florida. We averaged 44.5 mpg driving in a large range of temps, topography and speeds. Since then our Prius is commuting 70 miles round trip. Both legs start with 5 minutes under 40 mph, 10@60, 15@80 mph, 10@60, and 5@40. Our commute mileage is near 48mpg.

Hope this helps. Brian

 

The information everyone is giving you is correct, break-in Toyota says is 10,000 miles, get up to speed as fast as possible without flooring the gas, and remember there is a "sweet spot" relationship variable with SPEED AND TEMPERATURE. I found a chart back in 2004 on the internet that I have not been able to find again. It showed the Prius got the best mileage at 79 degrees F. and a speed of 45 mph. It was originally in kilometers and Centigrade but I converted it, printed it and then lost the file with a computer crash. I have one printed copy. Last week I passed two elderly ladies in a 06 with my color driving on the freeway at 45 mph and I couldn't stop laughing. Enjoy the car for it's lower mileage and ZERO POLUTION. In LA it's hard not to drive 75 or SUV's will try and push you. I get great mileage there by tucking in behind a Greyhound Bus in the Diamond lane (65 mpg) at 75 mph but the rest of the time it's fight the wind and stop and go traffic. Remember, your leading the pack on reducing pollution in the valley, NOT THE HUMMER.

 

Looking at the original post, I wondered if you were trying to use the B setting on your gearshift. Also, I wondered if you were using your car to drive short distances, and expecting great gas mileage.

I too have an 06, package 8 with leather. Normally I drive it around the mid-TN area, carring myself, and boxes of computer parts for the computers that I fix.

Last monday, was the 1st oil change.

According to my Excel spreadsheet, the mpg display on the MFD very closely matches what Excel has calculated on the fuel receipts.

I know that the owners manual says that the fuel tank is 11.1 gals big, yet when I fillup, and I do top off, I often put in anywhere from 11.0 to 11.3. I have not run out of fuel, and I have only had the fuel gauge flash at me one time. Not sure why this is, unless I am manageing to stretch the fuel bladder, even on days when it is below freezing.

Highest mpg for a tank has been 52. Lowest has been 46. I have been able to sustain upper 50s on the mpg on the MFD for as long as 2 days, before something causes it to drop.

On the Interstates, I set the cruise for 71, and the car seems to get around 50 to 51 mpg avg. Interstates are rolling hills, some more, some less.

On days where I park in town, service somebody's computer, get back in car and move it a few blocks, service somebody elses computer, and so on for the whole day, it seems that the car gets in the upper 40s. I reason that this is because the ICE runs to warm up after startup, each time I want to move the car.

On days where I get to start the car, then spend hours driving on country roads at 45 and 55 mph, especially on the roads that parallel RR lines (they are less hilly), the Prius mpg avg on the MFD will easily climb to near 60, and stay there.

I used to frequently use the B setting, but after reading an interesting thread on that, and an even more interesting document on that, I stopped, and my mpg seems to be doing better. I have not read the mpg document link, intend upon doing so, but generally, I accelerate with the rest of the traffic, and try to brake gradually, and be patient with others who may think that they see an opportunity to dart around and cut back in on me.

Yesterday, I saw a 05 Prius in Brentwood, accelerating hard, stopping hard, cutting back and forth, trying to weave their way through heavy traffic and get in front of everybody else, and I wondered what kind of mpg they were getting.

 

I have an '06 with Package #3. Our MPG is 41 and we live in Boston. It’s been fairly consistent at 41, we have just about 3000 miles and about 2000 of it is highway. On the highway we average 48mpg regardless of temperature, with the one freak avgas of 65 mpg from Framingham Mass to Cambridge on a freak 60-degree day in January about 1 week and 1000 miles after we purchased the car. On that same day the drive home (3 miles) I avg 89 MPG. Pulse and glide was working and I was happy to have the prius. I'm looking forward to spring and summer! I have come nowhere near those numbers since!

My typical drive in the city is from home to work (5 miles) and then from work to school (4 miles) and from school back home (6 miles). During this trip, I try my hardest to accelerate lightly, keeping in EV mode for as long as possible. It just seems that I can never get the battery down below 5 bars, and I've maxed out all bars twice (both in suburban Hartford, CT. roads) My gf uses the car for work every so often, and she's sees very similar numbers (I weight like 100 lbs more than her so that might make up for the slight mpg improvement =) )

I'm convinced that the MPG is suffering from

1) Sub 40-degree temps
2) Heat set at 72 for first 10-15 minutes of any trip (turned off after that)
3) Really urban driving conditions for 1/3 of the miles.

I'm seriously contemplating synthetic oil for the first oil change and the EV switch so that when we are in really urban areas, we can stay in EV mode as much as possible.


Putting this in to perspective, our other car is a 4 cyl AWD yet it only gets 17mpg in the city, and 26 on the highway. Typical tank is about 22 mpg. We'll take 41 mpg any day!

 

If you retype it, I would be interested in a copy!

I see your new to the forum... welcome!.... It sounds like you have had interest in the past either through other forums and are under a new name with this one?

At any rate.... good to have your comments and opinions... its sounds like you have opinions.... just not sure if they have been formulated from your own opinions or hours of research?

Who is the real Mr. tcrowson?

 

welcome Jurni!... this has been a very interesting thread so far in that it has attacted so many brand new people!
I too have two new 06 prius's.. I have gotten as high as 250 miles at an average of 50.4mpg... but as low as 39 when it was really cold here.... "really cold here means 27! with an added 30mpg wind".

I'm still working on what I feel is best for mpg, but all in all, it gets better and better.
I run my air pressures at 42psi for front and 41 for rear.

I have recently took a smidge of oil out "1/2 quart so that now it shows about 1/4" below the full mark. (I can't tell if my mpg improved with the oil thing.. maybe 1mpg or so... nothing dramatic though).

I also run the EV switch which helps a bit if used right.

I absolultely love my car and its only getting worse!
:wub:

Glad you guys are enjoying your cars too.... its quite the piece of machinery!

 

There are a couple of those floating around.

I've attached one I had on this machine. I think there's a powerpoint one with pretty colors on another machine. I'll scrounge for it later.

 

I'm about 200 miles into my third fill-up, the temps are climbing well above the freezing mark (didn't need a jacket yesterday), and I've been using a little less freeway on my daily commute.

Current MFD mileage 58.2
Which is within 2 tenths of calculated milesge.

 

that calculated mileage is a tricky one..... you have to get your tank "exactly" as full as it was on your last fill up to come out accurate......
I think the car is awesome enough at figureing it... I just go with that anymore.

It sounds like your doing a really good job on your mileage?


I'm going a post seperately with another thread so we can compare with others driving techniques.

 

I disagree. By what I've been reading here, I too thought that my calculated would be much farther off from MFD. But it's simple math, even with different amounts on a fill-up it should still work out in the end.

Take a look at my spreadsheet that I'll be using to track costs.
(Hope this attachment works.)
The yellow line is calculated MPG and the blue is each tank fill gallons. As you can see, they are all relatively close.

 

As Evan pointed out in another post..... manual is ok to do if you continue and assume the average over a period of time or several tanks to be your figure. Because if you do miss it on one tank not being as full as the other, you will make it up on the next or the next... it will finally all come out in the wash.

But for testing one time as a way to challenge the MFD, it may not be accurate unless you physically see the gas each time.

 

I'm averaging 46.24 after 8 tanks in my 06. I don't use the cruise control and very little heat. I love it!

 

Jurni, some comments on your posts;

1. the maxed out bars on the battery, and the low mpg and the cold are connected. The engine runs to warm itself and the catalytic converter, and charges the battery when the battery really doesn't need chargine, hence you sometimes get the maxed out bars. I think when warm weather comes, you will notice that you stop maxing out your battery so often.

2. When you ask for heat in the cabin, you are taking away heat in the system that could otherwise keep the engine warm. It will take away from your mpg a little. On mine, I try to refrain from using the heat, until I am on the highway. However, when others are with me, I use the heat more, for their comfort.

3. Instead of acclerating lightly, I find mine does well when I accelerate with traffic, which is more agressive than accelerating lightly. However, when it comes to braking, I try to do as little as that as possible, and be safe. Know that I still try to make a point of stopping for stop signs, unlike some other non-prius drivers around here.

Not specifically directed at Jurni, but another general obersvation, my Prius has alot of automatic stuff. Automatic climate control, automatic headlights -- all this automatic stuff, when left on, seems to eat at the mpg too. So I prefer to turn it off when not needed.

Currently, I am trying to learn the feel of the energy screen. I have read that you save gas when you can drive without any arrows on the energy screen. The article made the point that you loose energy when you convert, as in convert knetic to electric, and back again.

Jurni, my mpg average is higher than yours. However, if I were to live and drive where you are, I would imagine that mine would be the same as yours.