37mpg City?

But you're in Cali

I have the same problem, city traffic is a killer. As soon as you hit 18mph the ICE kicks in, you get up to speed and ready to go electric again and then the light turns red. The more stops you make the worse off you are, no matter what you're driving.

 

I spent a couple of hours doing a "clinic" with someone who's
been getting about 28 mpg around town since getting the car
a month or two ago -- an '07 or something, absolutely nothing
wrong with it, just needs a bit of better right-foot technique.
Slow traffic can either be ideal P&G territory yielding 70+ mpg
segments, or it can be total killer if the engine is allowed
to keep running and "loaf" block after block. In that setting,
it's *all* in the foot. Try to pulse as briskly as traffic
safely allows -- you should hear that deeper rumbling that
indicates that the engine is properly loaded -- and back *all*
the way off to allow shutdown before reapplying just a little
for the glide. The full backoff doesn't have to be long -- just
a half-second or so, and then pushing back into no-arrows glide
or even to when the "battery --> wheels" path just comes back
on will carry you quite a ways. There are probably better
explanations of P&G in prior articles, and some of the stuff
over at cleanmpg.
.
_H*

 

Sounds about right for typical traffic light to traffic light city driving.

Your previous car probably got half that mileage. I would be happy!

Hobbits suggestions can help, but aren't always easy to do in city traffic without pissing people off.

 

Yep. To the OP, what did your previous car get in city driving?

FWIW, Consumer Reports got 35 city in their testing (see ConsumerReports.org - Most fuel-efficient cars). The most efficient non-hybrid automatics listed there are the Yaris and Honda Fit on which they got 23 and 22 mpg respectively. The rest of the ones lower on the list in overall mileage were all manuals, all with 21-23 city mpg.

 

Thats about what i am averaging in city traffic (37 MPG) on my 08 Touring. I live in concord and just drive to the BART station 2.5 miles form home. I do have about 5-8 traffic lights in b/w. This is the 3rd prius i have owned and drive the car really slow and try glide as much as i can.

In almost 2 weeks and 180 Miles on the 08 P, i am averaging 41.4 MPG combined. I only hope this will get a little better coming summer.

 

Since My wife took over the Prius, she has been getting 38mpg. When I drove it for a 16-mile metro commute (mixed), I was getting 45mpg. My wife uses Prius for busing kids for schools and shopping locally. The short trips kill the MPG. 38mpg is still pretty good considering that she was getting 16mpg from the Odyssey.

 

Try to gain some momentum before you get to the hill and gently and gradually let your speed drop as you climb it. You can do this by holding the accelerator steady or gently easing off. Try variations (when and how much you ease off) of this and pay attention to your iMPG on the energy screen. As hobbit stated city / stop-and-go traffic can be a MPG killer or an opportunity for great numbers.

 

It may seem like a paradox but you actually want to use the battery as little as possible. There are unavoidable inefficiencies (energy lost to heat) during energy conversions; charging and discharging a battery is especially poor.

If I may be so bold as to attempt to summarize the excellent advice of many experienced drivers:

The principles of good fuel economy are
- Accelerate briskly (this uses the engine in its most efficient range)
- Gliding (no arrows into or out of the battery on the "Energy" display) is better than coasting
- Coasting is better than braking
- Braking is better than coming to a complete stop.

Applying these principles is the trick :_> Ideally one would accelerate to some maximum speed and then glide and coast to a stop at the destination. Obviously this is usually impossible, even going from one stop light to the next.

It's also important to not put one's self or others in danger by staring at the displays, or go crazy trying to maximize fuel economy. Your Prius is probably using half or less of the fuel of your previous vehicle regardless, and life is short.

 

Also running lights. Running a yellow/pink light because you don't want to come to a complete stop is ridiculous. The extra MPG you achieve is negated by the $300 ticket and/or accident you cause.

 

I get low 50's without trying hard, 800 miles on car. Whether I take the stop and go freeway, or the red light every mile city street I get about the same. If I really work at it, and use EV mode a little bit at the right times, I get 57-62 mpg. But it is alot of work to do this.

For fun I threw all caution to the wind on the way into work today and paid no attention to what the screen was saying and drove the thing however I wanted, 52.3mpg on a 20 mile ride to work in stop and go city and freeway traffic.

 

Could you give start and stop street addresses, nothing to identify a specific home or work place? We can use Google Map to figure look at your commuting route and see if there might be some better approaches.

Bob Wilson

 

Too bad we don't live near each other, otherwise I'd like to observe your driving and/or swap cars briefly observing each other.

FWIW, my lifetime avg (from manual calculations) is ~46 mpg. I can achieve over 50 mpg on a tank only if I try really hard to keep it under 70 mph on the highway for an entire tank. I described my commute at http://priuschat.com/forums/fuel-economy/27537-brand-new-2007-prius-first-tank.html#post351205. Unfortunately, the California blend gas and lower temps here than in AZ likely hurts my mileage somewhat. I see that tomorrow's forecast temps for you are 84 F high, 53 F low. vs. 70 F high 47 F low.

 

How hard do you accelerate / decelerate? Apologies if you already mentioned this, but also: how long is your daily commute?

The former is important because the batteries can only supply so much energy when accelerating, and they can only absorb so much energy when braking. Any demands beyond those limits are met by gas consumption or heat/friction, respectively.

The latter is important because the (US-model, at least) Prius has to keep its emissions system warm; short trips end up requiring the gas engine be running all the time just to do that warming.

I feel your pain, btw; my usual 25mi-each-way commute in San Diego got me 50-51mpUSg at 65mph on freeways, but I only got in the high 30s when I did a lot of 5-mile trips over a big hill to the airport.

I hope you can find some alternatives that reduce your consumption and make you happier, but remember that even 30mpUSg is likely better than any comparable conventional car could provide on that trip.

Good luck!

 

Listen to Hobbit! He knows his shtuff. I've been using his techniques since I bought my Prius in November, 2007. With 5300 miles on her, my average is 50.2mpg to date (current average of 57.2mpg). My 15 mile commute consists of equal parts of city and interstate driving.

Interestingly, I encounter severely heavy construction traffic on a daily basis. That's where the EV switch comes in handily. However, one must use it judiciously, as your trac battery can run down quickly, causing the ICE to run furiously in order to charge it back up. I've gotten to the point to where I know that my battery will be exhausted just as I'm coming out of construction traffic, allowing me for heavy-tactic P&G'ing to get my battery back up to a normal state.

Warm weather is approaching - 60mpg, here I come!

 

Forcing the EV mode is a big mistake. It's not helping and it's probably hurting your mileage. Don't use it except for something like moving your car 35 feet in a parking lot.

Also, don't expect the engine to be completely warmed before 10 minutes. If you commute for only 20 minutes the first ten are aren't going to help your mileage.

Check your tire pressure. Try 42 front/40 psi back.

 

Why don't you try it and see? I agree with Fibb -- to force it to run in EV likely will hurt your mileage.

As for your assertion about flatlanders being the only ones to get great mileage ... wrong. I live in central VA. Some level terrain, but some moderate hills too. You can click the banners in my sig to see the results.

 

I am no where near the best or a real hypermiler as I don't do much of the extremes that many do, but if you are ever in the Cleveland, Akron, Youngstown area of Ohio, I'd be happy to show you how you can easily get 52 - 55 MPG on the highway even at average speed of 70 MPH.