After 6k miles on my 2011 Prius -- Observations

Welcome to PC!

If you do enough searches here you can find others with similar concerns about Prii. As you get accustomed to how it drives, you will get better mileage and as it breaks in, it will improve. Wait 6 or 7k miles.

Sorry to hear you have a bad dealership that won't address your concerns.

 

I'm really surprised by how low your MPG is. Could it be you live in a very mountainous area? I moved from a hilly area (elevation 500 ft) to a flat area, and my mileage increased by a few MPG (lifetime average over 21K miles is 45).

 

I'd say your mpg is a couple of std dev's below the mean.

You may have very bad facts as to terrain and traffic...

and/or you may benefit from a clinic on driving for mileage.

Air up your tires and conserve your momentum.

Good luck.

 

I have yet to get under 45mpg per tank and that was a trip traveling at 80 mpg. I think the mountains are definitely a factor in your mpg. I have yet to see a 7-10 mpg differences between the display and calculated mpg. Max has been ~3 mpg. I think if you live in the mountains, you will have the same problems with the tdi, mpg wise.

 

You either have an extremely short commute, extremely hilly terrain, lots of tightly grouped traffic signals, atrocious driving habits, and/or a combination thereof.

 

not sure how mountainous the southwest is, however, it is hot. But in the 30's? Maybe you should check how you drive...Prius are build to ease into speed, not chirp wheels off the line. Change your driving style and see 50 mpg. The engine is tiny so you have to be gentile and drive with a tomato under your foot for the good gas mileage. I drive my prius like i drove my truck, and im seeing 57 mpg in a quite hilly area.
As far as wind gusts, they do really shove the car around...it is quite frightening

 

If you show me a picture i might believe-it, otherwise not really.

 

i dont think the prius was built to be a fun car to drive lol

 

Agreed w/ksstathead and sipnfuel.

Here's what CR got in their mileage tests: Most fuel-efficient cars. Also, how are you computing your gas mileage to determine "expect the computer read out to be 7 to 10 miles above what you're really getting"? I know that some/all 3rd gens have a trip computer that's optimistic, but that sounds too high.

It sounds like your expectations were based upon EPA estimates. Please read http://priuschat.com/forums/other-c...uth-about-epa-city-highway-mpg-estimates.html for what goes into them.

Here's what Edmunds got in a comparo: Fuel Sipper Smackdown 2 - Edmunds.com. Unfortunately, the formatting of this page is totally jacked up now.

 

Different kind of fun. Seeing the mpg's mine gives me is tremendous fun for me.

First tank was 58mpg, perhaps more if the dealer hadn't filled it to the top.

I'm completely happy with mine.

 

Wow! 37 MPG?? I drive my 2011 Prius like I drove my truck, I don't hypermile, and I always use PWR mode, my lifetime average is 49.8 mpg.

I agree it gets blown around a lot and makes plenty of noises. I think once I install strut tower bars and Eibachs the car will be much more fun to drive.

Overall I am extremely pleased with the 2011 Prius. I am sorry you are having such bad experiences with yours.

 

One of the unfortunate and unforeseen results of the EPA estimates is that they have come to be what people expect to get, or worse yet, are guaranteed to get. And then taking it further, they think that how they drive has no effect: they can drive it hard and still get EPA. As the folks at cleanmpg have proven, its quite possible to get well above EPA if you pay attention to mpg - and if you push it too hard you can get well below EPA.

Basically, mpg depends so much on where and how you drive that comparisons are extremely difficult to make. The EPA tests are well defined but may not reflect your driving conditions or style. Even the relative EPA ranking of two vehicles may not hold true under certain conditions.

I laughed at the Edmunds test where they said:
"We obviously didn't follow the same testing procedures as the EPA, so this provides some evidence for our theory that these next-generation hybrids have been tuned specifically to thrive in the EPA test. The others, on the other hand, beat the EPA ratings."
It could also easily mean that they don't know how to drive hybrids for mpg. Learning the Prius has certainly been challenging for me, very different from getting good mpg in the Subaru it replaces or in my Insight-I (both of which were very different from each other).

 

Winter driving plus hills kept my tank average around 40mpg all winter. Constant hills are a killer for this car imo. The OP mentions living at 7k feet so my guess is that he's driving hills a LOT.

Summer has my averages in the mid to high 40's and I'm happy with that. When I travel to southern new england where it is much flatter I get into the 50's.

My onboard MPG computer is a consistant 3-5% optimistic (2-3 mpg)

As for the rest of the OP's complaints... well... I guess he bought the wrong car. {shrug}

 

What mpg did your last car get? Your Prius mpg is probably twice what you got before.

 

Paragraph 1-Agree !00%
Paragraph 2-Agree, except I have no Blutooth
Paragraph 3-Nope, I'm 10 mpg higher and I drive aggressively, and the margin of error in my car is give or take 3mpg high.
Paragraph 4-Handling isn't THAT bad, not great but ok if you pay attention. After "also", I'm in complete agreement.
Paragraph 5-No dealer complaints, but I agree with the balance.
Paragraph 6-Would I buy it again, No, but I would never consider any VW, imho they are all junk and VW dealers are even worse than Toyota Dealers.
Paragraph 7-Nothing like that in my experience with my 2011. oh and I have 5k on mine.

 

Get your alignment checked. Sometimes, it can come from the dealer out of alignment.
Expect eco-plastics to not look or feel like "fine Corinthian leather".
Aggressive driving will lower your MPG, no matter what vehicle you are driving.
Garbage in = Garbage out.

 

Well, my wife's been driving our daughter and her kids around off-and-on this week, and the dash display of mileage is currently sitting at 4.5 liters/100km. Assuming that the usual optimistic display, real mileage is likely more like 4.8. That translates to around to, well: 49 miles per US gallon. But our biggest "stone" these days is a beer while watching the Canucks.

Totally agree, see above. My calc'd mileage is averaging 7~8% lower than what the dash displays. They could do better with this, it's just bull not to.

 

I think its a question of expectations. The Prius is an economy car with a live rear axle, its got a lot of expensive options, but it is an economy car at heart. If you're even concerned about handling...you shouldn't have bought it. Did you test drive it first?!?

Its perfectly safe to drive on the highway. Does it feel solid and planted in crosswinds? No. Not dangerous though.

As for mileage, if you are getting 33-37 MPG you either drive hard, have a short commute, or you're lying. We were getting high 30s in our '04 when my wife had a 2 mile commute. Now that her commute is 15 miles, averages are back to 47-50MPG and that is with no hypermiling or attention paid to driving carefully at all. We can take it on a highway trip at 80MPH and get 50MPG. And thats a Gen II...the Gen III has better mileage.

To the above poster, 7-8% lower and "7-10 miles lower" are pretty different things. If you readout shows 50MPG, 7% is 3.5MPG.

As much as I really don't care for the car...the mileage is impossible to deny.

 

Yes, our mileage is off, but not by 7-10/33-77. Still, 7.5% error, consistantly in favour of the "house", is too much.