After 6k miles on my 2011 Prius -- Observations

So service attitude has driven you away from Toyota? I would try to get that message through to "head office". It's not uncommon, I know, but just maybe someone up there will wake up when they hear "dealers are driving customers away"...

 

maybe you are talking about a different car

 

What brand of gas are you buying? I was getting 39-40ish when I first bought my car and I was buying gas at Costco, Sams Club, or Safeway. My dealer suggested top tier gas only (toptiergas dot com) and I started buying Shell gas. Immediately my gas mileage jumped up to 46-50 on average.

Honestly I can't say whether it's the better gas, or the fact the car got broken in, but I've been happy ever since.

 

I just had to reply. When I got my 2010 my 08 went to my husband. His milage was terrible initially. 39 to 40 after I was getting over 50. He was going to take it in for service. But once I pointed out his bad driving habits, accelerating to red lights, tailgating, not coasting.... he changed his ways for a tank. After increasing his MPG to over 50 he is a believer. And even though he occasionally reverts to his old ways, he is a believer.

 

I had one Toyota Sales Manager tell me to "F*$^ Off," after the salesperson added $500.00 to the price we had agreed upon. Fortunately the salesperson corrected the mistake, but I have never gone back to that dealer again (I won't mention the name, but it contains the letters R-U-L-E-S-S, not necessarily in that order.) Also, fortunately, they didn't drive me away from Toyota quality. I have gone to CarMax Laurel Toyota ever since, although... wait for it... I have never had to get a Toyota serviced, so I don't know how good their service department is.

I have owned 5 Toyotas in the last 10 years, and never had to spend more than gas, oil, tires and brakes on any of them. Some I have owned into the 140K plus range.

As to build quality, I have never had a problem, squeak, rattle, anything out of my 2010 IV. Mileage is in the 50-52 range with no special driving and only a slight pressure increase in the tires.

It can get a little loose on the highway with a cross wind, but the car weighs 3000# and isn't going anywhere. The steering is very responsive.

Sorry for the bad experience. Perhaps a v? I am waiting for that goomer. You can buy my used 2010 when I make the switch. No rattles.

 

OP should test drive a Honda Insight

 

Dealer quality depends on the individual dealer. IMHO, no midmarket cars have overall good dealers.

 

I would agree with you there. Having worked for 3 dealers at least from the 1970's- to the 1990's, one was very good, especially my shop, and one had the worst sales department and owner on the planet. The other was also good. They tried.

 

When did you buy the car, and when did you switch brands?

I live within bicycling distance of you, and have seen my average mpg rise 7 points since your join date just due to weather, without changing fuel brands.

 

After 2000 miles I am still liking mine. Took 2 400 mile trips and didn't experience any real bad issues with wind. One trip was real windy, maybe not SW type winds but a strong crosswind and it handled fine. I averaged 46 mpg on that trip driving 72 mph. The other trip was a 50 mpg at the same speeds with no wind.

Dash seems cheap and scratches easy if not cleaning but just wiping dust away. The rest of the interior is OK. I sometimes regret trading my truck in but this tank is avg 57 mpg so that makes it better. I'm still trying to get my avg up to 60 but don't do any hypermiling stuff. No rattles or squeaks yet.

 

How do you get 33-37 mpg in a Prius, unless you're driving it like you wish it was a Corvette? I drive the Prius "normal" (I don't baby it or drive like a grandmother), and I've never gotten worse than a calculated 47 mpg. My wife drives it most of the time, and she gets better mileage than I do when she drives. Now, we're almost always over 50 mpg (haven't been able to crack 51 mpg yet on a tank, but getting close).

And I definitely am someone who doesn't like to drive super slow... a few short years ago, my primary mode of transportation was a 450 hp Camaro that ran 11s in the quarter mile and got around 12 mpg. So I'm probably never going to be able to be a hypermiler.

I also don't get the complaints about the wind and rattles. I've felt the Prius is actually well planted for its size, and I haven't noticed any large amount of rattles. I think our 2005 CR-V had more rattles in it than this car does. Our 2011 Scion xB and the Prius have both been relatively quiet cars, and both get about the same or slightly better mileage than advertised. It almost sounds like you're driving a car from a different manufacturer.

 

Have an entire tank of short city drives <5 minutes long, letting the ICE cool down completely (for many hours) in between each drive, esp. w/lots of stop and go.

Very cold weather, underinflated tires, changing to larger and high rolling resistance tires, heater use (causing the ICE to run to provide cabin heat) in cold weather coupled w/hard accelerations, hard braking (to force it to go to friction braking), accelerating to red lights, aggressive driving and also trying to "baby it" too much by staying in EV all will help to contribute to poor mileage.

Excessive idling doesn't help either, esp. w/the heater on (e.g. turning on the car and waiting until the ICE shuts down before going). Leaving the car powered on overnight, will lead to a bad tank. Then, there's also the improper calculation of gas mileage (e.g. dividing total rated tank capacity by distance traveled). Yeah, I've seen people do it.

 

.... all that and you would still get 40 MPG in a 3rd gen Prius.

Ah hah, I know how someone could get down to 35 MPG in a Prius ...

towing a 1000 lb trailer.

:rockon:

 

I'm at a consistent 51-53 mpg with 3,000 miles. Highest has been 55 and lowest 49.5

 

Just took our 2011/4 on a road trip from East Tennessee, to Dallas, Austin, back to Dallas, Oklahoma City, Little Rock, AR, Memphis, TN and back to East Tennessee in 9 days.

On the stretch between Denton, TX and Oklahoma City I got over 53mpg (car said nearly 57mpg but we know how truthful that is ). One stretch dropped to 46mpg but that was with a head wind.

Side wind did buffet the car a little but not too badly. Had enough get up and go to pass trucks and other cars without a problem when needed.

It performed mostly like I thought it would. Not a sports car or even a really powerful car, but more than enough to get the job done and not drain the wallet of $$$ on the trip.

 

To me, this is all about expectations. I've had my 2010 about 9 months now, with about 4k miles on it. In hilly Seattle, driving almost exclusively short trips, I'm averaging around 44 mpg -- more in summer, less in winter. Though this is pathetic by this group's standards, I am happy with it -- I saw what happened to my mpg in my previous car when I moved here. On the plus side, I walk and bike much more than I did before I came here.

Regarding the OP's other complaints, I've driven through very high winds in eastern WA and not felt at all unsafe. Of course, my first car was a '73 Beetle (the definition of unstable) so again, expectations may differ.

However, the complaint about interior rattles is completely valid in my experience. They seem to be temperature-dependent. They're barely noticable now, but they were very annoying a few months ago.

 

I'll second this. I've been usually filling with Shell, Mobil, or Unocal and getting about 46ish in my new '11 (4200 miles). I just filled it with Costco gasoline yesterday and I'm only displaying about 42ish on the same roads and speeds I normally use. Maybe leftover winter blend? But the '11 definitely seems more sensitive to gasoline brands than my '04.

Bob.

 

Mine wouldn't. With all those impairments, it might not even get 30.

My Subaru would be in the single digits.

 

I agree with you- I think you bought the wrong car for your driving preferences.

 

It's not unkown unfortunately. My error difference is anywhere between 6.4% and 11.23% with a lifetime average of 8.318%.

My gas mileage isn't as bad as the OP, with a lifetime cal average of 45.95 mpg. It's be about 47 if it weren't for winter. <g>

My main problem gas mileage-wise is I get right on a highway out of the driveway, so my first few miles are killers mileage-wise, and it's a mixed driving commute...