April 2005 MPG Averages<img alt="" src="chrome://easygestures/skin/xLink.png" style="border: 0px non

Re: April 2005 MPG Averages

Third day after driving TO work about 17 miles, display is 57.7 mpg, climate control set about 76 degrees always on, morning temperatures in 50's F and afternoon in 80's F

 

Re: April 2005 MPG Averages

After driving 17 miles TO work fourth day 58.9 mpg (P* power train not yet broken in).

 

Re: April 2005 MPG Averages

Second tank of gas this morning, temps in 50s in am and 80s in pm.
415 miles
8.537 gal
48.6 mpg by calculation

Chicken to let the fuel meter go below one bar, I've read too many posts about running out of gas!

 

Re: April 2005 MPG Averages

Thought I'd refuel just after an oil change and first tire rotation ($55 at Toyota dealer near me).

Tank Miles: 373.8
Total Miles: 6040
Tank MPG: 54.4
Lifetime MPG: 44.4
Avg Temp: 60s (but frequently above)
Price of Tank: $15.73
Price per Gal: $2.29

Techs meant well in inflating my tires to the 40/38 I requested, but I guess the tires weren't cool enough. I later measured them at 37.5/35.5 and adjusted the pressure when cold.

Tire rotation seems to have helped. I had a messy stain on one of the rear wheels and wondered how hard it would be to clean. It wasn't hard, but it *was* somewhat easier to reach once the rear tire became a front tire. My Nav screen is very clean now that I have tried a KlearScreen that I use on my computer and TV screens.

 

Re: April 2005 MPG Averages

Almost got my first 500 mile tank. Just filled early due to rain! Filled at
one bar point, not flashing.

Tank Miles: 495
Total Miles: 4534
Tank MPG: 54.4 calc 53.5 computer
Lifetime MPG: 42.3
Avg Temp: 35-40 deg F start of tank then 40-70 deg F end of tank.
Fill up 8 gal to click. 9.1 total

Mileage helped this tank by snow tires coming off. Hurt by 5 to 10 mile trips but a lot less now that it is warmer. Still see 20-30 mpg sometimes for first 5 to 10 minutes.


.

 

Re: April 2005 MPG Averages

A good tank for April!


463.3 miles
9.542 galls (stop after first click) at $2.089 per gallon
48.55 calculated
48.4 MFD

Avg temp is probably somewhere in the high 60's.

Hampered as usual by multiple daily trips that are less than 5 minutes in duration, but with longer trips after fill-up MFD says 53.1 after 50 miles or so.

 

Re: April 2005 MPG Averages

A good April tank. Actually a March/April tank; 32 days between refills.

Last pip blinked at 625
Tank miles: 654
Gallons to refill: 10.436
Avg. mileage (display): 60.9
Avg. mileage (calculated): 62.67
Total miles at fillup: 4792
Lifetime mileage (calculated): 48.58

The following photo shows the MFD shortly before refilling. I was a little too close for the camera's focal length.

Do the mileage bars seem to be sending a message to OPEC?

 

Yay McSmith!!

 

Re: April 2005 MPG Averages

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(mcsmith\";p=\"83841)</div>

Great tank! Now I have MPG envy!

 

Re: April 2005 MPG Averages

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(mcsmith\";p=\"83841)</div>

Mcsmith, do you drive mostly in the city with heavy, slow moving traffic? I live in the suburbs outside of Philly and there is no chance I'd ever get 654 miles on a tank of gas unless I was driving throughout Philly everyday, which is where I get my best gas mileage.

 

Re: April 2005 MPG Averages

My commute is about 14 miles in each direction. Historically, I've taken an interstate (I-280) route; 10 miles freeway/4 miles surface streets. Using this route, I'd been getting tanks in the 48-50 MPG range.

For this tank, I experimented with using an alternate route, replacing I-280 with El Camino Real. (For those not familiar with the area, El Camino is a six-lane state highway that's heavily populated with commercial development. Speed limits range between 35-40 MPH along the segment that I travel.) This new route takes about an extra 7 minutes, each way.

The lights are fairly well timed, but could be better (listening CalTrans?). I can sometimes go a couple of miles between red lights. Once the engine comes up to temperature, I can feather the car frequently and maintain a speed near the speed limit. Coasting goes a long way. It's not uncommon for me to average 75 MPG for the 15 minutes or so that I'm on El Camino Real.

It's also amusing to repeatedly see the same cars for miles at a time as they race down the road only to get to a red light, and wait while I catch up to them. Too bad there isn't a MPG display on the rear bumper for others to see.

 

Re: April 2005 MPG Averages

So I'm guessing that you don't experience many hills either, do you?

In my area near Philadelphia, I travel 5 minutes climbing a hill, which kills the MPG. Once I level off, there are more hills to climb.

I'm going to see if there are some back roads that I can travel that aren't as hilly.

 

Re: April 2005 MPG Averages

The net change in elevation is about +100 feet (work higher than home). The highway route has more changes in elevation (maybe up to 500 feet at the highest). The route taken on the last tank is almost perfectly flat, except for the last 1/4 mile (the office building is on a hill side).

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(mcsmith\";p=\"84036)</div>

That makes sense, based on your MPG results. Mostly flat roadways in heavy traffic seem to be the best. I'm fairly certain if I lived and worked in Philadelphia that I'd get similar results are you did.

I'm convinced that the suburbs is the worst for fuel conservation.

 

Re: April 2005 MPG Averages

Ummm, my wifes 04 average is currently about 53. Oddly enough after about 15,000 miles and a year of ownership we have averaged spot on 52-53 year round.

After about a month of ownership on my 05 I have averaged 53 just like my wife's car. We both have similar defensive, patient driving habits so I guess this is normal.

We live and drive in the humid southeast and a years driving of the car has resulted in the following max fuel economy habits:

thermostat settings:
summer 76
winter 68
long slow braking
accelarate and or coast on any downhill if possible and vice versa
dont roll down the windows at higher speeds
48 mph is the best speed and anything over 66 and the MPGs plummet.

some of these I suppose are blatantly obvious and others have to be used in moderation or you really start pissing off other drivers. But if you always go the speed limit or slightly slower and stay in the right lane on the interstate you hardly ever have to come off of cruise control!

 

Re: April 2005 MPG Averages

I purchased a new 2005 Prius the last week of March and I'm loving the fuel economy economy. I already made the mistake of running out of gas trying to get 500 miles on a tank fill only to have the bladder explained to me. Here are my results for that week;

Tank Miles: 477 miles
Tank Fill: 9.30 gals.
MPG: 51.3
Lifetime MPG: 49.4
Lifetime Miles: 813
Avg. Temp. 49.7 deg. F

This was for April 1st thru April 15th in Connecticut. I've got a nice 20 mile drive to work that allows the car to warmup. The only reason I don't get 50 mpg consistently is due to the short trips around home and on the weekend when the car doesn't have the time to warmup properly.

 

I let my husband take the car for a day. The MFD average went from 47 (short commute, still not too bad) down to 43.

I haven't been able to get it back to over 44 with my short trips every day, I was just managing to keep it at 47 before he took it.

 

Re: April 2005 MPG Averages

Tank Miles: 475
Total Miles: 16542
Tank MPG: 59.2
Lifetime MPG: 54.2
Avg Temp: 50's
Price of Tank: $19.03
Price per Gal: $2.39

When the warm weather returns for good, the coveted 60 mpg mark should be attainable!

 

Will the computer readout show lifetime driving average? Now have driven 2,600K. If so, how do I access this info? The MPG (litres per 100K) resets at each fill.