Arizona Prii Drivers

Sorry, Kalome and I had a side bar conversation going on about Michelin tires and their impact om mpg's earlier I'd never be able to get a tank like that in Arizona in August!

 

Hi all, I recently bought a 2012 Prius Three and I do not get the mileage everyone else here claims to get... on short trips to bring my kids to school I get 35 or below (like 28.7) I assume it is because of driving on the inclines/declines of mountainside community. Longer drives do raise the mileage but I was under the impression that "City" mileage is higher. Perhaps they should come out with a "Suburban" driving mileage rating - LOL

 

Short trips will not yield good MPG's. Even with my lofty 60+ lifetime mileage, my first 5 minutes is typically in the 25 - 35 mpg range. This is due to the fact that the Prius is trying to warm up the catalytic converter to peak operating temperatures, which means the engine is constantly running. Once you hit a coolant temp of 100F, the engine will shut off at stop signs, otherwise, it is running for the first 4 minutes or so, even if you are coasting.

The speculation for this is that the Prius was designed to be the lowest pollution emitting car on the road, the good gas mileage is a consequence of this design, because the less gas you burn, the less emissions you emit.

Your observations of low MPG for short trips is normal for this car (and every non electric car).

As far as EPA estimates, it is a gov't run, standardized test for mileage. It takes place in a lab, not on the road and is merely a gauge to compare "apples to apples" for cars. For what it's worth, I've never gotten the EPA rated 50 mpg either......I would be upset with mileage that low

 

Thanks all! Now I know "it's not me".....now if I can only get my wife (Mrs. Andretti) to stop using Sport Mode all the time when she drives I may see higher mpg's eventually!

 

One more related question if I may.... Is it typical for the battery charge level to decline overnight while garaged? I noticed recently that when I start the car and then back out of the garage the battery level is just below half... instead of driving off in EV mode I get a message the EV is not available... after driving 5 minutes the battery indicator rises above 50% and only then is EV mode avaialble. Is this normal? Thanks!

 

Two different questions/answers

1. Is it normal for the battery charge level to decline overnight? Yes/No

Occasionally, you might shut the car down with 6 bars and start it up later showing 5 bars, but this would likely be explained by the car needing time to figure out the state of charge (SOC) of the traction battery. If you are doing a lot of "EV" mode driving before coming home, this would help explain the problem. This has been discussed in other threads.

It is also possible that the car wasn't shut down properly and the car is still "ON". Make sure the car is powered off when leaving it parked. It is easy to make this mistake, especially if you leave the Key in the car, because the engine isn't running.

It could be the sign of a short or some other electrical issue. I can't explain further, my knowledge ends quickly here.

2. EV Mode unavailable - The car has many stages (S1, S2, S3, and S4) and the EV Mode is unavailable in S1 (which progresses to S2 at engine coolant temperature of 100F). If you have EV mode, you can't accerlate too quickly or go too fast or else you are booted out.

In the end, EV Mode is borderline useless and possibly evil. Most people will use EV mode to move their already warmed up car from one spot in a parking lot to another spot OR to quietly sneak up on friends in said parking lot, like a SNL Land Shark. People mistakenly think that using EV mode will improve their overall MPG's, this isn't correct, due to efficiency losses converting gasoline to electricity to energy to move the car.

 

Thanks Codyroo! The more I learn the more I realize ...I think too much! Thanks for your reply. Of course if you are like me, learning and analyzing everything about the Prius is half the fun of owning one!

 

Do you leave the key in the car when you park it?

 

No...but my wife has headlight switch in on position all the time so perhaps the delayed turn off drains a bit of the power...also the garage gets fairly hot inside during the summers here in AZ... my previous car (Trailblazer 03) got 11.5mpg around town so...I am content with Prius mpg..just not as high as I had expected...

 

How severe is the drop in the traction battery? How many PIP's are showing on the battery icon when you pull into the garage and shut down? How many are on the battery icon when you start it up and you see it has decreased? Are you coming in at 6 PIPs (the battery has a total of 8, and 6 is the normal operating value) and it drops to 4 PIPs? 3 PIPs?

What are you getting, overall MPG's, with your Prius? You mentioned that it is ~30 mpg dropping the kids off at school. What are you seeing for the entire tank?

 

My garage gets very warm in the summer. Like "high 90's) warm and I have yet to notice a battery drop. I was gone on vacation for a week and the car was just the way I left it. If there was a difference in the battery charge it couldn't have been more than 1 bar because I'm sure I would have noticed anything more --- I was specifically looking to see if there was going to be a drainage issue after reading through some posts from others.


new iPad ?

 

thanks for your replies... after reading all the various posts about mileage, driving techniques etc. on PC I have come to realized that one - I still have a lot to learn and two - it's not the car, it's the driver...

I will try to keep track of the Prius' bars and avoid the local bars and let you know how I make out...

 

Hey AZ drivers, I am going to get a banner tint on my Prius and wondered what shade/darkness I should get. Any suggestions or comments. Thanks.

Read more: http://priuschat.com/threads/windshield-tint-issues-for-night-time-driving.113566/page-3#ixzz24rXa0sNt

 

Hey Kalome, I met the guy who does the tinting for my local dealer. He is going to do the banner (top edge of windshiled) in Limo black 6" or bottom of existing rearview mirror tint... he says in AZ it is a must have...I am also considering a very light but heat deflecting tint for entire windshield. TBD.

 

The driver has a TON of influence on the performance of the car. But there are other variables (weather, trip distances, etc) that are very hard to mitigate. Good luck!