Disappointing fuel consumption

Where are you in Canada? For one thing, yes the brand new Prius does need a bit of break-in before things improve.

Do you mostly drive very short trips in cold temps? Search for fuel economy and read some of my entertaining posts. At -40, my MFD will average me at 8-10 litres per 100km. At +8 C, around 4.8 litres per 100km.

So hang in there. Even at it's worst, my Prius still got 7 times the fuel economy my 2000 GMC Sierra did under similar conditions.

 

Surprised. Just off the lot, my first tank averaged 50 mpg (too lazy to convert to liters, sorry) and the second tank is now looking like about 48 mpg. My Explorer (which I loved and hated to get rid of) would go around 16 on its best day.

I expect things to get a bit better as it gets broken in.

 

I've had my Driftwood Pearl Prius for about 1.5 weeks now...the first tank (delivered with full tank from the dealer) averaged about 42 mpg (360 miles with 8.6 gal). I'm just about done with my second tank and the computer average is 48 mpg. But I have a light foot (although I do go 64 mph on the interstate...not in too much of a hurry to get to work...). The weather here for the period has been between 10 to 30 F, and my driving is 30 mile trips on a mixture of interstate, city, and highway driving. I'm really happy. It took 16 gal to fill up my Bonneville for about the same distance (and I thought that was good), and this only takes little more than 8. I've cut my gas bill in half.......

 

Hi all -
I have had my Prius one week. My consumption of gas per the screen was 42.8 - it looked like I had 1/2 tank of gas left but I filled it up anyway. Paid $8.06 cents - gas was 2.10 regular so obviously I did not need to add gas for the weekly commute.

I think the mileage will improve but I do mainly bumper to bumper traffic to and from work - the Prius has not been on a freeway yet. Also this week was traffic from hell - on Friday it took me 40 minutes to get from one side of the Brickell drawbridge to my office - a mere matter of blocks. BTW - any suggestions as to what one should do when sitting in traffic for 30-40 minutes - I mean about the Prius battery, etc.

Right now the temperatures in Miami are fairly cool - 55-60 at night and 75 in the day so heat is not a factor yet.

Have re-set so I can see if my mileage improves.

But I am very happy overall and you all were right - I love my Prius.

ML

 

OK Canada I will make a wild guess that it is cold... unless you are in the Pacific Northwest then maybe you are in trouble. You have winter gas and that has less energy per litter add that to the engine keeping its self warm and you warm if you turned the thermostat up and you have all the reason you need. Also as pointed out you have a new car in need of a bit of braking in. Next winter will be better, much better.

 

Of course, the Acura MDX has a 20 US gallon/ 76 liter fuel tank, while the prius has a 10 US gallon/38 liter fuel tank and in fact when I refill at 1 bar on the gauge I never get in more than 8 gallons/30 liters. So, if you're running both vehicles down to empty, does this not mean that the Prius is using about half the number of liters per km as the Acura MDX?

 

I have had my Prius since the end of Sept. 2004 and have just gotten to 4800 miles on the odo. As you can deduce, I have a very short commute. I had not been able to get more than about 40mpg without serious side trips. Suddenly my count began to climb just after passing 4600 miles. The weather here has warmed a bit so that might also help but I am encouraged. Got high 41's without changing anything. Looking forward to my first oil change. Should happen in a week or two.

 

Boy, This tread makes me start to feel better about how much I might expect out of our Prii.
It was a nice day take the car out for a drive. The road was dry and free from any salt.
The odo was showing 626 when we left to go to my son's house (26 miles) and the mfd was showing 50.2. When we got home after dropping by daughters house, it was up to 50.8.
The temperature was in the low 40's (f) and the climate control was set on 70 auto.
Charlie

 

I hate to point out the obvious, but your wife's SUV probably has a gas tank at least twice as large as the Prius'. Comparing the two based on range alone is... well, sorta goofy.

 

ok.. When driving in traffic.. don't over accelerate. cruise to a stop when you see traffic stopping. this will get you really really high mpg when in traffic.

The car takes car of itself. just drive. this car works best when cruising in stop and go traffic. there is a "no arrows" trick when you barely touch the gas pedal. all arrrows will go away. this doesn't waist momentum on the artificial drag and doesn't waist good fuel or electricity. Consider it free long... scratch that... free short distanc. hehe.

On the consumption screen, you can track your MPG over the last 30 mins. I wouldn't reset your miles driven or your average on this screen. It's a good way to keep track of how much fuel is in the tank. It's pretty acurate.

The lowest i've ever seen the prius get when it comes to mpg is 25.. did it for about 10 to 15 mins.. this gets really old too.. accelerating as fast as you can.. waist as much fuel as you can. 25.... that's better than most cars. If you drive good... and after the car breaks in, you can achieve 60+ mpg.. some have achieved as high as 87... 87.. with over 10 gallons of fuel.. you do the math.

 

Well said...

The computer screens on consumption are learning tools, the "no arrows" condition lets you coast as far as possible...you have to learn to do so, get up to speed quick, coast as far as possible. Hitting the brakes is to be avoided.

My truck with seven miles on it when I bought it now has 110,000. Still has the orginal brakes. I coast.

 

Shouldn’t you metric folks be talking kilometerage?

Whatever you do, don’t go work for NASA on planetary probes. You too could crash billion dollar ($US) spacecraft! :lol:

 

Patrick:

The accepted Metric fuel economy rating is "litres per 100km."

This is actually quite useful as it tends to emphasize "less is better" not "more is better" with MPG.

The conversion factor from litres/100km to MPG (Imperial Gallon) is 282.48.

Eg: 3 litres per 100km = 94 MPG
4 litres per 100km = 70 MPG
5 litres per 100km = 56 MPG
6 litres per 100km = 47 MPG etc

Litres per 100km is far more intuitive since it keeps drilling in "less is better." When I come to a stop and it's warm enough for the ICE to shut down, the MFD claims I'm using 0 litres per 100km. That makes sense, right? The ICE is off so no fuel is being used.

It seems a bit weird when you come to a stop with an American market Prius and the MFD will claim 99 MPG.

 

Try Winnipeg where it was routinely -40 in Jan and most of Feb. My worst fuel economy, according to the MFD, was around 10 litres per 100km or 28.8 MPG. That was after the 2 huge blizzards with the snow routing in effect and traffic inching along. My 15 minute commute took 45-50 minutes.

I usually get around 8 liters per 100km (35 MPG) at -30 to -40 if I don't have to inch along but can maintain 50-60 km/h. Running Max Heat and the rear defrost kills the fuel economy too.

When it warmed up to +8 C, my MFD claimed 4.8 litres per 100km or 59 MPG.

I seriously doubt your fuel economy is as bad as an Acura MDX. When you check your fuel economy, what does the MFD claim? Even though the MFD should reset after each fillup, I still like to poke the Reset touch box when I get back into the car.

 

Real-world lifetime mileage metrics online...

http://www.w8kc.com/priusmileage.htm

enjoy... and look forward to some warm weather!