gas mileage

I've had my 07 prius for 18 months now. I am disappointed by the mileages I get. I don't drive hard and keep the tires at the factory suggested pressure. I get 37mpg around town and 41mpg on a freeway (travelling 100 mile or so). I drive at steady 65-70 miles on flat highway. I have started to think something must be wrong with my car. Any ideas?

 

There is a list of things to check since these are additive:

• engine oil level below "F" (3/4ths full is a good target)
• tire pressure could be higher (see the max side all pressure on tires)
• wheel alignment (needs to be measured and we can discuss results)
• route planning
  • warm-up at 25 mph through neighborhood for first 1-2 miles
  • coast-down at 25-30 mph through neighborhood for last 2-3 miles
• speed management, 0-38 mph, 45-65 mph
• terrain driving by slacking off 1-2 mph ascending hills to keep engine from reving up
• big hill driving, climb at 55-60 mph, following the speed of large trucks
• avoid AC use, windows down are nice
• predictive braking, avoiding coming to a compete stop by slowing down early, before a light, so you have a chance of coasting through it

This is a short list and many others will no doubt add what I've missed.

GOOD LUCK!
Bob Wilson

 

...and block the grill.

 

I saw someone come close to our problem. If we take short trips, about 1 to 3 miles we almost always loose gas mileage. Last week we were getting 52 mpg and then came a couple of short trips and we were down to 49 or 50 mpg. Is there anyway to correct this?

 

No. Short trips are inherently bad for fuel economy in any car. It's just more obvious in a Prius. And at that, the Prius MPGs are suffering less than would those of any other car, so be happy.

 

To expand on this idea: when you start a car it uses gas, even in the Prius. Think of the limiting case for short trips, which is starting your car but not driving anywhere. If you start and stop the engine without driving, you use fuel without going anywhere, so your mileage is zero. As your trip length approaches zero, your mileage approaches zero.

Tom

 

I have about 2 pips left and am showing 50.5 mpg on my mfd and have gone about 390 miles. Does this sound right? I usually avg about 51mpg or so - sometimes 56ish - according to MFD and I am wondering how many miles to expect out of a tank? It seems to me like 400-450 or so - what do you think?

 

You should think about South Florida. A cold snap here is when the temperature gets down to 70!

 

That's about right. If you do any reading on this site, you will soon realize that the gas tank and gauge are wild cards. Don't put too much stock in how many miles you *should* be able to go on a tank. When the car tells you to get gas, do it.

The tank is specified at 11.9 U.S. gallons. That is gross capacity. With the bladder it is less. I usually figure around 10 gallons to be safe. At 50 mpg that gives 500 miles. I don't like to cut it too close, so your 400-450 mile figure is good. Keep in mind that short trips and cold weather will reduce your mileage, which in turn reduces range.

Tom

 

Hello Guys. I 'm in Ireland based , and have a new Prius 1 Year old 9500Km total . Now I have to tell you that I was expecting more from this car. All what I get driving around the city (Dublin), driving gently, gently is the best 7 l /100Km - I think 40.35, but this with heating - AC turned OFF. Some times I got even 8 l/100km. So where is the 5 l /100 km Toyota is saying in the Prius book??! At least I should been happy with 6l/100Km. So what should I do???! A disel car I think is better than Prius. I was expecting more from Toyota. And the service from Toyota is pretty bad. The didn't changed the oil with the one the book is saying. They put me 5w/30. They also scratched my car when my radio system was changed - wasn't working (the volume).

 

It may be a trip length problem.... you may have noticed on the mfd that your first 5 minutes are bad, the next 5 are only ok, then after that things are fine. If all your trips are 10 minutes, you'll get bad fuel consumption... even worse in cold weather. Note, though, that all this is true in other vehicles too.

Some deisels may get less than 5 l/100km, but that's usually just at highway speeds, and since their fuel has more energy per litre (and produces more CO2 per litre) they should do. I think they have worse cold weather problems, too.

You don't have to drive it gently to get good fuel consumption, by the way.

 

I own a 2008 Toyota Prius and I am getting really bad MPG, only getting about 23 -26 MPG. Toyota wont look at it if the engine check light is not on. I am so frustrated; i bought this car because i got a job that is a far commute for me. I had a 2007 Honda hybrid that got 40 mpg, i am really unhappy with the prius. I don’t know if i am doing anything wrong, I drive in the D mode not the B mode. can anyone help me. I do have one low tire but i can’t believe that can cause me to lose 10 mpg. I had the worst car deal of the century, i had a real bad episode with my minears disease the day i bought the car , in fact the first dealer i went to turned me away and said come back another day. i just drove to a further location and they were glad to take advantage of me. I was stumbling and fell twice in the showroom, was pulled over by the police after leaving the showroom about 4 blocks i had symptoms of being drunk, they did a breathalyzer on me and passed with no indication of alcohol or drugs in me. They took a blood test at the scene and still no indications of being intoxicated. they called me a cab and i had to leave my car and sister came later to pick it up. Magic Toyota charged me 10,000 more than i would have ever paid for a car. i didn’t even have a job at the time. Anyway, i was of course very upset about the rip off of a deal and tried to cancel the loan and give the car back but they would not. In fact when i went back to the dealer to get my second key made they had my car all day, about 5 hours. They had it in a garage at another location and kept saying they didn’t know where my car was. In frustration i got very angry and started to yell. They finally located my car, and low and behold my second key, only now the key doesn’t open up when you walk up to the car, you have to push the key. When before all i had to do was walk up to my car and the door would unlock without pushing the key button. After that visit my mpg went way down. They said they called the police because i was so mad and i can’t go back to that dealer. I think they deliberately sabatoshed my car to get bad mpg. I am stuck with a so called economy car at 475 a month for 5 years and it get about only 22-25 mpg. I don’t know what to do. How the heck does anybody get more than 25 mpg? Any ideas??

 

Ideas? Yes, if you had a working car and no job you should have kept the old car.

And yes, the low tire is killing the fuel economy. If it has a leak get it repaired or replaced before it kills you.

 

you definately have a future in fiction writing. then, you will be able to afford a new prius that gets better mileage!

 

On-scene blood test with on-scene lab results in Washington State? Something is fishy here.

At least the part about Magic Toyota having a hideous markup doesn't sound like fiction. When I was shopping, their deal was the worst, by far.

 

Chat rooms suck and so does toyota, thanks for all your condesending comments, you all were so much help. Gal

 

hey, don't go away mad.

 

My mileage went down since the warmer weather. I checked my air pressure and it was on the low side. In fact a couple tires has 28 psi. So, I pumped them up (I think I've over inflated low 40's psi). Also, the cold weather hurts my mileage some. The fact I have to use the heater now, and just the freezing cold temps in general I think that is why the mileage is down some. I was getting around 50-60 mpg when I first bought the car in late Sept. Now I'm getting high 30's to mid 40's mpg. I'd like to get more but based on the weather being so cold and the roads snowy I think that's still good. I'm getting an oil change tomorrow and I'll have them check my tire pressure

 

I've had my prius since Sep 07. I've been keeping a record of the mileage since day one. My avg for each year as follows:

2007 = 46.4 (low=37.9 high=52.5)
2008 = 45.1 (low=37.0 high=51.1)
2009 = 44.0 (low=33.9 high=52.1)
2010 = 44.6 (low=32.6 high=60.3)

Averaging out all mileage I'm sitting around 44.0.

As some of you know the wind blows in Oklahoma just about all the time. I don't do a whole lot of long trips with the exception of trips 2-3 times a year to Las Cruces which can be brutal with the wind and some of the rollings hills between OKC and Amarillo. Mostly short trips around town 3-20 miles. I've also noticed that even on flat or very slight it is difficult at times to keep the car in electric mode or even around the 50 mark which even the wife notices. I keep my tires at 40/38 using Perilli P4's. Gas is usually 10% ethanol.

I've read some of the threads on the 12v battery. Using the MFD I get between 12.0 and 12.3 without a load. With the load I get between 11.8 and 11.9. The dealer checked the battery today and here's what they show: CCA=272 Measured CCA=432 Volts 12.34 at 48 degrees.

So I guess the questions are: Would you consider 44.5 avg or ?? Would you replace the 12v battery even though the dealer says it's within norm? What else besides inflating the tires a bit more could I do?

 

Hey, most people have a good experience here, it kind of depends on how you introduce yourself and how you ask your question. If you want help on how to improve your mileage, copy and answer the questions from this thread, then we'll be glad to help you:
http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-...-answer-these-questions-esp-if-youre-new.html
Did you buy your 2008 Prius new or used? Less than 30 mpg is very difficult to do, so there's likely something obvious in your answers to the above questionnaire.

That is pretty low tire pressure. The general recommendation is between the pressures given on the placard on the door panel (35 front, 33 rear) and 40 front, 38 rear. Higher pressure gives a little harsher ride, but improves the tire life and fuel economy. Cold air is more dense and reduces the PSI, so you need to check the tire pressure when the temperatures change.

You're right the heater also cuts down the mileage quite a bit, especially on shorter drives. You may want to turn the heater off at stops so the engine gets a chance to turn off, then turn the heater back on when you're moving and the engine will likely be in use anyway.

I get low 50's in the summer and low 40's in the winter (average, each tank is +/- 5 mpg from that). My short commute really hurts the mileage in the winter, but it's still better than any other car. I have to go to the gas station every 3 weeks instead of every 4 weeks like summertime.