Less than 30MPG city driving! Why?

Personally I think you need to just drive the thing like a normal car. Try as you will if you are a good driver not to race to red lights or stops and accelerate as you normally would in the camry. Warm up while driving and just enjoy the Prius.
Never use B. Not unless you go down a very long steep hill.
Brake long and easy or preferably don't brake.
*Keep your elbows in the car to reduce drag.
*No fox tail on the antenna
*Avoid driving through very deep water for extended periods
*if there is a strong head wind park the car and wait for the wind to subside.

(*these lines aren't serious)

 

I have to admit that I'm really skeptical when someone says they're averaging 30mpg or so in a Prius. I'm not questioning your word, but it makes me think something is not working right with the car.

One thing that cause this is if the ICE is running all the time. According to the owners manual, this can happen if the battery has been run completely down, or has been temporarily removed/disconnected at some time. The manual says to see your dealer if this occurs.

This is just one possibility. It's a good reason to find a Toyota dealer with a good service dept, and take your Prius there for regular maintenance, thus developing a relationship that will benefit you over time. Anything that's wrong now is under warranty. There is no reason for the dealer to fight you on warranty work , they will want to do it. They get paid by Toyota; it doesn't come out of their pocket.

I hope this helps. I just wouldn't accept your mpg, without pursuing it with your dealer. I think it would take some extreme conditions to get that low of mpg.

 

"city" driving can mean so many things....in highly congested traffic, the 30's is not that unusual.

suburban is where the mileage is... lights maybe once every ½ mile or more. speeds... 35-40 mph... there you will get good mileage but you still have to anticipate lights, traffic, etc....

if you dont drive with following distance of 150% of recommended, then your mileage will not be good because you are using the brakes too much too soon

 

Have you tried an alternate route at all?

 

You might take a peek at the GreenHybrid.com mileage database. You'll find there is a normal distribution of mileage and yours is in the the lower part but still within the range of expected values.

To get good Prius performance, we often have to lose a life-time of gas only, bad habits. It takes drivers different amounts of time but the rewards are at the pump.

GOOD LUCK!

Bob Wilson

 

Hi Rexleeusa,


From how your write your responses, I get the feeling that you seem to feel you need to sacrifice to get good mileage in the Prius. This is not the case. The Prius is different, but if you are being very gentle with the gas pedal while accellerating you are sacrificing to WASTE gas!

I have a problem here that other cars typically accellerate toooooo slowly to get good mileage in traffic many times. Its especially annoying when a hot-shoe Mazda 3 driver comes into a stop light hot, and zigs in front of me, when I am doing a max regen/max probability of getting green approach. Then the damn Mazda 3 is a bloody sluggard out of the light! Which means I have to run my engine for twice the time I would usually.

To get good mileage out of the Prius you need to accellerate moderatelly, which around here is just a little faster than the average of other cars in warm weather. In cold (below 10 F) weather, with less battery power its maybe a little slower than other cars.

One way around this is to accellerate very very slowly (45 mpg on the instantaneous display) until a 75 yard gap develops. Then pulse up to the tail of the slow car in front, and drop into a glide. This is most appropriate when there are no cars behind you, however.

Now all of this is dependant on your specific traffic patterns. Its just my guess why you might be getting poor mileage. The goal in traffic is to minimize engine run time, and to run the engine only at the optimum efficiency power level. Do not creep along with other cars if that requires the engine to run. Go slower in battery or glide (prefered), until a gap develops, then a burst of engine and glide to catch up. The Prius will glide from 40 to 20 mph in about 1/4 to 1/2 mile. Typically, traffic gets very slow, if not coming to a stop, and I have to apply brakes before I can complete a glide, even with a 100 to 200 yard gap at the start of the pulse.

As to what might be wrong with your car, check out the rear brakes. After driving in slow and go for at least 15 minutes, pull over and feel for heat at the rear brakes. The drums should be cool enough to touch (fronts disks too). Be careful doing this. If you have a stuck rear brake, the drum could easily be scalding hot.

The foot parking brake pedal can be tricky to operate. Make sure your foot is completely off the pedal on the release. If you are unsure, then reapply the brake, and re-release it. Its prudent to use this brake everyday. This keeps the cable lubricated, so it does not stick, and hold the brake partially on.

 

glad to hear your mileage is getting better and it should continue to improve for at least a little bit. i lurked on this forum for 4 or 5 months before i actually joined and it was another 3 months before i got my Prius, so i started out using most of the techniques i use now. but even then, i started out only averaging 46-48 mpg...

i can still remember the post i made the first time i averaged over 50 mpg....this was in the summer time. today, i well up if im under 55 mpg in summer...so as you see, we all end up in a different place than where we began.

 

It sounds like to me that the OP is accelerating in the 1350-1500 rpm range at low speeds, which I think is one of the worst possible things you can do.

If you use cruise control to accelerate to highway speeds, starting at 30 and clicking up 25 times to get to 55, you'll most likely be in and out of WOT (wide open throttle) which doesn't sound like a very good way to do it either. As John1701a says "just drive it", it sounds like you're trying too hard in the wrong way. Pick a pedal position where the engine sounds "good" (like its humming), and hold that until you get to the speed you want to be at.

 

Don't dawdle getting up to speed... If the speed limit is 40 and no stops for a quarter mile push the accelerator about 1/3 of the way down until you get to 35, ease up then. I don't baby the accelerator and I'm getting over 50 mpg with temps lows 20's and high's 40's, including the short weekend trips. I try to drive with the max efficiency while not pissing off other drivers, a fine line but not that hard to do. Give it a while, and your symbiosis with your Prius will develop and life will be good.

 

I'm going to have to concur w/the other replies. It really sounds like you're accelerating very slowly and THAT is this problem.

Did you not read my reply at http://priuschat.com/forums/fuel-economy/41658-less-than-30mpg-city-driving-why-3.html#post546347? You want to minimize the amount of time the gas engine runs. Accelerating very slowly will either deplete the battery rapidly (also bad) or will keep the ICE running the whole time.

You mentioned earlier that you're not using the heater or A/C. So, are you sure you have the HVAC system set to Off (FAN not on at any speed) and not using Auto while the ICE is cold?