New 2011 not getting expected MPG even with adjusted driving techniques

The short 3-5 mile trips during the week is most of the explanation for your averages. Avoiding warm-ups is spot-on advice.

I would give a lot to be able to leave my car at home and bike a couple miles to work.

 

I think my friend Sage nailed it. Those short trips will really drop your mpg. You are likely not even reaching operating temperature during those short trips. The car wastes fuel trying to warm up the catalytic converters in an effort to reduce emissions.

I don't see anything wrong with your car. To test the short trip is a problem ideas simple reset your mpg gauge just before taking one of your long weekend trips and see what you get. If the trip involves freeway driving and you keep your speed below 75mph I bet you hit 50mpg.

 

Yep, the short trips are killing your mileage and you should be able to confirm this via the MID. Try looking flipping between the 1 and 5 minutes history on those short trips.

http://priuschat.com/forums/other-c...uth-about-epa-city-highway-mpg-estimates.html might be insightful. Notice how long the city test is in time?

 

This is where MPG rather than GPM obscures the cost of short trips.

Lets say OP drives 3 mile trips to and from work 5 times a week, and 150 miles on weekends.

The weekend is 50 MPG;
The short trips 30 MPG.

Over the work week the short trips cost one gallon of fuel,
The weekend 3 gallons.

In total, 180 miles / 4 gallons = 45 MPG. Aggressive driving will drop this number further.

 

trade it in on a pip! perfect for short trips, perfect for long trips.:eyebrows:

 

I too live in So-Cal and with my average of 9 miles each way for my commute I'm only getting 44.6, as seen in my sig. The short trips with warm-up cycles kill mileage. If I do only work trips, I get low 40's.

 

As I've told F8L and others, those are the same numbers I get with driving patterns that are relatively similar to yours.

 

The Critic was also given very basic driven lessons for fuel economy. He also spends a lot of time reading this forum so he knows how to get good mileage but his commute and road conditions make great mpg difficult.

 

Just to point out one thing. The max PSI for your Yokohama Avid S33 is 44 PSI. The 40 PSI number you stated is for seating the beads (it says this on the tire). There is another spot on the tire that tells you the max PSI is 44. I run my Avids at 44 PSI and they have worn evenly with no issues. I've got 40,000 miles on them and still have 5/32 tread (about 20k more miles).

 

What viscosity is your Mobile 1?
The factory installed oil is 0W-20.

Ken@Japan

 

Relax and enjoy the car.
How did you do in your last car, was the mpg close to the epa numbers in that one?
I'm in Southern California also, probably should start a thread for mpg in our region. I'm not getting the epa numbers either, but it's still a lot better than any other car I've owned. Pump up the tires and drive it in eco mode, otherwise it is what it is.

 

i have a 7 mile each way commute and don't do too much other driving on a regular basis. i'm getting 54mpg calculated in 35-45 degree weather. but 3-4 mile commute would probably bring it down below 50mpg. it takes a mile just to warm her up!

 

I did a quick test this morning in San Diego, which should be about the same weather as Orange County, around 55-57 for my commute. The first mile gave me a displayed high 20s MPG, and at 3.0 miles (at the light to enter the highway, the mileage was 39 MPG.) As I was speeding up to merge with traffic, I dipped into the mid 30s again, but it was downhill, so it got back to 46 or so at the base of the hill, about 5 miles now. I didn't really note the rest of the trip, but as I got to my office, which is about 14.5 miles, I was back to my normal displayed 49 MPG. After 5 tanks, I consistently get low 49s on the computer, and mid 46s calculated, with about 450-460 miles per tank when the last bar is flashing. I do have my tires up to 42 front and rear. I don't hypermile, drive about average speed, 70 on the highway and always accelerate like with a normal car.

Mark

 

I've had mine for a couple of years and also drive small city commutes. I'm getting as others have stated, about 44 to 46 mpg calculated depending on how cold the mornings are. I don't sweat it anymore and accept roughly 45 mpg as really great compared to the old Caddy I traded in for it.
BTW, I found that "hypermiling" just gets other drivers PO'd so I don't bother anymore.

 

Sage and Codyroo are both on target.

 

What was the weight of the oil put in? Just so you know, I don't think it was at all necessary to change out your oil before the first recommended.

I don't know if Toyota does this, but, at a Honda new owner's clinic, they mentioned the factory puts a break-in solution in the oil with the new engines. If you drain out the oil early, well, there went the break in solution.

In regards to 'break-in' and possible jump in MPGs, in my opinion, that is a misnomer. I've rented different Prius' a dozen times. Some of them had 2 miles (brand new cars). With extended driving of renting, they all started hitting over 50 MPG right out of the gate.

My 2011 had about 6 miles on it before the first test drive. After 20 minutes or so of test drive, we arrived back and the gage was reading 51 MPG. I said, yep, that'll do.

I have many 3 to 4 mile trips lately, nothing long actually, and the MPG tonight is still about 50.3 MPG and I'm well into this tank, like 220 on the tripmeter.

Low 40's is just too low for your driving. something's up with that.

 

dupe

 

At time I originally posted data below, wasn't quite tuned into the fact actual is about 5% lower than indicated, so...

Two 3.6 mile trips with a 1 hr20 min sit in between in low 50F weather landed me down in the 43 to 44 MPG range (estimated actual from gage data), but I was pretty easy on it. Harsher driving / conditions could bring it down closer to 40 or OMG, under 40

http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...0-short-trips-how-much-will-affect-mpg-4.html

I'm gonna dig this slightly old thread to give more short trip data for two 3.6 mile trips. There is about 1,250 miles on ODO.

Started this morning with car sitting all night and 14.8 mi on tripmeter. Since tripmeter is so low, this gives snapshot of what happens to MPG gage on a short trip.

started 14.8 miles on tripmeter, 45.4 on mpg gage. Making the 3.6 mile trip in 54 F dry weather with lots of stoplights on suburb roads, the gage dipped into the 43.x range in first couple miles. As I neared destination, it climbed back to 44.3.

Lot of variation on MPG gage because the tripmeter miles still low.

Car sat for little over 1 hour. 57 deg. F return, gage went from 44.3 to 44.0 with gas engine warmup cycle. Pulled in garage with 46.1 on gage. Yeah, I was taking it fairly easy but no crazy hypermiling (not an expert), going with flow of traffic. Solo trip and no cargo or heater either.

Take off 5% unfortunately for gage error, but still in 43 range for 3.6 mile trip. I think Corolla would be only in high 20s under same conditions.

So, that's what Prius can do. YMMV