New owner? Want MPG help? Read this first.

In that situation the Prius will do you proud returning some great MPG figures.

John (Britprius)

 

i cant seem to access the post

 

A lot of links were broken when the site was updated.

I think this is what you are looking for.

Good luck to you.

 

Any chance this could be reposted?

 

I reposted the article for another member. Look at post # 224 here in this string. Good luck to you and welcome to Prius Chat.

 

Hi All,

I finally input my mileage data for my 2008 Gen II base model:

185,378 km total driven, 10700 L gasoline consumed = 5.77 L/100 km (41 mi/US gal, 49 mi/Imp gallon) overall average.

Best 3 tank average that I can trust was 4.6 L/100 km. The bladder tank makes precise refills impossible. I was able to get under 4 for several hundred km on a hilly country road by pulse/glide, but that was just for fun.

That's been mostly on a Toronto- Burlington Ontario commute which is 2/3 running at 115 km/hr with cruise control on, and the other 1/3 in stop and go traffic. No monkeying about with pulse and glide- aside from anticipating my stops a bit more than I used to, I drive it like any other car.

Factory tires, then new Bridgestone Ecopias at about 134,000 km. After the 1st winter I bought winter tires which are on from November through about the end of March- they go on when temperatures are consistently below 7 C all day every day, and come back off when temperatures peak above 7 C for any two days.

I used to block the grilles, but didn't last winter and didn't notice much change in fuel economy.

The car has cost us tires, oil changes and one fuel/air ratio sensor. It has worked like a top, stood up to abuse, and shows no decrease in fuel economy on average. It is still happy to pull four full-size bikes behind the car on a 2" hitch-mounted home-made rack. The hitch I patterned after one I saw here on this site. Those damned bikes are quite the parachute though- they suck fuel economy badly.

I'm planning to buy a Prius C in September for the commute, to conserve this one's last 100,000 or so reliable km as a family car. At the lower purchase price, I won't feel quite so bad burning up the C.

 

hey . so the link above is not opening. is there another place that i may be able to find this information? im just having some troubles with my first winter with my first prius

 

I think this what you are looking for.

 

This link is not working. Can you please post another link that might be working. Thank you

 

See pdf in post #229.

 

I'm new to PriusChat, and I recently bought a used 2008 Toyota Prius (Touring) with 55000 miles on it. I've been reading a lot of the forums for a while now. I have been using the car for a month. I seem to be getting an average of 43-44mpg. I get around 25mpg in the first 5 minutes, which I understand is typical.

I know mileage depends on driving style, speed, using air-conditioning, city or highway driving etc etc. Just to give you guys an idea, I typically drive in country and town roads. Moderate number of traffic lights; not too much traffic. Most town roads at <45mph, some country roads at 55mph. I live in North Carolina, so you can guess the weather is somewhat hot or moderately cold; I don't have to use the air conditioning or heating far too much. I drive about 30 miles a day, in the town or the countryside.

I haven't been able to crack that average 43-44 mpg ceiling, except when I went on a day-long Interstate highway trip to DC, when I hit an average 50-52 mpg (for the trip) before dropping down to 46-48 mpg in DC traffic. I learned how to "pulse and glide" and I do that whenever I can. I checked my tyres as well. I do not do jackrabbit starts and stops, and I drive steadily. No bike racks or open windows.

Is there anything wrong with the car or the way I am driving? I see other folks getting 50, 55, even 60-70mpg (on average!) and I'm wondering if I'm doing something wrong to get such average mileage when I drive in (what I assume) are ideal conditions without heavy city traffic or heavy highway driving?

 

1) You have a Touring model. The larger wheels do not allow you to attain the same mileage as a non Touring model.
2) You've only been driving it for one month. Be a little patient and keep learning. You will get better with time. Its a lot like playing an instrument, you can read the notes but, it takes a while to get fluent with it.

 

I checked when I bought the car, and its actually been a two months now. The best I still seem to get on one tank is an average of 43-44mpg. With all the "pulse and glide" I try. Bit worried my car might have a problem lol, or may not be up to usual Prius standards. Is there anything else I should do?

 

No, there's nothing wrong with your car. It is a touring model and that is likely the best you'll be able to achieve with that model and your driving style.

 

I have the UK Touring Model - called the T Spirit in the UK. Over the winter period, I have been getting between 51.2mpg to 54.4mpg so far. I know the mileage is different between the UK and the US, so that should equate to between 42.6mpg to 45.2mpg in the US. So, depending how you drive, you should realistically be getting no less than 40mpg realistically during the winter months.
Personally, I'd say your figures were really right on the money. Nothing to worry about - that's normal.

Please note that while I do NOT baby the car anymore while driving, I still skilfully hypermile where possible, without being a pain to other road users. What I mean is that I'm not crawling around slowly everywhere.

However, if you were having to contend with extreme snowy conditions, and temperatures below zero for days at a time, I can see that dropping much lower. The higher figures that you mention will definitely be in states with much higher temperatures - and are usually attainable during the summer months. Other conditions, also make a difference.
I think your Prius is just fine.

Cheer up; you might be getting 43mpg, but ordinary cars about this time of year (of the same vintage) could be getting as little as 15mpg to 20 mpg if they're lucky. Much less if they're TRUCKS.

 

Greetings people,
New owner from Greece here, I would like to share my thoughts on this lovely car after a couple of months of ownership.
It is a 2007 model with 124500kms on the clock (117000when bought) and her name is Carmen.

Although I ended up in her from diesel and lpg powered vehicles (no, it cannot beat those as far as fuel economy is concerned) I love the way it drives and the possibilities that gives the driver. For instance, it is difficult to find a place to park in my city so you might need to drive around the block in circles. In the prius that is done with minimal cost because of the electric motor. When stuck in traffic you don't need to worry about clutch failing or the need to stop the engine cause the traffic light takes ages to turn green or even the engine overheating and so on. Not that I use it in the city but even when going for a drive in the country I still need to return home so I might deal with it.

Economywise now, I managed to get 978kms from almost 41litres (filled until it can take no more) of fuel which means 4.17l/100kms or 56.41mpg(US) while trying to develop driving techniques for economy. I still had 2 little boxes on the fuel gauge so I reckon I could easily go over 1000kms (620 miles) with one tank.

When I first bought it, I had my mind on trying to maintain the batteries as much charged as possible. I later found out that this doesn't help with the economy plus the ECU of the car takes good care of the batteries by itself so no reason for me to do that too. Then I tried the cruise control with several speeds (93, 95, 97 ,105 kph) . Same deal 4.5-4.9 lt/100kms, ie not good enough.

But the last couple of fill ups I tend to keep the momentum of the car in respect to the instant consumption figure.

First I set the cruise control to the MINIMUM acceptable speed the car will try to keep (on uphills for example). That can be anything depending on the kind of road I travel for instance 85kph 90kph(53-56mph) anything. That is to make sure that the speed won't drop bellow that and other drivers won't be annoyed. Then I play with the accelerator in order to keep the instant consumption figure at a value of 4lt/100kms or 59mpg. The car will take advantage of a downhill and get up to any speed. Note that if the speed is getting too high I will let go of the accel and recharge the baterries.

Then I will use that momentum to climb the next hill with the accelerator steady and the car will drop its speed. Until now the instant reading is 4lt/100kms or 59mpg . Then the CC will take over, if it is a long climb and will need more fuel. When the uphill ends the car will accelerate again and so on.

I think that is the best way to drive her in my country of neverending ups and downhills and my latest results proove this.

Does anyone else drives the car like this?

 

Greetings Dimitri and welcome to PC.

Yup, I do. As you have found, it is a good technique for dealing with up and down country.

All the best.

 

Greetings again,
I think I did well with my Carmen. Here are the latest results.


Because unleaded fuel is a bit expensive here these days (1.5euro/lt or 6.46dollars/us gallon) I am thinking of LPG conversion with a huge 60+ lt tank. Spare tyre will have to go. Also the plastic cover above it, will be modified....
I estimate that lpg consumption will be less than 5.5lt for 100kms (it is 20% more of the petrol value) so I will have at least extra 1000kms with a cost less than half of the petrol price....

Food for thoughts....

 

New "used" owner here. I couldn't be happier. I've wanted a Prius since 2006 when I was renting them from Avis while travelling around the country for work. Actually got 63.3 mpg over a two week period during 2 week stay in Ft. Lauderdale back then.

Well, we got the deal we wanted 2 days ago and were able to pay cash for an '06 with 120,000 miles on it. The CarFax is spotless; it's been serviced faithfully every 5,000 miles at 2 different Toyota dealers here in southern California. Our "new" baby is "Seaside Pearl" (blue) with every accessory except leather seats and it's missing the floor mats. I see a WeatherTech purchase in our future (lol).

I know the online mpg gauges on cars are usually a little optimistic but it shows 45 mpg at 100 miles of our first tank. Considering I need to retrain myself to drive it a little more efficiently and it's been mostly 65-70 mph on freeways with the A/C on I'm fine with it. Should be looking at high 40s to low 50s very soon.

Anyway, I'm very happy to be here and a new part of this community. I look forward to reading all the tips and tricks from the long-term owners.