Our mileage is disappointing, wondering if it's normal

@amos, if you meant to say something in reply to PriusMPGenius, it didn't make it to the internet. All I see is a quote.

 

hi @jerrymildred , just noticed im at the gen3 and didnt know how to delete my post.

 

is there a way to cancel a post once you hit reply? i can't find it

 

No, you can't remove it, but you can edit it if you catch it in time. Lots of people just replace the entire contents with the word, "Deleted." A moderator can delete your post, but I hate to bother then with that stuff.

 

Isn't that why they get paid the big bucks?

 

Actually, I'm in favor of doubling their pay. It seems to be mostly @Tideland Prius these days, and he's been doing a great job. So, I'll use this opportunity to again say thanks for all his efforts here on PC.

 

He does seem to be lone wolfing it recently .

Wonder what it takes to get more in the ranks?

I’m sure he’d appreciate some support.

 

Who is the lead moderator? I’ll volunteer. I already moderate two other online forums.

 

Totally normal millage for the driving condition presented by the owner.

I wouldn't lose sleep over it buddy! Nothing will help the situation, not even the Red Bullet I'm afraid. You just don't use enough of the internal combustion engine to justified doing any performance upgrade to it for mpg.

I would vote for getting a trade in towards a Budget EV like the leaf or some other EV econo box if budget is concerned. It just for the kids. You might even save money within a year doing that. Imagine no oil change and no engine service including tax benifits will make it worth while I'm sure and no gas $.

Reminding you to do your maintenance for extream conditions like 6 months 5000miles or which ever comes 1st, otherwise you will have larger things to worry about instead of mpg down the road. If not the 6 month or 5000miles at least do a mid ground of 8 months with 7000miles.

I really hope you will go EV. I think you will be satisfied and happy that you did.

 

Such as? None of their described driving patterns fall into the category of extreme maintenance. What will be the larger things to worry about if they do the regular maintenance?

 

Thank you for bringing that up!
With low milage covered per cycle(engine heat cycle) or not having the engine up to operating temperature on a regular "daily" basis causes faster degradation of engine oil and lubricants due to moisture contamination. Lubrication properties for wear and protection is significantly degraded. This falls into the category for extream conditions of use in the manual. I was surprised when I read it too but for the owner of this post it totally applies. His is way too short.
This also means his HV battery is mostly under 50% of charge being he never has enough engine running to charge it up.
As demonstrated by many taxi driver. The HV battery of nickel metal need to be charged and cycle on a regular basis to stay healthy with good longevity. If i remember correctly NI-MH battery even needs to be stored in charged state.

Coming back to the engine wear and tear with low temperature cycle. The engine on his commute doesn't get hot enough to make optimal contact surface temperature between metal which produces more surface wear contaminant in the circulating oil. He will most possibly have more contaminants in his oil compared to ours in a real short time due to moisture and gas contamination too. Unburnt gas can end up in the oil from slipping through the rings in a cold environment during start up. The engine will never get the moisture and gas out of the oil with low running temps.
Hence the more frequent services.

Side story.
My previous commute was 180km a day on my VW GTI for 5 days a week. Mostly on highway. I changed my oil at 20,000 km or one year which ever came 1st.
My oil came out without a hint of moisture and the car has more then 100,000 km and climbing.
Extream condition and heavy load are of different nature in regards to wear and tear but a cold running engine with short low temperature cycles is really bad for the lubricants.

I hope this helps!