Something wrong with my Prius II - It takes more gas than it advertised.

I take my foot off the gas and feather back on. With the Hybrid System Indicator display, if you coast with foot off pedals, you will see a little indication of "charge". This causes friction and momentum loss from the car turning something to regen the battery. If you feather back on the gas so the indicator basically disappears, then you are gliding - aim for the line on the meter between "charge" and the next larger segment (basically the battery power area). Coming down a hill is where this really works for longer times - it really does feel like freewheeling along in neutral.

If you look at the display with the little car and power sources, you will see no arrows at all indicating no power is going to the wheels or battery and the engine is off.

 

Think of it in terms of consumption, and you will be happy.

At 17 MPG, you are consuming 58.8 gals/1000 miles.
at 47, it is 21.3 / 1000 miles....
at 50, it is 20.0/ 1000 miles.
My Bicycle: 0/1000 miles.

You save more gas between the 4-runner and prius *even with your mileage* then you will going to infinite MPG....

 

Not necessarily: you can glide AND have the engine idling, VERY annoying!! Nothing like no arrows AND 70 MPG. You will only see this at slow speeds, say < 20 MPH. Higher than that it displays the max it can (99.9) which is not necessarily 'no gas infinity'. It would be nice if there was an 'engine run' light.

 

I am no expert. An engine run light would be cool.

When I "glide" as I described, the instantaneous mpg meter is pegged - I have not considered when or if the engine is idling or not under this condition.

 

That is pretty good technique - it is fun, isn't it? If you haven't found this here yet, check it out. I learned a whole lot about the HSI and possible techniques from this write up - thanks to hobbit...

HSI

 

You know when I had "other" cars they rarely got close to the big 18 or 22mpgs that they were supposed to get either.
Thing is the Prius (and Prius Chat) gives you a better chance at improving your MPG and general driving skills. When I still had a non-hybrid I improved my mileage significantly with that vehicle by applying my hybrid driving techniques. I live in hilly terrain so I will never achieve 50+ but I do get mid-forties around town which is way better than the 14mpg I got in the Ford Sport Trac!

 

Let me get this straight. On a BRAND NEW auto (read: not broken in) you came within 1.2 mpg of your target, and you think something is wrong with your scoot?

Really?

- Brad

 

If you take the time to read many of the posts here on PC and at various hypermiling sites, you will find that in order to really know everything about your car instantaeously, you need a scangauge like device. Toyota did a great thing with the HSI screen but it isn't a substitution for a device that plugs into the onboard computer and shows all things at any given time. The vast majority of us are not going to go that far. But we can learn a lot from those who do about how to get close and make educated guesses about what happens when and then use our limited info in our cars and experience driving and reading what others do to get really great MPG. I'm up over 60 mpg and I am realizing that I am hitting the point of diminishing returns on what I can do with the info. I have. This is where I will be satisifed. My old truck was 18 mpg so I figure I'm doing great even if I was only at 47!

 

Whew. Thank goodness it's improved! For a minute there, I thought we were going to have to recommend servicing your car to replace the carbon-based bipedal input module.

 

Yes, there have been many discussions on this. What someone without experience THINKS is the strength of a hybrid, what they THINK will get them good mileage... is wrong. It certainly was for me.

So they try too hard: accelerate too slowly, try to use the battery a lot, figure braking is efficient, etc, etc, and they lower their mileage. Add to that the fact that mileage increases significantly during break-in, and then add unrealistic expectations and it's a recipe for disappointment.

And it doesn't help it when you consider 3% low at first try as "something wrong with my Prius".

I've had to disabuse myself of my misconceptions and I've ridden the break-in curve and am, at 2700 miles, getting 10% higher mileage in my daily commute than when I started. You'll probably experience the same thing.

 

I haven't read the replies posted but for what it is worth, Each one of my tanks (three so far) has yielded better mileage than the previous tank..from 48 to 53 right now.

I also drive more naturally now and don't pay so much attention to the indicators except when I see opportunities.

Also, since you live in California, be aware that there is ethanol in the gasoline which I hear decreases your mileage, and increases both the frequency of your gas purchases and the tax revenue for the state.

George.

 

Assuming you did not reset the trip display, how long have you driven at the 46 mpg mark?

If your 36 miles driving started at 100 mile point...

	miles	mpg	gallons
1	100	46.0	2.174
2	136	48.8	2.787

	miles	gallons	mpg
1	36	0.613	58.7

You were already seeing 58.7 mpg result during the 36 mile driving.

Ken@Japan

 

Keep in mind that the difference in gas cost to you for a 6 mpg difference is a lot different at the type mileage the Prius gets than it would have been for your 4runner.

Assuming 15,000 miles per year at 2.59 per gallon.

4runner 18 mpg 833 gallons

4runner 12 mpg 1250 gallons

Difference in 6 mpg 417 gallons $1080.00



Prius current 48 mpg 312 gallons

Prius hoped for 54 mpg 278 gallons

Difference in 6mpg 34 gallons $88.00


The $88.00 per year difference in the Prius stats would be equaled by your 4runner if instead of getting 18 mpg it got 17.6. I doubt you would have even noticed that small a difference.

It's a whole different ballgame. Just enjoy your car and know it is getting the best mileage of anything on the road.

 

My first tank (filled yesterday) got me 43.8 mpg - but I bought the car in the desert, and the first 190 miles had a huge headwind, and I was running ~80mph. It's been in ECO mode since the first mile. Next tank should change that