Winter driving ...

I average about 45 MPG during the Michigan winter driving 80% freeway on I-96 to/from Lansing at or a bit above 70 MPH. I leave my grille open and run Michelin X-Ice2 15" tires.

 

Here in Alaska, I am getting about 43-45mpg in the winter. In December I got 39.4 average for a tank!

 

You can start here:

Why mileage gets worse in winter | PriusChat
Summer MPG vs. Winter MPG - Prius c version | PriusChat
Top 20 - MPG Record Holders | PriusChat

 

Many city traffic lights are turned off at night sometime around 10pm to 12am and don't get turned back on again until about 5am - if you plan your route so that all the traffic lights are blinking yellow (turned off) for your trip - you can drive at 25-30 mph through the entire city without stopping - and your MPG will shoot up like a rocket because you didn't have to stop... I did this last August for a 16.8 mile commute and achieved 85 mpg for that trip. For even better MPGs while driving in the city - grill block your Prius or heat up the coolant for 60 minutes with 400w Toyota engine block heater.

In Michigan , most people drive +70 mph on the super highway but if you can find a time when there aren't too many vehicles on the road and set your cruise control to 55 mph for extended trips (20 to 110 mile) where the road is dry - the Prius MPG will jump up to 60 mpg even in winter time .

hope this helps

Walter

 

Having endured the nationwide 55 MPH speed limit during the 1970s, I just can't bring myself to do that.

 

All day long yesterday, the outside driving temperature was from 18 to 21 degrees Fahrenheit. For my 16 mile /+60 minute commute to work my 2010 Pruis - I was able to mustered 55 mpg (-200 ft elevation drop) but on the commute back home (+200 ft elevation climb) I was only able to get 43 mpg. It was straight to work on my way in but on my way out midway along my commute back home - I did very short stop overs at three specialty grocery stores (searching for elusive recipe ingredients) and just short about 3 miles from home I got stuck in traffic jam (caused by somebody crashing their car at an intersection) which cause my commute trip back home's fuel efficiency to drop about more than 10 mpg ( about 35 mpg) because the traction battery SOC dropped under 50% twice and caused the activation of two ICE recharging traction battery sequences. Once I realized I was in a traffic jam I put the Prius throttle into PWR mode on and I use mini P&G to limit my battery usage - but alas it wasn't enough. When I finally got out of that mini rubber neck episode - I was able nursed my overall trip MPG back up to 43 mpg by the time I got home. Oh well. As parked my Prius and I was ready to turn it off I got this "Key Battery Low" message... gotta find a Lithium CR1632 ... Wintertime driving seems to be just made for that old saying by SNL's Roseanne Roseannadanna - if it's not one thing, it's another.

 

The first three miles of my commute involve stops at traffic lights and slow speed coasting opportunities. I've found that I can dress warmly enough to delay asking for heat until the engine's warmed up a bit. At 20° the engine will shut down for a 1/4 mile coast.
At first I accomplished that by selecting "Fan Off" but found window fogging to be an issue (wet hair from my morning shower). Now I set it to heat/defrost but with the temp set to LO. This allows me to use the fan to clear the windows but without commanding the engine to run when it's marginally warm.
As Fuelly is my witness, the last few weeks have been cruel to my fuel economy though.