How does Prius do in AZ Summer Short Commutes

[Happs]

I live in the metro Phoenix area and wanted to ask all you Phoenix area Prius owners how your car fares gas mileage wise in the hot summer months during short commutes. Even though I have a steady foot and try to time the traffic lights and decelerate as much as possible, I only get about 20mpg city with the a/c on in the summer around town doing lots of short trips in my 1992 Honda Accord. Going from Phoenix to San Diego though, I get 30mpg on the Phx-yuma part and 27mpg on the Yuma-San Diego part due to mountains with a/c and cruise control on. How does your Prius handle a 110 degree July day doing a lot of city driving? Any of you tested gas mileage going to LA or San Diego?

[jstack]

I get 50 mpg by the time I go 5 miles or more. Most of the time I get 60+ even with the Air cond on. After 10 miles I'm at about 55 but I use side astreets and not super kill ways. On the 101 or 202 I only get 50-55. I'm also the only one going the speed limit !

Last week I went to Wickenburg and got caught for 1 hour in that monster traffic mess. I still got 55 mpg going up, and ran it up to 60.7 coming back.

[chris_wass]

I'm a more *achem* "agressive" driver, and I've averaged about 44-46 mpg at the height of summer. Right now, I'm getting about 48 mpg over the tank with afternoon a/c use. I average close to 50 mpg with mixed highway/surface use in the non-a/c season.

[Picasso Moon]

Not that this will help you much but I get great mileage in the summer commuting from Chandler to Tempe for work. A 12 mile trip on the surface streets. Generally I will get over 60 mpg pretty consistently in the summer months and my MFD currently displays 68.4 mpg with over 375 miles on the tank. The catch is I never use the A/C other than turning it on for a few minutes once a month or so to keep things lubed up.

[AndyMartin826]

Wow, how do you not run the AC right now? I run a similar route to yours, coming from Gilbert into Tempe (10 miles straight shot down Elliot) and I tend to average around 52mpg running the AC. The trick that I use is that I don't run the AC until the car is warmed up, it absolutely kills my battery if the AC is running during that first mile or so and I'm spending the next couple of miles charging it back up.

If I'm running out to lunch, I will open the window and not run the AC. As always, the only other tip I can give is to drive easy on short trips so you don't run the battery down or overly tax the engine during it's warm-up phase.

[miscrms]

Similar experiences here. The worst I have seen in the summer w/ short trips and AC blasting on high was 35mpg. That was with my mother-in-law driving (no Prius experience), running to the grocery store 1 mile away and back. Opening windows to flush hot air out helps a lot in combination with using the auto AC mode set to a reasonable temp (I set around 80) so the AC will throttle down as quickly as possible. Making an extra effort to park in the shade also helps alot, as should tint & windshield covers (I have neither yet).

In winter (w/grill block), spring and fall I get ~52-55mpg if I commute on I-10 (downtown to airport 9 miles, reverse commute) and 60-65mpg if I take surface streets. In summer its more like 50-52 for either, as I find the AC impacts my city more than my highway numbers. Driving style has a lot to do with it though. The week my son was born (5/11) I was not focused on FE, plus had relatives driving and we were averaging ~45mpg. I don't use any real hypermiling techniques, just a basic knowledge of efficient modes to get the car in and timing lights, accelerating smoothly, gliding up to red lights etc.

We've done the Phoenix to Disneyland with the cruise on at 70-75 in rainy weather at 48mpg RT. Very nice not to have to stop for gas on the whole trip! Could have done better in better weather at lower speeds, but with a 2 y/o in the car 5 hrs. is already more than he can stand

I think you have the proper perspective, the point is not necessarily what is the absolute number, the point is relative performance against another vehicle under the same conditions. It seems pretty safe to say that you should be able to double your mileage under most circumstances, with maybe 50-75% improvement on long highway trips.

Rob

[doubleg2005]

oh to not live in a part of the country where there's 100% humidity!

i can handle heat, but the humidity is what makes it unbearable. having the A/C set on 80 still takes about 10+ minutes for the fan speed to drop.

[chris_wass]

Well, I made some effort to drive more conservatively since my last fill, and I'm now averaging 52MPG on the half tank I've driven so far, with the a/c in full use.

[pyccku]

Last summer my Prius was still quite new and got about 46-48mpg using the a/c and making trips of generally 10 miles or less.

This year, I'm getting around 55 mpg - I haven't used the a/c too much recently but I am guessing it will go down to around 50-52 with the a/c on short trips.

I will not use the a/c unless I really have to.

[ybnormal]

I go about 8 miles each way to work. I'm averaging about 46 mpg.