PriusChat Forums - Gen II Prius Fuel Economy

2006 prius only getting 35mpg

mullen28 — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 03:10:27 GMT

Hi Everyone. I'm new here and recently bought a 2006 Prius in September. The main reason I was attracted to the prius was because of the mileage it was able to get, yet I can only get 35 mpg. I've looked around on the forum here for some reasons or if other people have this issue but just wanted to ask why my mileage could be so low. I live and work in the city and use the car for work each day and weekend trips. The weather is not bad yet, as far as being cold. The tires aren't new and I don't accelerate like crazy. Can the city driving really be the reason?

Thanks

Want to remove rear seats.

thatonekid — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 03:14:05 GMT

Hard to tell where this falls under: modifications or fuel economy...little bit of both, but really about fuel economy.

I decided to trade in my Yukon and get a Prius. Now i've been trying to find out ways to increase my mpg.

Question: I just wanted to know if there was a way to remove the rear seats to save some weight?

I suppose the downside to removing the rear seats is if I have an unexpected 3rd friend wanting a ride, well, I'll have to ditch him. I guess instead of him saying bros before hoes, its gonna be something lame like bros before mpgs <- doesnt flow but u get the point.

Anyways, let me know.

Winter MPG in AK

Billinak — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 22:59:24 GMT

So it's officially winter in Anchorage, just below zero this morning with a high of 10 F. I keep my car outside at night with an EBH that turns on 4 hours before I leave, and pipe insulation in the grill. I have studded, 15-inch tires and a short 5 mile commute to work where the car sits outside all day before the same commute home. My last tank was a hair under 29 mpg. Is this what I should expect, given these conditions? I plan on running the 12V battery check later today, but I was wondering if anyone else had had this type of mpg in these conditions or if anyone had any tips (other than move to Arizona or build a garage)

10 mpg loss --->SOLVED!

problemchild — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 06:49:49 GMT

I was ready to trade this POS prius in after getting 35-38mpg for the last 6 mo's. I tried everything to diagnose it. I could not figure out why the heck my mpg went from 47 to 37. I changed the air cleaner, filled up the tires, bought new tires, drove like an old lady and nothing worked. In fact if I drove "normal" with AC on I got 34mpg.

I was at the end of my rope until Saturday. I was walking the dog and my wife stayed in the car listening to the radio in aux mode. When I got back she said the car turned off. I promptly pushed the start button and BAM a big red triangle. The car was dead. I got some one to jump the car and and it fired up.

I came home and started reading about batteries and settled on the elearn-aid kit that consists of an optima and install kit. I also read that a dead or dying battery can kill the mpg. After reading that I read that many people who installed a new battery got better mpg after the replacement. The seed was planted!

The battery arrived the next day and I went out to install it after I got home from work. Finishing up I cleared the mpg setting and jumped on the freeway. The day before I was averaging 37 on the freeway. I allowed the car to warm up and set my cruise control to 65 same as the day before. I watched the display start counting up 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48.4 wooohooo! I only made a short trip and expect the mpg would have kept climbing maybe even above 50.

Boy this battery must have been bad for some time. It sure cost me a lot of grief and $$$.

Just an FYI for those of you who have lost mpg. By the way my battery is less than 18 months old and I have 40k on the car of normal driving.

Additional battery pack, GenII

chuckknight — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 23:11:15 GMT

I've been reading a lot on this forum, and found that "in-between" a regular Gen2 Prius and a PHEV, a third option can exist.

Basically you install a second battery pack which gives you more storage capacity, at the expense of more weight.

Well, I went to eBay and found the GenII battery packs...and they're not particularly expensive. Remarkable!

Since I can't remember the name of this type of modification, I can't do a search...what's it called, and what does it gain its user? I believe one of the claims was increased fuel economy, and a longer EV range. Don't think it's a true PHEV, though.

(I live in a small town. Everything is either <3 miles, or >30 miles away, so a usable EV mode would actually serve me very well.)

Can anyone point me in the right direction? This type of mod would be right up my alley.

Chuck

Which Gas Station does not mix Ethanol

ggcc — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 05:13:52 GMT

I would like to know which gas station does not mix Ethanol.

Fuel Range

sk2275 — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:03:22 GMT

Hello Fellow Prius owners

I am new here so be kind:D

Most modern cars now days have a setting on the trip computer or on their MFD/Navigation systems to tell you the range of fuel you have left in the tank, i have tried to look for a similar function on my car but have failed to locate. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Also is it possible to program the car to auto lock as one sets off. I find it hard to believe a car as technically advanced as the prius doesn't have such safety features as standard.

I have successfully programmed a new key fob and de-activated the seat belt warning (drivers side, was not able to do the same for the passengers), with the knowledge found on this site.

Btw i have a Gen II (06) UK car.

Gen 2 Prius vs new 2010 Camry non-hybrid

DeadPhish — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 18:47:53 GMT

This is not specifically about the fuel economy on the Gen 2 Prius but I am using my Gen 2 as the standard.

Background: My 2005 is now in the shop for its 6th 'event'. This time a deer decided to expire in the middle of the lane which I normally take home every night. Since this area is very very rural there are no lights except moonlight. It was 10:30 PM and the corpse was suddenly right in my headlights at 60 mph. I was able to straddle it as I would any other road kill, except that the deer was much bigger and thicker.

Net result $4100 of underbody damage. So now I'm driving a new 2010 I4 Camry demo which had 2200 miles on it.

Before the Prius I had 4 Camry's from 1989 to 2005. All were very solid and durable with no issues at all. All of them went over 150,000 mi. For the route I drove I estimated that these vehicles would get 30-32 mpg on an annual basis. The higher number in better weather.

My route is 85% rural highway at ~60 mph and 15% suburban type driving.

In my 2005 Prius after 135,000 mi I'm averaging 47.4 mpg computed by hand ( tot miles driven / tot gallons pumped in ). This is why I went with the Prius after Katrina hit. I couldn't be happier.

The 2010 Camry has the newest iteration of Toyota's 'R' family of engines the 2.5L 1AR. I have also driven the current TCH for many many miles as well. The TCH uses the older 2.4L 2AZ engine linked with the HSD system.

This is the surprising ( to me ) results that I've found in the short time driving the new Camry ( ~1000 miles ).
Prius .............. 135,000 miles 47.4 mpg
2008-10 TCH ...... 2,500 miles 39.0 mpg
2010 Camry ........ 1,000 miles 36.0 mpg
older Camry's ... 400,000 miles 32.0 mpg

The non-hybrid Camry has an EPA highway rating of 32 mpg. It's not surprising that this is a conservative number. What I am surprised about is how consistently the non-hybrid Camry easily achieves Combined 36 mpg. At 60-ish mph on cruise the tank average indicator gains 0.1 mpg every 15 min or so of highway driving. Without the drag of city stop and go driving the all-highway rating might be approaching 40 mpg which is very very very close to what I've been able to achieve in the TCH!!!

This 1AR 2.5L engine is a masterpiece.

But this brings me to my main point. The Gen 2 TCH which will prolly be linked to this masterpiece in 18 mo's or so will nearly approach my Gen 2 Prius in fuel economy, IMHO. I wouldn't at all be surprised to see the next TCH achieving mid-to-high 40's in both City and Highway realworld driving.

Bad mileage, bad gas, car computer adjusted??

J_w73 — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 01:16:43 GMT

ok.. I've had my car for about a month and put almost 3000 miles on it.. (I know.. YUCK!!)
Anyway.. I have been averaging about 51-54 mpg through a tank according to the MFD. When I calculate by miles driven and how much gas I put in it seems to be around what the mfd says or alittle better..( I know this is inaccurate with the fuel bladder being in these cars).
Anyway, my last fill up at Shell I reset the mpg and did my drive to work. I noticed the mpg being low and it being difficult to achieve the higher mpg stretches. The weather was really really windy and rainy that day so I just attributed it to that.. Well I just got through the rest of the tank and it didn't get any better..I was about 42 mpg with 3 pips left and the gas mileage started to get better as it usually does with less fuel in the tank (lighter car / higher mpg??) Today I had 1 pip left so I decided to fill up. The final MFD mpg was 47.1... going 360 miles..(I normally get around 450 miles on a tank) When I computed it with the gas I put in (8.7 gallons- seams to be around the norm) it came out to 42 mpg.

Just drove my normal route home on the fresh tank (no Shell gas) and got a record 61.1 mpg on the MFD. Best before that was 54 mpg.

Questions and facts..
The Shell station sold E85 gas also.. I didn't use the E85 hose but is it possible they put E85 in the wrong tank either on purpose or mistake?

If so, will the computer adjust the performance of the engine based on the power/energy of the fuel..?

Would this explain my average mpg going from 42 -47 mpg in less than 100 miles or my 61.1 mpg on my ride home with the new tank?

I would say the outside temperature was a little colder than normal during that tank.. nothing extreme though.. around 55-65 instead of 65 - 80..
on the drive home it was around 79...

Help!

melissaK — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 04:13:27 GMT

I put about 8 gallons into my new 2008 Prius today (just got it three weeks ago), and I drove about 110 miles straight from fill-up, and my gas gauge is still on the F. It's just a bit nerve-wrecking to me, as in, I'm worried I broke the gauge. Is my mileage supposed to be high enough for it to stay on the F that long, or should I be contacting my dealer? I coasted on my electric motor a ton, but still, it's nerve-wrecking. I'm a 20 year old f that knows nothing about cars, and I'm still trying to understand how this all works. Please please help.