poor mileage in town, better on highway

[cslipman]

Supposedly, the Prius gets great mileage in city driving. Well, ours does lousy... we can never get more than about 38 mpg in city driving. We live in a typical California suburb. On the highway, we average about 48. Overall, we are a long way off from what we expected. Used to do somewhat better until we got new tires. Our OEM tires all self-destructed at only 18 K miles. But even with the old tires, the most we got in town was 42, and 51 on the highway.

Anyone have any idea why our experience is the reverse of what is claimed? We have a 2004 Prius, package 7.

[brandon]

lol - 38 MPG is "lousy" city mileage... I have a friend who wants to sell you a large pickup truck that gets 8 MPG on a good day.

Tire destruction at 18k miles is indeed an indicator of something amiss. What kind of driving do you normally do in-town? Short trips, long trips, 30-mph streets, freeways, lots of stop-and-go, jack-rabbit starts...?

[Tideland Prius]

something's not right. I'm at 29,000kms (~18,000 miles) and my treads are wearing down nicely. (one rotation so far, next rotation in Sept).

It'll also depend on the traffic in your area. I know if I drove in the downtown core where I live, I'll hurt the mileage since I can only go so far in EV mode before the engine has to recharge it. In the suburbs, you'll get better mileage since you'll probably be able to do 30-35mph and use regen to help charge the battery. 42-48mpg on the highway sounds like 70-85mph. Am I right?

[cwerdna]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(good dog @ May 31 2006, 09:18 PM) [snapback]263854[/snapback]</div>

Supposedly, the Prius gets great mileage in city driving. Well, ours does lousy... we can never get more than about 38 mpg in city driving. We live in a typical California suburb. On the highway, we average about 48. Overall, we are a long way off from what we expected. Used to do somewhat better until we got new tires. Our OEM tires all self-destructed at only 18 K miles. But even with the old tires, the most we got in town was 42, and 51 on the highway.

Anyone have any idea why our experience is the reverse of what is claimed? We have a 2004 Prius, package 7.
[/b]

My lifetime average is so far 45.8 mpg calculated and 46.5 mpg if I average what the trip computer says. This is a little better than I expected but I'm still working on improving it within reason (no overinflating tires to 40+ psi or driving 55 mph or trying to hypermile at 30-40 mph).

My commute is mostly highway at 67-75 mph.

Read http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/how_tested.shtml and http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/fe_test_schedules.shtml for how the EPA rating is derived.

Do you drive on the freweay at an average of 48 mph and a top speed of 60 mph? Did you know the EPA doesn't measure how much fuel is conumed by rather does it by this?
"A hose is connected to the tailpipe to collect the engine exhaust.

The amount of carbon in the exhaust is measured to calculate the amount of fuel used during the test.

This is more accurate than using a fuel gauge"

[Marlin]

And in the city, do you drive less than 30 mph for 30 minutes at a time? Or do you do more like what my wife does, and drive 5 minutes or less with lots of accelerations up to 45 mph? The EPA city test mostly stays under 30 mph and contains far more lengthy times between stops than you would typically get in real city conditions. It's more like suburban driving at really low speeds.

The first 5 minutes or so of driving, while the engine warms up, typically gets between 25 mpg and 35 mpg. If your city driving trips are typically trips to the grocery store, school, soccer field, and local shopping centers, then the length of your trips are probably not much longer than 5 minutes or so. In such cases, the 25-35 mpg of the engine warm up period is going to dominate your average milage.

[berylrb]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Marlin @ Jun 1 2006, 06:37 AM) [snapback]263952[/snapback]</div>

And in the city, do you drive less than 30 mph for 30 minutes at a time? Or do you do more like what my wife does, and drive 5 minutes or less with lots of accelerations up to 45 mph? ...

The first 5 minutes or so of driving, while the engine warms up, typically gets between 25 mpg and 35 mpg. If your city driving trips are typically trips to the grocery store, school, soccer field, and local shopping centers, then the length of your trips are probably not much longer than 5 minutes or so. In such cases, the 25-35 mpg of the engine warm up period is going to dominate your average milage.
[/b]

That's the truth, and life in this city! I'm getting ready to go to the bank then Safeway roundtrip about 4 miles, then the car will be parked the rest of the day, my wife will use the Muni and I'm working out of the house today, that will be our pattern through the summer.

I'm thinking about getting another Prius and only use it for trips over 15 minutes, LOL ... just kidding! But that Lexus Gs450h is pretty tempting ...

Hang in there 'good dog' some of the tips on this site have really helped, if nothing else my psyche, I don't feel like I suck as a prius driver anymore LOL. But with regard to lifetime average it will be hard to overcome two years of low mpg's. We changed tires at 23,000 and I rotated every oil change, well I asked the dealer too at least.

Oh yeah practical city tips in my newbie non-technical speak: overinflate tires I'm trying 42/40 for this tank, push up the hills use up the battery, recharge on the down slope and braking don't use "B", find routes with flats if possible to attempt the pulse & glide even if for only 1 mile, LOL, hey some practice is better than none!

I understand the concept of speed limits from the other threads, but this is a different world in the Bay Area if not CA in general, it truly is NOT SAFE to impede the flow of traffic, there are plenty of surface streets doing 55 mph . But I digress ...

b

[cslipman]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(good dog @ May 31 2006, 11:18 PM) [snapback]263854[/snapback]</div>

Supposedly, the Prius gets great mileage in city driving. Well, ours does lousy... we can never get more than about 38 mpg in city driving. We live in a typical California suburb. On the highway, we average about 48. Overall, we are a long way off from what we expected. Used to do somewhat better until we got new tires. Our OEM tires all self-destructed at only 18 K miles. But even with the old tires, the most we got in town was 42, and 51 on the highway.

Anyone have any idea why our experience is the reverse of what is claimed? We have a 2004 Prius, package 7.
[/b]

I drive about 50/50. Suburban city- short trips generally of 5-10 minutes. I am very conscious of NOT jack-rabbiting, and coasting where possible. I think I am doing just about everything right concerning smooth driving, gentle acceleration, and anticipating where I can coast. On highways, I try to keep it 60-65 because in CA most of the traffic is still flying by me at that speed.

The tires self-destructed at 18,000 miles, not because they were worn through, but because two of them got non-repairable flats within a few weeks of each other. My husband decided they were too flimsy, so we replaced them. We had rotated them, the car was in alignment, no especially rough roads....

[Sufferin' Prius Envy]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(good dog @ May 31 2006, 09:18 PM) [snapback]263854[/snapback]</div>

Supposedly, the Prius gets great mileage in city driving. Well, ours does lousy... we can never get more than about 38 mpg in city driving. We live in a typical California suburb. On the highway, we average about 48.[/b]

Your type of driving is exactly the reason Plug-in Hybrids will be very popular when they hit the market. Hopefully they will have a “no need to start gas engine this trip” button.

[koa]

We live on a 10 mile curving mountain loop road with my wife's work and daughter school close to the bottom of the hill. It was a 4 1/2 mile downhill drive until a landslide closed the front side. Now with the 5 1/2 mile commute with part of it uphill we are down to 37 mpg.

[berylrb]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Sufferin' Prius Envy @ Jun 1 2006, 12:59 PM) [snapback]264127[/snapback]</div>

Your type of driving is exactly the reason Plug-in Hybrids will be very popular when they hit the market. Hopefully they will have a “no need to start gas engine this trip” button.
[/b]

Sign me up!