New owner question about break-in time

[amitandrima]

Hi All,

I just got my new 06 Prius (less than 5 days) after two years of patiently watching others drive this technological marvel on road and reading about it in this forum for about 2 years (had to finish grad school and land with a real job!). I could almost write a manual on this car at the time i purchased just by reading through the various posts on this forum.

I am currently at 39.9 (with 350 miles already 50-50 highway and city in hot Texas weather) and waiting for the display to read at least 40.0! Compared to my previous car i am super excited with 39.9 already but would really like to see the car go beyond that.

The question that i had and wasnt able to find an answer to is the break-in time. Is there a break-in time after which you start seeing an increase in the mpg? Should i be a little more patient or should i keep trying a little harder with all the tips i read on this forum?

Thanks is advance!

PS: I never had the chance to test drive the car or even sit in it before i ordered and got it. The strange thing about this car is that it looks small/compact from a distance but is rooooomy in the interior!!

[aaf709]

Several see an increase in mileage between 5,000 to 8,000 miles. That's partly due to the training of the driver.

[Jeannie]

I've had my Prius for 8 weeks, 1300 miles, 3 tanks of gas. Calculated MPGs on the three tanks were 43.1, 48.0, 49.something - same basic drives over the three tanks, mostly the short 5-mile commutes between home and work, no radical temperature swings over the 8 weeks, no change in tire pressure, etc. So there's been some improvement over this short time/mile range. I can't guarantee that there was an 'improvement' between the 2nd and 3rd tank, since I live in NJ where 'self serve' is illegal, so I can't say how 'full' each of the fill-ups has been - differnt gas stations and attendants each time.

I've also been told that most people notice an improvement around 5000 miles. I guess I'll be able to see if that's true for me in about four to six more months <g>

[ghostofjk]

Gyro,

Congrats on your Prius (you earned it!), and welcome to PC!

My wife and I are driving our 3rd and 4th Priuses. Aside from the manual's warnings about going easy on the brakes and not going too fast the first few hundred miles, no, I think there's no "break-in" period---after which you can expect abump in MPG for which the car is solely responsible.

With 350 miles, you're still on your first tank, right? Do you know how full the tank really was when the dealer turned it over to you? If not, you can practically throw out whatever the reading for the first tank is. Also, I've noticed that the MPG readout "struggles" to climb during the first tank, which is the only time it startes from "0" and works upward. I guarantee a better 2nd tank! And as aaf709 says, you and the car will break each other in---but I disagree that anything "kicks in" at 5K-8K mi. I think it's a continual process starting from Day One.

BUT: a lot of that depends on the luck of when during the calendar year you started owning your Prius. Has it been hot enough in TX that you've had to run the AC a lot? Under 40 MPG is a bit low for warm weather (when it runs most efficiently). Have you done a lot of short trips? (Under 20 min.) Tires still at dealer-inflation level? I wouldn't worry overly much about going hard-core with the MPG tricks until, oh, at least 3 tanks---except for minimizing short hops and driving downhill at least as much as you drive uphill.

Check back and let us know how it's going.

[wb9tyj]

i seen an increase in mpg at 5000 then another at 10000 and yet another at 15000...its a combination of driver and car...also get your tires up to 38-42psi and have fun...58.6mpg is my average over 44000 miles ...additionally, i put in mobil 1 synthetic motor oil after 5000miles and been running it since ...also, once you get the prius "feel"...you will want to drive at 38-42mph and run on nothin but battery and watch your mpg go to 99.9 plus...

[Jeannie]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(wb9tyj @ Jun 16 2006, 04:11 AM) [snapback]272102[/snapback]</div>

you will want to drive at 38-42mph and run on nothin but battery and watch your mpg go to 99.9 plus...
[/b]

I'm still very much a 'newbie' and rely on the CONSUMPTION screen rather than the ENERGY screen for my 'instant feedback' (I'm told you eventually get to the point that you can easily monitor the ENERGY screen so that you can 'master' pulse'n'glide).

BUT I've noticed my Prius really LIKES to drive at 38 MPH - it's much easier to maintain that speed than any other speed. (Lot's of local roads have a 35 MPH limit, and some have 25 MPH limit - I have a much harder time not drifting over and under those limits than the 38 MPH, whether I'm on hills and curves or on flat straightaways. I sometimes wonder if I were to drive a DIFFERENT Prius, would I find that Prius to have a preference for 38 MPH, or would that Prius like 41 or 36 better?

Notice that I didn't suggest that I let another drive drive MY Prius to see if he/she found a different 'preference' for my car! IT"S MY CAR AND YOU CAN"T HAVE IT!!!! (I DID let my best friend's husband drive it around the block once, and I let my son 'test drive' it the half-mile or so back from the Dunkin' Donuts, tho - I'm not COMPLETELY selfish <g>)

[ghostofjk]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Jeannie @ Jun 16 2006, 03:47 PM) [snapback]272446[/snapback]</div>

I'm still very much a 'newbie' and rely on the CONSUMPTION screen rather than the ENERGY screen for my 'instant feedback' (I'm told you eventually get to the point that you can easily monitor the ENERGY screen so that you can 'master' pulse'n'glide).

BUT I've noticed my Prius really LIKES to drive at 38 MPH - it's much easier to maintain that speed than any other speed. (Lot's of local roads have a 35 MPH limit, and some have 25 MPH limit - I have a much harder time not drifting over and under those limits than the 38 MPH, whether I'm on hills and curves or on flat straightaways. I sometimes wonder if I were to drive a DIFFERENT Prius, would I find that Prius to have a preference for 38 MPH, or would that Prius like 41 or 36 better?

Notice that I didn't suggest that I let another drive drive MY Prius to see if he/she found a different 'preference' for my car! IT"S MY CAR AND YOU CAN"T HAVE IT!!!! (I DID let my best friend's husband drive it around the block once, and I let my son 'test drive' it the half-mile or so back from the Dunkin' Donuts, tho - I'm not COMPLETELY selfish <g>)
[/b]

Dr. efusco has his Prius trained to go 39 MPH at almost all times, without benefit of cruise OR a foot on the pedal.

[ched1968]

My dealer suggest to drive 1,000 miles at 60-65mph.

[Subversive]

At about 3500 miles, my mileage is about 41-42 MPG, but that's largely because I put a lot of driving in on MassPike at 78 MPH, and it is a bit hilly. And slowing down to 65-70 really only gets me a few extra MPG at best, so it rarely seems worth it to me. When driving about 45 MPH or even slower, I get between 55 and 75 MPG, but I'm not about to do that on the freeway, especially not when I am already late to work (as I usually am). And that is easily half of my driving, plus I have a steep hill to go up and down each way on the slower part of my commute.

If you are getting worse mileage than this, my advice is to try using cruise control for awhile. This will correct the problem, if your pulse-and-glide has too much pulse and not enough glide. Glide means taking your foot all the way off the gas and leaving it off until the next pulse. If your foot is even just a teensy bit on the gas most of the time, then you are doing it wrong. And for multiple reasons, pulse-and-glide is often not as practical on the highway, anyhow.

[donee]

Hi Gyro,

39.9 mpg seems low to me, unless you have been doing allot of driving with the AC maxed out, or with the front window defroster on (lots of steamy rainy weather down there to fog up the windows?), or your daily commute is under 10 miles and 15 minutes. If not, then check your oil level and tire inflation. If the car is squirmy at high speeds, even without cross winds, others have reported alignment issues, apparently due to the shipping handling. These have been easily corrected at dealers and better mileage resulted. If alighment is good, and its still squirmy, tire pressure may be too high, but that is probably not the case with the lower mileage.

There were four things that got me up to the high 50's (been doing around 58 mpg for the last three tanks) after about 3000 miles. I am not at 4500 miles on a new 06 Prius.

The first thing was pulse and electric cruising on the 35 to 45 mph roads or traffic conditions. Apply 1/2 power and get up to just over the speed limit. Lift throttle until you get green regeneration arrows for at least a second. Then slowly inch up the peddle until the yellow arrows come on. Try to maintain speed without the engine coming back on. When it just wont work anymore, pulse again and drop back into electric. With practice the other cars wont even know you are doing this allot of the time, as you can pulse when traffic speeds up and electric cruise down in speed slowly with traffic. I have about 2 or 3 miles at the start and end of my commute, and invariably this is where the mileage gets better than the day before. This happens day after day, until a point of deminishing returns is reached.

The next thing was the spring warm up. The difference in the electric system usability between sub-freezing mornings and 70 degree weather is dramatic. And how much one can pulse and electric cruise is increased with temperature.

The third thing was cruise control at speeds above 50, in flowing traffic. I usually do between 60 and 65 in the slow lane in the morning, and eventually catch up with the traffic that raced ahead on my commute route. I try to drive the average the road and traffic provides, no faster. Where I drive, this its rarely going above 65 mph rarely pays off at the time of day I drive it. This may be different for you.

The forth thing was tire pressure set to 40/38 . You should be careful with this. Wait for the tires to be cold in the shade and on level ground. Check the local temperature, and set the tires so that they will not go over 44 psi (stock Prius Goodyear Integrity Tires) in the afternoon temps. With temp variation around here, I sometimes have to let a little pressure out. They say the variation is about 1 PSI per 10 degrees. It might be a little more than that. So, if I set my tires at 50 F, I have to let some air out when the temps are in the 80's, so that when it gets into the 90's I am still safe. Do not go setting the tires to 42/40 when its 60 F in the morning, and the afternoon temp is going to be 100 F. In that temp change set the tires down at 38/36, with the expectation that at 100 F, the pressure will be 4 psi higher than at 60 F. If you are going to be doing high speed driving, you might want to run the pressure a little lower even.


I try to accellerate uphill, to get the engine used at a heavier loading, which is more efficient. Then dead band (no arrows) or electric cruise down the backside of the hill.