Does anyone drive their Prius 'normal'?

[BrianNC]

Hey! Newbie here and just started looking at the Prius. I currently have a car that I probably average about 20 MPG, and I figured even if I only averaged 40 MPG with the Prius it effectively is like buying your gas for half price.

Most of the posts I read everyone seems to be into optimizing gas mileage by changing their driving habits. What I am looking for are those that drive their cars the same way they drove before they got the Prius. 70-80 MPH on the highway, driving 'normally' around town, not trying to optimize gas mileage.

So anyone here who drives their Prius 'normal'? The closest I have seen so far was a member from Michigan who drove round trip to FL and averaged 70 MPH and still got about 50 MPG. I am interested in what kind of gas mileage you are getting. Can I drive a Prius like I do my current car and still average say around 40 MPG? Any stats from anyone? Thanks!

[galaxee]

habitual speeder here. i did drive nice for a while, but switching cars with my husband for a few months brought out the serious leadfoot again. regular commute in town gets me upper 40s, i'm sure i could easily beat 50 if i actually let up on the gas pedal once in a while.

cross country trips get us 40-43 mpg depending on the season, we usually clock through the countryside at 75-80 (cough or higher cough).

there's a lot to what kind of mpg you get beyond what kind of driver you are though. maybe you could rent one for a day or 2 and test it on your regular drive?

[SgtTurtle]

I drive my Prius normal. I have always have had a heavy foot. Used to drive a Nissan Armada with a big V8. It was pretty quick. My wife has an Infiniti G35 that is downright fast. I live in Arizona where speeds on the highways can get up to 85mph or more. I don't hold back with my Prius.

Bottom line: my mpg averages to the low 40s. Usually right around 42 or 43. I have only had the car a few weeks so I expect with some more miles, it will loosen up and the mpg may get a little better. This is way better than what I got in my Armada which averaged between 13 and 14 mpg.

A lot of Prius owners make a game about trying to get the best mpg. Nothing wrong with that. It is hot rodding, just a different kind of hot rodding.

[sfl109415]

Originally Posted by BrianNC

Hey! Newbie here and just started looking at the Prius. I currently have a car that I probably average about 20 MPG, and I figured even if I only averaged 40 MPG with the Prius it effectively is like buying your gas for half price.

Most of the posts I read everyone seems to be into optimizing gas mileage by changing their driving habits. What I am looking for are those that drive their cars the same way they drove before they got the Prius. 70-80 MPH on the highway, driving 'normally' around town, not trying to optimize gas mileage.

So anyone here who drives their Prius 'normal'? The closest I have seen so far was a member from Michigan who drove round trip to FL and averaged 70 MPH and still got about 50 MPG. I am interested in what kind of gas mileage you are getting. Can I drive a Prius like I do my current car and still average say around 40 MPG? Any stats from anyone? Thanks!

If by driving normal, you still mean that you would be obeying all of the traffic laws then yes you should have no problem staying around 40mpg. I find that if I just drive it I am around 43 to 45 mpg in town in the winter here. However I can easily keep a tank around 50 mpg by playing the game with MFD. I look forward to even better numbers as the weather warms. But you shouldn't have any problems.

[hyo silver]

Normal? As in treating the throttle like an on/off switch, and making the tires beg for mercy? Nah.

[SpartanScott]

Originally Posted by BrianNC

So anyone here who drives their Prius 'normal'? The closest I have seen so far was a member from Michigan who drove round trip to FL and averaged 70 MPH and still got about 50 MPG. I am interested in what kind of gas mileage you are getting. Can I drive a Prius like I do my current car and still average say around 40 MPG? Any stats from anyone? Thanks!

Welcome to PriusChat! It depends on what your "normal" style of driving is? My normal was 80-90mph on the highway to keep up with michigan traffic. My 52mpg @ 70mph Florida trip did take some attention to keep the RPM below 2300 so I would not call it 'normal' blind driving. If I turn my displays off and ignore my PriusChat knowledge my mileage would be around 46MPG. This is what others achieve (when I let them drive my car) also. You should have no trouble beating 40MPG.
-Scott

[BrianNC]

Originally Posted by SpartanScott

Welcome to PriusChat! It depends on what your "normal" style of driving is? My normal was 80-90mph on the highway to keep up with michigan traffic. My 52mpg @ 70mph Florida trip did take some attention to keep the RPM below 2300 so I would not call it 'normal' blind driving. If I turn my displays off and ignore my PriusChat knowledge my mileage would be around 46MPG. This is what others achieve (when I let them drive my car) also. You should have no trouble beating 40MPG.
-Scott

Sounds good. As I said before, even at 40 MPG, it is like paying $1.70 a gallon instead of $3.40. So you can still get 52 MPG at an average speed of 70 MPH if you do certain things, huh? Not bad at all. I would be totally satisfied at an average of 40 MPG. That is unless the 'bug' hit after I got the car.

[Boo]

I think it's hard not to average at least 40 mpg.

I believe the 2008 EPA average of 46 mpg is fairly accurate for the "normal" driver.

If there's going to be a killer to your mpg it probably will not be be fast acceleration or high speeds, but lots of cold starts/short trips.

[Rangerdavid]

after you buy one, you'll try to beat the mileage you had the day before. Then you'll build on that, and even if you turn off the displays, eventually you'll have to turn 'em back on and see how you're doing. Hay, you could do worse than saving gas and polluting less.

Welcome to the addiction............

[edvalencia]

I have a 140 mile round trip commute and drive "normally"
My commute takes me from the high desert, over a small mountain range (elev. 4500') down to sea level.
It's a hurry up and wait type of commute. While on the 14 FWY, if I'm not doing at least 75, people will start tailgating me. Once I hit the 405 it's all about inching along in stop and go traffic. The same is true on my way home.
My current average is 48MPG. Although the Prius is supposed to get better mileage in traffic, I find the opposite to be true in my case. Maybe because the traffic lasts for so long, that the batteries don't get a chance to recharge without the use of the ICE.