Driving tips for best gas mileage

[MechBob]

Just picked up my Prius on Saturday. Have driven 150+ miles. For the first 100, I averaged 40.8 mpg according to the screen. I'm only driving 4.5 miles each way to work plus some other around town driving. I had hoped to get into at least the upper 40's if not into the 50's in terms of mpg.

I try not accelerate too fast. If I accelerate any slower, I'd be honking the horn at myself for going too slow.

Any driving tips or comments to maximize mpg will be helpful. Otherwise, I'm thrilled with the car and the envy of everyone at work. They call it Bob's spaceship.

Thanks for any suggestions!

[ajturner]

Congrats! I actually just picked up mine on Monday as well (the dealer had 3 available on the lot!) and have driven the same. A couple of points that I've heard/learned:

1) It will take a little while for the car to "break-in", approx 2-3k miles
2) I've found getting up to speed at a reasonable acceleration, but then maintaining that, around 60-65 on the highway, gets me the best highway MPG (currently around 45-50). Also, no hard turning/swerving, as this increases your tire resistance and therefore lowers your mileage.
3) The limited city driving I've done (to/from the freeway) I'm getting 60-70mpg (sometimes the 5min interval histroy has shown 100mpg!) just by trying smooth accelerations.

I'm looking for more tips as well - and will post anything else I figure out along the way.

[Marlin]

The one thing that would improve your mpg the most would be to move another 15 miles further away from work, but that would be a bit self-defeating.

The Prius gets what we consider to be poor gas milage (but is actually quite good compared to other cars) for the first 5 to 10 minutes of driving when cold. The car actually purposely operates less effeciently in order to warm up the engine. Therefore if you are lucky and don't have a lot of stop signs and red lights for your first five minutes, you might get around 35 mph. For the second 5 minute block of my commute, where I'm cruising at 40 mph with no stops, I get near 50 mpg. After that I usually get 60 mpg or more.

It's the short trips that kill you mpg. It's a little disheartening, especially on the first 100 miles or so of a tank when the average fluctuates the most. I can get to work after 30 minutes of commuting with a mpg of 57 mpg or more, and then a couple of 1-2 mile trips during the work day will slam it back down to around 46 mpg. Then my commute home and back to work might get it back up to 54 mpg, only to drop down to 48 mpg the next day at lunch time. It will eventually level out at around 50 at the end of the tank.

So, for your short commute, 40 mpg is about all that you can expect. With careful driving and perhaps limiting or eliminating lunch trips, you might be able to get 45 mpg.

[efusco]

4.5 miles, on the right roads/speeds is adequate for mileage in the mid to upper 50s in the summer. My kids' daycare is only about 3.5 miles from my house and I can get in the 60s with this warm summer weather.

But I've got well over 25k miles of experience, a broken in car, and have a route that requires a maximum of 3-4 stops on a bad day and a maximum speed of 45mph.

YMMV.

As mentioned, don't baby the acceleration, there's no advantage and you're probably being less efficient by doing that. Briskly accelerate up to 30-40mph, then back off a bit until you reach cruise speed.

Anticipate stops and keep a longer following distance than you're probably comfortable with. Don't accelerate to a light. As soon as you know you can't make it through the green light take your foot off the pedal and maybe even add a little light braking. I often go into a 'glide' if I'm not sure if I'll make it or not, but that's Prius driving 401.

Just realize that if your foot is on the 'gas' you're costing yourself mpg. So any time it's reasonable to be off the gas get off of it. Also, if you can avoid coming to a complete stop and maintain a little momentum that's good too. IOW, if you see a line of cars stopped at a light 1/2 mile ahead start slowing down...you probably have a decent sense of the timing of the lights and traffic along your regular route...as you approach hopefully the light will change and the line of traffic will begin moving and you'll never need to completely stop...that's a bonus.

150 mile is nothing and you'll definately improve. Take a look at my lifetime numbers for some idea of what kind of improvement you can expect (click link in my signature).

Also, if you REALLY want the deep scoop on mpg read my knowledge base article....

[Marlin]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(efusco\";p=\"105384)</div>

4.5 miles, on the right roads/speeds is adequate for mileage in the mid to upper 50s in the summer.  My kids' daycare is only about 3.5 miles from my house and I can get in the 60s with this warm summer weather.[/b]

There's no way I'll ever get in the upper 50s for the first 3.5 miles of my commute. I live at the bottom of two long hills, so no matter which way I go, I've got to go uphil. I've got to go from a stop to 50 mph up a fairly steep incline for about the first minute of my commute. During this, I average about 8 mpg just to get up to and keep speed. Then I can cruise for about 15 seconds before I have to stop at a light. An 1/8 of a mile later is another light, followed by yet another light a 1/4 mile later.

It's a real drag on my mpg and the first 5 minutes will be around 25 mpg.

Now on my drive home, everything is flat at the beginning, so if I luck out and catch the two lights on green right at the beginning, then my first 5 minutes, if not using the air conditioner, might show as much as 50 mpg. Usually it's more like 35-40 mpg.

Once I get going, the MFD usually shows well over 50, but the first couple of minutes always drags my mpg down.

[efusco]

Yea Marlin, notice the "on the right roads/speeds" part of my post. Clearly there are a lot of variables. I'm lucky to live on a rural street. I can actually drive about the first mile at sub-35mph speeds and have one long downhill followed by a long uphill. I usually get about 2-2.5 miles when my first 5 minute bar pops up. In the summer I can usually get that bar in the 40-60mpg range (usually ~40 though). My second 5 minute bar, if it pops up before I shut down to ditch the kids, is usually around 70-75mpg with my mpg in the mid-50 to low 60s range. When traffic is light I can often keep my top speed at around 40mph which really maximizes things. If there are folks behind me I try to stay at the speed limit which means about 2.5 miles of 45mph driving. Belive it or not that makes about a 5mpg difference in my mileage for that short run. If I have to come to full stops for the 3 lights and drive 45mph I'm going to be in the low to mid-50s at best and in the winter usually in the high 40s.

[catsbox]

There are many hills near where I live, and I do have to make many short trips. I have learned to let the ICE warm up before I hit the road. Seems like idling uses less mpg than trying to warm up and drive at the same time. I have also discovered that when going up a hill, I do better if I accelerate hard for about half way up, then I let off the gas and "coast" or use the battery for the remainder. This really has saved me mpgs. This method allows me to make up the mpgs on the downhill stretches. I also use the cruise control on city streets where there are few lights. It seems that for me the cruise control feathers the gas better than I can. These are lessons learned after about 1500 miles. Good luck and enjoy!

[Marlin]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(efusco\";p=\"105394)</div>

When traffic is light I can often keep my top speed at around 40mph which really maximizes things.[/b]

I actually like it when there's heavy traffic on my route. About half of my commute has a speed limit of 45 mph with the rest at 35 or 40. When traffic is light, I feel compelled to go 45, because the road is never empty and there's always one or more cars behind me. (They would rather go 50-55, but they can just stuff it 'cause I'll do the speed limit and no more on that stretch)

However in heavy traffic, the cars on the road slow down to almost a perfect 40 mph. With a light touch I can use the electric to maintain speed and a good down hill where I have to brake the whole way charges the battery back up.

It's just the first few mintues of my commute each way and the two 1 mile trips I make at lunch that kill my mpg. (Well, that and anytime my wife drives the car)

[rflagg]

Also remember, patience is the key with this car. After 30,000 + miles on my prius, the mileage keeps getting better. Yes, there was a decent break in around 5k miles or so, but I seemed to have a significant break in around 28k or so as well. Patience, grasshopper - be open to learning, don't get too upset if your mileage goes way up and down on the first few hundred miles of the tank (imagine saying that for another car!), and also, don't be afraid to try different things. Since your drive to work is consistent, you can make small changes and see how they affect your mpg (accel. faster, for example, on one or two days). While 40 can seem low for this car, especially with some of us getting high 50s, there are a lot of variables, and I'm positive in time you'll be reaching the 50s mark.

-m.

[tstreet]

Does anyone know if the penalty from short trips for the Prius is greater than the penalty for other cars. Also, the average differential from EPA from the Prius seems to be greater than the differential for the Civic Hybrid. Thoughts?