Did I get a lemon? Only getting 45 mpg at the best

I'm worried that I have a lemon. I'm only getting 45 at the best and now that it's a bit colder (I live in the South) it's worse--41 mpg.

Serious? I got 46.7 mpg on the first tank.
I am on my second tank and I am getting 50.1

How long is your commute?

Give it time!

Your ride won't even be broken in for maybe 12,000 miles & that's when it'll get higher. Also, check out the different threads describing ways to optimize your mpg's ... like higher tire pressures, and blocking the grill, etc. In the mean time you'll be practicing anticipatory driving techniques. That & the breakin period will make a bunch of difference. Be patient ... just because you see folks getting way above the EPA ratings ... it doesn't happen over night. Don't obsess over it (the way some do ... but not me of course ).

.

Read the stickies for new owners requiring help to see good MPG results

do you live in a hilly area?

I carry a lot of 'stuff' my average is nearer 42 MPG, about double my previous vehicle.

Patty,

45 is great mileage...Maybe not a hypermilers numbers but still very good, and no lemon.

I suspect driving conditions, colder temps..etc. Do you drive in ECO or other mode?

Hilly terrain, stoplights, etc???

Many factors cause impact in mileage but those numbers are good...by any standard.

I dropped to 42 with the recent cold spell and heavy snows....
it's only 15 Degree's Farenheit today

How long your commute is or your daily drives are will affect it as well as the terrain. And it takes a while to get used to driving it differently to get better mileage.

I got 50.3mpg according to the car on my 300 mile drive up to mom's and back where I stayed mostly on surface roads because the car was brand new. The first short part of that which was going across L.A. about 20 miles I got 58.x but there was some downhill when I was approaching the coastline.

Now just driving around town on errands in my neighborhood where I hit a lot of stop signs and have to drive up a hill to get home I'm barely making 43. I don't get the opportunity to do much pulse and glide on these short trips on smaller roads.

There is a good thread about the low mpg...
http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii-2010-prius-fuel-economy/66441-you-will-not-get-50-mpg-if.html

Ken@Japan

The biggest negative impacts on mileage are short commutes and cold weather. Either one could easily lower your fuel economy by 5-10 mpg.

What are your driving conditions? What's your typical travel route (distance / terrain / frequency of stops)?

I drive exclusively in San Francisco city, lots of short trips, and when I try hard I can only manage 38 MPG, When I don't try I get 35. I accept this as my previous two cars, an Acura MDX and a Volvo V50 got 12.7 and 16 MPG respectively in similar driving.

On my normal commute (between work and home), I only get about 45 also. It has to do with the conditions. I'm only 3 miles one way. 2 of those miles are on a 50mph expressway with signal lights. In the morning, I usually hit every other light. The last mile is only 40mph, so I can keep it on electric and raise my average. However, when I'm running errands, I can easily get 50mpg.

I also found that if I run the heater (now that it's cold), I only get about 41mpg because the engine doesn't want to turn off.

Your car will not run at it's most efficient until it has reach optimal opperating temperature. I noticed that when my commute shortened from 76miles to less than 13 miles my mileage dropped from 52 to about 46mpg and my car doesn't even reach operating temperature (approx 175-180deg) until right before I pull into work or home. Even during the 1,000ft. climb my car doesn't heat up till 3/4 of the way to work or worse (during summer months).

Beside answering all the questions about the length of the commute, type of drives, etc. (very important), what were you expecting and why? What did you drive before and what mileage did you get on the same commute?

I can see from Monthly Weather Forecast for Little Rock, AR - weather.com that the weather is quite cold, which hurts mileage on all cars.

If you're expecting EPA numbers, http://priuschat.com/forums/knowled...ussion/37214-why-don-t-i-get-epa-mileage.html should be informative as should http://priuschat.com/forums/other-c...uth-about-epa-city-highway-mpg-estimates.html.

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/...efficient-cars-206/index.htm?loginMethod=auto might help put things in perspective.

the "hobbit" has authored (with the help of other PriusChat members) the Tao of HSI, which i enjoyed reading. it puts all the "old school" terminology - warp stealth lingo into a simple and concise explanation on how to get the most out of your Prius.

http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii-2010-prius-technical-discussion/66411-hsi-details.html

HSI

As noted above the three situations that are certain to kill fuel economy in every ICE-powered vehicle are..

Stop and go driving. Try never to stop if possible, safe and legal.
Short trips. For those lucky enough to have these, buck up you could have a 150 mi RT every day.
Winter weather.

Each of these has a 'reducing coefficient' on the nominal fuel economy one should expect. For example winter weather usually reduces 'normal' fuel economy by about 10%. If normal fuel economy is 50 mpg then 45 mpg is very realistic. If the normal fuel economy is 30 mpg, 27mpg is realistic.

But each of these 'reducing coefficients' is additive. IOW if it's winter ( -10% ) and the trip is short ( -15% ) with several stop/starts ( -15% ) it's possible that the 'normal' fuel rating might be reduced as much as 40% down to the low 30 mpg range. It sounds pretty horrible and it is....for every ICE-powered vehicle on the road.

A 4c Camry that 'normally' should get 27 mpg on average will also be reduced as much as 40% down to 17-18 mpg. In driving an ICE-powered vehicle it's just very difficult to overcome the laws of nature and mechanics.

I have a 2007, package two, and my normal driving, about 50-100 per day doing field service, I average about 41-44, but this last week here in Portland, Or., it has been far below normal temps, all week, in the 16-30 range, and this last tank I got only 33.6. So, not a lemon, jus "what it is" with our technology vehicles.

I'm curious why your mileage is so low. Do you have a long commute or are those miles broken up by many starts and stop?

I ask because We've been experiencing mid/high 20s in the morning and 35-40s in the day plus snow/ice. I've been hammering on the car with my 17" ultra high performance tires (i.e. terrible for fuel economy) and the worst I've been able to pull out is 38mpg. This is comprised of short 13 mile commute going up and down 1,000ft. in elevation.

I'm just concerned something is wrong with your vehicle unless you just have a terrible commute and run low tire pressure.

I don't believe much in the notion that fuel economy gets substantially better as the engine breaks in over the first 10k miles or so. I have not found that to be the case.
My 2009 settled right into a little over 50 MPG's calculated on longer drives in early September. It went down to a little over 45 MPG's in coldest Winter months, and it has shown about the same fuel economy after about 9k miles total.


If poster is only getting 45 MPG's in a 2010 Prius, something is not right. My short calc'd MPG's after renting showed very high 50's MPG.
If I were to buy an all new Prius, which I'm not, I'd look for a dealer with a 250 mile / 3 day money back guarantee like Sunnyvale Toyota. If the 2010 Pri did not immediately get 50 MPG's calculated under favorable driving conditions, I'd return it.

I wouldn't jump to that conclusion. We know nothing about the OP's trip length, speeds, temps while driving nor driving habits.

Per Monthly Weather Forecast for Little Rock, AR - weather.com vs. Monthly Weather Forecast for Union City, CA - weather.com, on some days, her location has been much colder than yours. There have been a few days where the low temp has been below freezing there.

In CR's testing, they pegged the 2010 Prius at 32 city/55 highway, 44 overall. (Most fuel-efficient cars)