Mileage hit vs Prius is too severe

Yes, the (much less frequent) trip to the gas station has been a pleasure. In and out in half the time, and price tag of course being a lot lower. Didn't really consider that perk before the purchase. Nice bonus.

This weekend I took the family on a spur-of-the-moment trip to a South Shore beach in RI. Two adults, a 6 and 8-yo, plus another hundred pounds of beach gear, food, overnight bags, etc. The stuff in the rear didn't even come up high enough to block rear-visibility. We got a late start on Sat night, so we put the kids in pj's, set the rear-seats to recline, and put a light blanket over them. Their old seats in the van reclined as well, so this was yet another thing we didn't lose in the transition from Van to V.

Round trip mileage (according to the the dash): 45.5mpg. Which is probably more like 44, and blows the Sienna out of the water. And I get to drive a real car. What's not to love.

I originally wanted the original Prius and hubby wanted the Prius V. I have to say I love the Prius V there is a lot of room in the back seat and the center seat can easily fit another person without being too cramped.
Bought my V last November and my average mileage is 47 mpg. I live out in the country and go up and down hills and my average speed is below 50 on country roads. 47 mpg is not much less than the orgininal Prius so I am happy with it. Room in the back for our dog which is nice.

Its been said before, but just adding my voice. TCH is a great car, but totally different market. After a couple years of driving my Prius, we thought we'd get a Camry Hybrid for my wife when we had our second kid. Went to test drive one, put the car seats in the back and were shocked at how much smaller it seemed overall. A tad wider, but less space for everything else. Ended up just buying a second Prius and have never regretted it. Awesome car for family of 4. Now if kid number 3 comes along, we might go back to look at a V

Rob

Good point. The Prius V's mileage has taken a big hit and has failed to overcome its increased size and weight.

I'm not looking to pick an argument, but I don't think anyone believed the Prius v could take the same powerplant that is in the standard Prius and get the same mileage after placing it in a larger and heavier car. To see people getting FE in the middle to upper 40s seems like quite an accomplishment.

The EPA difference is 8. It seems to me that real world v drivers are getting a little worse than 8 compared to that of regular Prii.

I went from a Gen 2 to a v, so far (4 tanks) my real world hit under 4 MPG. No idea how it will do year round.

I wasn't aware of this. As someone considering the purchase of a Prius v, this would be worth knowing.

From what you've heard, what would be the average FE for the Prius v?

Edit: I just took a look at the Fuelly site. There are only 9 Prius v reporting mileage. My guess is those who are reporting are those who are conscientious when it comes to driving for fuel economy, so a sampling of only 9 is likely biased high. Even so, the average fuel economy for those 9 cars is showing at 48.8 MPG across more than 90,000 miles.

Fuelly has the regular Prius average at around 48. This includes a ton of people that don't have a clue how to hypermile or don't want to.
The Prius v has an average of 42. Problem is that on Fuelly the Prius v page has been very polluted because of drivers not knowing the difference. Therefore you obviously have to lower the number a fair amount. Also it seems as though a much lower percentage of v drivers are 50+ mpg than regular Prii drivers are 60+, if that makes sense. Therefore I would think the real world MPG hit is anywhere from 9-13 with all this anecdotal evidence.

I don't see enough info being put into Fuelly to make it reliable in any broad fashion. I don't know how it is being polluted, but the fact there are only 9 people entering data makes it less tranferable to reality, I think.

When you suggest a real world MPG hit of 9-13, are you saying it is 9-13 below the Prius or below the EPA number for the Prius v?

I understand the desire to compare, but still say its apples and oranges. If you don't need the functionality of the v, why would you accept the mileage loss whatever it is. If you do need the functionality of the v, who cares what your mileage might have been in a standard Prius? And what other vehicle provides this kind of mileage for that amount of passenger/cargo room? A Jetta TDI wagon is in the ballpark, but only averaging~37mpg on fuelly, not to mention what diesel prices have been like lately. To the extent that most people looking at the v seem to be coming down from larger, thirstier vehicles I'd say the v is a great offering to get more folks driving more efficient vehicles.

Maybe the v could have been a little more efficient with a Camry HSD. Of course it also probably would have to be bigger, heavier, and more expensive to accommodate it.

Rob

I agree. When looking at the Prius v, I am not considering the Prius hatchback as an option. The other options are wagons and small crossovers.

I'm wondering whether they are building another HSD inbetween the Camry and Prius ones. A larger ICE seems appropriate for the Prius v, and I didn't understand why the Camry engine wasn't an option. It wouldn't pull Camry hybrid buyers away from that car. Perhaps Toyota wanted to keep it simple this first year and gauge interest before offering a different engine. Perhaps Toyota has developed another HSD inbetween the Prius and the Camry sizes.

Hundreds of cars isn't enough info? IMO it's much better than some lab numbers the EPA gives. There are many more than 9 v's on fuelly. Also, I'm saying the average MPG number is being polluted because of all the regular Prius 5's that think they belong on the v page.

I'm saying the real world hit is 9-13 below a regular Prius.

So far, My 'hit' is 4 MPG, but I am only 4 tanks into v ownership. (I just drive, not hypermile)

Is that an average over the life of the v vs. the average over the life of your Gen II?

I got 46 MPG lifetime in my Gen 2, down to 40 in winter, down to 42 in summer, 48 in fall and spring. (I am a northerner in the South, so I use a lot of A/C)

I have only had the v a month so I do not know how my seasons will do. I would think I am still in Summer, (91 today) but even compared to 48, I am only down by 5.

So far the v loves 60 MPH, it seems to be the same MPG cruising at 60 as the Gen 2, but lower at 70 and 50 than the Gen 2. (If I was Bob Wilson, I would have graphs of every speed, corrected bidirectionally by now)

Not sure why you're only seeing 9 Prius v wagons in Fuelly. I see 170 of them with an overall average mpg of 42.5.
My lifetime average after 12 fuel-ups is 44.5 mpg.

Just goes to show one (me) how people entering data could be confused. I first followed your signature link to Fuelly and then narrowed the Prius pool by Body Style filter, using "v" -- and it showed only 9 cars. After reading your recent response, I went back again and looked for another way to get the info. I followed a separate link to the Prius v and then placed two different filters on it -- one for a hybrid 4 cylinder model and the other for "wagon" body style. This gave me 115 cars. That seems like a decent number. The real information will be seen after the vehicle has seen a full year in service and a good number of people report the full year's data. Still, I'm willing to go with the Fuelly data as a sufficient guide for the present.

For those 115 cars self-identified as Prius v Wagons, the owners reported 1,984 fill-ups and 715,281 miles traveled. The average fuel economy is shown as 42.6 MPG.

There are 268 cars showing for 2012 Prius Hatchbacks. Those owners have reported 3,127 fill-ups and more than 1.2 million miles, for an average fuel economy of 49.4 MPG.

I would say the self-reporting crowd is reporting something close to that "hit" for the difference between the Prius Hatchback and the Prius v, with the v coming in a little less that 7 MPG lower.

Even so, the EPA numbers for the Prius v are 44 City/40 Highway/42 Combined, and the Fuelly reporters seem to be hitting that number right on the nose, if not slightly higher.

Sorry, I should have included your post in my response (above) indicating my error in finding only 9. I think those 9 are reporting in the wrong space and likely are "polluting" the 2012 hatchback numbers.

I really think Toyota is making cars that get their EPA numbers. They should congratulated for this.

It is not like they make the Chevy Equinox.
EPA Est. MPG 22 / 32city/hwy
Chevrolet Equinox MPG Reports | Fuelly