23 Prius Limited Mileage Experience

Interesting, I would expect better mileage around town, no? Did you hit traffic on those longer drives?

So far I’ve been getting around 42MPG in my limited - it’s still under 1K miles, mainly city driving. And no, I don’t drive like a speed demon, actually pretty slow RPMs because of the break-in period. Thanks for sharing!

 

Is the miles-per-gallon you're reporting calculated, or dash-display?

That said, I've been reading here that with Gen 5 Toyota's finally reined in their compulsion to exaggerate the displayed mpg. It'd be interesting, if a few owners could check that.

 

I can confirm that gen5 actual MPG is definitely closer to what the dash says vs gen4. Sometimes it is very very close and sometimes it is off up to 1MPG. In my gen4, actual MPG was consistently 2MPG lower than what the dash said. Gen5 dash has the ability to display MPG for 'current tank', which is what I use.

 

I've had my LTD since August '23 and have just over 9,000 miles. It seemed like the "Tank Average" and Fuelly average were different, but didn't think to start recording the car's tank average until recently when I saw a big difference in the numbers. The 3 most recent fill-ups showed a difference of 1.2mpg, 0.3mpg and 2.6mpg with the car's tank avg display being the bigger number.

I know the main reason for our overall low average is our short trips to the store. My drive to work is 7 mi on a state road with speeds averaging 50-55mph and I'll get 50-54 mpg these days, as high as 56mpg if I try to hypermile and traffic is thin and red lights cooperate. Longer trips of 10+ mi I can get over 55mpg, I think my best ever was 67mpg. Yes, Preebee that's low compared to you....but you are an exception to the norm!

My wife is the usually the errand runner with short trips. The grocery, pharmacy and pet stores are all less than a mile from the house and she doesn't hesitate to run to the store whenever needed, even multiple times a day. As she works from home, it gives her a chance to get out of the house. Whenever I go to the store, it's on the way home from work and the engine is warmed up when I make the <1 mi drive home. I was able to recently verify it's not her driving style as she was having to visit a family member in the hospital ~15mi away daily for awhile. I'd slyly come out when she got home and look at the mpg for the trip and she was getting 53-55mpg. So it's the distance more than her driving style.

I noticed higher averages after we hit the 8k mark (long before her hospital trips); my trips had been averaging 42-47 and suddenly changed to 50+. I wondered if it was a break in period, but that's hard to pin down since we also changed insurance companies around that time and agreed (foolishly) to use the driving tracker to get a discount. We both admit to changing driving habits to avoid negative dings. Dumb thing is actually dangerous since we now run yellow rights instead of stomping on the brakes, but that's for a different thread. The weather here in NFL has also been really mild the last month or more with 50-75F most days. That will change soon and require more A/C unfortunately.

I don't need to include all this info - but I'm doing so to highlight the fact that driving habit makes a difference. My overall Fuelly average is in the low 40's, which is hugely disappointing/frustrating since I see higher numbers on the dash every time I drive. The most recent number gives me hope that it will go up, but I feel like I'll never see the numbers Preebee gets. Having 2 drivers who tolerate different A/C settings, have different driving styles and take different kinds of trips makes a difference.

 

Check this little gem out I happened to snap the other day. It surprised even me! I wonder how high it was! 22 mins driving halfway across town. What a car! And it's not even a PHEV.

Driving style absolutely matters! Distance too. The car is just plain fun to drive and seems to literally beg you to "hot rod" around. That wasn't possible in prior gens. They were efficient, yet also slow.

I'm getting around 65 MPG's per tank not trying very hard in nice weather.

 

downhill huh?

 

I'm in Kansas so... no. But technically, I was driving downtown and there's down in the word downtown.

 

I just bought my 5th Prius…. 2007 Gen2 for wife, 2008 Gen2, 2010 Gen 3, 2013 Prius V, and now 2024 Prius Limited AWD. I keep spreadsheets on all my vehicles including fuel purchased. The 2013 Prius V had 130,000 miles when I sold it and got 43.94 mpg since new. The 2024 Prius Limited AWD so far only has 2010 miles and is getting 50.84 mpg since new. Beautiful car and much prettier than a Tesla...

 

Have you tried an app like Fuelly?

 

Doing both is a good ploy too.

 

Previously, when I filled up, I jotted down the fuel put in the tank, and the kms covered since the last fill. This gave me an accurate measure of fuel economy. Later, I plotted the data in Excel, and charted it throughout the year. I saw a fairly smooth hump, rising with the ambient temperatures, peaking in mid summer, and going down again in the fall. Visually, there was a clear correlation between fuel economy and average temperature.

So far, with my new Prius Prime, I have seen an increase in fuel economy since January, and I expect to continue to climb until cooler temps return. I plan to do an Excel plot at the end of the year. This time I will try to derive a correlation coefficient (r-value).

 

The peak temperatures in your region align well with the peak fuel economy conditions for the Prius. Once the temps get into the 80's or higher (rare for your area), you're gonna start seeing MPG's fall off - mostly due to AC usage. But if you keep the AC thermostat high enough (75ish), you can minimize the damage. As you already know, the winter is where you are gonna pay. Short trips will kill.