mileage tips under challenging circumstances

Welcome!
That is a tough situation you got. Not ideal for the Prius for sure. Plug-in maybe. A conversion would be fairly costly and you probably would not gain your money back.
Perhaps upgrade to the Plug-in Prius in a year or two?
I am sure others will have more to say.

 

:welcome:

It is my naive opinion that the Toyota Engineers were told to make the least polluting car they could and the Prius is the result. While owners may buy it for gas mileage, that is a byproduct of GIGO. If you don't add much gas, you have less gas to clean up after.

When you start the Prius the computers priorities are protect the battery, protect the engine, get the least 'cold start' pollution, etc. Once warm, the computers try to reduce emissions by not ingesting gasoline. To skip the cold steps is unwise unless you want to pay for a new battery, new engine, or pollute like mad. (A plug in hybrid, or electric car would perhaps have served you better)

One technique you can try if your electric bill is cheaper than your gas bill. You can add a Engine Block Heater, and plug in the Prius for 90 minutes before driving it. (perhaps on a timer) This will speed up the 'cold start' phase of driving and get you quicker to the 'use less gas' phase. (I doubt it will fully warm up in 8 minutes, but it may)

PriusChat Shop : Toyota Prius Engine Block Heater [Prius EBH] - $59.00

Living in the PNW, your electricity may well be less polluting than your car, and cheaper to run for 90 minutes than 8 minutes of gasoline. Good Luck!

 

Great to have you aboard.

JimboPalmer gave you great advise.

As long as you understand your mileage will not be fantastic, you will be satisfied. Then on weekends, and vacations, you will be able to enjoy the atributes of a really remarkable vehicle. Also realize, that even though your Prius is not delivering it's best due to your circumstances, it is doing better than another conventional car in the same situation.

 

Right, worst case scenario, just keep in mind that any other car is going to get below 25mpg.
The block heater is a good idea if it's convenient, that five or ten minutes of heating the engine to get it to stage 4 takes a lot of gas, and just as YOU get there you shut the car off so to shave it (warm up) to a minute or less would be beneficial in the long run.
Tire pressure 44f 40r, don't use the air conditioner
Great first post

 

I'm in your "neighborhood" (so to speak). My commutes are a bit longer (10 - 15 miles one-way), and the hills do tend to reduce mileage. I've been partially blocking part of the lower front air intake (radiator) with some 1" foam pipe insulation that's slit to fit around existing pipe. It's added a couple of mpg in cold weather. It's a few bucks from Home Depot. Search here for radiator blocking strategies for install descriptions.

It may be challenging to find someone in this area that knows how to install the block heater. My local dealership never heard of them!

 

Canadian dealers sell them as dealer installed options, a road trip to British Columbia may be in order.

Sunrise Toyota

30210 AUTOMALL DR

ABBOTSFORD BC V2T 5M1

604-857-2657


Metro Lexus Toyota

625 FRANCES AVENUE

VICTORIA BC V8Z 1A2

250-386-3516

 

Take a nice long road-trip! Post pix!
.
_H*

 

EBH, block the grill, increase the tp, and ensure oil is not overfilled is about all you can do. Your FE is about what I would expect. When you take the car on longer road trips you'll see the higher numbers.

 

The ferry ride alone, to and from Victoria, will likely cost many years of gas savings from the EBH. Even Abbotsford is a long way just to get one installed. Another excuse -- a B.C. vacation! -- is needed to justify the trip.

To OP:

3k miles per year does not make a compelling case to switch from a normal gas hog to a hybrid. Your Prius' 37 mpg is far better than a regular non-hybrid can achieve in similar circumstances, but the use of public transit has likely already claimed much of the potential fuel savings.

I second the pointer to CleanMPG.com. Look first for 'Beating the EPA' and 'Pulse and Glide and Warp Stealth in the Prius II'. Once the engine is warm, stop-and-go traffic is a good opportunity to push up your MPG, if you can avoid full power.

I no longer count the number of GenIIIs spotted in a day, but did notice four fellow Silvers once this week. Maybe you were the one with a dealer placard in the plate holder. Welcome to PriusChat!

 

http://cohoferry.com/ckfinder/userfiles/files/BBFL-fares-schedule-2010%20%283%29.pdf
Hmmm $53 each way, no wonder I always went on foot! I confess, I just LIKE Victoria! If I had to live in a city, it would be my first choice.

 

+1 on all of these. The EBH is the most expensive, but likely still helpful. Blocking the grille is cheap. The current weather in the Seattle area is fine for blocking the grille, esp. in the morning. KOMO 4 news is currently forecasting a low of 39 F and high of 54 F from Sat thru Fri. When it gets warmer, one should definitely remove it. (I don't know of a good threshold/rule of thumb as to when's a good time to remove.)

With ScanGauge, one could monitor coolant temp (if it gets too high, remove the blocking) but unfortunately not inverter or MG1 or MG2 temps, AFAIK.

Also, don't use auto on the HVAC system and keep the fan off when the ICE (internal combustion engine) is cold. Heat on high, but fan off is ok when you're stopped or in slow traffic.

If the ICE is warmed up enough and HVAC is off, it will shutdown. If you leave the heat on, the ICE will run to provide cabin heat, wasting gas. Turn on the ICE only when the car is warmed up enough (you can't monitor this w/o ScanGauge or equivalent), on harder acceleration (where it must run anyway) or at speeds >42 mph. (Gen III owners, please chime in if the 42 mph is wrong.)

 

I agree with Felt
I also wrote that I finally hit 40 after getting about 37
I try to keep in mind that my precious car over 85K miles got 23.
Longer trips on flat surface really help.

 

First get the scangauge. The 0 rpm will help you to learn when the ICE is on or off. Optimized mileage is very dependent on the drivers skills at optimizing the system.

Second grill blocking. I block all the lower and 1/2 the upper and the scangage indicates that I am OK.

Third, be careful with the use of the heater and defrosters. I don't use the defroster as it overrides the ECO mode. I use the heater with the air going to both the feet and defrost, but only until the fog is gone, and mostly when the ICE is running anyway.

Fourth the EBH. You can get it installed at Pacific EV in Bellevue

Thanks,
Dan

 

I love my Prius, but you should trade yours in for a Leaf. 3k per year, with lots of short, stop&go trips, sounds ideal for an EV with regen braking.

 

Well, ScanGauge has a MSRP of $170 (can't get it for much less than $150, IIRC). Blocking the grille w/pipe insulation (on my 2nd gen) is <$10. EBH is >$100 installed.

The order I'd go in is proper tire pressure (free), use heater properly (free), block grille (cheap), then ScanGauge and/or EBH.

ScanGauge may/may not yield huge improvements since it all depends on whether the driver is willing/able to adjust their driving based on feedback from SG. I sometimes end up in traffic conditions that are far too congested for me to even look at my SG safely or don't allow me to do anything other than go w/the flow, otherwise I'd be obstructing traffic or pissing others off.

I use mine and a # of XGauges but bought it more out of curiosity than knowing I'll benefit. It's rather expensive as an ICE on/off indicator. But, having it can help warn you that you should removing your grille block.

EBH for sure will yield benefits.

 

How long do you need to warm up your car before you first drive it in the morning? How would you know the car is warm enough to drive and safe to not damage the cells?

 

0 seconds. Don't bother. Your best warmup is just to drive. If you're sitting there letting the ICE idle, you're needlessly wasting fuel.

What would "damage the cells?" The Prius doesn't have a battery heater. It could get heated by resistance or cabin heat.