Corolla vs. Prius MPG: 4 yrs of data - short trips

Good data.
EBH use ?

 

I think you are one of the few people who have tracked your previous car's gas mileage as well as your Prius's. There are probably many people out there who are disappointed with their Prius's mileage (especially in cold climates) because they were expecting a lot more -- but they didn't really have anything to compare with because they didn't keep track of their other cars' mileage.

 

My previous car was a 1.6L Ford Focus. Very average for Britain - for a long time the Focus was the top-selling car (1998-2008 I think) and the 1.6 petrol the most common variant. I picked up a habit from my parents of recording every tank of fuel: date, mileage, amount purchased, price paid, and I've now done it for 7.5 years.

We don't have a bladder in the fuel tank, so most fill-ups have been consistent. Occasionally there's a vapour lock or badly-adjusted pump that cuts out too early or too late.

All figures in miles per imperial gallon (about 1.2 US gallons):

Focus, 8/2002 - 3/2008: average 37.9, lowest 34.9, highest 43.1
(I have excluded very short fills, which happened a lot in the rapid price rises of late 2007/early 2008 as I tried to catch dips in the price ramp.)

Prius, 3/2008 - 3 Jan 2010: average 56.5, lowest 49.0 (been very cold these last few weeks), highest 63.9. Excluded one short fill that gave a 71.3mpg result. Since I reset it last March the MFD now shows 60.5, but I calculate 58.1 for the same period.

I haven't taken any extra steps to improve mileage beyond inflating the tyres to 40psi front, 38 rear. I did think about grille-blocking in the last few weeks but mostly I worked from home, with snow on the ground.

On average I seem to be using one-third less fuel. That's pretty good in my book.

 

All right, you you guys got me curious. I owned an 88 CRX Si for 20.5 years, from birth to death, and tracked mileage from day one as I have for every car I have ever owned.

Original EPA numbers (I still have the original papers including window sticker): 29/36.
Lifetime MPG: 39.9
Number of fillups: 1087
Average gallons/fillup: 9.01
Tank size: 11.9 (same as my 2010 Prius)

 

My 99 Corolla has consistently averaged 30-32 mpg in largely interstate commuting and road trips. Most of the tanks outside that range have been operator-error anomalies--e.g., where I underfilled my tank, so the previous tank appeared to have better than real mileage.

My 2010 Gen III Prius II is thus far averaging about 43 mpg, again mostly in highway use. However, I got it in November, and thus have been mostly been driving in cool to cold weather, so I'm not ready to declare this an accurate overall number.

However, as it stands now, the difference between EPA Hwy estimates and my actual mileage is bigger, in percentage terms, for the Prius, which is particularly disappointing because the EPA testing procedures appear to have improved since then. I do drive relatively fast on interstates--most of where I drive has a speed limit of 70 and traffic flow of about 74, which may explain why both cars underperform the estimates. So far I have not become a slow driver.


So, it seems like I averaged about 3 mpg less than the EPA highway average in my Corolla, and 5 MPG less

 

I had a 1982 Audi 4 cyl diesel. The seats fit my but perfectly and had an average for 200K of right around 40 at least; should have remembered my logbook better or even kept it Very easy to work on except the fuel control system. It was getting old though and didn't want to invest too much for upkeep. I like my Prius Modern stuff inside and so far better FE.

 

My previous car was a manual '96 Honda Civic, mostly used to drive the 15 miles to work. MPG was remarkably constant around 38 - 40. I average 60 mpg in the Prius, but driving patterns are different, with more city driving.

All in all, most drivers report that the EPA ratios hold up across cars

 

You have to wonder what a well designed prius could do with a small diesel engine instead of a gas engine.

Say, why don't we have that?

 

Another Corolla vs Prius comparison.

1996 Toyota Corolla base, 3-speed auto
6/11/1998-3/3/2007
Overall 30.2mpg, Max 37.2mpg (Aug 2001), Min 21.3mpg (Jan 1999)

2007 Toyota Prius
4/2/2007-present
Overall 52.6mpg, Max 61.2mpg (Jul 2007), Min 39.0mpg (Dec 2008)

 

When I owned my 1996 Infiniti I-30 (up until June 2006) I didn't keep a written record or Excel Spreadsheet like I started to after acquiring my first Prius, but I did do a quick calculation every time I filled up. I was averaging around 23mpg - however, that was also when I was doing a lot more highway driving commuting to and from work. Now I take the Metro to work. My lifetime 3-year average on my last Prius was around 43mpg, on my current 2010 it's around 45. My day-to-day driving now consists of short, hilly, stop-and-go trips, although I suppose about half my overall miles are highway. Maximimum tank FE has only been 50mpg; minimum was 37 - and that was because of short trips and very cold weather.

 

1994 Corolla
1/13/2006 - 1/2/2008
Overall average 25.8 MPG
Minimum 18.7 MPG
Maximum 40.1 MPG


The numbers for the corolla seem low. I drive a 95 with the 1.8 and I got mid 30's living in town and now living in the country enjoy 36-40 with extremes from 30-43.

I want to get a hybrid but the battery cost is my big hang up.
My corolla has 225 on it how many battery packs would I use during that time span?

Steve

 

i want my PHEV, how many miles did you put on each?

 

About the same with the diesel costing considerably more and requiring higher lifetime maintenance because of the complicated emissions control systems.

The Prius is an Atkinson cycle engine. The way it is controlled on the Prius, thermal efficiency is similar to a diesels.

 

One, most likely.

Tom

 

Doesn't sound that low... Unfortunately, Consumer Reports doesn't have figures online for Corollas that old but for an 01 Corolla w/1.8L engine, they got 20 city/41 highway, 29 mpg overall and 35 mpg on a 150 mile trip.

Here's the version of this list I could find on archive.org: ConsumerReports.org - Most fuel-efficient cars.

 

Steve, bare in mind that the OP is also only getting 42 MPG with his Prius whereas many people here (myself included) are getting 50+ every tank (my average is 53 to 54). Obviously MPG's are affected by many factors, so I don't think the overall comparison is out of place.

Most likely the original battery will make 225k miles. Most of us haven't hit that sort of mileage yet but plenty of taxis have racked up that many miles on the original battery.

In any case the cost of replacement batteries has fallen a lot and there are now plenty of S/H and reconditioned batteries on the market too (especially in the US).