New to Prius

Welcome aboard! There are many threads on how to (possibly) increase your fuel economy. Use the search option upper right below your user name.

First thing to check is your tire pressure. They are usually low from the dealership.

 

Hi Quest! I hope you enjoy PriusChat as much as I do.

You have not given us much to go on. The USA is a big place with many climates and terrains, so it is hard to pin down your issues.

Someone made a form to fill out that can give us enough hints to meaningfully give advice.
http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-...-answer-these-questions-esp-if-youre-new.html

Before knowing more about your situation, it is hard to give advice that always works.

The closest to universal advice I can offer is 'inflate your front tires to the load limit printed on the tire itself, and inflate the rear tires 2 lbs less than the fronts'. Toyota's recommendation seems to have more to do with ride comfort than tire wear or MPG. If your comfort suffers, lower all tires by 2 lbs and try again.

The following graph is true in detail for one 2010 Prius, but true in general for all cars. Wind restance rises with the square of the speed.

http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii-2010-prius-fuel-economy/64296-updated-mpg-vs-mph-chart.html

One advice I have, if you are on the first or second tank of gas, just drive it. It is far more important to get used to the controls, mirrors, blind spots, and noises than to perfect your hypermiling. On the third tank, try our mileage advice here on PriusChat.

I hope this offers you enough to tell us in more detail your situation.

 

Check out this thread for common things that can affect fuel economy. If you answer the questions, it might be easier for people to pinpoint the problem.

You did reset the trip after you took possession of it, right?

 

if you are on your dealers tank of gas, ignore it. when you fill up, reset your trip odo and when you fill up again, divide the gallons into distance for that tank to get a better mpg average. all the best!

 

Congrats on your new Prius and welcome to PriusChat.

Once you get familiar with the technology, I'm sure you'll see your MPG's hit 50 or higher. Don't be satisfied with 45 MPG unless you drive mountains or lots of steep hills.

Check out this video on how to drive your Prius for maximum MPGs: http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...pg-driving-tips-video.html?highlight=radioman

 

The missing answers to the speed and tire pressure questions seriously hamper our feedback. Please add more detail.

 

If you were in Colorado, as an example, you might go down some really long inclines that fully charged your battery. The B (for engine braking) mode would be useful there to help prevent the disc brakes from overheating. In Michigan, (like Mississippi) you may be best served to ignore it entirely.

The highest point in MI is on the U.P., which is cheating.

 

Is that calculated or on the screen?
Is this your first tank?

 

I REALLY advise you to begin worrying about mileage on the third tank, You should be learning the car. But here is advice any way.

Drive as if you had no brakes, start coasting when you see the light change, coast up to stop signs, use the brakes when mileage is not important. (safety, courtesy) Long gentle braking recovers more energy than hard braking.

When the speed limit is 40 MPH, try not to exceed that. Above about 41 to 43, the engine HAS to run, below 41 the computers could decide that it can shut down when coasting. The exact MPH varies by Generation.

When the dealer filled it, did YOU reset all the counters? In my gen II, they keep averaging previous tanks until you reset them. You may still be stressing over 'demo' miles per gallon.

 

Hi questhog,

If you have to stab at the brakes, to avoid colliding, your (note my detroit slang? my dad hates that all us kids picked that up there) not regenerating any power. The Prius has a system similar to Mercedes cars, where it fires the brake pistons into the rotors with pressure, to minmise brake activation time. When its sensing a quick brake pedal application, it goes into this mode, rather than electric braking. Following a little further back avoids that issue.

Additionally, the Cruise Control can get into a high usage mode, if it has to go to WOT (wide open throttle) to maintain speed up a hill for example. At 70 mph cruise, that could happen, and then the car is locked into this mode (under cruise control) After you get up the hill, drop out cruise and get the throttle all the way back then resume, to cancel this high usage mode (per Hobbit's comments on his website). Then you can resume cruise.



Similarily, if your flooring the acceleerator, your going to need to get all the way off the gas pedal for a few seconds to reset the car out of the high fuel usage mode.

 

make sure your earl is not above the full dot on the dipstick?

 

Hi questhog - and :welcome:!

I would read this for starters and apply to your driving style whatever fits, is appropriate, you feel comfortable with.
Then you might want to adopt more aggressive techniques (so-called "hyper-miling" tips) if you want later and get a hang of it.
I simply want to drive my car and I want technology to solve problems, not the other way around, so I am not doing any "esoteric" driving...

Terrain and commute type play quite a role, as well as ambient temperature, as you see from my signature I don't have a "stellar" overall MPG, but I still get the occasional 4L/100km-58mpg (displayed) and considering the car size, MPG, that is it not diesel, etc.etc.etc. - I have nothing to complain. Plus 90% of my driving is in town.

Plus you need to break in the car - that takes about 1000miles. It will get better.

Regarding "B" mode - please read this - it should answer your current and future questions about the car all in one place. Additional pics with descriptions, here.

If you still believe that your Prius is not doing good, read this - it gives perspective and avoids "freaking out" after a while...

Let us know if you see any changes (hopefully!!!) after following all the hints above from me and other fellow PC users.

Enjoy the ride, relax (and you will - read this... )

PS: the display is 6% optimistic on average (as per feedback from many different users worldwide) - so if 33.8 is what you have on the display, you are actually doing about 32 (!) - don't worry, it is normal and it will get better. Think about it - if you were driving a similarly size car, with similar performance, in the same way you are driving now the Prius, you would probably get mid-20s mpg...

 

PS: this is also useful as a very generic guideline of what to expect from a Prius Gen 3.