Is The Prius Losing Its Purpose?

It's all depends on how you drive each car. If you make short trips and drive fast then the gap on mpg closes. For most of us the Prius will average 47-55 mpg so those other cars cannot match the Prius. If you look at it's in purely economic terms then you are missing the other benefits of the Prius like reduced fuel use, technology- and lower emissions. Those are more important to some than just gas savings.

 

No, it's just you. I can't tell you how to drive but I will say your speed, constant AC usage, and terrain are what's giving you poor mileage. So I'm not surprised.

If you're so concerned about money you should've bought the cheapest car you could find, or used for that matter.

 

Now, think about how you drive the prius and it's estimated average mileage of 50mpg. Based on you only getting 86% of the average mileage, you'd get 27.5 mpg. Based on 12000 miles/year and the current national average of $3.63/gal, you're saving $713 per year driving a prius. If you plan on keeping your vehicle 8 years and drive ONLY the 12000 miles each year, then you'll break even before your hybrid warranty expires. That's only 96000 miles. Now factor in maintenence with brakes, oil changes every 5K instead of 10K, etc. and you might break even a little sooner.

 

I drive 60-65 most of the time, sometimes 70. My average is consistently 52mpg. I don't know how much the AC contributes but does it really need to be on all the time? You can actually just leave the fan on.

You say you don't hyper mile at all. You don't have to, but if you make any effort to check your screen/graph once in awhile I bet you'll see your mpg go up by 5. I accelerate pretty briskly and drive safely but still keep the consumption graph in the corner of my eye. It makes a huge difference.

 

With your driving style, 43mpg is not too bad. Nothing else will do that. The civic will state 30mpg, but with you driving it it won't be anywhere close to that. Similarly give a hypermiller a civic, and they may push 50mpg. Give a hypermiller a Prius and you can push 80mpg. If your time and driving style is more important then the money you would otherwise save by driving slower and/or differently, then this is the best you will do.

When I hypermill I get high 50's low 60's. When I drive it like I stole it (most of the time) I get 45mpg. No other car will get you that. That is jackrabbit starts with 80mph highway driving. I do however anticipate lights always and brake slowly and constantly to allow as much regen as possible. When on the interstate and it is backed up, I am the car that is traveling 15mph with a varying gap between me and the car ahead instead of stopping and waiting a few seconds then accelerating to 30mph then slamming on the brakes immediately thereafter. I get to places at the same time as everyone else and do so much more efficiently. And I live on a mountain so my terrain is similar to yours with lots of hills. I have a few thousand vertical foot drop every day to go up and down and then lots of hills a few hundred feet high along the way.

Also you are forgetting many other non-immediate benefits, some of which are financial. Maintenance and repairs are much lower overall in cost. My favourite is the lack of tranny lag because the electric motors give instant power. I can also fit everything from 10ft pieces of lumber to a bathtub in the back.

We have a civic and a civic hybrid, and they don't match the Prius in any way. Not comfort, not style, not utility, not fuel economy, not maintenance, and not power. They take corners better, but that's about it.

 

Try calculating how many miles your friend would have to drive her 2012 Civic to recover the price difference compared to a 1995 Civic (rated 56 mpg highway/47 mpg city under the old EPA system).

 

That is low for A/C and low for tire pressures, adding 4 to those will help some.

If you are not getting the EPA mileage in a Prius, why would you think you would get the EPA mileage in any other car? You have not changed. (To beat the EPA in a Prius, you need to change your driving style)

 

That doesn't make sense. Try accelerating more briskly and don't be afraid to step on the gas when the condition calls for it (the concept behind pulsing before gliding).

 

Do you only care about what it costs you at the pump? Do you care at all about the environment or future generations? Are you OK with ignoring the socialized costs of gasoline consumption? If gasoline were priced closer to what it truly costs us as a society, the benefits of the Prius would be more obvious. It is a sad state of affairs that we hide those costs. It prompts feelings and posts like this.

Please.... I beg of you ... think outside the cost at the pump.

 

AC eats mpg especially in hot weather on short trips in the prius. I no longer trust those that say its easy to get 50 mpg, I can easily get it on long trips not normal commutes. The big question is why you thought the prius would get that much more than a civic? The difference in price less depreciation over the years of a cheaper used fuel efficient car will give you lower tco. But if you want a new car, that uses less gas, and can shut off its engine in traffic jams, the prius was simply the best I could buy at the time. Today I would have probably leased a volt.

Major reasons I picked the prius over a more fun to drive less expensive mazda 3 or fit. I only get about 42mpg, but that is twice as much as my last car, a lexus GS 400. I also exceeded epa highway in that V8, but decided I want to use less gas. I also did not want to care as much about my car. Nothing about the money.

 

** Those who claim to only get 40 something MPG in your 3rd gen Prius - please post up photos of the consumption gage showing miles traveled since reset and the average MPG. Also, describe the type of driving on that tank and anything out of ordinary with the car. **

Hmmm, MPG's go down a lot in hilly areas? I've driven 3rd gen up Hwy 9 out of Saratoga, cruised along Skyline Blvd and seen 48 MPGs.

Something seems wrong with your car. Here's what the gage told me last time I rented a 2010 Prius -



Why run the auto A/C at 68 to 72 ... in Monterey?? It's not very hot there. I'd turn A/C on only when hot and put it at S/L 78 F IIRC. Otherwise I'd turn it off or just run the fan.

Any mods to the car? Changed tires?

Notice I'm 59 miles after refill when gage was reset. I've rented 10 times, not one of the rentals went under 50 MPG. In the SF Bay Area, I think the main thing that would put a healthy Prius under 50 MPG would be very short trips i.e. drive 8 minutes, park. another 8 or 10 minutes, park and shop, etc...

The other thing is the well over 50 MPG figures on the gage are always pretty close to the MPG's indicated after filling up too. No fluke.

So, IMNSHO, Prius still body slams the MPG's of any conventional car.

 

In 2009 we rented a Prius and drove from Austin to Dallas on I-35. Got wonderful mileage. Our 2011 does not get nearly as good mileage in East Tennessee, but then again our trips are shorter with my daily commute being 15 minutes, mostly at highway speeds. Then there are the hills, always the hills, the ever loving always present HILLS. They kill mileage quickly.

We were in Austin a month ago with our 2011 Prius and got wonderful mileage going up and down MoPac (Loop 1) and Lamar Ave.

With the high humidity here, even relatively light heat calls for A/C. Especially if one has ever suffered heat stroke or heat exhaustion. That unfortunately applies to me. Thus my ability to tolerate heat is now reduced.

Still, I keep the A/C set between 74 and 78 depending on outside temps. What kills our mileage are the hills and the frequency of the stop lights here. Always the hills. Especially stoplights on an upward slope.

 

The Prius engine algorithm demands that the internal combustion engine warm up the catalytic converter and engine coolant as a first priority. Thus, if you are making short trips, the engine may not have time to warm up and you may get reduced mileage.
For my part, I have noticed that I get the best mileage when I am driving 50+ miles at high speed.

Also, have you reset your trip odometer yet? The displayed MPG is based on the total use of the car for the current trip mileage. Initially, the MPG reading may be very low, probably due to shop run-in.
Try resetting the trip odometer at your next fill-up.
Better still, try calculating your MPG your self.

As to any special driving methods, I do not so anything different with my Prius than I did with my last cars. I just drive it. I get about 47-48 MPG on a town trip (50 miles round trip, plus whatever in town miles), and I get 50-52 on the hiway, depending on the trip length, with better mileage on longer trips.

By the way, if you are really disappointed in the Prius, then sell it, or trade it in for a different vehicle. There are plenty of folk waiting in line to get a new Prius.

 

I just spent a week going 77 MPH from Ohio-PA-MD-WV-VA-NC.
This because speed limit was 70 (not in PA). Best I could do at 77 MPH was about 42.5 MPG. At first my tires were low (30) so I pressured up to 40 psi but no big improvement. Clearly at 60 MPH the mileage shot up. Saw the GM Cruze plant along the way. But my average MPG in Prius is around 47 MPG life 90K miles.

 

Make it a win-win; sell your Gen 3 Prius and buy the car you want. You will benefit from the high resale value and current Gen 3 Prius shortage. If the new owner follows reasonable steps that maximize fuel efficiency, they will realize the mileage that is impossible with you driving practices.

 

So short trips, low set point for a/c and IIRC, Monterey is hilly. These are not conditions for high mpg in any car.

In addition to higher tire pressures, I would check the level of oil in the car. Overfilling is very common and hurts mpg. I would also be very careful that you get real 0-20 synthetic oil. Filling with cheaper oil that is more viscous when cold is not unusual.

Another thought is to take a look at the real savings in identical use. MPG is a very misleading yardstick. Look at cars with EPA ratings of 50 mpg and 30 mpg that each get 20% less under equal non-EPA driving conditions. ie 50 drops to 40 and 30 drops to 24. A 10mpg drop sounds worse than a 6 mpg doesn't it. Now look at how much gas you need to go 600 miles in each case.
Car 1
50 mpg - 12 gall
40 mpg - 15 gall ie 3 gall more
Car 2
30 mpg - 20 gall
24 mpg - 25 gall ie 5 gall more
So while the 50 mpg car appears to be taking more of a hit (10 mpg vrs 6 mpg), its actually saving you more relative to the other car (5 gall vrs 3 gall) under the adverse driving conditions.

As for losing its purpose, the Prius was designed with many objectives, not one, and is good for many things. Most people select a car based on a variety of considerations. Chances are it still does more or less what it did when you selected it. Deciding whether it meets your current purposes is something you will need to do.