Frustrated with gas mileage

His car probably stays on and at the proper operating temp for hours at a time or more whereas yours always has to go through the warm up stage.

 

Hmmm hit and run OP thread. Maybe realized he bought non LRR / Prius tires. That would explain it.

 

To expand on F8L's response, this is a warmup issue. I figure that every cold start (cold meaning room temperature, not freezing winter cold) costs about two extra miles worth of fuel. For a daily commute, that penalty is paid on both segments.

A taxi doesn't sit for anywhere near 8-10 hours, or for long enough to chill badly between customers. So it pays the full warmup penalty only on its first trip of the day, then a much smaller fuel penalty on all the rest of its many daily trips.

If you think the Prius is bad on short trips, test an older car. Depending on elevation profile, my Prius takes 3 to 5 miles to fully warm, so it doesn't pay the entire 2-mile penalty on shorter trips. My Subaru is a fuel hog in comparison, paying its full warmup penalty in 1 to 2 miles. Short segments are absolutely devastating to its MPG.

 

wow, you guys are really tight on your fuel usage. I mean, not to sound sarcastic or anything but you guys are frustrated of ONLY getting 45mpg? Still, it's 5 mpg off the EPA test but still, 45MPG? There isn't a single non-hybrid car out on the market, (US anyways) that can get that kind of mileage in a mix of city and highway.

Back when I had my Subaru, I'd be jumping for joy and think I'm the king of awesome drivers if I manage to coax 24mpg out of a tank and that was mostly due to a roadtrip with lots of highways. Not to mention, it burned premium. Now that i have a prius, I'm just going nuts, I use 1/4 of the amount of fuel and each fill up is a TON cheaper.

Not to mention, the difference between 45MPG and 50MPG is maybe $1.20 at the pump? Relax and enjoy your rides.

 

Lantec, it's sort of like racing. People will do all sorts of crazy things just to gain 2 10ths of a second. Hybrid drivers are the same way when it comes to fuel efficiency. I hate getting 44mpg so I switched from 17s back to 15s just to bring my mpg back to over 50mpg. It's kinda like a video game. Nobody wants a low score.

 

The EPA label is very sharply marked down from the actual dyno tests, more so now than in the past. After getting close to the dyno number on a past car, getting 10% under a modern super-sandbagged EPA label -- 35% under the dyno number -- just doesn't cut it.

I still have my Subaru. The early years of 24 mpg were quite annoying, I wasn't happy until learning how to get over 30. 36 on good days.

Mine has averaged 53 mpg over its life, 58 this summer. Over its planned life, the lower figure will save over $3000 at the pump compared to the 45 you accept. A lot more than $1.20. And I'm using US fuel prices, not your higher CDN prices.

 

I can see where you're coming from. But I just wanted to put it out there, that 45MPG is still a pretty good figure as a car.

As for the fuel saving costs, here's the site I've used to calculate the differences.

Save Money

I used $5.10 per gallon as that's what it comes down to. Between 45MPG and 50MPG, 15,000 miles per year. I save about $170 a year, $850 in 5 years.

 

While it is pretty good for what is currently on the market, it is far short of what we need to 'save the planet' from our pollution or protect the US (not Canada) from the national insecurity of imported energy.

I don't use website calculators to perform simple arithmetic. If I did, my employer should be questioning my competence at my current job.

Only 75,000 miles? The Prius replaced a car I drove more than triple that distance, and I plan to drive this one a bit farther.

 

It was just the default settings on the site. But a lot of people (at least here in Canada) that's a pretty good average. I think the average commute is shorter than US cities.

 

So far with 52,00 miles we have an estimate
overall average of approx. 50 mpg's.

The Prius replaced my wifes 2000 Chev. Malibu V6 which
averaged 22 MPG or so.

So using $3.00 per gallon how much savings was there.

Chevy / 52,000 miles @ 22 MPG = 2,363.64 gal's used:
2,363.64 @ $3.00 / gal = $7,090.91 fuel cost

Prius / 52,000 miles @ 50 MPG = 1,040 gal's used:
1,040 @ $3.00 / gal = $3,120.00 fuel cost

Savings with the Prius = $ 3,970.91

This is at $3.00 per gallon gasoline cost if it was say $5.00 / gal
there would be even more savings.

Just think, the fuel we saved can now go into somebody's SUV....

alfon

 

1) I enjoy the ride more when I achieve the dead-stroke in getting high mileage.
2) The whole relax and enjoy it attitude is why we haven't increased average new car MPG since 1988.
3) The reason you are enjoying 45 MPG is because people like the Toyota engineers, and Prius pioneer drivers weren't satisfied with what they were getting.
4) The real cost of that gasoline is around $15 per gallon. Just because you aren't paying it at the pump, doesn't mean you aren't paying it.

 

Damn, Corwyn. Thanks for the reality check.

It's easy to get caught up in the personal economics of fossil fuel use and forget about the true costs many of us do not see.

 

not really you can easily get 55 mpg in a 5 spd Fit that is 7k$ cheaper. To be worth the increase for the Prus (besides the size difference) you should get a lot better MPG which ours does , been getting into the solid 60's.

 

It's definitely the tire change. I just put Hankook H727 on and went from 49-55mpg down to 43-45. Unfortunately, these tire are with me for the next 60-80K miles. Anybody want to buy these with less than 1K mikes on them? Then I can get LRR tires as I should have done.

 

The Fit is not going to average 55mpg combined. You would have to hypermile the hell out of it to do so. The average driver is going to average <40mpg.

 

Yeah, but ..... ya' gotta figure in that $3000+ battery that you are wearing out and that will need replacement someday!

Ed

 

What are the good kind of tires to use, once the factory tires need replacing? Also, can you look for tires that last longer than 40K or do you give up mpg if you go for longer-lasting tires?

 

Not a chance. You might get 55 mpg on a really good day, but you won't come close to averaging that in ordinary driving.

Tom

 

Mind you carefull buying yields a $1700 battery if your car ever needs it, rather than the $2300 full retail. (Or the $3000+ at the FUD school of lying)

 

There are many LRR tires that also offer high mileage warranties and do not cost an arm and a leg.

Look into the Goodyear Assurance Fuel Max, Continental ProContact with eco plus, Michelin Primacy MXV4, Cooper GFE, Nokian enTYRE, Kumho eco Solus HM KR22, etc.

Read this thread before deciding on a tire.

http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...esistance-replacement-tires-current-list.html