Prius C break in period

There is break-in for both the engine and tires. But, 38 mpg is rather low for any type of Prius even when new. Cold,wet weather and short trips can combine to lower your mpgs. But, the biggest factor is often using the wrong driving methods. You should not use a very light foot during acceleration trying to keep the car in electric mode. That battery power must come from burning gas. It's best to use 1/2 to 3/4 power during acceleration. Get up to speed and then let off the gas and then feather the gas pedal to keep the car moving with traffic. Allow the car to manage it's traction battery.

 

well.. the weather hasn't been really great in the bay area.. so that may play a small factor as well... but it's not uncommon for mileage to be a little poor at the very beginning.

start to hone in your hybrid driving skills.. and let the car break-in a little more and you should see those MPGs get higher.

 

I have 260 miles on mine, little less than half tank left, and it's showing 41 mpg from the start. My trips are mostly less than five miles, and the weather has been cool and rainy much of the time, so I'm not too concerned. It seems like most of my individual trips are in the upper 40s, and occasionally above, so I was surprised it was that low, but I'm sure it'll improve.

 

Use the gas engine to get up to speed, and then release/press the gas pedal to cruise along on EV. I've had to adjust my habits a bit, but the reward is great even without going crazy once you get the hang of how it operates.

 

So you're saying it's okay to go into the red PWR mode to accelerate? I get conflicting info, for example an earlier post here says to use 1/2 to 3/4 power during acceleration.

 

Just drive mine like i would any other car and that means accelerating into the red quite often. My average mpg's do flucuate between low 40's and high 50's with an overall average over 4 tanks of 49 mpg's. Short trips are definite mpg killers, so If you're really concerned about mpg's i would make your short trips a little longer. If my mpg's are in the low 40's, I just remind myself that although 40 is a bad day with the c, it's better than almost any other cars best day. You will probably see a lot more mpg flucuation with the c compared to other cars, but I don't think it's worth stressing over. When conditions are right you'll see some amazing mpg's and your overall average will creep up the longer you have the car as mine did.

 

Honestly, unless getting on a freeway onramp, I accelerate so that I'm maybe 1/2inch below PWR. My acceleration scores are almost always 95+ with this method. Others say to keep your instantaneous MPG readout = your current speed.

 

I can second this. Off the line I push it to right below the red PWR range and I'm getting 90+ scores on my starts every time now.

 

Chino,

Watch this video a few times...it will change you MPG's almost immediately!

Good Luck!

-M

 

I had a similar finding and called the dealer. They recommended filling it up and resetting the trip counter. The car idled quite a bit while at the dealer. My first full tank was around 53 mpg. On my second tank, I took it out on the highway and got around 44 mpg. So far the combined mpg is 46 mpg. If you did not reset the trip counter when you got the car, you might want to do that ...

 

great video! informative!

 

Also, make sure your tires are inflated to the proper pressure (I think around 40 psi both front and rear, at least for my model Two P175/65R/15-inch Bridgestones. I just discovered yesterday, after nearly two weeks of driving my new car, that the tires were TOO low (about 30 psi all around)... I assumed the dealer had properly inflated them at delivery, but apparently not. I've seen a noticeable improvement in handling (not so 'mushy') and a small bump up (a couple mpg's) in my mileage since I increased my tire pressure!

 

it took over 200 miles for mine to break in and start seeing great results.

matter of fact I was just over the bay bridge heading down 101 when it kicked in and i started to see upper 40's, now im hitting 50mpg on average.

from SF to Sac I average 55mpg easy and with a tail wind its 57mpg

 

have to agree with kirku. dont slam on the brakes, dont floor it. other than that , forget about it . drivers, especially prii drivers, are very unlikely to over stress the car during break in. repeating what bikers say. drive it like you stole it. dont worry about it. drive , have fun, just do it

 

Thanks for the video link. =)

 

I just picked up a 2012 Prius c Two yesterday. This morning, I was getting over 60mpg on the first leg of the trip and on the 7-mile second leg got 92.6 mpg. This car behaves differently from the 1st generation. Try to stay out of PWR and keep the motor running for the 1st 5 minutes, then go to pulse and glide. The maximum glide speed in EV mode is about 41 mph. If the EV mode isn't lit and you're off the pedals, you're going too fast to glide - keep the motor in the 2nd half of Eco and it'll keep running. Try to stay out of EV mode until the car is warm unless you're only moving around a suburb. Your mpg will be in the high 30s or low 40s while it's warming up.