Living the Prius C3 mpg

If you buy your car new wait until it's over 5K miles and warmer temp to smile and see the MPG is higher.

 

in the warmer weather you will likely get better mpg. also I keep my tires pressure at sidewall max rated pressure and I love the mpg I get in warm weather.

 

Yup, it's the end results that count.

Putting the "pedal to the floor" is quite a different experience than with other vehicles. People think that means redlining the engine and pushing it to the extreme. With Prius, that's definitely not the case. It holds RPM well under what would happen with a traditional vehicle. So, you can drop it without the consequences.

The computer figures out how to provide the requested power. It varies the draw from the battery-pack, to keep the efficiency from dropping too much. Being able to shunt electricity just created by the generator-motor to the traction-motor is a fancy optimization trick too.

 

It's funny that you mention fuel economy going up big hills because on my trip today when I had to step on the gas (up to 2700 rpm, not too high but still made the engine hum loud) I could still get 27 mpg, while going uphill. Meanwhile, when I had my SUV months prior, 27 mpg was my fuel economy just for a trip on the highway.

I also inflated my tire pressure to 44 psi and I got 55 mpg on a road trip day (mostly highway). In the summer I've gotten 66 mpg for the same road trip.

But the roads around here are currently a disaster. Huge holes and bumps everywhere. I almost want another snow/ice storm so that it could fill in the holes, and so people would drive slow again.
You know you're in Maine when you want it to snow hard enough just to fill in the holes in the road and make the ride smoother.