37 MPG?? 2012 Prius C--Three

Hello!! I purchased a 2012 Prius C--Three two months ago. The car had 24,800 miles on it when purchased and now has 27,000 (so I've added 2200 miles in 2 months). This car was spotless and well taken care of in terms of the previous owners taking it in as scheduled for servicing. Why am I only getting 37 mpg on average in Los Angeles city driving?? I'm so bummed...

I commute to and from work in downtown L.A. on the 110 freeway during rush hour traffic. During the day, I also drive around on city streets and the freeway to appointments at least once and sometimes three times per day. I drive to and from Long Beach once per week. My tires are inflated properly, I do use low flow AC always, and I've just in the past week learned about gliding and pulsing--but still getting the hang of it. I just filled up and got 40 mpg this last go around, which is my best so far.

What am I doing wrong? Did I buy a lemon? How much more can my MPG improve if I work at it (while still using AC)? I thought I did my research and expected much better mileage than I'm getting and didn't expect to have to jump through hoops to get optimal MPG. I do love my Prius C...but had been considering a Nissan Leaf--which probably wouldn't have been a good idea with the kind of driving I need to do for work.

Any advice would be appreciated!!

 

Thanks so much, bisco, for the welcome and the suggestion of taking the car in to get checked!! I plan on doing that soon but figured I should at least get some possibilities to bring up to the dealer/maintenance folks. I don't want to get a song and dance about city driving and how it's the way I drive. I'm not a haphazard driver and really want to learn how to take care of this car in anticipation for the day I can go fully electric. It seems unlikely I could make enough driving adjustments that would increase my current MPG to 50--which would be ideal!!--since road conditions are what they are and remain pretty consistent from one day to the next here in L.A. But, I'm willing to try anything and did see on this forum that YouTube has videos on how to optimize driving a Prius. That's so cool!!

 

vskid3! Thanks for the help! I do get better mileage while driving in regular/off-peak hours around the city, but the best I've ever noticed is maybe 47 mpg...I feel happy when I see 42-43 onscreen. My worst Fuelly mpg calculated after one particular fuel-up was 32. A person should be able to use AC on low when driving...I think the advertised mpg should be adjusted to reflect normal driving conditions.

Still, others on this forum seem to do pretty well with their cars and hitting the normal or even better-than-normal range. I don't know...I suppose I'm also disappointed because I feel like I made a practical decision in buying a Prius for its great gas mileage and proven reliability. I really wanted to go all-electric with the Nissan Leaf but Leaf batteries can degrade rapidly on even a 2013 pre-owned vehicle, so a 20 minute quick-charge is time consuming if in a rush to get somewhere provided there's even a charging station around. My thinking now is if I have to suffer without AC for the sake of saving energy and range, I'd rather be doing it in an EV. A Prius plug-in is pretty much impossible to find used and is still pricey.

I got a great deal on my Prius C and will work on getting better mileage. I'm going to check out YouTube tonight. Any other possibilities besides using too much AC?

 

Hey, skayaks!!
Thanks for the suggestions. I'm almost always in ECO mode. My AC is set to Auto, but I like it cool...70 most of the time. I'm really going to try the techniques I've been reading about here and elsewhere. It couldn't hurt, right? Plus it's good to learn these things if it helps with range. I just bought a digital tire gauge (because I needed a new gadget) and saw that the digital reading has me at 45 psi all around, whereas my regular stick gauge shows 42. I'll make adjustments as suggested on the front and rear tires but figure the thing that will increase my mpg will be my driving technique, especially braking and accelerating. I read an old post on the other Prius forum that mentions taking advantage of cruise control can also help if done as suggested...

 

Thanks, DKTVAV! 40 MPG with a full load going to Big Bear?? I'm so jealous! I'm going to look at the battery vent under the rear seat. Based on what I've been reading over the past couple of days, it seems like making even small changes to my driving style to accommodate the Prius could make a bigger difference in mpg than I originally thought.

I feel like I've got a bit more understanding for when I have the car checked at the dealership, but I can tell I'm going to be on a mission now to get the highest MPG possible. I feel like it's my right to get super great mileage stats with this car because I spent so much time agonizing over buying a Hybrid vs. an EV. Thanks again for the suggestion! I sure hope there's nothing wrong with the car...

 

Haven't logged in for quite a while! Thanks for the tips, Munpot 42. I find that following people's suggestions helped me increase the MPG but not by as much as I had hoped. The best mileage I've gotten thus far at 30,000 miles is 46 mpg. I really have to be conscientious about my driving to get up to the higher end of the scale mileage-wise...which in the long run is a good thing. Also stopped using AC in the heat and rolled down the windows...which I actually got used to comfort-wise.

I've come across other Prius C owners in L.A. and found that their overall MPG isn't as great as they had hoped either. I think it's an L.A. thing. Taking the car to the dealership for servicing was a hoot--actually, it wasn't a hoot--but I feel it gave me a great baseline from which to start wherein I believe every possible problem was looked at and taken care of even if it didn't need taking care of. Now, I'm keeping records and optimizing driving and still improving on MPG. Ultimately, I love this car!!

 

Sean!

Yeah, I hear you on this fact when it comes to optimizing MPG. There have been days when I've been on the road and thinking about work or what have you only to realize I'm not being very conscious about my driving...and it's reflected on my dashboard. I'm not hard on my car but certainly drive "better" when I'm thinking about it how my driving and certain traffic conditions affect my MPG and desire not to waste gas or $$. Plus, concentrating on driving techniques actually becomes more of a meditative experience and helps relieve stress from work...if that makes any sense. Thanks for the input!! --V.C.

 

Hey, davidc83! Congrats on your purchase...hope it's going really well for you! When I buy Shell gasoline, my car seems to get better mileage, so I've been buying Shell. I believe there's some additive in Shell but previously never payed attention to the chemical composition of different gasoline sources from one fill-up to the next. Your point is an interesting one which I came across online recently. That was what made me notice the difference with Shell despite using the same octane of all the brands I would buy.

 

Happy Holidays, Habnar! Your tips will certainly be used...I've been doing better with my Prius since watching YouTube and paying attention to my driving habits. I noticed the other day that when I tried to switch to actual EV mode, a message came up on the screen that says my acceleration is too high to switch to EV mode via the button. I used to be able to switch to EV mode before. but I pretty much drive consistently with Eco mode turned on and spend as much time driving in the EV range on the monitor. I have to look into the EV mode button which I usually don't touch. Maybe I just forgot how to do it...Thanks a lot for the in-depth tips!

Take care all!!
V.C.