Why am I getting Low MPG on my brand new 07 Prius?

I just got my 07 back a few months ago and now have under 3K miles on it.
My recommendations are:
- Forget about the first tank, burn off all that gas because you never know how good it was (water in it) and or how old it was etc.
- I have never been able to get much over 450 miles on a tank without risk of running out of fuel but I have not run it low until the low light flashes either.
- Do not worry about the MPG until the first full tank you put in.
- Check tire presser and add air as needed.
- Above all, do not drive the car like an “A†type personality – drive normally and within the speed limit and use your display as a biofeedback system to get the car mileage optimal while driving. :blink:

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(dkitts @ Jun 14 2007, 07:14 PM) [snapback]461984[/snapback]</div>

Hey DK,

What MPG does your MFD say you are getting (love the acronyms)? The multi-function display (switch it to the consumption mode) should give you the approximate fuel consumption rate. Perhaps the dealer didn't fill it up completely. Try filling it up again yourself and recalculate. I've heard that the Prius fuel guage has many scratching their heads. Also, check out some of the hypermiling strategies that can significantly boost your mileage. Even if you are driving very aggressively, 26 MPG is really bad for a Prius.

I also recently purchased an '07 prius with 2 miles on the odometer. I'm currently getting 50-52 MPG (100% city) with less than 400 miles on the odometer. I expect that to improve in time as my Prius breaks in and I become more familiar with the nuances of 'pulse and glide', etc. What a great car!

Keep us posted.

DH

 

I totally agree, don't worry with the first tank, was it really even full? Now, the sooner you learn how to pulse & glide the happier you will be the quicker. After 18 months I was still somewhat unsure and then learned how to P&G properly (I wasn't gliding correctly), has helped a lot. A few other things; the car isn't efficient until it is warmed up. The first 5 minutes will always suck, short trips kill your average. My two other worse things although not currently an issue is cold weather and ethanol. Also, there is a posted break in period of 600 miles after which one is supposed to start noticing improved mpg. It wasn't dramatic for me, but it kept getting better as if it took a lot longer to break in & losen up. Try this here P&G link:

http://hybridcars.about.com/od/ownership/a/pulseandglide.htm


Enjoy the car!

 

Easiest thing to do to improve MPG (I will guarantee that you will get 54 +) w/ no p & g and even on highway at 5 over speed limits.

1. Put some air in those tires
(use a good air guage and put 44 PSI in the front and 42 in the rear) (If that is a little stiff lower it to 40F 38R, for a slight decrease in MPG)
2. Watch the display and let it glide (coast) down hills.
(on a slope release the accelerator and gently press back down where you have either only yellow energy bars or even better (no bars under about 40MPH)
3. The Fan in the ventilation is a battery hog, don't set it for faster then M, if its hot still use the A/C w/ the recycle button on (remember that the A/C helps keep the battery cooler.
4. Don't leave your vehicle in Ready mode at a stop for more then 5 minutes.
5. Dont use the rear defroster unless you need it. (another battery hog and the wiper clears most of the fog off in the morning for me)
6. Remember to look ahead at stop lights and try to time it to where it turns green as you arrive.
7. Also remember that you are in a Prius and there is no need to accelerate like you are Jeff Gordon in a racecar.
8. Don't haul away a trunk full of junk with you, when I worked at a grocery store you would be surprised how many people I did carry outs for had huge trunks completely filled with miscellaneous junk (boxes full of books, clothes, toys, tools, several tires, newspapers, magazines) they all said the same thing I've been meaning to drop this off at the dump or at good will, and sure enough next week the same crap would be in their trunk still. That extra 200 pounds of garbage adds up.
9. When you buy gas only buy from a station that looks like they maintain their building, pumps, parking lot.
(if they can't maintain their property what makes you think they maintain their tanks) There is usually a reason why the gas is 3 or 4 cents cheaper and it is because they cut corners.


Give it a try.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(morpheusx @ Jun 15 2007, 09:12 AM) [snapback]462216[/snapback]</div>

But his tires will still be new. 2000 miles later I barely get 54mpg even though I do P&G and deadband a lot. And it depends on his terrain and traffic conditions. My next step is to understand how to maintain good battery charge; without instrumentation that is tough.

I d say there should be noone getting below 46mpg with your advice, but 54 is way too optimistic for a starting car imo

And to the OP, just completely disregard yor fist tank. Your MFD seems to know what it's calculating well enough for the Prius collective.

 

i got alittle over 40mpg on my 1st tank. and i just filled up my 2nd with 10 gal. last nite and the readout said avg. 50.6mpg .but you have to lean how to drive also. i find myself going the speed limit and less in it and trying to coast and run on electric power when ever possible. and like the other member said terrain plays a big part in it too. but i still think no matter how you drive it, that it will still be one of the highest mpg cars on the road

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ystasino @ Jun 15 2007, 10:14 AM) [snapback]462245[/snapback]</div>

the only time I've dipped below 50 has been on long distance drives greater then 4 hours long.

Tip for a good charge:
when coming off a highway or approaching a light at a higher speed, just lightly hold the brake (not enough to really slow you down significantly but enough to increase the regen) I frequently go into the green when I leave the highway.
I agree that the terrain plays a pretty big role, but I bought mine in late March and I live in Ohio and it was still cold here and I still pulled off 54 MPG on my dealer tank in cold weather that was between 30 - 50 degrees. I drove a trip to VA Beach all interstates at 70 MPH and avg 50 for the entire ride down and it is pretty hilly in PA (and that was at 38.5 PSI at the time).

You will make your largest increases by timing stop lights and accelerating moderately, but since I've always done that the tires made an improvement for me.

I am averaging 53.8 MPG for the life of my car so far with close to 7000 miles on it. and I drive mostly Highway driving, through Akron OH. The only time I ever averaged around 46 MPG was due to me getting drowsy driving home from vacation and spent 4 hours at a rest stop sleeping as we drove home overnight and I left the car running because it was cold outside (about 25 degrees) and it was snowing.


I still can't correctly Pulse and Glide to improve mileage, but I am still learning.

 

Along with all that advice, *don't* assume that you will get X miles per tank! The tank capacity is variable. When the last pip on the guess gauge starts to flash it means "buy gas right now, dammit". It doesn't matter whether you've driven 600 miles or 300 up to that point: you are about to run out.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(richard schumacher @ Jun 15 2007, 11:04 AM) [snapback]462293[/snapback]</div>

yes, I ran out of gas on my second tank and the pip only flashed for about 10 - 15 miles.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ystasino @ Jun 15 2007, 07:14 AM) [snapback]462245[/snapback]</div>

I trust the computer to figure out how to maintain the proper battery charge. My job, as I see it, is to drive the car smoothly--no fast starts, no slamming on brakes (unless I need to, of course), and gliding whenever posible. The computer keeps my battery charged by running the ICE as needed.

 

<_< Quote: "I was told this car should get about 600 Miles per tank and that I would easily get 40+MPG."

You didn't reveal WHO made that statement - perhaps the car salesperson? The "40+ MPG" is realistic. There have been cases of Prius delivering 600 miles on a tankful of fuel, but they are rare indeed. My 04 Prius delivered increasing MPG up to nearly 15,000 miles on the clock, and my 07 still has only 5,000 miles. I expect the MPG to steadily improve for another 10,000 or so miles. **IF** (A BIG IF) you could utilize the theoretical 11.9 gallon capacity of the fuel tank (which you can't), you'd have to 50+ MPG to travel 600 miles before exhausting the fuel. The fact is that 'useable fuel' is somewhat less than the 11.9 gallon maximum capacity for several reasons including the bladder in the U.S. Prius fuel tank.

My advice... Apply a great 'factor' to what a car salesperson tells you.

 

Be patient. With a brand new car, I was able to get 52 mpg right out of the bat. With a lot of reading; I can do much, much better (85 mpg for a tank). Pump up the tires, slow down, anticipate traffic, and practice. You will eventually understand what the car is doing and when to do it to maximize fuel efficiency.

All cars are different. I have pumped as much as 12.125 gallons into my car. I usually put 11.6-11.8 gallons into the car each time I fill up.

 

I got my '07 in March and had the exact same problem (also got my car with 2 miles on it). My first tank was about 36MPG. I've been keeping track of my mileage manually and keeping comparison with the computer (which can be way off from what I get). I would get a low fuel warning (1 pip) after about 400 miles, but after about 2000 miles on the odometer, I started to get the low fuel warning after about 460. In all cases I typically fill about 10 gallons, so I could get over 500 miles per tank but I don't push it.

Also, my battery didn't fully charge or drain for awhile. It wasn't until after 1200 miles that I noticed it go up to green or down to purple (2 bars).

I now get about 46MPG as a regular California driver (70-80 MPH freeway), my MFD shows I average 42 MPG, and I've got 3000 miles on my car. I'm happy with that so far since I consider this no compromise driving. When I go 60 on the highway I easily get 52+MPG.


I haven't upped the tire pressure but I'll give that a shot (thanks for the tip morpheusx).

 

I easily forget that cities like Baltimore, Dallas, and San Fran have much more congestion then what i'm used to here in one of the smallest big cities in the country. (I think Akron has a pop. of 220,000 or so and Summit county around 300,000) 90 % of the time I only run into 1 bottleneck on the highway (25 miles each way) to and from work, and the other 10% of the time would be an even split into either no traffic and the am I ever going to get home traffic.

As far as 600 mile tanks I have posted 2 (600 mile +) tanks so far and I am currently working on my 3rd.
I hope I can soon squeeze out a 700 mile tank.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(dkitts @ Jun 15 2007, 10:35 PM) [snapback]462802[/snapback]</div>

If you have the tank topped off all the way you have to average 55.5 or better to get a 600 mile tank. Still watch the pips

 

I'm brand new to the world of Prii, having taken ownership of mine last Wed, with 33 miles on the car already. (Not a full tank, at delivery, either.) I topped it off Thursday night (it took 8.53gal at that point) then drove from DC to NYC the next morning. Took 2 friends along, and always had those 2, and for a little time Saturday, 3 passengers, the whole journey, plus luggage, and running A/C a good bit. Just got home today, and the mileage for that trip (from the MFD screen) was 50.6.
A few questions, if anyone can chime in:

1. I had one 5-minute block of time, were there was no green bar at all---suggesting 0mpg? I think it was around the time I was in some stop and go traffic, but later, when I hit the standard 20 minute back-up at the Delaware tolls, I got plenty of green for those various 5-minute stretches...

2. I decided to fuel up in NJ today, when I got down to my last 2 pips lit, on the gas guage... (I'd driven maybe 25 miles from the time the 3rd pip blacked out.) Fillup was at 475 miles accumulated on that first tankful... the next service station was 27 miles---I felt pretty sure I could make that, on 2 pips---but have no idea how soon after it drops to 1 pip, does that 1 pip then start flashing? (Someone here earlier said flashing pip means you have 10-15 miles left?) I didn't want to chance it, nor did my passengers, so I took the earlier gas station.

3. At that gas-up, I put in 9.71 gallons; is my math then right, that 475 miles driven since fill-up, divided by 9.71gal = 48.9mpg, not 50.6 as suggested on screen at the time of that fillup?

4. I used "B gear" a good bit on the drive up---until I read an article here Sat. night, suggesting I wasn't regenerating "more" extra electricity with that... and might, in fact be losing energy... so I avoided "B" pretty much the whole way home on the interstates today... thoughts?

5. Is the average mpg that is displayed on the screen, the ongoing lifetime mpg? Or can/should it be reset at each fillup? I noticed at my fillup today, the MFD reset the mileage counter (on the MFD--not my trip odometer, that is. I remember reading in the manual it would do that when more than 2 gallons were put in)---but it didn't reset that average value (which read 50.1 at that time, I think.)

6. Is it just me, or is the Prius Owner Manual one of the more poorly-written car manuals? I find it pretty terrible overall, from topic organization, to the choice of what is in the index, to some grammar/possible translation issues...?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts on any of these!
-Chris

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ChristoB @ Jun 17 2007, 06:40 PM) [snapback]463638[/snapback]</div>

1. The display is normal for a traffic jam so don't sweat it. To avoid the DE backup and toll take ANY eastbound exit in Maryland up to the Elkton one (where the truck stops are) and pick up US40 East (which runs north). The speed limit ranges from 40mph to 55mph which is better than sitting in traffic at the toll booth and it is better for the Prius. US40 merges with I95 at the Delaware Memorial Bridge. You may also want to take I-295 through South Jersey to avoid some of the toll on the Turnpike. Best to take the Bordentown exit and pick up the Turnpike there. I-295 is zoned 55mph-65mph. (The only way to beat the toll at the river is to take US1 but IMO that is too far west to be practical. It is a pretty drive through the woods and over the dam. Look out for the Amish.)

2. Discretion is the better part of valor. The guess gauge is not consistant. Estimate 1 gallon per pip and it flashes at half a pip. Sometimes you may have 50 miles on the flashing pip, sometimes you may have 10.

3. The MFD calculation is almost always optimistic. Usually within 2mpg. In winter it can be off 20%.

4. B gear is ONLY used for engine braking down steep mountains. IMO the mountain is steep when you see Runaway Truck lanes or you can't keep the speed under control with the brake. You did lose a lot of electricity so the ICE had to run longer to charge the battery.

5. The mpg displayed on the MFD is lifetime (until the 12V battery is disconnected). I don't see the value of knowing what my lifetime mpg is. I need to know the mpg on the current tank. I reset the MFD every fillup.

6. The book is horrible. Toyota needs to hire an editor who speaks English as a first language. You omitted the parts that are duplicated.

 

I am in agreement with everything the previous poster said, except I want to add #1 that the dealer ripped you off by not filling your tank (it says on the sticker that it comes with a free tank of gas), and that another thing that will throw off your manual calculation is that the full tank varies at fillup quite significantly some pumps wont fill it up..