First snowflake of the season

I live in MN and track all of my gas purchases/mileage on Twincitiesgasprices.com. I got 37 mpg the first 2 months I had my current car, which was Jan/Feb 2005 (I had a Prius before this one, so driver education should be have been a factor). 44 in March, 48-50 from April thru August, and 50-52 Sept/Oct., but it's dropping now. I don't know when MN switches to winter gas. I switched to synthetic oil in late April, and my experience with both Prii is that any MPG increase from that is not measurable. My dad has also had Prii since 11/03, first a 2004 and then a 2005 as of 8/04. Based upon the experience with our 4 cars, I am not a believer in significant increases in MPG from either engine or tire break-in. For example, he drove 2000 miles with his broken-in Prius with Mobil One, got 48 mpg, and then a couple of weeks later drove a brand new Prius with 0 miles at start on same route, regular oil, same weather, and still got 48 mpg.

I will probably finish the year with an overall average of 45-46. I drive pretty prius-fully, but have a short commute, under 6 miles each way, suburban style.

My seasonal-split guess, based upon my climate/commute is:
40 mpg dead of winter
50+ mpg late spring and early fall, when car warms up fast and no a/c or heat used.
48 mpg in summer when car warms up very fast but a/c is used.
For you, I would add 2-4 mpg to my numbers, for your slightly longer commute and warmer temps.

FWIW! John1701a's website, along with some of the others here, have much more lengthy history and detailed data.

rob

 

What proportion of winter mileage drop do people believe is due to winter gas vs. winter weather??

The gas stations around here switched to winter gas about 2-3 weeks ago, and the temperatures were in the range of about 8-18C (last gasp of autumn; we're going to get the first negative temperatures tonight according to the weather forecase).. Anyways, prior to the gas formulation switch, I was still getting 4.6-4.8 L/100km (around 50 MPG US), but as soon as the gas was switched, I saw my mileage immediately decrease to about 5.3-5.4L/100km (43-44 MPG US) despite the same temperature ranges.. The last week, temperatures have been in the 4-6C range, and the consumption hasn't gotten any worse than the initial drop due to the gas, so I would say that the majority of the mileage drop in the winter is probably attributable to the gas formulation...

 

It was cold in the house this morning. Means it was cold outside and the yellow snowflake confirmed it about halfway to work. My temp display indicated 37 F, which I believe is the upper limit to the snowflake light. Anyway, so much for nice weather. And it is still October! :angry:

 

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It's still in the 40s where I am, but my mileage has taken a bit of a beating what with all the wet weather this month... This tank I'm working on right now is only at 49 MPG. Last tank was 51, and the one before it was 53. So I seem to be losing 2 MPG every couple of weeks.

 

Who says the cold weather isn't nice!? I can't wait for some snow. In fact, I'm tempted to drive up to Vermont this weekend just to enjoy some of it.

 

How timely I got my first one this morning 10/27!! So it starts. Temp was 36 on the way in a foggy.

 

I thought I might end up seeing mr snowflake too, as they were predicting Brooksville to reach the 30's. Didn't happen.

My home heating system indicated outdoor temp to be 40. Prius indicated 45-48 for the 1st half of my trip to work. That's COLD for us!

 

In San Diego we have to wait until the snow level is below 5,000 feet and then drive 40 min to Julian, eat apple pie and go home. I did that when I rented a Prius back in January so I'll have to try that with mine.

 

I grew up in Ohio, but in the late 50's my dad took a job in Lake City Florida. It was a very cold winter even snowed, twice, if you want to call a few flakes snow. What did I care they closed the school. That was one of the coldest winters of my memory. The house was not insulated and the oil heater in the middle of the house was next to useless. We slept on the floor next to the out flow. It was not even central heat. The bed rooms had frost on the walls on the inside. We did better than most as my Mom pulled the winter clothing out of storage. I discovered cold and hot is relative to how you are prepared!

 

The snowflake light has been on for about two weeks here, and it's been consistently in the 20s at night, 30s during the day. I expect the light to stay on solid until April. Snow is very close to the Anchorage area, as the nearby mountains are nearly solid white.

Mileage hit didn't seem significant until last Monday, when it dropped into the 30s and stayed. Having to idle the car for long periods to defrost the windsheild really reduced fuel economy. I had to work this morning to get it back up in the 43 MPG range. Normally I get almost 50 MPG.

 

I have had the dreaded snowflake here all week. Temperatures ranging from the upper-twenties to low-forties. I am struggling to keep my mileage above 50 MPG. Oh my, ONLY 50 MPG! I have to remind myself that this is still twice the mileage I get in our Subaru, which is hardly a gas guzzler. I am sure that as winter settles in, our gas mileage will continue its slight decline -- but it will still be so much better than anything else, I figure we should all still be rejoicing!

I have also noticed that Sandy warms up very quickly, and I can get the windshield almost completely defrosted while driving down our 1/4 mile driveway (I put the side window down and can see well enough to safely navigate the drive at sub-5 MPH speeds). I also love the little heaters in the outside mirrors. Nice touch and first vehicle I have had with this feature.

ps - the only snowflake I dread is the one one Sandy's dashboard display. As for the white stuff, bring it on!

 

I am in northeast PA, my mileage this summer was an average 58 mpg. Now with the snowflake on every morning and warming the car up for 5 minutes, my mpg has dropped to 43. I think this is terrible :blink: , close friends of mine (Prius owners) have the same complaint. We live 2-3 miles apart and drive to the same work place at different times of day. Is this normal in the winter? My dealer says its normal to drop 3-5 mpg in the winter, but I dropped an average of 10-15 mpg :angry: Anyone else have this situation?

 

I H-A-T-E the snowflake! Not only does it come on at 37 degrees and is amber, but it Flashes 3 times before staying on. YUCK - for MN, it will be April sometime before it goes away..... :angry: :angry: :angry:

 

I saw the snow-flake for the first time today when the temp briefly hit 37F (duh, I suppose I'd see flames if it were 37 C, well, it'd be hot anyways). We've had it pretty good up until now. October was really mild here in the Denver area.