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Wow, you have to be kidding me!

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Fuel Economy' started by ElleMarie, Jul 12, 2012.

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  1. cwerdna

    cwerdna Senior Member

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    That's on their tests on a dyno (rollers) and not a real road w/o measuring actual fuel consumption. If one has very short city drives, esp. in very cold weather (w/heater usage), one could easily be well below 50 mpg, despite "conservative" driving. Same goes for very short drives in very hot weather w/AC usage.

    See Car and Driver: The Truth About EPA City / Highway MPG Estimates | PriusChat to learn more about the EPA tests. The only tests where they start from a cold engine are 31.2 minutes long.
     
    #41 cwerdna, Jul 15, 2012
  2. ElleMarie

    ElleMarie Junior Member

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    Well, the tires were brand new, we now have about 1500 miles on them, plus they were underinflated. Then add the car pulling that far to the right too, guess the combo was too much. We also (ourselves) found the rear bumper wasn't snapped in correctly leaving part of it dragging, I reached up and snapped it into place so that might have been a bit of a drag also. I have decided that my desire for cool air (I live in Phoenix area) is greater than my desire for good gas mileage so we are leaving the air low and blower higher...at least until we get comfortable.
     
    #42 ElleMarie, Jul 16, 2012
  3. NineScorpions

    NineScorpions Economy, Meet Style!!

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    great to hear things are improving. If you are incorporating some of the many techniques listed...keep us posted on how each one impacts your results. Best method is to change one at a time to evaluate...but I think some folks are too impatient to do that. I think your best tanks are ahead of you!
     
    #43 NineScorpions, Jul 16, 2012
  4. joedirte

    joedirte Member

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    #44 joedirte, Jul 16, 2012
  5. cwerdna

    cwerdna Senior Member

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    Did you also notice my your tires that I've never heard of likely and not being low rolling resistance, thus contributing to poor mileage? Can you get them to replace them w/better (from a LRR point of view) tires? If not, you're going to be stuck w/worse mileage than OEM tires until they're replaced.
     
    #45 cwerdna, Jul 16, 2012
  6. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

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    A lot of folks have speculated about driving 'skills' but there are routes that would defeat any driver. Would you be interested in an analysis of your route and driving approach?

    One possibility is to use a Garmin nuvi or other GPS device with a track recording capability. This can provide altitude, velocity, and track to identify driving challenges and possible strategies. Unfortunately, this also gives exact locations you might travel including home, shop and work. But there are ways to obscure the data. But I would not rule out problems with the car either.

    Another option is to get better instrumentation, say a ScanGauge II and read out or even video record the values. Again, this can give insights and help diagnose what is going on.

    Just some thoughts,
    Bob Wilson
     
    #46 bwilson4web, Jul 16, 2012
  7. cwerdna

    cwerdna Senior Member

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    #47 cwerdna, Jul 16, 2012
  8. ALS

    ALS Active Member

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    #48 ALS, Jul 17, 2012
  9. ALS

    ALS Active Member

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    There are so many factors that can affect your fuel mileage. Example I can't get over 40-42 mpg in my 2010 daily driver. Reason I only live 1.5 miles from work and 90% of my trips are less than 3.0 miles on average plus lots of hills. On the other hand last Sunday I had to make a road trip around 81 miles each way and averaged just over 61 mpg. Being you are living in a warmer than normal area the AC is going to drain the traction battery faster at an accelerated rate forcing the engine to fire up more than normal to keep it charged. Being where you live is hotter and sunnier than normal, car color will make a big difference. My white Prius is a comfortable to drive with windows down at 85 degrees. My other car is black and forget about driving it without the air if the temperatures over 75 degrees.
     
    #49 ALS, Jul 17, 2012
  10. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    The rest of the gears will be tall (makes for rather boring vehicle) and most people will have an automatic anyway so downshifting won't bother them, it's the delay in power delivery (because a person driving a manual would see the hill coming and downshift ahead of time).

    This is where the benefit of CVTs come in. You get the low cruising rpm (we're sitting below 2,000rpm at 70mph) but yet we get a fairly quick response if we need power.

    A car won't be sitting at 3,000rpm at 70mph unless it's short on gears or it's been geared to be sporty (e.g. a sports car, even with 6 gears may not have a tall top gear for cruising unless we're talking big V8s)
     
    #50 Tideland Prius, Jul 18, 2012
  11. szgabor

    szgabor Active Member

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    Something is REALLY wrong with either the car or the way you drive.

    Here is a real example, from yesterday, 150 miles btw Delaware/NJ border to Long Island via NYC first about 130 miles on highway speed (my wife do not care about mpg and drives whatever the car can do ... 85 MPH in times probably even faster but I stopped her) first 130 miles was 65 MPH AVERAGE and NJ turnpike WAS busy ... I was even scared at times ... Then last, about 20 miles, through NYC ... so average speed dropped to 61 MPH.

    Three adults in the car, full A/C (outside temp started about 100F down to 92F) no cargo .... I was looking at the tourque dials, some insane numbers but still she somehow made it ....

    She got 52 MPG by the computer which is about 49 in real word !!! Well over EPA .. and I tell you we were not hypermiling ... I was close to 60 prior to that stop, but I was trying hard and did not even go over 70MPH... (TRIP A was reset so I could really account for this) I will have to see the actual computed numbers. My NORMAL average speed is 14-15 MPH ... during daily commute. (that about 90% of the last 3 year driving makes 51.4 MPG) Car is exactly 3 years old today 19 July....

    So pay attention all the other stuff mentioned .... I check tire pressure every week. (more often when in fall times). Allignemt can be an issue too. 12V battery which is mentioned often ... NOONE actually explained that I think that is bogus... just looking electrical number even a dead battery is less load then running your headlights ... A/C in summer and heat in winter IS A BIG factor...

    Regards
     
    #51 szgabor, Jul 18, 2012
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