What am I doing wrong? Better MPG on FWY than the local HWY

I frown when I see MPGs in the mid-40s in the winter until I think about what other cars get.

 

Throw out your back seat,... LOL!

Alan... The second mouse gets the cheese!
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Do you have reformulated gas where you are? St. Louis does and other St. Louis-area posts in the local club area of this site complain of backwards mileage. I've also noticed 5-10 mpg less with reformulated gasoline in a non-hybrid car... I'm still on the dealer-supplied tank of gas, so I don't know if I'll see either of these differences or not (yet). After doing the math on a couple of tanks of reformulated gas and a couple of tanks of non-reformulated gas, I'll post back.

Green

 

California is all 10% ethanol.

Beethovenite - your mileage will fluctuate with weather (cold = lower, windy (cross and head) = lower, rainy = lower) and road conditions. How does the terrain and driving speed vary from the highway to the freeway? In your case, what is the terrain like on the non freeway portions (Hilly, flat)? What is the speed driven on the non freeway portions (45 mph)? Are there stop lights, signs that you regularily hit?

For the freeway, is it a steady speed or do you hit pockets of slow and go? Are there more or less hills on the freeway compared to the highway? Is it windier on the highway (say hwy 1) than on the freeway?

 

Swine!

Your tires are still too SOFT!

Bob Wilson

ps. Enjoying my second beer and free WiFi.

 

that is highly depending how you drive .... using cruise control suggest you do not care for "driving" that means local road as well ... driving technics are more important on the "back roads" ... in any case you get better mpg than any other car.


70-80 mph is out of the sweet spot of the prius ...you probably get better with 65 !!! and you would drive about 10 minutes longer then going 75mhp or 13 minute compared to 80 ..... (per 100 miles)

 

The speed limit on I-95 is 75. My wife drives at the posted speed, while I drive 5 over.

To drive 65 would be slower than the general flow. Granted at 80 sometimes people blow by me like I was up on jacks.

I find the Prius hugs the road nice

 

Nowhere around me I can drive legally 75 MPH but that is beside the point ... driving that speed, although you are better than almost ALL car around you but will not get the good MPG expected ... high HWY speeds only the very good c factor of prius working for you none of the other hybrid quality ... with cruse control you probably even loose the potential of glides ....

I do like my prius to hug the road ... for me my wife will drive 80MPH on highway but I never over 60-65 (unless I am in hurry ...) last tank max speed according to SG was 66 mph.