Gotta love record high temps!!

From my very limited experience with a new Prius (only two tank fill-ups so far and a total of about 1100 miles driven), it is evident that driving style and route choice are important factors in mpg. My commute is about 24 miles each way, virtually all flat, and thus far, with temperatures in the 60's and 70's. Rather than take the freeway for sixteen miles, I choose to take a few extra minutes and travel the nearly abandoned feeder road paralleling the interstate. I pulse and glide between 30 and 41 as much as possible. I routinely see 70-85 mpg in 5 min segments for this part of the trip. I have to switch over to the freeway for about four miles, where I see about 50 mpg at 55-60 mph. Overall for the commute I am averaging about 65-70 mpg.

On weekends I have to do a lot of short trips that bring the overall average down significantly. The two tanks I have calculated at fillup have yielded 59 and 59.4 mpg (with close agreement between MFP and pen and paper).

Hearing that many folks see an improvement when the car is fully broken in and synthetic oil is used, I will be interested to see if even better mileage awaits.

I sympathize with those in colder climates. Unfortunately, we have beastly heat and humidity (and required AC) to look forward to!

 

I am getting the same mpg as you at the moment! I live in FL so it's warmer and flat which seems to be a good combo for good mileage. Actually on the way home yesterday it bumped up to 59.5 mpg. The car has 2000 miles on it and so far I have got 51, 53, 57.2, and I'm working on keeping it at 59.5 or higher. Don't think I have time to make this tank hit 60 since I am almost out of gas. I won't stop trying though!

Sidebar: I love hearing everyone complain about the price of gas going up since I effectively cut my gas price to 1/3 of what I used to pay since I get 3+ times better MPG than my Nissan Pathfinder.

Swami