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MPG reduced after winter tires

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Fuel Economy' started by VicD, Jan 21, 2016.

  1. VicD

    VicD Junior Member

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    i have a 2014 Prius four, it's lowered on TRD spring, and ground body kit. I remembered last winter, i was still average around 48-50mpg around winter time, >50-52mpg in summer. But that was with my oem yokohama tires

    However, this year, I switched to Michelin X-ice 3 for my winter tires, still rolling on factory steel rims. I only gotten 42-45 mpg, 45 is the very best.

    In term of driving habit, i was driving 68mph mostly on the freeway last year with OEM Yokohama, and this year, i have been driven around 70mph. And i can tell my mpg has slowly reduced.. Including in the summer time, if i drive 70mph daily to work, i have only average around 48mpg. ------ This is all on oem yokohama tires.

    Have you guys experienced this? I know a few mpg is not alot. but i remember, the Prius do pretty well on maintaining the mpg over the life of its age. a 2mph different in speed could really affect this much?

    And anyone here on this thread having Michelin X-ice 3 for winter tire can chimp in, what's your mpg?
    And i forgot to mention, my trip is 15% city/85% freeway.

    This make me hesitate to change to 17" rims in the up coming summer.
     
    #1 VicD, Jan 21, 2016
    Last edited: Jan 21, 2016
  2. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

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    yes. slow down for a tank full, and put the oem's on and see what happens. as for speed, wind resistance increases exponentially with mph.
     
    #2 bisco, Jan 21, 2016
  3. vskid3

    vskid3 Active Member

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    Winter tires will hurt your mileage in almost every case (unless your summer tires were super grippy). The tires you have are still low rolling resistance, but that's probably relative to other snow tires. Just think of the lower mileage as the price of reducing your chances of ending up in a ditch. ;)
     
    #3 vskid3, Jan 21, 2016
  4. StarCaller

    StarCaller Senior Member

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    I have the same winter tires as you; absolutely no difference to the summer tires (Michelin Energy Saver A/S) - 52-54mpg the whole year round/
    but for normal I set my cruise control to 64mph, so I'm a little bit slower than you/
     
    #4 StarCaller, Jan 21, 2016
  5. VicD

    VicD Junior Member

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    Where do u live? What's your year around temp?



    iPhone ?
     
    #5 VicD, Jan 22, 2016
  6. Mendel Leisk

    Mendel Leisk Senior Member

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    Are you viewing on a phone? Click on his icon and it'll show info. He's Cedar Crest, New Mexico.

    We alternate between 215/45R17 Michelin Pilot (the original tires still) and 195/65R15 Michelin X-Ice2 and getting more-or-less the same. Obviously the 17" Pilots are not the best for rolling resistance, it ends up being about the same. If anything the 15" X-Ice are slightly better.

    And yeah, slow down if you can, that's killing mpg, no matter the tires. If it's a regular commute, maybe you can take a secondary highway at lower speed. Depends on your priorities.
     
    #6 Mendel Leisk, Jan 22, 2016
  7. thuwaragan

    thuwaragan Junior Member

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    I had the exact same thing happen to me when i switched over to the Michelin X-Ice 3. (from OEM Yokohama AVID). I was averaging around 58mpg in the summer and the last tank on the Yokohama's were at 52 (75mph+ all highway).

    Right after the switch, I was struggling to see anything over 40mpg on the display for a few days and the first few tanks were 41, 42 and 37mpg (the last one was high speed). After about 2k miles on this, it's starting to go up again and I'm getting around 45mpg for this tank (for comparison, I was in the 45-50 range last winter). I think it's a combination of the new tires (they need a few thousand miles to break in), the stickier winter tires and having to deal with a shorter commute (not complaining here :))
     
    #7 thuwaragan, Jan 22, 2016
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