The Can't Get Above 40's Club

I'm stuck in the 40s as well, and have 5k+ miles now. I'm working on it, for fun trying to exit the freeway after crossing the bridge and driving the 2nd half of the commute on surface streets. Not too many stop signs/lights so this seems to be helping. We'll see ...

 

My average over this past 5,000 miles has been 49.1 mpg. It's been improving with time. This is just fine from my perspective. I make it a point to drive in a manner that's consistant with traffic and to NOT drive in a manner that riles up the 'A' type personalities on the road (a serious potential safety issue).

I highly recommend learning to feather the pedal as efusco said, but also to monitor the energy screen for a while, trying to maximize the amount of regeneration that occurs (arrow pointing from the motor / generator to the battery). Easy stops vs. hard stops is key. Just don't do it in a manner that will launch the 'A' type personality behind you into some kind of an angry Donald Duck like tirade.

Also, remember that low mileage cars rarely get optimum gas mileage, they need to first get through the break-in period.

 

It took me almost eight months to get into the 40's, but I have the worst combination of conditions: Low total mileage, cold ambients, short duration trips (3-4 miles stop and go), hills, slightly wider tires, oxygenated fuel all year, and until last month no regard for proper technique.

My dealer says that Prius owners relocating here from Sunbelt or Midwest areas become upset with their lower numbers. I'm pleased with 41.5 mpg for now, and with better technique expect to hit high 40's next month.

 

40's mpg

I am in the upper 40's but I live in the suburbs of Kansas City. Anyone who has ever been here knows we have hills and more hills. I don't have much opportunity to get out on the freeway and don't regret it. Am using synthetic, 42/40. I'm satisfied but go in next week for my 6,000 mile oil change and the recall or whatever they call it.

 

Mileage on Prius

I average about 43 miles per gallon on my '03 Prius. My secret is to press on the gas pedal as if there is a raw egg between my foot and the pedal. The old jack rabbit starts will kill mileage in a heart beat. I'm currently waiting for my new '04 it is due in July 12. A friend picked her's up this past Monday and went on vacation Tuesday morning to Door County Wisconsin and she called me on her cell phone to report 51 mpg on the highway. Like I said EASY on the pedal and mileage will go up!

 

My June average (1,792 miles) was 54.4 MPG.

I have over 75,000 miles experience driving & maintaining THS/HSD systems.

You will eventually "feel the force" later on too. Just hang in there, keep reading the posts here, and be really observant.

 

Be aware also that if there are any "downer" trips MPG-wise on a particular tank early, it is hard to recover until the next tank.

 

Also, in my opinion, it helps to watch the 'less fun' consumption screen.

The energy monitor only shows off what your immediate MPG is - and when I stayed on that screen, I'd get right around 50. However, if you keep it on the consumption screen, you have your immediate MPG, along with your overall tank MPG, along with your past 30 minutes screen. I know where my 'bad mpg' spots come in my drive to and from work now, and I work to improve those areas. Also, you become less worried about the ICE kicking in and more interested in keeping your 'current' MPG around or above 50MPG. Now I'm able to achieve around 53-55MPG instead of 50, which is quite an improvement. But, I think the Consumption screen helps much more than the Energy Monitor, FWIW.

-m.

 

Hum. I rented a 2004 Prius in February for two days. I put 200 miles on it and put 4 gallons of gas in before returning it (50 MPG - I didn't trust the computer running average but it was really close (49.8 MPG)).

As a result, I bought one and have put about 600 miles on it. After the first tank I filled it by putting in 9.33 gallons after driving 475 miles (over 50MPG) and I'm on the second tank now. I drove for a while with the Energy/Consumption display to train myself to keep the mileage up.

My commute is about 35 miles one way (which probably helps) but many of those miles were with the AC on (it's been miserably hot and humid here in PA for the last week - though today is nice).

Does anyone think I can expect a decrease in the mileage as the car gets older? What do I need to do to prevent this?

Thanks
Jim

 

I had to yell at my wife

The other day I asked my wife what the heck was going on with the gas consumption . . . I said, " Listen, I filled up the Prius ('03) 2 weeks ago and --Yea I know I drove to my mom's house twice (60 miles round trip) and you have driven it to work every day (30 miles round trip) for the past 2 weeks but I had to put in 8.2 gallons of gas! (51.2mpg) :lol: Naturally she smiled and then hit me! :lol:

 

I can't get over 45 MPG on a regular basis, but my daily commute takes me over a rather large hill. Considering that a co-worker who makes the same commute is averaging about 17 MPG in his Camry, I'm not complaining.

I've seen tank averages as high as 58 MPG while traveling on vacation, so I know my Prius can do it...

 

I agree with the "learn from PriusChat Posters methods"
My neighbor is commuting to an out of town worksite for the month and his company will either reimburse him for mileage on his vehicle (the family only has 1 and it is leased) or renting. Of course he chose to rent and got a brand new (paper plates!) Kia from Enterprise which he said was pretty nice for an inexpensive car.
I came home Tuesday and saw a base level (no rear wiper) black '04 with NY plates in front of the house and figured they had visitors with good taste! Turns out the local Enterprise lot has some '04s. Guess I was chasing the wrong tail trying to rent one from the Toyota dealer! He traded up as soon as one came available. Anyway he let me drive it and based on learning from this site, I was able to drop into stealth the first try. Averaged in the high 40s (12K on the car) and generated 8 leaves on approx 15 miles highway and city. He had been watching the mileage and power screens so he knew how to use them. I gave him a lot of information I have gathered here, and he was excited to try it all out the next day. I was afraid he'd have an accident watching the screens and working the mileage. Happily, the car was still undented in front of his house this morning.

 

2004 Prius:

I hit about 44 mpg driving across New York State, but I had the air conditioning on and was averaging about 73-75 mph. Plus there was some city driving thrown in, and I tend NOT to gently drive the car.

I have NEVER hit 500 miles, but part of that is due to inconvenient gas station locations, and a gas gauge that seems to start flashing too early. I did manage to get 11.7 gallons in a fillup once though (but "only" 488 miles on that tank).

BTW, on my 2001 Prius I've gotten well over 500 miles, but I was driving around 55 mph most of the time, not because I wanted to, but because there was too much traffic. It seems to me that the 2004 Prius similarly benefits from slower speeds and a lighter touch on the pedal, as well as air conditioning turned off (and my hitch removed). Indeed, I think I could get over 50 mpg that way.

However, I NEVER drive that way intentionally, so I don't really care. All I can say is I get way better gas mileage than what people describe for a 4 cylinder Camry. Who cares if the engine is smaller? The power is close, and that's what matters, and both are mid-size cars. Thus, I don't understand the complaint that a Prius would "only" get 35 mpg with mixed jackrabbit driving, if a similarly driven Camry got 25. 25->35 is a 40% increase in gas mileage, which is obviously pretty damn impressive.

 

I talked to my neighbor (the one with the Enterprise rental Prius) again yesterday. He had just done a 200 mile round trip (48 mpg) to pick up the family who had gone home with Grandma for a couple of days. He COULD have driven his leased 2004 Odyssey and I suppose his oldest son (a smallish 10) would have been more comfortable as he was in the back seat between his brothers who were both in car seats. Instead he chose to drive the Prius. Maybe because it cost less in gas, maybe because it didn't put miles on his leased vehicle, or maybe because (and I quote) "I LOVE THIS CAR!" And this is the base model, no 'extra' fancy gee whiz or safety features. He plans to volunteer for 'commuting distance' jobs (he does computer hardware/software installs) rather than taking local ones as long as he can keep the rental.

 

Can't get above 40s with A/C

I've been using my car to commute in rush hour urban traffic and routinely get 45 to 48 miles per gallon--sometimes up to 50. But the average falls to low 40s when the thermometer climbs into the 90s and I'm compelled to use the AC on those glacially paced commutes.

On the highway at 65 mph, however, we can get 55 mpg even with the A/C. We did last weekend, in fact.

Frankly, I'm thrilled with our mileage and have been since we got our car.

 

up until recently my mileage on the freeways was much greater than city driving.

i guess im still learning the tricks of city driving but on the freeway i set the cruise control to bet 65-75 depending on the speed limit and traffic and i get 53-54.5 mpg. on the streets i average 4 mpg less.

i will say hills do affect the mileage big time. i went cruising to the Cascades just to test my new camcorder. and that time was the only full tank that i got that averaged under 48 mpg overall at 46 mpg. (the worst i ever had was one tank at 44.5 mpg, but half of that tank was when helping a friend deliver the morning paper. that consisted of 264 stops!)