pitiful milage

welcome! hopefully we can offer some good advice to you.

well first, here's an article that might help a bit. http://priuschat.com/index.php?autocom=art...howarticle&id=3
give some of those tips a try and see if it doesn't help increase the mpg.

also, don't use premium fuel. the car was designed to run on plain old regular. tell your dealer to read the owner's manual.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(bubblehead1026 @ Jul 18 2006, 07:32 PM) [snapback]288498[/snapback]</div>

OK looks like you are in a good location for good milage. Relatively flat at least by western standards, as I recall you don't have to deal with the rocky mountains! :lol: Good temps for getting good milage no need for a block heater in Florida. Driving style and route are key. Also tire pressure big factor. Yes use regular that is what the car wants. Premium is a waste for you! You do not have a high compression engine. You are no longer driving a Shelby! Around town is the best place to shine below 41mph! I changed my route to work and now push 60 every month in summer! Trust me I lived in northern Florida in Lake City and you do not have winter to speak of. You are in Phat City. I spend 1-2 minutes on the road over the 40-50 route I took previously and have improved milage by about 10 mpg. Brisk but not rabbit starts. Up to speed then back off. Look at all the posts on Pulse and Glide. It takes practice but is very doable! On the freeway you should get in the low 50's with cruse control if you stay at the speed limits. Chill, get in the grove, life can be much calmer in a Prius. You will sacrifice a very few minutes and arrive a lot happer. Go with it! Start with the Energy monitor, when you get bored with that go back to the consumption screen and drive with that until you improve and stabilize. At that time you will be ready to return to the energy monitor screen and fine tune your driving. When you can drive with out looking at the screen by feel you have snatched the pebble from my hand and you need another master to instruct you.

 

Seems to me there has to be something wrong. My worst mileage traversing the hills in freezing weather wasn't anywhere near the 30s. An experienced driver in Florida should be getting high 40s at the very least unless his trips are all less than 5 minutes each. I just don't believe it's the driver here.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(efusco @ Jul 18 2006, 10:08 PM) [snapback]288521[/snapback]</div>

My wife gets around 45 when she drives the Prius like her Miata. (floor it and go, hit the brake hard to stop). I live in Panama City, so if you get up here, or the next time I get down to Orlando, I would love to drive your car to see what it can get. I have never seen anything below 40 MPG unless it is the first five minutes of the drive. B)

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(bubblehead1026 @ Jul 18 2006, 10:32 PM) [snapback]288498[/snapback]</div>

Why not sell or trade in your 05, for an 06? You'd get the 3150 tax credit, and probably wouldn't take much of a hit on depreciation? See if it truely is the car, which it sounds like it is!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(bubblehead1026 @ Jul 19 2006, 12:47 PM) [snapback]288736[/snapback]</div>

I have the 17's with the Pirelli's, and got 42 MPG out of my last tank. I run 42/40 PSI. I have had tanks at 38, also. If you have the same set up as me, these tires and wheels weigh 43.5 lbs a piece, which is a huge unsprung weight difference than the stockers. As you know, it's been pretty hot here, so the AC is always on. We definitely take a hit on mileage, but it looks soooooo good. I will be picking up my stock tires and wheels next week, hopefully, just to see how much of a difference it makes. I don't think there's anything wrong with your car. Get the light tires and wheels and the mileage will probably go up.

 

Speaking of pitiful mileage, I've had to go to the gas station three times in the last two weeks to do 8 gallon fill-ups.
So while they're not three full tanks, I feel that perhaps something is amiss.
I won't count the last fillup though, because I won't be counting the miles I've driven on it in my scenario.

My average consumption is reset everytime I refuel and it usually reads between 42 and 48 mpg. I understand the computer's readout is quite optimistic so I've decided to accept "40 mpg" as my actual average.

So now, 40 miles per gallon times 8 gallons times two fillup should give me about 640 miles. I've made four 110-mile trips, two 30 mile trips, and about 25 miles worth of local-puttering-around-town trips. (These values have all been heartily rounded up.) This adds up to 525 miles.

Where did my 115 other miles go?!

Why am I refueling so often?

(No one else drives the car)

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Manksgloob @ Jul 21 2006, 07:30 PM) [snapback]290231[/snapback]</div>

It's your estimate of 16 total gallons. Even though you aren't using the miles from the current tank, the last 8 gallons was based on the conditions upon filling up your last tank which adds to your calculations what I'll call a "bladder factor". That is the current heat wave we're experiencing would ... let me see if I have this right ... shrink you're bladder, thus making that last fill up too large. There are other conditions too, (e.g., sitting in line at In-&-Out with A/C full blast waiting for the juiciest burger on the planet, 2-3 times a day, LOL, you know, burning gas but adding no miles), but the 'expanding bladder' appears to be the most talked about contributer to expected mile variances on the PC.com. Of course, you could have a similar 'fill-up' variance simply from using a different gas station, eh?

Here's a table showing the effect of such a "bladder factor" (forgive the lack of formatting 5 columns 5 rows).
estimate |2 - 8 gallon |bladder |calculated |estimated
mpg |tanks |factor |miles driven |miles driven
40 16 0 640 525
40 16 -1 600 525
40 16 -2 560 525
40 16 -3 520 525
40 16 -4 480 525

So if you were off only a mere 2-3 gallons, say 14 gallons instead of 16 your miles would be as expected, and mystery solved, eh?

 

Aye, berylrb, it does make more sense now.
I guess I hadn't really thought that the bladder would have made that huge of a difference. 1.5 gallons! Wow. That's more than 10% of the tank.
Here I was, thinking it was the size of a small watermelon.

No matter, I guess the only thing I can do to cut back on weekly stops at the gas station is drive less.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(pcflorida @ Jul 19 2006, 07:15 AM) [snapback]288590[/snapback]</div>

I have never been above 38 MPG. I have about 1500 miles on it so far. But never any better than 38. Bummer !!!!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(narussian @ Jul 25 2006, 12:31 AM) [snapback]291851[/snapback]</div>

Yes, check you're A/C like Tideland suggested. Here's another question for you, how long is your commute?

We routinely have our worse mileage when all we do for seven days is drive the commute in my signature. Routinely we're talking the first five minutes 25 mpg, and the last 5 45-50 mpg, so for short commutes under 10 minutes you can see mpg will suck.

However, this tank I've made several trips to Daly City every day, a whopping 10-12 mile roundtrip and WooHoo, I've seen nothing but high 40's and low 50's for four days now. I've even been doing the 55mph thing on the Freeway for all of 5 minutes, LOL, you know vacation and no rush no worries.

Of course, that's just because I'm on vacation and doing longer trips, but come September back to the regular disappointing commute, re MPG, however, bliss as far as lifestyle!

Also: What part of Texas?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(berylrb @ Jul 28 2006, 12:10 AM) [snapback]293672[/snapback]</div>

I have been trying the manual AC, seems to not push so much air. Which setting is more fuel efficient between Outside Air and Recirculate? Or is the AUTo the best way to go?
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(berylrb @ Jul 28 2006, 12:10 AM) [snapback]293672[/snapback]</div>

My commute is 15 to school, 3/4 of the way highway. 2 hours later, 15 work, 3/4 way hwy. 5 hours later, 30-40 minutes home, 3/4 hwy.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(berylrb @ Jul 28 2006, 12:10 AM) [snapback]293672[/snapback]</div>

I live in Dallas. I am probably a big whiner, but it is HOT AS HELL here.
I looked into the Heatshield for sale on this site, but the posts that people wrote about their experience with the model for 2005-06's were pretty bad. saying is is way bulky and totally a pain to roll up,. and the extra length for it to cover the side triangle windows was a total drag, so I haven't bought one. Have you tried one. Sorry so long, thanks for your help!

 

Hi Narussian,

I got the "Heat Shield" from Canvas Works and find it quite good. But forget about rolling it. That is impossible. It does fold up OK, once you get it trained though. Fold it in the middle with the reflective surface in, then in half again with the tie flap on the outside (tie will be on the inside of the first fold). Then in half one more time, again with the tie flap on the out outside. Allow the tie flap to rebound and fold it back on the last fold 360 degrees. The tie will now be on the outside and can be wrapped around back to reach the velcro.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(narussian @ Jul 28 2006, 01:50 PM) [snapback]293921[/snapback]</div>

Not sure about the AC setting, here in the Bay we seldom get our AC out of the fan low setting.

Sounds like you have a long enough commute to do the pulse/glide technique and other fuel efficiency methods. Here's a link to the most quoted thread re: new owners help on MPG. Search for other users in Dallas and see what they average, then PM or post a thread for their feedback too. There may be a few insights that us non-texans aren't aware of here's a link for you Welcome Page of Central Texas Prius Chat Local Prius Club

I've noticed that you get more responders on the main pages of Prius Chat but if you check back you'll get responses over time.