We took home our “new-to-us” 2014 Prius v Five last Monday morning. Since then I have put on 405 miles (estimated 70% street, 30% highway miles) before the first fill-up with the gas gauge reading 3 bars remaining and 79 miles of driving range remaining. The average (AVG) indicator read 48.1 MPG. I put in 8.512 gallons; that works out to 47.6 MPG. (Note: I debated whether to drive the Prius until the gas gauge read one bar, but I did not want to run out of gas and I wanted to take advantage of the cheap Costco gas on my way to work this morning.) Overall, I am generally happy with the Prius v. It handles well, stops on a “dime,” rides smooth, and is fairly quite. I love that I am getting great gas mileage per gallon; it is a welcome change from the poor gas mileage of our other cars. I like the Prius’s informative instrument panel, but I wish there were readouts of engine coolant temperature, inverter coolant temperature, voltage, etc. I bought a small OBD port reader (ScanGauge II) to put on the dash to display this information.
Had one of those (on our ‘10) for several years, no problems. Then, starting getting “CHECK HYBRID SYSTEM” warning, brake and anti-slip lights, and “odd” brake feel, extra pressure on brake pedal needed, almost felt like no brakes at first. anyway, long story short: dealership mechanic diagnosing these issues noted the ScanGauge, and that his Techstream connection (on the same OBD port) was dropping when he tapped it, proposed disconnecting the ScanGauge for a while, to see if the issues would cease. I did that, no further issues. Seems the constant weight of the ScanGauge obd connector was messing something up, causing communication errors. Lots use SG with no such ill effects, but just something to keep in mind.
Experienced the same with a "P12 Car Head Up Display OBD2 Digital OBD Gauge HUD Auto Diagnostic Tools Meter". Nice tool, but one time, mid-trip, the dash lit up like a holiday display, ABS and REGEN went flat, etc., while the P12 numbers remained in the expected ranges. Pulled the OBD2 connector, pulled over, shut down and restarted the Prius v Five and everything was back to normal. Seems as if feedback from intermittent comms make the car start to go wonky.
UPDATE: I was curious why the calculated MPG (47.6) did not better match the Prius’ AVG MPG (48.1) as shown on the dash cluster. Then I remembered that before driving the Pirus off the lot, the salesman asked me if I wanted one last test drive with him. So, I drove it on some city streets for maybe 3-4 miles. And then, at the gas station this past Sunday, when I filled up the tank, I topped it offer at it the pump stopped automaticallly at (I think) 8.46 gallons. So, if these are taken into account, 408 miles / 8.46 gallons = 48.2 MPG. P.S. I know that topping off is not recommended. I just did it this once, and will not again on this car. Since filling up, the AVG MPG readout has been between 48.0 - 48.6. I am still amazed. I would have had to fill up our minivan at least twice during this same week, and it has a 20-gallon gas tank.
Is it me or are those like new HV pack battery results? Considering the car is 12 years old with 177k miles. Do you know if it has a new HV pack?
Hi there - I have a '13 Prius Alpha with 123k km on the clock, I was rarely getting above 18km/l (about 42mpg) no matter how sedately I drove it. I opened up the battery a couple of weeks ago and removed a butt load of corrosion on the copper bus bars which seems to have improved the packs' performance somewhat. It seems to drain power more linearly whereas before the first 4 bars or so drained and then suddenly the next 2 would suddenly drop away. To that extent my average fuel burn seems to have risen to about 20km/l and that's in winter here too!
Carfax history does not show any battery replacement. I can ask the dealer or salesperson. I can ask people I know who own Prii about their battery history. I have not run any diagnostics yet; I will see if I can do that in the next few days.
Still that is great mileage. Our 3.6L V6 minivan has the option to use Liters/100 km. The previous owner was getting 18 Liters per 100 km. But he admitted that he had a “lead foot.” When we started driving the minivan, the best that we could do was about 9.6 liters per 100 kilometers, but on most around town and commute trips, we were getting 10.1-11 liters per 100 kilometers. 3.6L is twice the size of the 1.8L Prius, but the minivan is also heavier and less aerodynamic, so it makes sense the efficiency mileage more than twice that of the Prius.
I will have to look into this. I know that some battery retrofitters replace the bus bars with nickel or other metals. I wonder if that helps. I have not taken a look at the hybrid battery, but I should get to that soon. The salesperson only showed me how to access it via the rear. Perhaps, the dealer cleaned it out as part of their preventative maintenance.
