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From a Honda Ridgeline to a 2008 Prius

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Fuel Economy' started by rochesteruser, Feb 19, 2008.

  1. rochesteruser

    rochesteruser Cruzin' in Rochester MN

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    I am so used to getting 17 MPG in my old truck driving around town. I bought this car to be more enviromentally responsible, but it appears that I am only averaging 28 MPG. It's been really cold here where I live -10 to -20 F with windchill. From what I have read so far, cold temps don't seem conducive to high MPG's. I drive normally. No hypergliding or anything fancy. Just plain driving like I normally do. Please tell me that I didn't spend $30,000 for nothing. BTW, my car only has 377 miles on it and I have already had to fill up 2x. I thought I would be doing much better driving this hybrid. Any thoughts?
     
  2. Rae Vynn

    Rae Vynn Artist In Residence

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    welcome to Priuschat!

    I'd suggest perusing the forum, particularly this thread.

    Yes, cold weather can make MPG less, as can short trips (engine is unable to warm up enough to shut off the ICE), and low tire pressures. Also, there is a break-in period on both the car and tires, after which the MPG goes up.
    Don't discount your own ability, as an informed driver, to adjust the MPG by making small changes to your driving habits.

    Now... post some photos of your new beauty :)
     
  3. donee

    donee New Member

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    Hi Roch...,

    Well, you wont be saying that come summer, but here are some tips. With that mileage, even at those temps, I imagine you are making short trips. So, the first thing to do is block off your grills. All of the top grill and 3/4's of the lower grill. Most of us use Plastic Foam Tubing Insulation. There are lots of posts on this topic, just go out and look for them.

    Oh, and remember when it gets above 40 F, take off the blocking on one row of the lower grill blocking. And then above 50 F all of the blocking on the lower grill. Just like a diesel, the very efficient Prius engine does not have allot of waste heat to spew out into the enviorment.

    Most likely what is going on with your car is that the engine is running continuously to keep the passenger compartment warm. That is one of the weak spots of the Prius. Internal Combustion Engines send like 70 percent of waste engine heat goes out the exhaust ports. So the efficiency of running the engine to heat the passenger compartment is down around 15 % gasoline energy to heat in the cabin energy.

    They really need to put in a stove type heater in the car, and get that heating efficiency up to 80 %. They thought about that for cooling, with the super efficient variable speed AC Motor/Condensor. I guess it just does not get into the artic temps there in seaside Japan.
     
  4. rochesteruser

    rochesteruser Cruzin' in Rochester MN

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    Sorry...but what does ICE stand for?
     
  5. efusco

    efusco Moderator Emeritus
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  6. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    It happens to ALL cars. You don't realise it on other cars because they either don't have a trip computer with average fuel economy readout or most people didn't really care what mpg they got.

    The Prius is quite temperature sensitive. It's probably best you got your Prius in the winter. If you got it in the summer, then you'd get ok mileage as the car breaks in and then poor mileage in the winter.

    If you got it in the winter, then the pain of winter and break-in are combined :D. This way, you can start the summer (spring?) off with a bang!
     
  7. Technogeek

    Technogeek New Member

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    Congratulations on your new Prius. I did two things to boost my mileage when I first got my Prius. I started using the cruise control everywhere, and I increased the tire pressure to reduce rolling resistance. When using the cruise, don't just set it and forget it. Remember to use the cruise stalk to accelerate and decelerate whenever you need to tweak your speed a bit, rather than using the pedals. That tip from Evan helped me a lot.
     
  8. rochesteruser

    rochesteruser Cruzin' in Rochester MN

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    The Dealership in my Sales wrap up advised not to use the Cruise Control for the 1st 1000 miles. So far, I have not yet tried it.
     
  9. patsparks

    patsparks An Aussie perspective

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    10 miles per gallon is not to be sneezed at! I wouldn't call that nothing.
     
  10. SyCo

    SyCo Member

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    Be sure to check your tire pressure. When I bought mine all four tires were at 27 psi :(. I've set mine at 42/40.

    I leave up north in Quebec (very cold) and I don't remember getting below 30mpg even with my short route. I drive only 5 miles to work.

    Let us know what is your typical route ?

    p.s. I also have an EBH (engine block heater) and I think it is an absolute must for cold climate. Although I doubt I would be below 30 mpg without it.
     
  11. rochesteruser

    rochesteruser Cruzin' in Rochester MN

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    I've been seeing the 42/40 PSI rating in many of these threads. When I took the car back to the Toyota Dealership they WOULD NOT inflate the tires to this PSI because it will void the Tire Manufacturer Warranty. Also they brought up a good point about eneven pattern wear at this pressure and loss of traction in the snow. I totally understand their point. When they checked my tires with a digital guage it read 36 PSI on all 4 tires. 1 PSI over the recommended 35 PSI on the drivers door sticker.
     
  12. N3FOL

    N3FOL Member

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    Sounds to me that you have a lot more short trips that is below 5 to 10 miles. I noticed that beyond 10 miles, the display will show a significant improvement in mpg. There are a lot of tips that I have learned in the past 3 months in this forum. One of them is not turning on the heater this winter until after 5 minutes or so of driving.:cool:
     
  13. david81

    david81 New Member

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    This I seriously doubt. Take a look at the tires themselves. From what I hear, the Integrities are labeled with 44 PSI max (correct me if I'm wrong here). The Turanzas on my new 08 Touring have a max of 51 PSI. Toyota imposes their own "recommendation" to give a softer ride. I have no worries about running my Turanzas at 43/41 as they are.

    Still on my first tank and my average just broke above 40 MPG this morning. I can't wait to get the EBH installed to help with the first few minutes of the drive.


    David
     
  14. edthefox5

    edthefox5 Senior Member

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    First off please remember the dealer is your first stop for Prius hearsay...technical nonsense...mis-information...and general shiftyness.I say that pertaining to the utter horsesh*t I have heard from salesman there.
    Seen post after post here about owners bringing there cars to the dealer and having fits when the dealer won't fill the tires up to 44 lbs as they request.
    They won't. Who cares. Guess what..your going to be checking your tires pressure alot. But only if you car about mpg's. The Integrity's have a small problem. They don't hold high pressure very well. The 44 lbs inflation is a Priuschat fix. And a good one. The dealer doesn't know about it and doesn't care. When I got my car from the dealer it had 28 lbs in the tires. Which after owning the car a few months makes perfect sense. In Japan they filled the tires to 35 lbs. I now know the Integritys lose about 5 lbs over a months time depending on if they see real cold. And of course the dealer never checks them upon delivery. I know mine didn't because I saw it arrive from the dock..saw them wash it..and then hand it to me.
    There's at least 4 mpg's savings between 28 lbs and 44 lbs and I have run my new 07 5000 miles on 44 lbs and they don't even need rotating yet. They all have perfect wear patterns front & back. The most important thing to do if you want good mileage is check tire pressure routinely. I didn't believe it either until about 50 people told me when I first joined. Oh and the 3000 posts about it helped too.
     
  15. Tideland Prius

    Tideland Prius Moderator of the North
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    Not only that, it's supposed to have a 2PSI difference btwn the front and rear.
     
  16. edthefox5

    edthefox5 Senior Member

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    Make that 3001 posts. Good luck.:rolleyes:
     
  17. F8L

    F8L Protecting Habitat & AG Lands

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    I've been running over 50psi for quite some time now and tire wear is very even. I just upped the pressure to 60/58 and will keep track of the wear and if it seems out of hand I will definately report back.

    It takes some time to work out the best way to maximize MPG for your specific routine but it can be done and is more fun than headache. :) I liken it to my old drag racing habit. A stock vehicle will average a particular ET/MPH in the 1/4mile but with a few free tweaks and better driving you can make those numbers a bit better and that sets you apart from the rest.
     
  18. SyCo

    SyCo Member

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    [​IMG] but don't tell that to everybody.... :eek: Doh! too late :D
     
  19. sugar land dave

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    In addition to blocking your grille, I would recommend you soon change your oil to a full synthetic such as Mobil-1 5W-30 (though some in the frigid climates will recommend 0W-20). The synthetic will flow easier in cold temperatures and will deliver an MPG increase.

    YOMV - your opinion may vary.....