Disappointing mileage

I don't know that you drive as much as I do so your figures will differ I am sure but here is what I came up with for total fuel and CO2 savings between 93,000 miles drivin in my Prius vs. my race truck. The basic idea is that going from MPG in the teens to the 40s+ is amazing for savings.

I've driven 93,000 miles since I bought the Prius and sold the truck.

2001 GMC ext.cab Z71 4x4 = 13mpg avg.

2005 Toyota Prius = 47mpg avg.

Had I kept the truck it would have went like this:

93,000 / 13mpg = 7154ga * $2.50/ga = $17,885

With the Prius:

93,000 / 47mpg = 1979ga * $2.50/ga = $4,947

Total Savings in Fuel: $12,938 ($17,885 - $4,947)


Total est. CO2 output by Truck = 63.67 Tons

Total est. CO2 output by Prius = 17.61 Tons

Total CO2 emissions reduced by 46.06 Tons over the last 93,000 miles of driving.

(Multiply gallons used by 0.0089 = tons of CO2)

 

Try a larger sampling.

 

I too, am new to Prius (not counting about 3 weeks of total rental time on recent California vacations, where I rented, and fell in love the a Prius). When I drove my New Prius V home from the dealer, I averaged about 52.xx mpgs. Over the next week and a half, learning the car, I brought that up to the 54 range.

Then, last weekend, I went to a Prius Meetup, and even though I showed up late, as they were wrapping up, I managed to learn quite a bit. Steve "a priori" was kind enough to take a 5 minute drive with me and give me a few pointers. I am happy to report that the following morning, in rush hour traffic, I was able to get over 62 mpps. Now, after resetting my trip monitor Sunday afternoon, I am averaging about 59 mpgs.

I know that the 3-4 inches of rain that we got yesterday affected my mileage, but being a newbie, I am not sure how big of an impact that was.

The two basic lessons that I have applied are, try to never get the power bar to light up more than 75%. Try to glide (without power or regen) as mush as possible. At one point in my trial of these techniques, I had my mileage at about 70 mpg, 20 miles into this trip, I was excited! However, my old heavy foot must have returned, as I am inching back down, and currently sit at 58.7 for the last 180 miles, and a vehicle average of 54.3 for the first 1400 miles.

Eric

P.S. THANKS, a priori!!!

 

Wait for second fillup , you will know that it was completely full. dealers will fill just enough. Same as my old country Doctor said: "When a couple gets married the first baby can come anytime, the second usually takes 9 months"

 

I don't know that you drive as much as I do

Between my wife and me we drive around 50,000 miles a year on our personal vehicles (I have a work vehicle supplied).

I'm finding with two vehicles I'm still putting a lot of miles so I am getting the Prius to spread them out a little differently. If I keep the Expedition it will be only for vacation, chores and towing. I should be able to keep it a long time with about 8K to 10K miles a year or less. I would expect to now keep the Highlander Hybrid for most driving for me when the wife is out somewhere or when we need to do misc hauling not needing the Expy. Thus the Prius may see 30,000 miles per year.

I plan to build a retirement home in the near future closer to the kids and perhaps my milage will eventually drop and when I retire two vehicles will do (a Prius and Vette perhaps?)

 

Then, last weekend, I went to a Prius Meetup, and even though I showed up late, as they were wrapping up, I managed to learn quite a bit. Steve "a priori" was kind enough to take a 5 minute drive with me and give me a few pointers.

That's Great!!! After years of reading the TCH forums and people complaining about not being able to get more then 32mpg I always wanted to take people on a drive to teach them how to maximize the potential. Honestly I don't see how you can get 32 mpg. I did a high speed (80+) drive for 100 miles in 30 degree weather with wind and got 32 on that trip. I just can't imagine averaging that.

Glad to see Steve did this.

I've tried to tell people in the TCH to just practice but to remember what they did, because when they do it right they will have an "AhHa" moment and they will realize that when you experience it once you will indeed "get it".

 

I've had my 2010 less than two weeks and have close to 400 miles on it. At my first gas fill-up (only needed a little over 7 gallons after more than 300 miles), I was averaging between 43 and 44 mpg, but that was driving without worrying about the mpg such as use of the a/c in auto set to 72 and not being too concerned about accelerating into the power zone on take off, although I did keep it in ECO mode the whole time.

I thought I'd see how much I could improve the mpg and since that fill-up, about 93 miles ago, I've averaged 48 to 49 mpg: very little a/c and doing my best not to exceed the center line of the ECO range. I got up to 49.5 mpg at one point and was very pleased with myself. I was lucky if I averaged 18 mpg in my Pacifica.

I live in Orange County, CA and commute on surface streets about 16 miles per day plus the usual running around town driving my wife to her shopping destinations (she doesn't drive).

I'm lovin' it.

 

My pleasure!

Don't forget, though, that the whole event was set up by the Chicago Prius Group and FireEngineer and TonySchaefer did all of the work on it. The information they provided probably did the trick for you, anyway!

 

and at $2.50 gallon calculation means there is a range in the savings and this is probably gonna be closer to the low end of the range. only the first few years of ownership and the last 6 months has gas been anywhere near that low.

 

I have a Gen II. The only long period with gas mileage below 50 mpg was a trip across the plains of eastern CO and most of KS going 70-75 mph into a 20-30 mph wind with cruise control (never seen cc work so well, btw!). 44 mpg. I have the tire pressure set at a comfort level, and in the 8000 miles since that trip, I've averaged 53.5 mpg even in winter.

I do wonder, since my other vehicle is an 01 Blazer that needs a heavy foot to keep going forward, if coming from a smart car, if you're not keeping a heavier foot on the Prius' gas pedal than necessary. After my Blazer it's tough to back off when I reach 45 mph for fear I'll come to a halt. The Prius won't.

And the previous posters are right- give it awhile and don't worry about the "actual" reading. If the Gen III has a bladder in the gas tank like the II, I suspect the computer is probably more accurate than the "actual" reading. Every "bad" mileage tank is followed by a "great" one and vice versa. Oh, and according to other posters (and I'm not going to test them), don't top off the tank- it can damage the bladder and cost a lot of cash.

 

It doesn't so don't worry about that.

 

The North American, 2010 Prius has a more traditional fuel tank:

The sketch from the Toyota "New Car Features" suggests the highest part of the tank are the fuel vapor pipes that appear to have liquid blocking valve to protect the vapor canister. This suggests it will be difficult to 'poison' the vapor canister by trying to over fill the tank. However, the fresh air vent line is still at the filler neck.

If one tries to fill up leaving a 'pool' of gas at the top of filler, raw gas might get pulled towards the canister and risk saturating it. This would be bad as future fill-ups would pump gasoline vapor into the neighborhood instead of keeping it in the system to helping to run the engine.

In my case, I'll continue the practice of filling at the lowest speed and when it 'clicks off', a short pause, 10-15 seconds, and continue to second 'click' and stop. This seems to work well with my 03 Prius and I suspect, seeing the fuel system schematic, should work with the 2010 Prius.

Bob Wilson

 

Good job mate!

 

Agreed! I just felt even using a low-ball figure like $2.50 was still pretty exciting. I think something closer to $2.75-$2.80 would have been more accurate but I settled on $2.50 just to play it safe and not exaggerate the savings.

 

Great! I'm sure you'll notice a continual improvement as both you and the car get broken in

 

Somebody in the TDI forum challenged me that it would not make sense financially to trade-in my current car to the New Prius, and I showed him the math. Based on my coming commute needs, the new Prius will save me around $5000 in the next 4 years, more than 1K/year (assuming a gas average of $2.80, which is probably underestimating it). And my math considered the "real" savings, because it was not based only in fuel savings but I also looked at difference in priced paid in my trade-in vs. Prius and depreciation of both in the next 4 years. However, I’m getting the non-NAV Prius 3; if I got 4 or 5 with NAV, the deal not make sense financially. So, first Prius owners trying to save money have to be careful and do the math. The good thing about the Prius is that all trims are the same in terms of power and fuel efficiency, which makes the cheaper trims very attractive financially (although it looks like Prius 5 may be a little bit less economic due to the larger wheels... I'm not sure). Of course, with time, if I really enjoy the Prius and decide to become part of its legacy, a more equipped high-end trim would make more sense in the future for Gen 4, but right now my priority is safe money and the Prius will do it based on my circumstances!

 

I'm glad I don't think that hard anymore. I just wanted it.

 

I agree with Indyking in terms of trying to make financial sense of a car purchase but the vast majority of people choose to purchase a vehicle in the much the same way you did, because you wanted it. Period!

So when someone tries to argue with me how I would have saved more money buying a 1995 Civic Ex I can't help but laugh at them comparing a brand new Prius to an old Civic. I mean seriously, sometimes you just want the comfort and techno-wizardry of a new car and that cannot be explained in terms of enonomy.

 

No offense, but people by nature think hard when they have to...

“Thinking is the essence of wisdom”


“Thinking is the greatest torture in the world for most people.”


Both are Persian proverbs... think about it!