First Fill-Up?

congrats on your new Prius!

your tank mpg will be whatever is displayed on the screen before you fill it. (consumption screen)

after adding more than 2 gallons of gas it will automatically reset so if you want to keep track, make sure you write down your mpg number before filling up. i also jot down miles per tank.

 

Right. The consumption screen has a reset 'button' on the right side. If you press that ANY time other than just after you fill up, you won't have the car's reading for MPG for the tank. It is always MPG since the last reset.
Over time, your actual miles and gallons pumped in will be the accurate 'lifetime' reading. But tank to tank, since you never know if you are putting in exactly the same amount you used, the computer MPG is fine. Mine seems to run high by less than 0.5 MPG for the entire tank.

 

Hi Barb,

Congrats on your Prius purchase.

YOU GOT OVER 50 ON YOUR FIRST TANK? I'm friggin jealous! My Prius is just over a month old - I'm on tank 3. Averaging 42 mpg - and I'm THRILLED with 42! But I've been told not to expect over 50 until the car "breaks in" (about 10,000 miles). Even if it stays where it is, I'll be quite happy, but I HAVE noticed increases since I bought it (first tank was 39 mpg) so I'm guessing this "break in" thing might really have SOME merit.

That said - the one thing no one else mentioned (I don't think) - Trust your consumption computer - NOT the amount of gas you put into the tank. Prius has a bladder in the gas tank (designed to reduce emissions). There are VARIABLES that cause a "fill up" to be less accurate then the computer consumption screen.

Yoda

 

For all I have noticed is that MPG depends (believe it or not) on the fuel I tank (not the octane, it is always 95 but the petrol station I tank at). Same route, same speed, same outside temp., MPG varies from 45 to 50. Trip distance is 300 km (about 200 miles).

At least I know now from where to tank in order to get better MPG

 

Some totally anal Prius owners have gone so far as to public track fuel consumption and other statistics for all to view.

I think it's stupid myself, but I'm curiously drawn to it...

http://www.w8kc.com/priusmileage.htm

 

I'm even calculating cost of ownership per mile, taking price, interest, maintenance, deducting equity, etc. So far, about 65 cents per mile, which will go down significantly as the car gets paid off, and purchase costs get averaged into more miles.

Also calculating estimated gas cost savings over my former Saturn

 

I was in upper 40's first 2 tanks myself, but realized I was 'idling' with the AC while playing with NAV during summer, and had taken more trips on highway. Normal commute was more in the mid 50's.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(priusham\";p=\"91141)</div>

No offense taken; however, you have grossly misinterpreted the purpose.

The actual reason for publicly documenting real-world effeciency data is too prove the misconceptions incorrect.

Some of us are so frustrated by the false claims people make, we go to the trouble of providing detail to show that they are incorrect.

 

Well, for me, I am a pack rat, and that includes useless data. Well, not terribly useless.

I still have most of my electric bills as far back as '92. I plan to get trends on that, including monthly, seasonally and yearly consumption and cost trends.

So, yes, a bit retentive AND PROUD OF IT!

 

Danman,

Being THAT detail oriented, you MUST be an Accountant (or at least the accounting type)

That explains two things.

1. Why you bought a Prius.

2. Why I like you - we are very similar. 8)

Yoda

 

Actually, network engineer. I provide network OS and Email systems support for resellers. I am very detailed oriented though. A messy, disorganized, detailed person.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(yoda\";p=\"91064)</div>

Break in yes, but temperature and what sort of driving you do has more to do with it.

My first tank, mostly coming home from the dealer was about 49 MPG, A lot of 50 MPH or less with few stops then 30 miles of 65 MPH interstate.

Worst was just under 33 MPG when the temps were max single digits above 0F for 2 weeks.

Now have ~8K on the odometer, just filled at 491 miles, 51.9 MPG computer. Would have waited since I hadn't gotten to 1 bar blinking yet and could have made 500 miles easily. But my wife IMed that a station was selling at $1.969. Couldn't pass that up, it is $0.10 less than the lowest I've seen in months. I was really hoping for my first 52 MPG reading as it has been bouncing between 51.7 and 52.3 the last 4 bars. Unfortunately the station was too close to work, the first 5 minutes pulled it down.

But I'm not anal about it or anything :roll:

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(john1701a\";p=\"91240)</div>

John old boy, you do know that the website I mentioned is actually mine? I'm making a slight joke of it.

I created the on-line version of the gas mileage because I saw yours during my research and I thought it was pretty cool

Like you, I also use it to give validation to what happens in REALITY when the temp drops, the oil is changed to Mobile 1, the miles driven goes up, etc.

 

Now that's a new one, a kitty that's humble enough to laugh at itself.

 

> I'm making a slight joke

So am I. Being anal is actually a good thing, a must on a resume for my particular career. That has resulted in an unusual perspective, where insults are actually taken as compliments.

Did you know I have a collection of over 1,000 music videos on my computer, all digitized *BEFORE* my Prius became a reality. Back then (5 years ago), most people hadn't ever heard of MP3. And here's John, with 75GB of MPEG-1 files.

How about that? I absolutely did not want to lose that aspect of my past. So I preserved it on disc. Needless to say, it was a great thing to do. It was proof I was strong-willed (stubborn/anal) enough to do the same Prius in the early days. So I did.

Interesting, eh?