After 6k miles on my 2011 Prius -- Observations

Thanks for your honest opinion!

 

Mileage-wise, the Mini isn't even close unless you count being within 50% as being close.

I would love the VW tdi if diesel prices settle down to where they should be, which is below the price of gasoline, and if VW starts giving a warranty on their injectors. When I look at VW tdi individual fuel tracking pages, cost per mile typically is 50% above my 6.7 cents per mile average.

At the moment, Prius really doesn't have any competitors, glad I bought one.

 

From the site:

which is my point. But even if I am saving myself 10-20 mpg, in this situation, I am causing others to burn much more than I could save, probably in one good blast from a loaded semi. So I just stay with the flow of traffic.

 

He means traffic's average speed over time, i.e. factoring in the speedups and slowdowns due to waves and jams. By driving a bit slower (40mph) he smooths out the speed variations (50mph to zero to 50mph) which actually saves gas for the whole mass of cars. Coming to a complete stop is very inefficient. Makes a lot of sense when you think about it.

Unless traffic is very light (and in this case faster cars can whiz right around slower vehicles, assuming they're actually driving the car), the "flow" of traffic aways varies in speed: slower in waves and jams, faster in between. So "going with the flow" actually means "slowing down and speeding up", which wastes gas.

 

I hardly think one driver maintaining his gap is enough to break a merge wave for more than a couple car lengths. I would need to see this repeated and maintained in rush hour. It is common knowledge that if everyone slowed down and maintained a gap, that the overall flow of traffic would increase over distance, but it is not common practice, nor is it likley to be until there are semi-autonomous cars.

I commute on 95 in MD, which has some density waves, and many fast bits. If i went slowly in the fast bits, regardless of my gap, the density wave would follow me all the way up the highway to my exit. I have seen it in action.

 

I cannot understand how people get under 50 MPG in they don't drive over 65mph.
I had to go to my car and show you this picture. My wife drives 80% of the miles.

I just make sure that i check the tire pressure for her. This is combined HWY with city. The overall MPG was over 56MPG but dropped recently because I forgot to check the tire pressure.
When I saw the MPG going down I went straight to the tires, and they were 36 PSI. I keep them at 40 PSI.

 

i'm new here, and i would like to add my 2 cents. my first new car was a 1968 volkswagon beetle. when i left the dealership, my nightmare started, and didn't end till 2yrs later when i sold the car for parts. to make a long story short, 423,000 beetles came across the atlantic that year ,and i won the lottery. if you could call it that. the car i found out in the end was an experimental unit, that was never supposed to leave germany. it had a million experimental parts on it, that were supposed to be watched to see how they held up, and maybe used in succeeding vehicles. when things started going wrong. the dealer was using every means available to cover up, when the car should have been replaced after the 1st week. no i would never buy another VW. as for the VW TDI you have to make sure to get uncontaminated diesel fuel, or you got trouble. the problem is almost all the diesel is tainted. as for the mini cooper, they say it is fun to drive! then why is it all the one's i see, only have 1,000 miles a year put on them.

 

I'm surprised to hear such negative feedback on the car.
I recently bought a 2011 model and have driven it for 3k miles.
I often drive a 47 mile highway with varying terrain.
On average it does around 58 mpg with speeds between 50 and 65 mph.
I do often use the cruise control on the highway.
My best MPG so far (same route) is 60.9 with the cruise control set at 55 mph most of the way and Eco mode ON.
Not bad.

There are a few driving tecniques to get the hang of.
Try pressing the gas pedal, releasing it and then gently accelerate to desired speed.
Avoid letting the car getting into the red "Power " part and keep it in the Eco part of the accelerometer.

No the Prius is not a performance oriented car.
Then again,its not meant to be.

 

I've almost 9k on mine.
What annoys me is the rattling. I didn't believe the numerous threads, so I bought it, now I'm quite frustrated. The front passenger seat rattles depending on the road surface, and there is a loud knocking and a clicking from the left side of the compartment area. They changed the backrest and the buffer with no success at all.
Wish I had waited for the ct200h! (Its nearly the same price here as the prius.)

I wrote to the national import company and they promised to handle the problems. As a precaution I also contacted my lawyer. I hate that but the car cost me 30.500 € (42.700$).

The only things I like about my prius at the moment are the mileage 4,1 l/100km (57 mpg), the sound system (keeps down the rattling), and the solar roof (very efficient!).

 

I got 32mpg in my prius when I had a seven mile drive in -20 degree weather with a steep uphill right out from my house and generally hilly terrain before I got my EBH. Just because the winter in your area is mild doesn't mean everyone elses' is. (Lately I've been getting 50mpg as it's not freezing and I moved to a longer commute.)

On that same note, not everyone's highway speeds are the same. Someone in a state with 55mph speed limits on highways will get much better mpg than someone in a state with 80mph speed limits. Also someone in a state with 80mph highways will report much worse handling and worse crosswind effects than someone in a 70mph state. Differing speeds will vary perception of highway performance dramatically.

If the OP was driving in the winter over hilly terrain on an 80mph highway for a short commute with underinflated tires then 33mpg is reasonable, and much better than any other car would give over the same conditions. Of course inflating the tires up to 40psi, blocking the grill, and getting an engine block heater will bring that up to the upper thirties or low forties. As far as adjusting the nut behind the wheel getting a scanguage and trying to stay below 3k rpm may help significantly, many users report a 10% improvement after getting one.

Other tactics are detailed in other threads, but in general minimizing the use of the hybrid battery improves mileage. So accelerate using the engine at a rate where the engine is on but still quiet and try to coast to decelerate to the extent practical.

 

I get around 40mpg all winter, and a steady 50mpg all summer. Deep VT cold makes a huge difference to the per tank average (coupled with the heavier snow tires and more ethanol in the gas during cold months).

The 2 things I find "move the needle" the most in my per tank average are the cold weather and highway speed uphills... and I have plenty of both up here. I could improve my MPG a bit by taking back roads everywhere but frankly, I've got things to do.

 

woops! posted in the wrong topic.

 

Wow, I guess the Feds forgot to warn of pending Semi Crushing when they did their safety tests on the Prius. We have a 1.5 mile 6-8% grade daily getting to and from the freeway each day and lots of small hills once we're in our neighborhood and the car is showing 41-43 mpg with only 1200 miles so far.

We traded a 2010 Pilot Touring AWD for the Prius but we test drove the Prius several times and actually dealer borrowed one for a couple of hours to make sure we were OK going back to a smaller vehicle. So far so good and our mileage has almost tripled from 15.5 avg to 40's. Living inland in San Diego, the solar pkg has already been handy and will be very useful in the summer.

For dealer service, I ran a service department for an RV company for 2 years, worst job I ever had from a "thankless" standpoint. Try winning your service department over with kindness. They get little of it and yours will go a long way toward them taking care of you. If you go in with a chip on your shoulder, telling them what a POS they sold you then they will do the legal minimum toward making you happy. They didn't build your car, they just try to fix them.

Good luck!

 

I'm going to go on record and postulate that the OP is pretty much a hit-and-run Troll ... At first I didn't think so, but with so many 'issues' you'd think he'd participate in the thread ... post pics of the terrible mileage displays, etc, etc. All these issues and 10 pages of help and discussion and no participation from him at all ... what's up with that ?

REV

 

I suppose how much you like the Prius depends to some degree on what your previous car was.

I switched from a 2003 Civic to a 2011 Prius and I can say after 2500 miles my first impression of the Prius is that it's the best car I've ever owned. Great gas mileage, comfortable seats, plenty of headroom (I'm 6'4), excellent sound system, smooth driving (can't feel bumps in road like the Civic), good nav system, informative info on dash.

I actually look forward to driving to and from work in my new Prius, despite the traffic jams in the Baltimore area.