Gas millage

Can you give us something to work with?

Where do you live? How fast do typically drive the car? Length of trips? Tire Pressure? Level, weight and type of Oil? Do you keep it in a heated garage? Do you have a block heater? How are you figuring your mpg?

Also, there are several threads on here that address the low winter mileage question.

 

well, to begin with...mileage varies and is reduced in winter...the colder the temps ,the lower the mileage...be glad you are not driving a convential car that would get 20mpg in the summer,now its getting 10-12 in the winter...the reason no one complains is that they dont have a mpg monitor in their car...if everyone just knew how bad their mileage is in the winter...you would seen complaints coming from all walks of life...the general populus is absolutely clueless on their mpg in the winter... additionally, you will learn to drive a prius as time goes on...your mileage will improve as the car "breaks in"...too bad its winter...also, the fuel blend in the winter, nationwide, is condusive to lower mileage...you will improve when summer blend returns... if your heater and blower run, you will get lower mileage...after 1 1/2 yrs of driving a prius...i see approx 38-42 in the winter and upwards of 55-58 in the summer...i have 33600 miles on the vehicle...

 

Here are the most likely reasons you are getting low fuel economy:

1) Short trips. If you drive only around 5 miles per trip, you will get something close to 25 mpg. The car gets low FE until it warms up, so just take longer trips, if only to prove to yourself that the car is capable of higher FE.

2) Cold. All cars suffer in the cold.

3) Reformulated gas. Gas in the winter has other things added to prevent it from freezing and that reduces its efficiency.

4) Low tire pressure. Even 32 PSI is a bit too low; you can get better FE by pumping up the front tires to 42 PSI and the rear ones to 40 PSI.

 

I see a lot of posts on this site that say, "be glad you are not driving a conventional car." I have to say, this makes me extremely worried about my upcoming prius purchase. I currently drive a conventional car, a Honda Civic VX. It is 12 years old and wearing out. I obsessively track my mileage and yes, I do see a drop in the winter. I don't however see a 40-50% drop as described by wb9tyj. My commute is under 2 miles so my car is virtually never warmed up. I hardly ever see the mileage this car is capable of any more (mid 50s on the highway). However, my mileage this summer averaged 47 MPG and during the cold spell currently happening in the Denver area my mileage has dropped to 43 MPG -- a drop of less than 10%. I sincerely hope that Potential Buyer is not correct when stating that 5 mile trips will yield 25 MPG. Our Subaru Outback wagon gets that mileage in the cold for short trips and it is substantially heavier, more powerful and 4 wheel drive.

I have waited a long time for a car to come along that seemed as practical as my trusty civic. I hope I am not making a terrible mistake.

 

I had a 1990 honda civic EX and was getting 33-36 MPG. My commute has about 5 miles straight up Hwy 287 from Westminster to Broomfield. I've had my Prius now for about 2 months and I definitely notice a hit when it's really cold out. So far my worst tank was 46 MPG a few weeks ago when it was hitting single digits for highs. The next tank was 52 MPG when the temps were back up in the 50's. Now that it's been cold again I'm right back down to 46 MPG. My commute takes about 10 minutes. The first 5 minutes the gas mileage goes anywhere from 25 - 37 MPG but I don't actually drive very far in the first 5 minutes because there are a lot of lights. During the next 5 minutes my average is a lot higher. If you're buying the car just to save money on gas then you might consider a different vehicle. Maybe another civic. Of course the new civics don't get the gas milage that the old ones do.

 

Read this article. It'll really help. I've still got a printed copy in my glove box.


To the moderators: Any chance of getting those great articles moved to the current KB? It's easy to miss them since it takes several links to get there.....

 

for what it's worth, petunia, wb9tyj described a 24-35% drop. i must admit i'm skeptical that you get 43mpg in truly cold conditions, but if you do, i bet you're good enough to get better than 25 in the prius, reg

i do believe toyota should give away / at least tell people to get a block heater in cold climates, since it seems to work wonders on getting fuel efficiency back up to (above) par. i'm in florida, and i have high hopes that i'll never see a whole tank below 40. i get (right now, with winter gas) 27-29mpg on my 1996 camry - everything i've read indicates that if you are a frugal driver before the prius, you will become even more so with it. a block heater is a small price to pay for getting the effieciency you pay for.

have you considered (or begged or pleaded) getting an overnight test drive? The prius does seem more tempermental when it gets cold, and i'd hate for you to buy a car (any car) and be disappointed. do you know anyone with a prius? i think a test run is about your only 'real' option - we can't duplicate your commute for you. best of luck!

 

My last car was a diesel. Got 38 mpg in summer and 25 mpg in winter.
Percent drop greater than the drop in my Prius from winder weather.

Prius is running 52 summer (on my short commute) and 45 or better winter with block heater,
38 or better when I don't use the block heater.

Same route, travel time, etc. for both cars.

Prius 25% mpg loss
Diesel car 34% mpg loss

(Not counting the block heater since I rarely used the block heater on my diesel. For Prius I added a timer controlled outdoor outlet, so plug in regularly.)

 

I agree with Petunia. I bought my Prius in July and got avrage of 44 MPG. After service and a change of the tape deck, I now get only 35 MPG. Yes New York is cold but that should not affect the milage that much. I have a subaru Outback and got 21 MPG and it went down to about 20.
I am taking my Prius to Toyota to check the problem this week. I suggest you take yours back and check the problem.
Will let you know what happand.

 

I would not be surprised if the Prius has a higher percentage drop in MPG in the winter than a conventional car would. It only makes sense.

Why? Because a significant portion of the fuel savings in the Prius is due to the fact that it turns off the engine when there's no high power demand. This would be, for instance, when you are sitting at a stop light, or coasting, or cruising at a constant 35ish MPH.

However, in the winter time, the Prius gives priority to heating up the engine for both better emissions efficiency and to provide cabin heat. So, during this warm up period, the engine continues to run during times that it would normally shut off if it were in warm weather. In other words, during the warm up period, it operates more like a conventional car that leaves the engine running all the time.

It seems to take about 10 to 15 minutes, depending on how and where you drive, and how cold it is, for it to warm up to the point where it behaves similarly to how it would in warm weather. So, if your commute is 30-40 minutes, you won't see too bad of a hit on your MPG. However, if your commute is only 10-15 minutes, then the engine is likely to be in warm up mode for most of your commute, and you will get gas milage approaching that of a conventional economy car.

 

I am in Boston, my commute is 50 miles one way. Summer milage avg. 58mpg. My first winter average so far 48 mpg. No block heater. Car parked outside, heat set to 71 degrees, slow fan speed.

I don't know how to get 35mpg nevermind 28. How do you do that? I guess short commute.

 

My 50 mile commute nets me 47.5 right now with temps in the low to mid 30's. Heat set to 68. However, I have been exceeding my summer MPH (68 MPH) and driving about 71 to 75 MPH.

I'm certain that if I slowed down it would jump up to about 49.5.

The problem I had when I first bought the Prius was that I was trying to drive it like a conventional car with very slow acceleration. That was a mistake! Now I accelerate moderately - it's made a big difference.

 

I think that Marlin has got it right, for sure.

I've seen a drop in mileage from the mid 50s that I saw late summer and fall to about 45 MPG right now, but nearly all of that drop is due to my shortish commute of about 3 miles.

Yesterday I needed to refuel. After the refuel, I reset all my trip counters and the MFD's consumption MPG. Right afterward, I had an errand to run outside of my normal commute. I drove for about 40 miles altogether, and even in the frigid temperatures around 27 degrees, I was still able to average 60 MPG for the 40 mile trip.

I guess the moral of the story is that for a reasonable "cold" mileage should not drop as long as your trips are a good length. If they're short, they'll stink.

 

Absolutely agree. My "typical mileage" (I've had the car for 2 months so nothing is typical yet I suppose) is around 50 MPG. I had to pick my dad up at the airport and just so happened to need to fill up at the beginning of the trip. Round trip was 87 mi and the outside temps were right about 32F. I got slightly over 60 MPG on that trip. For the rest of the tank my mileage steadily dropped until it reached my "typical" MPG.

The moderate acceleration is a good point also. Trying to baby the car off the start line doesn't seem to improve the MPG at all.

 

Anyone feel trolled?

The guy joins at 10:33, posts at 10:47 the same day. He qoutes some ridiculous MPG number, and never responds to people's questions. I know that when I drove cross country in 0 degree weather uphill at 75 mph in a 60 MPH crosswind I still got about 36 miles per gallon. To get 28 MPG in a Prius you would have to drag a Hummer behind you.

 

Sorry, I was referring to the drop listed for conventional cars. I should have been more specific. 20 MPG down to 12 is a 40% drop... down to 10 is 50%. My conventional car never sees that much drop. In 12 years I have only had two tanks below 40 MPG and 1 above 60 MPG which was probably a fuel filling fluke.

Otherwise, thanks for the tips.

 

You high milage drivers need to remember that not everyone is a high milage driver.

My wife's new Prius currently is getting around 32 MPG, so I could easily see someone getting 28. How does she get 32 MPG? Because right now she drives 1/2 a mile to the gym in the morning and spends 2 hours there, then drives 1/2 a mile back. Then at 12:30, she drives 3/4 of a mile to drop my daughter off at Kindergarten, sits in the drop of line for 5 minutes, and then drives 3/4 of a mile back home. That's pretty much her routine every day, but sometimes she might drive 1/2 of a mile to the grocery store or 6 miles to Target, or maybe 15 miles to the mall. If you do that kind of driving in the winter, you will get somewhere near 30 MPG.

Sometime later this year, when my wife gets a job and a commute, maybe we'll start getting a higher MPG.