How does the Prius compare to other cars out there?

I was wondering what is the Fuel consumption of cars out there, in comparison to the Prius. I mean, real life consumption.
Then I realised I had the answer under my nose.

There is a German website, also in English, called Spritmonitor, that can be used to track one's own fuel consumption, thus sharing this information also with all other owners with the same car or a different one.

The Database is pretty huge and complex searches can be carried out. Moreover, most users are from Germany or Europe, which means there are a lot of diesel vehicles, as well as a lot of small ones. And the terrain of most drivers is not as flat as it can happen in some parts of the US (except the Netherlands! ) and the speed limits, driving style (manual gearshift) is closer to that of the EU. This gives also another perspective to US drivers on how much their Prius is really consuming compared to the "rest".

Moreover, the site provides statistical overviews on overall fuel consumption per HP and other such diagrams in the "Evaluations" section - see here (HP vs L/100km - those are not MPG).

So these are some of the "findings" (all in L/100km) - you can play with the search engine and make your own statistics and draw your own conclusions. The important value here is the avg. fuel consumption.
For all non-metric drivers out there, US mpgs are:
3L/100km = 78mpg
4L/100km = 59mpg
5L/100km = 47mpg
6L/100km = 39mpg
10L/100km = 23mpg

(and please convert your country to metric! )

My Prius: min 4,65 avg 5,39 max 6,73
Priuses with similar km (20000km): 69 cars, min 3,85 avg 5,17 max 6,32
All Priuses 2010: 220 cars min 3,66 avg 5,17 max 6,62
All 1st and 2nd gen Priuses: 429 cars min 3,70 avg 5,22 max 6,88
All Priuses: 810 cars min 2,57 avg 5,21 max 7,26

Now the interesting part:
All "recent" diesels (after 2008) with 120-145 HP (more or less +/- 10% power) and at least 20000km: 1060 cars min 4,68 avg 6,87 max 12,17
All "recent" diesels (after 2008) with 120-145 HP (more or less +/- 10% power): 2288 cars min 3,85 avg 6,89 max 14,18
"All" diesels (after 2000) with 120-145 HP (more or less +/- 10% power): 6275 cars min 3,33 avg 10,00 max 14,81
All "super recent" diesels (since 2010) with no more than 145 HP and at least 10000km: 662 cars min 3,39 avg 5,96 max 11,90
All "super recent" diesels (since 2010) with no more than 145 HP: 2064 cars min 2,32 avg 6,02 max 17,88
All "super recent" diesels (since 2010) with 120-145 HP (more or less +/- 10% power): 681 cars min 3,85 avg 6,80 max 12,05

In comparison all Cdi versions of the SmartForTwo (54HP version) have the following statistic: 63 cars min 3,69 avg 4,43 max 5,97

This means that all diesels that on average consume less than a Prius need to have a power between 54 and 145 HP and be bigger than a SmartForTwo but smaller than a Prius, on average...

For gasoline, no need to go in such details - let's simply take something similar to a Prius today with the same HP, with at least 10000km, sold in the last 2 years: 972 cars min 3,66 avg 7,37 max 12,82 (this includes the Prius!!!)
If I take the Prius out, that is, only manual gearshift cars (still the majority in EU - the Spritmonitor has only 54 "automatic" of which a good part are Priuses - 128 cars are "CVT" with a lot of Priuses): 691 cars min 5,00 avg 7,82 max 12,82

So....quickly said:

• my Prius consumes on average slightly more than all of the Prius 2010 in the DB - which in comparison consume slightly less than the 1st+2nd gen Priuses (but there is room for improvement, since most Priuses 2010 are "new" *and* considering the Prius 2010 has more power and torque...it is essentially consuming "less");
• the "Prius" consumes about 1,7L/100km less than recent diesels (!) of same km and similar power;
• the "Prius" consumes less than super-diesels recently launched on the market, which also consume not much less than a bit older diesels...
• to get a diesel that consumes less than a Prius on average, you need either a less powered car, or a smaller car like the SmartForTwo, that still consumes like some Priuses out there, blessed by good weather, flat roads, and most of all, hypermilers at the steering wheel (clearly I am not!)
• In the last 10 years, the avg fuel consumption of diesels has improved *greatly* but still on average is not better than the Prius
• Gasoline driven cars (mainly in EU) similar to the Prius are simply hopeless, since they consume on avg 2.6L/100km more and the min reached is 5L/100km which is the *avg* of *all* Priuses....

So if you think that the fuel efficiency of your Prius is not good, think twice - you are always, on average, consuming less than most people out there...:rockon:

And, in the EU, if you see an ad from BMW boasting their Efficient Dynamics diesel car with a fuel efficiency better than a Prius for suburban driving, on average it will still not do much to the overall "diesel world", and unless the driver is gentle on the gas and 95% of the time on a regional road, driving 90km/h at 25C, he will never manage it...

 

Re: How does the Prius compared with other cars out there?

PS: if somebody knows how to change the title thread, please let me know - apparently I cannot do it (and I created it!). It should read "How does the Prius fuel consumption compare to other cars out there?"

 

Re: How does the Prius compared with other cars out there?

is 5.08L/100km to be exact - yes,you are right!

 

Unfortunately, from what I can see, the search engine of Spritmonitor.de does not filter by fuel consumption (see here)...this is why I could not reduce the range and why at the end I stated that the average value was the only meaningful thing to see.

Also because a car that does 3L on average (the min value is the min average value among all cars used for the statistic) might be a Lupo or somebody driving 70km/h the whole time on flat roads - not really the average driver. But I do understand your point.

What does help though in the search results is the histogram which shows the distribution of the various fuel consumption values.

Sorry cannot help further...

 

How do you manage to get such low fuel consumption???
how and where do you drive your Prius?? Share your secret with us, pleaseee!

 

I found as well that rain is somehow worse than cold weather. I think the windshield wipers take a lot more power than thought and the water on the street, makes rolling way more difficult than one can imagine. Weird, but my same impression.

I have always driven as I had no brakes. My older brother, a mechanical engineer, has always stressed the fact that braking was a waste of energy - unless I really have to, I don't brake, and if possible I brake always slowly enough to get to a stop where I need to with the least CHG lighting up..

Regarding N - what you say is interesting, considering the fuel consumption you get (but there are a lot of factors, as you say, to consider in overall fuel consumption) - both Toyota and several users here claim that using N is not useful since it will prevent regen-braking when releasing gas. At the same time you can simulate "N" by pressing the gas pedal just a tad so that the HSI bar is not visible at all at the far left (during normal regen braking, when not touching the brake pedal, a small "triangle" forms in the CHG section, showing that the car is artificially slowed down - the Prius could also not have this and avoid simulating 1970's automatic transmissions...)
I think it depends how long can you roll off to a stop and in which traffic situations. Because if you are in N and need to brake, only friction brakes will be available and any possible regen will be "wasted". Will need to check this a couple of times and see what happens and if I can get used to it, all other things kept equal.

I am already doing this

I have slightly less - I usually pump my tires so that it is 0.2bar higher than normally needed: 0.1 to offset the air that comes out when disconnecting the airpump from the valve + 0.1 bar to make sure than over a month the average pressure is around the value I want (I pump each month, when I go to fuel up).
When travelling with luggage and passengers, I add 0.3 instead of 0.2, as per sticker. Will need to test once 2.8/2.7 on a tank, hoping that weather conditions don't change significantly affecting the "test".

I did not and will not do this - I know it is safe, but if something breaks for whatever reason, and the warranty is not valid because they figure out that I had it blocked or whatever, I would be really pissed off. You don't know how keen are lawyers and insurance's inspectors in Germany to figure out ways for you not to get the money you rightly deserve - you block the grille and you are getting directly into their open mouths...

I agree - mine is 18kmx2 and it is "short" as I see that the warm-up fuel consumption can still affect visibly the overall average. The return trip, starting from a non-heated but covered garage with a completely cold engine is always better in terms of FE, with similar traffic conditions and same roads travelled.

You bet!

Cannot do much about it here...

Hard to get for most of the year...average yearly here is 8.6C (avg from min and max), with 13C average max temperature...(that's the same as Chicago...)

I agree with you - lucky those who live in Florida! (and not in summer...)
This is also why I take the official fuel consumption numbers with a grain of salt and add 1L/100km to the numbers - and guess what, this is what I get! (see my 5.4L/100km...take 1L/100km out and you get very close to the 4L/100km for the Prius combined fuel consumption)

All in all, it seems then that I am doing all practical things needed to get the best fuel consumption. Some things I could try out/change, other things I simply have to live with. But all in all, I am doing pretty good!!