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Man i hate seeing those short trip MPGs!!!

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Main Forum' started by d2mini, Apr 26, 2012.

  1. d2mini

    d2mini Active Member

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    22mpg over 5 miles??? Ugh! My Audi turbo got that!
    And that's me driving like a grandma, as easy as possible, trying to stay in the eco range and coasting whenever possible, all without making others around me want to shoot me.
    But I do love those 50+ MPG numbers after driving for 35 miles. :D

    So is the prius just not the car for people who live in town? What's up with the 48 mpg listing for "city" driving? To me, city driving means lots of short trips and lots of stop lights.

    Luckily the reason i got it was because our commute recently more than tripled. Kinda glad though that I didn't get one before this.
     
    #1 d2mini, Apr 26, 2012
  2. fuzzy1

    fuzzy1 Senior Member

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    No, it didn't. Not over just 5 miles from a cold start.
    Cwerdna has pointed large numbers to readers to some sites describing what the EPA tests really do. Go read them.
     
    #2 fuzzy1, Apr 26, 2012
  3. john1701a

    john1701a Prius Guru

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    When I would "just drive it" in the dead of winter, the 3-mile suburb to the shopping area was 30 mpg. The first 10-minutes driving to, merging on, and driving along the highway would hit 40 mpg. How is 22 happening?
     
    #3 john1701a, Apr 26, 2012
  4. MattPersman

    MattPersman Member

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    my drive to work is 4.2 miles and I get as high as 72 there, 62 on the way back. like all commutes some days are 10-20 mpg less, based on weather, etc. it consists of 8 stop lights, 3 stop signs. my tank average has been around 55 on day to day driving.
     
    #4 MattPersman, Apr 27, 2012
  5. ImeanGreen

    ImeanGreen Prius v Five BP Brigade #236

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    Have you set your driving mode to ECO mode all the time? It will bump your MPG and plus, your pri is still new and requires that break in period. Had the same experience when i got it the first time.
     
    #5 ImeanGreen, Apr 27, 2012
  6. GrumpyCabbie

    GrumpyCabbie Senior Member

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    Who knows what he was doing. None of our experiences match his. He could have let his car warm up for 10 minutes, set off in harsh stop start traffic at 5 mph all the way there with his heater turned up.

    I spent all day in traffic and would find it almost impossible to get 22mpg US, unless I tried :)
     
    #6 GrumpyCabbie, Apr 27, 2012
  7. statgreg104

    statgreg104 New Member

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    Im having the same problem too. 35 to 40 mpg cause all my driving is less then 5-6 miles place to place. But everyone has told me this is cause of the hilly terrain I live around and cause im still in the break-in period (523 miles). My last fill up was 37mpg. BUT still wayyy better then the 14 MPG I was getting before. :)
     
    #7 statgreg104, Apr 27, 2012
  8. d2mini

    d2mini Active Member

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    I know, I was actually thinking the same thing.
    My post was part sarcasm... the hate being from hating that we actually see the MPG of every single trip. It's great to see the high numbers on the longer trips, but dang those short little trips are a bummer. ;) But I am a bit curious about those low numbers. With various short trips from 1 mile to 5 miles, I've seen numbers from 17-34 mpg if I remember correctly.

    FWIW, I sit in the car, start it and take off immediately. Like mentioned above, I'm driving it very easy in regular mode (eco doesn't seem to make a difference in mpg). It's in the mid 80's here this week, AC is on. The entire 3-5 miles is city with lots of stops lights, construction, etc.

    In the mornings my 35 mile commute is mostly freeway but lots of slow traffic, sometimes stop and go. Takes me almost an hour. I get 56-58 mpg.

    On the way home I have my daughter after driving that short trip to pick her up from daycare near my office. So then it's the same 35 miles home in the single lane HOV lane that does slow down sometimes, but for half of it I'm forced to drive around 65 mph and I end up getting around 48 mpg.

    And yes, the car is brand spanking new. About to fill up the tank for the first time this morning after running through the dealer tank of gas. Took delivery one week ago today. :rockon:

    Thanks for the replies!
     
    #8 d2mini, Apr 27, 2012
  9. JimboPalmer

    JimboPalmer Tsar of all the Rushers

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    My advice: Quit worrying about MPG, just drive the car. Compare gallons used to the Audi, instead.
     
    #9 JimboPalmer, Apr 27, 2012
  10. dmvp

    dmvp Member

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    Most of my trips are about 1 mile trips to the grocery store, and I'm able to get around 48-50 mpg using normal mode and driving normal. I tried to drive like that video in the other post and drove myself nuts! So switched back to just driving. I think you should try it again just driving "normally" and see what you get.
     
    #10 dmvp, Apr 27, 2012
    1 person likes this.
  11. d2mini

    d2mini Active Member

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    I drove 4.2 miles to the gas station this morning (from a cold start) which was a much easier route and got 42mpg. Then freeway traffic was pretty light this morning with only one little slow down and I was able to get 58.1 for the rest of the commute with whatever pulse and glide I was able to do in traffic.

    Sometimes I think I get better mpg's by getting up to speed more quickly, even if I enter well into the power band, rather than babying it and trying to stay in the eco band, taking much longer to get up to speed.
     
    #11 d2mini, Apr 27, 2012
  12. dmvp

    dmvp Member

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    That's EXACTLY what I'm finding as well...which is why I think some people are doing better in Power Mode.
     
    #12 dmvp, Apr 27, 2012
  13. cycledrum

    cycledrum PSOCSOASP

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    22 MPG over 5 miles with Prius is defintely NOT characteristic. I've seen about 45 MPG on gage from cold start when going 3.5 miles.

    22 MPG is like the first 1 or 2 minutes of warm up.

    If you're hopping from place to place in Prius, it will stay somewhat warmed up and that will net some pretty big numbers (high 40s or over 50). It's the cold start / 1 mile trip combo that gets you down into the 30s.

    Consumer Reports rates Prius about 35 MPG in city and that's about right for cold start, 1 mile trip, shop for an hour, go another mile, shop for hour, etc...
     
    #13 cycledrum, Apr 27, 2012
  14. cycledrum

    cycledrum PSOCSOASP

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    Bingo. I don't mash the pedal to get up to speed, but I go into the HSI power zone somewhat. If it's an incline ramp onto freeway, I end up burying it in power zone. Still haven't floored the car yet and don't plan to.
     
    #14 cycledrum, Apr 27, 2012
  15. Skoorbmax

    Skoorbmax Senior Member

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    It's annoying but as mentioned all cars get worse mileage when cold.
     
    #15 Skoorbmax, Apr 27, 2012
  16. jdcollins5

    jdcollins5 Senior Member

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    Yes I hate it too when I take short trips at night and weekends and watch my tank average mpg drop from my daily work commute of mostly highway.

    But, on the bright side, I am still getting better mpg than just about every other car making my same short trips :)
     
    #16 jdcollins5, Apr 27, 2012
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