Mileage concern

I'd personally average of over many tanks, esp. given the quirky variable capacity bladder tank of the Gen 2 (04-09) Priuses sold in the US. It's hard to know how full you actually got it.

Again, too short/small a fill really makes the margin of error huge. I wouldn't really "trust" numbers I obtain from fills of less than 5 gallons or so.

The Gas Gauge Says Full, But That's Not Quite True: NPR | PriusChat also might be insightful, even though it's a Ford engineer speaking.

 

I forgot about the bladder gas tank on second gen. Point taken.

 

Baseline test your car to see its general happiness.

Find a nice long straight highway or at least a 3-5 mile straight road with no hills. Best to do this late at night no traffic. Get to there and reset the mileage button on the consumption meter the button lower right that says reset. Put the car in cruise control and set the mileage to 50 miles an hour. AC on and radio on and headlights on.

Don't touch the brakes or gas and go the 3-5 miles and check mileage. Should be at least 52 mpg.

 

In those conditions it is more likely to be 60+ mpg US or 75+ mpg UK easily.

 

Assuming the powertrain is fully warmed up.

 

Yes but should hit that minimum which is why I shoot for that for test purpose. If he can't hit that we know somthin' ain't right.

 

I have only had my 2006 with 120k for a couple weeks now so I am not an authority in any way. However , on short trips like 25 miles with the outside temp 80- 90 I regularly see high 50s and as high as 62 on the puter. I live in the Hudson valley of NY so its not flat. I take advantage of coasting opps but also have to drive "up" as well.

This weekend I went to NYC and the trip was 200+ miles and I did a lot of 70-80 mph driving with the AC cranking. Floored it quite a few times and puter showed 49 mpg avg.

The worst Ive been able to get when sort of trying was 34 mpgs over like 40 miles when I purposely went up in the more mountainous areas on 88 degree day with about 500 pounds of humans, dog and gear.

Even without the car being warmed up and short trips where I am in a hurry (less then 10 miles) I have never seen anything like 24mpgs.

FOR SURE. My MPGs go up over time. Like on my recent NYC trip first the first 10 miles or so I was in the mid to high 30s and then consistently creep up as they slightly fluctuate up and down.

I have to say as a newbie I am pretty vigilant about driving efficiently and watched the computer to perfect my skill at being as efficient as possible and I am generally very light with my throttle position. I do use the pulse and glide "method" and always try to utilize any downgrade as best as possible.

I also think I like the idea a poster had promoted on another thread of actually matting the throttle in a lot of situations to get up to speed rather then getting there slowly. There doesn't seem to be as much of a difference in mpgs between full throttle and 1/2 3/4 so the idea is you get up to speed quicker where you can then do the really nuanced lite throttle position stuff.

Like I said Im a total newbie with less the 1k of driving on my first hybrid car. Believe it or not I had actually never even been in one before . My car has 120k on it and did not come with any service records ( owner did seem very reasonable individual that serviced the car properly).

With all that said. That does not seem "normal" to me. I would certainly follow all the advice given here about all the things that might cause this.

I am EXTREMELY happy with my purchase. There are a lot of things I like about the car. But the main appeal for me is the efficiency. For me personally and what I spent on mine used (7500.00) ,fully loaded with 80% on tires and an extra set of rims/snow tires at about 90% I would not be pleased if I was seeing those types of #s. I knew Hwy would not be as good as local but I do a lot of local.

My general feeling when I see 55-62 on the screen after in town trip is WOW for a car that does this , PLUS , has a decent stereo (jbl), is quite comfortable and roomy, handles pretty well when not pushed , brakes actually a lot better then I might have expected, cruises comfortably and quietly, NO RATTLES or SQUEAKS, nice fit and finish, doors close nicely, electric windows are fast, AC is not the strongest ever but very adequate, seems to have excellent cost of ownership, doesn't eat brakes and suspension feels great at 120K etc etc.

BUT all of those likes are in the context of MPGs. If I were not seeing the #s I see for 7500.00 which is still a bit of a premium for a used car with 120k there are many other cars I might have purchased that got decent MPGs but were a bit more fun to drive in a conventional sort of way.

No need to freak out or anything, but I would want to figure out how to get closer to the #s I and many others are seeing. I am still shocked at how much I enjoy this car being that I currently have a 2002 corvette and have owned many high performance cars and other vehicles. But considering all factors and despite all the positive factors of it just being a well built quality Toyota product it is very dependent on the MPGs when factoring the cost to satisfaction ratio when evaluating how I personally feel about the purchase, which is to say pleased beyond my expectations and quite surprised at how much so.

Im sure you will get it figured out and it could be something very simple. Good luck.

RM

 

If you are an "aggressive" driver and cannot control that tendency, then accept whatever mpg your car will deliver.

If you can become a "gentle" driver then expect to see your mpg improve especially on longer trips.

 

If you really want to improve your MPG;

Pump your tires up;
drive slower;
pulse and glide, if possible;
coast when you can;
get behind a large box trailer or box truck;
and sometimes, if no traffic,
drive like you are running out of gas.

You will see your MPG go UP.

I hope this helps!!

 

sanlen, your screen shot shows very good performance from the car. In those 30 minutes, there are two bars @ ~50 mpg, one @ ~100 mpg, one @ 25 mpg, one @ 75 mpg, and one @ ~85 mpg. (Maybe there was a hill that you went over.) The average MPG that is showing on the MFD is much less than the MPG in those 30 minutes. So I think your driving and your car are fine. Push the reset button and see what the new value reads.