mpg on highways better than local???

What the EPA considers "city" driving does not match reality. It's something like an average speed of 24 mph with 2 or so mile intervals between stops.

In reality, most "city" driving is something like accelerate to 35 mph and then stop half a mile or less later, then repeat.

 

If you can cruise on flat open ground at about 40mpg you will get your best mileage. At highway speeds on flat ground at 55-65mpg you will get very good mileage, that will typically be better than heavy in town traffic. With light in town traffic and good anticipation of stops you should get the same as highway or maybe better -- YMMV and no two drivers will get the same results. Over all the car does very well in town, especially when you consider the gas saving of the engine not running at all when you are stopped (unless it needs to charge the battery).

 

I get about 40mpg on city.

Closer to 49mpg in the highway. The main reason for poor city mpg is because of the hot weather that makes the ICE turn on almost immediate, even if i barely press the gas pedal.

 

Hi there, this is my first post also and I own a used 2004 Prius. Mine had 19,000 miles when I bought and I got about 47 mpg combination driving (mostly highway) the first week or two and the mpg has been dropping every since. Three trips back to the dealer netted an improvement for about two weeks and then returned to about 40 mpg. I have noticed an electrical smell inside after sitting over night but the service people just look confused when I tell them and blow it off. I now have almost 30,000 miles on it at have not been happy with the milage or the expertise of the local service department. I am hopeful this recall will reveal what the problem is.

 

Please understand how THS/HSD works.
You can find all THS/HSD vehicles are better on city than highway, such as Prius, Highlander Hybrid, RX400h and Ford Escape Hybrid.

On highway,
- The trip is relatively long, therefore you'll get better mileage than short city trip.
- Your best mileage will be 60 MPG on highway at about 55MPH.
- The ICE is always spinning on highway, so there is a upper limit of mileage.

On city,
- You can use the "pulse and glide" technique.
- The mileage marathon result was more than 109 MPG.

Ken@Japan

 

As an example of what Ken said about short city trips getting poor mileage, my weekday commute consists of a short local run, about 15 miles of highway, and then about 5 miles of city driving. The local segement has poor mileage (25 mpg) because the ICE is still warming up and the highway segment is typically around 50 mpg. However, when I get to the city driving I'll typically end my commute with an average of 75-80 mpg. Since the car is completely warmed up, the hybrid system can be fully utilized.

Weekends tend to lower my average because there are usually short local drives to the store and such. Unless I have a distant trip on the highway, local driving usually results in mileage in the low to mid 40s.

 

I have had mine for over an year almost 25k on it. I agree short trips do make my MPGs go down I could lose up to 5 MPG doing small trips. In the summer going to a place 2 miles away from home does not let enough time for the car to cool down so when I get back in the car again the AC must blow full in the to cool it down. Doing this all weekend brings milage down. I work 23 miles each way so my milage gets back up to 50-52MPG. Gliding is the trick and slower start offs from light helps. Last fill up 485miles 8.5 gallons in at $2.68 57MPG that is great!... I cant believe I said $2.68 wow !

 

If you are in positive driving conditions, showing better than 50 mpg, just monitor the mileage screen and do the best you can. If you know you are not going to get 50 mpg, change to the battery condition screen and pulse and glide for the purpose of feeding your battery. When you are trying to feed the green arrow into the battery, you are usually able to maintain a speed that will not aggravate other drivers like you do when you pulse and glide on the other screen, and you get pretty good mileage, better than any other way when going up small hills. etc. Then, when you get in a positive mileage situation, you will get top mileage because the battery will drain little or nothing. The posts above tell why it is difficult to get the EPA mileage in town but not hard to get the highway mpg. My average the first 10,000 is comfortably above 50 combined travel.

 

The hot weather doesn't make the ICE turn on immediately, but probably the use of air conditioning does...

My mileage is getting worse and worse for every degree it drops here... It takes longer to warm up the catalytic converter in the morning, so it refuses to shut the ICE off until it is warm. That period is getting longer and longer every day as we approach winter.


Here's a possibility to the original poster : how long are your trips? i live only about 3.5 miles from work, and i started out mid 40s mileage because the first few minutes of my trip are always with the ICE on and burning fuel. I've since been able to improve my driving so that even on my short trip to work and back, I can average over 50 MPG locally, but definitely not 60 MPG yet...

On weekends I run errands that require me to go further away, and that kicks my mileage up a lot... whenever you can drive the car for more than 15 minutes or so, all of the important components should be warm and the car should be capable of giving you excellent mileage.

 

There is defiantly a learning curve to drive this car. First chill, slow down a bit and watch and anticipate traffic. Second it will take a bit to brake in the car. Check air pressure in the tires. Many use 42 in front and 40 in the back. Getting the best milage from this car, or any car, is a process.