new car "break in" mpg question

Also, take a look around the forums... you'll see that short trips, quick accelerations with rapid stops, and high speeds can all lower your mileage... My sugestion: take the car out for a little "joy ride" sometime... spend an hour or so getting to know your new baby in some areas where there isn't much traffic so you can look at the MFD occasionally and get a general idea of how to improve your mileage. then come back and here read the sticky about new owners improving mileage or whatever it's called.

After just 25 miles, i'd say you're doing just fine. keep at it!

 

The break in period is usually considered to be around 5000 miles, with a secondary break in again sometime later (10,000 maybe?). The big point is to just enjoy the car at first, get used to how it feels to drive. then you can start really paying attention and trying to improve you mileage!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(efusco @ Aug 21 2006, 12:35 PM) [snapback]306887[/snapback]</div>

http://priuschat.com/forums/kb.php?mode=article&k=23 is one such article.

 

I'm on my second tank...I do all short trips...lots of hills...my first tank
I got 31 mpg....then I joined Priuschat.com.

I have been up to 45 mpg on this tank, because I took a couple of trips that were 5 miles +....now I am around 40.8 mpg and half way through the tank...I'm not worried, just finding it fun to learn and watch.

I did read a lot here, though, and am trying to maximize the mpg to my driving situation..I upped my tire pressures....I climb my hills briskly....using coast on way home since it's many downhills then...

When I can get above 30, I use Pulse and Glide as much as possible....I don't know if it's just because car is on second tank...certainly isn't broken in...but my mpg is now 10 mpg higher....

I agree with what Evan said...just enjoy driving it....there is a break-in period....It'll take me a year to drive 5000 miles with all short trips, so I'm not likely to get 50 mpg...but that's fine..I just love the car.

I watch the MFD and use the driving tips because I enjoy it all so much....so ...not to worry, unless you want to have some fun trying to get the mpg higher ....

Enjoy the ribbing...I know I am definitely a Prius owner and lover because I was a bit shakey with that 31 mpg on the first tank...then I settled in. I haven't had a new car that I have owned in more than 20 years...the Camry (15 years old and just sold) was hubby's till he became blind...and my last two cars were leased because of our business at the time.

So...this is a real trip for me...a gift to myself in retirement!!

 

I just started my 3rd tank of gas. When I picked up the Prius at the dealer two weeks ago, it had 11 miles on the odometer and the "average" milage shown was like 18mpg. This of course was not realistic as much of those 11 miles were at idle sitting at the dealer or driving on/off the boat from Japan but at the end of the first tank I reset the MPG average showing 48mpg. The second tank with real driving conditions netted an average of 51.8 mpg and seems to be steady there in the low 50s with both highway and city driving! I only have 800 mjiles on the car so others tell me to expect it to improve! Read the PriusChat tips on good mileage as this has been a big help to me!

Enjoy and good luck. Tom KN6VV

 

my first tank i got 60mpg city/highway, my next tank was highway (70mph) and i got 69mpg. i really didn't think i was going to get even close to these numbers, but it happen. this was done on a new 06.

 

What was your average MPG on your previous car, Etel Rose? There are a couple of break in periods. The first is at about 5K or 6K miles, and probably has as much to do with you learning how to drive your Prius as the car loosening up. Another one seems to come around 20K miles.

My advice: Don't worry about MPGs for the first few tanks. Spend this time getting to know your car, becoming familiar with it. Don't worry if the engine "races". Don't worry if you never see a green battery. Stomp the accelerator (safely) to get the feel of the available power, both from stopped and cruising speeds. See if you can detect when regenerative braking stops and friction braking begins (around 8 mph). Learn to change the radio and the temperature from the steering wheel. Play with the Nav system if you have it. When you become comfortable with your car, when you don't have to pay attention to it, then you can pay attention to increasing your miles per gallon. It's a really smart car, all you have to do is drive it and you'll get better MPGs than most other cars on the road.

BTW, time to update your profile from "other non-hybrid". There's a Prius group in the Portland area that meets monthly. Check out The Portland Area Prius Meetup Group.