Prius MPG increase after "break-in period"...

I only have 3500 miles and have been averaging 50mpg, so I certainly hope there is! Even a 2-3mpg increase would be quite nice and keep me consistently over 50mpg.

 

It may be tire break in. I have noticed that when people get new tires, some report that their milage goes down, then after some period of time they get better milage.

 

When I got the Prius in April my mileage was 44-46. That was largely due to the fact that I commute was only 5 miles each way. Now it's 18 each way over freeway, residential and hills. At 5,000 the oil was changed to Mobil 1 Synthetic.

I've almost at 8,000 miles, the number that some people told me was the point. It's increased to 47-50 and it's easier to get past 50 than before. But also I'm probably learning how to drive Blue Belle better.

 

Due to driver learning curve and vehicle break-in, I noticed a significant increase in fuel economy after 10k mi. At 14k mi, I am now earning 60+ mpg and 600+ mi per tank. I keep meticulous records, so my perspective is objective. Cumulative fuel economy is 49.5 mpg for 14k mi.

Using Mobil 1 synthetic oil is believed to be another factor as to ease of operation and fuel economy.

 

I've had 2 definite increases so far.

First one was at a bit over 1000 miles and the big change was my electric mode started working.
Prior to that it just pretty much ran the engine full time.

Second bump up came after about 12000 miles. This was delayed I expect by switching early to Mobil 1 and taking out the break in oil at like 2000 miles.

I'm hoping for a third bump up after maybe 25000 miles!

I should mention these increases are small, maybe 2-3 mpg each.

As far as driving technique if I just drive like a normal car my mpg drops by about 5 mpg from what I normally get now. This is with no overall speed changes, which would make the difference greater.

 

I'd like to believe that there is an increase, but from my limited experience it isn't so much about Ruby getting broken in as it is about Sparky breaking _me_ in...

Back in March I bought Sparky. Mileage started around 42-43mpg, jumped pretty quickly to about 45. In the three months that he was in the family, I averaged about 45mpg, with a single-tank peak of 48. That's with about 4500 miles of driving. In June I was rear-ended on the freeway, and after ten weeks of waiting the insurance company decided to total him out.

After about another month of waiting, I managed to find Ruby. She's been in the family about three weeks now. The first tank ended at about 48mpg, including the 8 miles (and 20mpg, ugg) that were on her when I picked her up. First tank put in by me averaged 52mpg. Second tank is currently sitting at 51, but it's only halfway gone. All that is in the first 1100 miles of operation.

To sum up... Brand new prius with already well-broken-in driver yields pretty good mileage, significantly better than I was getting the first time around.

Now, I'm _hoping_ that it goes higher. I'm just saying that everything thus far is pretty clearly how well Sparky had me trained.

 

<_< I'm still at 46 MPG no matter what I do and no matter the conditions. 5500 miles and counting.
-Paul R. Haller-

 

I noticed a jump in MPGs right around 3,000. Of course right now I'm only at about 3,700 now. I can't imagine I was driving any differently than I was before, and my MPGs jumped from about 39.8 to 44. I'd say that's a pretty marked improvement. I had read somewhere there was an MPG jump around 3,000. I'm hoping the other jumps will be true too, perhaps I can start getting the 47 to 48 I was expecting.

 

I drive quite a bit differently than I used to...started getting about 43mpg when I first got the Prius. Then I took care of the tire pressure business, and have almost 1500 miles on the car now and am getting about 51mpg. I'm hoping for some more mpg as the car breaks in, but anything above 50mpg is great. When I originally bought the car, I figured getting over 40mpg would be wonderful, and it was. Over 50mpg is even better.

However, I know that a component of that 20% gain (43 - 51mpg) is the way that I'm driving now, and that if I went back to the way that I used to drive it would be mid 40mpg again. I'd like to get to about 55mpg, we'll see.

-Roger

 

I have 11,000 miles on my '05. I have consistently averaged 47 mpg, with no discernable improvement for recent tanks. Add one more data point.

 

The learning curve is a constant gradual improvement, but there was a definite jump at between 5k and 10k. That had to be something other than my learning curve. One other thought is the ECU's do have some data collection and adjust and improve the efficiency of the system. I would expect that to be a gradual process. The break in was more abrupt occurring over a tank or two.

 

My mileage is only 2,532 and my last tank was my best at 53.8mpg. I increased my tire pressure and lowered my freeway time and drove more surface streets. On the freeway I drove 65 or slower if behind a slow truck. It takes longer but that's the only way I could get over 50mpg. All my previous tanks have been in the high 40s. I've also learned how to charge up the battery to full bars just before my home freeway exit and then go the rest of the way home electric only for about 4 miles.

 

Turned over 10000km a month ago at which time my one year averages were 5.54L/100km (43.19mpg US). After having the second of four free services performed and when I arrive home and let the oil settle in the sump I checked it and found it was 1/4 inch above full. I removed the excess oil, went to the local service station and carefully set my front/rear tire pressure to 42/40 and filled the gas tank.
Just completed updating my spread sheet after one month 470 trip miles and filling up and my calculations show 4.95L/100km (47.46mpg US)
I'll never know if this sudden improvement is as the result of any one of the things I did indicated above or the combination of all.
Guess I'll have to wait another month to see if it was just an anomaly

 

Its a well known fact that ALL engines get better gas mileage as they break in, not just for hybrids. I was already well versed in how to maximize Prius mileage long before I ever took delivery of mine because I lurked on all the Prius chat boards. Ergo, my driving technique has never changed since I got my Prius and I am getting easily 2-3 mpg better now (11000 miles) than when it was new.

Its definitely all due to the engine breaking in.

 

I just hit 8,600 miles and put 6 gallons in the tank (including topping it up quite a bit) for 344 miles. I calculate 57 mpg even tho the nav system reported 47. This is my best so far... so maybe there's something to this.