Real driving MPG?

I'm doing everything I can and just barely getting 40 -45 mpg. I don't know how you guys are getting these really high mpg's.

 

Not a regular occurrence for me under regular conditions, since it's rare that I'd cruise for extended distances at an uninterrupted 30 MPH.

But I will end up running the battery from full to 2 bars -- which will then trigger ICE to recharge -- in a traffic jam if I'm not proactive. Lately, I've been watching the go-stop traffic waves in a backup and trying to pulse on ICE, then glide as much as possible. My overall MPG goes up slightly during the backup, and I end up with a full battery when traffic finally starts flowing again.

I THINK this is the best strategy overall, since when the battery's at 2 bars the ICE's gotta run to recharge it and if that happens at an inopportune time, you're pulling your infinite EV-mode mileage down with 0 MPG.

 

Really? How far do you go each trip? How many trips a day? What kind of terrain? Do you pay any attention to coasting? To the "PWR" indicator on the display? What pressure do you keep the tires? How closely do you follow traffic ahead of you?

I'd think one of those questions would hold your answer.

 

Depends on so many factors, especially speed and avoiding stops

high 40s......- stop and go traffic
low 50s.......- highway, normal driving and 67-70 mph
56..............- highway, careful driving and 62-64 mph
mid 60s.......- suburbs, careful driving and 40-45 mph (limited stops)
70-low 80s...- suburbs, super-careful driving and 25-32 mph

Gotta watch it and enjoy your car - the gauges can become addictive

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by wvgasguy
I've only been to Maui, so I don't know if your area is the same, but I don't remember roads like we have in the states.

Sorry, (There always has to be one.) I should have said the "mainland" or contiguous 48 states. My point is the various islands are different. Maui would be an ideal place for a hybrid.

 

mine does the same and currently i am at more than 50% of driving at 40 mph or less. i doubt if its an issue since it happens across multiple vehicles which means its not a bug but a designed characteristic. i personally think that after 10 years of data, engineers have determined a better way. remember the only difference between a good product and a great product line is the great product is always a work in progress. the Gen 1 and 2 worked differently because that was the best solution at the time.

now the gen 3 charge works differently and who am i to question, other than the fact that the estimated mileage is not as good (still collecting data but seems that the faster you drive, the closer the MFD mileage is...)

but its faster, bigger and more economical... so hey, cant argue about the results

i also drive to keep my SOC as high as possible, i try to accelerate slow enough to charge the battery but not send charge to the wheels.

 

Short trips and lots of AC would explain your results nicely.

If that is not it, then my next guess is your driving habits. My wife and I drive the same G2 Prius car into the city. She sees 45 - 55 mpg most of the time, while I get 65 - 80 mpg. She does not drive aggressively at all, but she does use AC with abandon, and is not able to anticipate traffic flow or lights.

As an interesting aside, my wife is quite sure her driving habits are as economical as mine. I *could* ask her why the mpg differences, but that would be an impolite question
The point is, that drivers who do not naturally anticipate the road cannot see where the deficit lies. It unfortunately makes it quite hard to improve, even if the motivation is there.

 

yep, same situation here. in my Tidelands and the SPM when i drove it, my summer mileage was around 55 mpg... didnt use A/C a lot simply because i dont have hair and i like driving around with the windows down, elbows hanging out, etc... (average summer highs being 79º helps too!!)...my SO is different. she hates the windows being down so never has them down, and as you know, it doesnt take much to make the car a sweat box, so she drives conservatively as well, but has a short commute, 5.6 miles one way in heavy traffic at 35 mph... that is pretty much the only driving she does so that is 90% of the driving, she is averaging 46-48 mpg....

so to say that in town driving kills the mileage, well sure it does if you are doing sprints from one light to another... that is really the only way.

 

I'm only getting 40.2 on my new (to me) Prius...

What am I doing wrong?

 

75 mph with cruise control Denver to SE of Wichita, KS- 1020 miles round trip. 20-40 mph winds blowing generally against me both ways. Not too hot, not too cold. Still 44 mpg.

 

Got my Prius 2010 July 11, on July 14 left for 2,000 mile trip Michigan to Long Island, with 133 miles on the odometer. Mostly highway miles, some mountains in NY. Got 52 MPG for the trip.

 

Acceleration kills mpg...
I did 41 "cruising" at 90-95 mph, but the speed was not as much of a factor as the acceleration passing cars that had slowed me down a bit...
that was light commuting traffic... I am sure on a long trip with little traffic, i.e., less passing ,it can do 42-43 at that speed...
Florida flat lands...

 

My 2010 Prius III is 24 days old with Hwy 53.6 (220 mi w 3 adults onboard), city is 45.6-from the car readout which I understand is 4 mpg optomistic. I recently tried the ECO mode with no noticeable improvement. I do 2 2-block long steep hills daily- which kills mileage. I am figurately driving with an egg under my foot. Next fill up I plan on aggressive driving.

 

I think the the REAL driving MPG of the Gen III Prius is closer to 43 mpg.

What skews the data is Prius drivers. This car trains you to drive the more fuel efficiently. If you have owned a previous generation you are probably already a pro at maxing mpg.

If I drive to max out fuel economy, I am sure I could reach the high 50's. But if I drive with traffic - accelerating / decelerating like everyone else then I get close to 43 mpg.

In my last car (a 94 camry) I was getting ~20mpg (EPA estimates 21). That is pretty realistic versus the 50mpg the EPA rates the prius compared to my 43mpg average.

All in all I think the prius mpg is misleading and the EPA rating for the prius should be knocked down to correspond to real world driving. If my 94 camry had the technology to train me to drive it more efficiently I could probably squeeze another 8 or 9 mpg out of it, but that doesn't mean it should be advertised as a 30mpg car.

 

So, how did my driving style get skewed more than 20 years before I bought my Prius?

"Real" driving mpg of ANY vehicle is highly variable, depending on both the driver and the conditions. You are trying to keep with the flow in a region where the flow produces terrible results.

My style in a different region produced 55 mpg right out of the box.

 

Agreed Fuzzy, same here.

 

Because the Prius has a display+several different modes that encourage fuel efficient driving. That's not a bad thing, but I guarantee it affects the way you drive. It's an instant feedback/reward system, not so different than a video game, it makes you want to get a high score.

All I'm saying is that in my experience, the EPA rating for my Camry was right on the nose, whereas my Prius is off by several MPG. I am attributing this to the interface. Both cars were driven in the same city, so I don't see that as being a factor in this scenario.

I'm not trying to rain on the Prius parade, just trying to gleam some insight into what is causing the discrepancy.

 

dogllama: Three thoughts:

1. When I drive naturally -- and I've never been concerned about saving gas -- I get right about 50 MPG in mixed city/highway driving, perhaps a little bit lower. YMMV.

2. Variability will tend to be larger when values are larger. Your Camry was rated at 21 MPG and you got about 20, as much as 5% lower. At 50 MPG, 5% lower is 2.5 MPG, which would knock you down to around 47-48 to begin with.

3. The reason your Camry got poor mileage is because the gasoline engine was way over-sized for cruising. It was sized for acceleration. The Prius has an engine that's closer to the proper cruising size, with an electrical assist. My guess would be that if you accelerate like a mad man, you're playing to the strength (and weakness) of the larger Camry engine.

Similarly, the Prius has regenerative braking, but if you brake HARD all the time, you'll essentially negate it.

I agree that the Prius is the first car I've had that: 1) encourages me to want to save gas, 2) informs me how to save gas, and 3) is built in such a way that I have several tools for saving gas without being a fanatic. But from what I've seen, it really does pretty much get 48-50 MPG (summer) without trying.

So the other variable in all of this may be that the EPA's test doesn't account for traffic or traffic patterns -- which really would not make sense anyhow.

 

Last week I drove from western NC to eastern Va and back...1055 miles. I intentially avoided looking at the milage screen (kept it on the audio pics), air conditioning was on all the time (auto), 300 lbs worth of passengers, tires 42/40 and I stayed with the flow of traffic (3-7 mph over limits). Trip was approximately 60% interstate 30% highway, 10% city, and 10% mountains. Traffic was moderate with no extended road work slowdowns. It did rain (lightly one 15 mins period) on my Prius but :
49.7 MPG on the display :cheer2: