Prius owners: What's your MPG? Please check in...Civics welcome, too!

[NYC_SKP]

First let me say that I'm already a member of Priuschat, I highly recommend it.

Mine is a 2007 touring model with 30,000 miles and uncomfortable seats (sigh), but otherwise love it.

After 107 fillups, I've only broken 40 MPG a few times, usually doing 5 or 10 over the speed limit like the A type person that I am, meaning not a hypermiler.

I have been taken some hypermiling drives, watching the energy monitor and using pulse and glide strategies but still don't keep the average over 40.

My theory: different Priuses just get different mileages, maybe it's how they break in, maybe some other things, and older ones seem to do better.

I'm going to try overinflating by 10psi, just for a couple non-freeway days to see what happens. Spec on door is 35psi, tires will take 51psi, I'm going to try 45-47psi.

Please check in with your Prius MPG experiences, include any tips not mentioned above, and include the model and year you drive.

Thanks!

[Papillon]

1. Civic Hybred

I've owned it since 03, 50,000 miles. 46 mpg.

[NYC_SKP]

4. Girlfriend has a 3 week old Civic, getting just 40 MPG

Which is still respectable, and she's a patient driver unlike me.

So maybe older ones are less thirsty?

[ET Awful]

2. Averaging around 46 MPH

Mixed driving about 40 miles round trip to and from work, and the typical errand-type trips around town.

I'm just driving normally, pressure at 42 and 40, using Michelin X-Radial tires from Costco instead of the stock tires.

I get that driving like I would any other car and with the AC on occasionally.

The car currently has 4,500 miles on it (just bought it in February).

[NYC_SKP]

3. Why the new tires with 4,500 miles?

I'm sure you meant MPG, not MPH......Did you change wheels, too?

[ET Awful]

18. I hated the performance of the stock tires in snow, they downright scared me.

I got something that performed better.

Kept the same wheels.

[AndyTiedye]

33. Low Rollling Resistance = Low Traction

I replaced them at about 18000 miles (much of it in the mountains) because they were wearing out.
Got Michelins.

[NYC_SKP]

35. I just put on Michelins...

Primacy Pilot, I believe. Reportedly stock on the Pruis in Japan.

No noticeable change between those and the original until this morning when I decided to increase tire pressure all around.

The bump in tire pressure has added what looks like 7-8 MPG, per a very brief test period.

I'll learn more after driving 60 miles to Oakland, then back, tomorrow.

[ET Awful]

36. Depends on the tire,

The tires I have now (the Michelins from Costco) have the same rolling resistance as the stock tires, but better traction in snow.

You can change the tread pattern and the compound to end up with equal rolling resistance but better grip in snow.

On dry pavement, your premise is almost always true, not always so with snow.

[momster]

5. 2003 Here

with almost 50K. I find my MGP has to be about 45...'round town. But take it on a long run and 50+ is doable. We took it on 18 hr drive last year and never a rattle, a shake, or a hum. My dh wanted to get me a 2008 Prius and I said no. I wasn't impressed on the test drive but I lo-o-o-ve my little 2003. Only drawback is my d will be getting her licence soon and she wants my car!

[NYC_SKP]

6. Keep your car!

That's good mileage!

[jobycom]

7. My spouse can't keep it over 40 MPG either, but I get closer to 50.

I can get over 50 if I work on it. Mine's (or my estranged spouse's, now, since she got the car) a 2004 with 70K.

My spouse keeps it around 38 MPG. Part of that is just her personality. Not so much Type A, as type I Don't Give A Shit. She guns it until she hits a stop sign, then slams on brakes. When she had a minivan, she averaged around 15.

I drive it rather normal, anticipating stops and taking off at a steady pace, and I average around 48 in regular driving. There's a groove in the acceleration where if you hit it right, the mileage is optimized. Too fast and you burn gas but don't go any faster, too slow and the engine is straining too hard to against the weight of the car to accelerate smoothly. A minimal amount of practice and it comes natural. When you get close to cruising speed, no matter how short the cruise, you back off slowly and the electric motor can kick in.

I honestly don't think I could burn as much gas as my spouse if I tried. Her driving is counter-intuitive and inefficient in more than just fuel mileage. But c'est la vie.

[NYC_SKP]

12. Your spouse and me, peas in a pod....

I know what you mean about the sweet spot---there's a point where the energy meter is blank-no engine, no motor, no charging, which is supposed to be the sweet spot for pulse and glide, but it's mighty hard to get the foot used to being there.

[jobycom]

38. LOL! I'll try not to hold that against you.

:rofl:

[On the Road]

8. I Have A Gasoline-Powered Toyota Matrix

which can get 35MPG highway. I use it like a truck and can get stoves and refrigerators in the back and put drywall or plywood on the top.

The secret seems to be having a light body and a relatively small engine. Acceleration is not great, but that's a small price to pay for the gas mileage.

(Hope this is not millering the thread, but it seemed like a reasonable comparison.)

[NV Whino]

10. I do the same thing with my Fit

I get 33 to 38. Got 41 on a trip down the coast last year.

Hybrids get the best mileage on city, stop and go driving. Gas powered get the worst under those conditions. Most of my driving is distance rather than stop and go city. A hybrid didn't make sense for me. (I looked at the Matrix, by the way, when buying.)

[Kolesar]

28. We put a Yakima Spacebooster on the Matrix & got 28mpg going 74mph in Nebraska

I just don't have the nerve to drive at 75mph or above any more. Those prarie cross winds can really knock the mileage down. The car was laden with two people and camping equipment galore.

Later, when we were driving through the desert in Colorado, we got passed by a couple in a Ford Focus pulling an "intermediate sized" plywood trailer that looked like their camping apparatus. That tells me that you want to get the external loads out of the slipstream on the roof and behind the car on a tongue platform (spatula) or in a trailer.

The way you use the car makes a lot of sense, though. Intermittent use of the roof when you have to. At other times, the Matrix is just transportation.

I am still struggling with the shift points. It seems like a high-revving four cylinder car. Happy motoring!

[NNadir]

45. Only 74 mph? Let me guess. You were in a hurry to go to a great solar powered car show

in Omaha?

If you do the calculation, one hour in your "environmental" car consumed "only" 536 times as much power as the average Honduran uses for all purposes, growing food, supplying drinking water, reading "solar will save us" websites, education, lighting, food preparation, etc.

http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/international/iealf/tablee1c.xls

Heckuva job. You must be very proud.

[Kolesar]

49. Do not "stalk" another member from one discussion thread to another. ...

Do not "stalk" another member from one discussion thread to another. Do not follow someone into another thread to try to continue a disagreement you had elsewhere. Do not talk negatively about an individual in a thread where they are not participating. Do not post messages with the purpose of "calling out" another member or picking a fight with another member. Do not use your signature line to draw negative attention to another member of the board.

[jpak]

50. What kind of gas guzzler do you own??

and how much natural gas do you use to heat your upscale NJ home??

[depakid]

34. I have a 2000 corrola that I typically only use for highway travel

(or the occasional heavy load).

Last trip through upper NoCal On 2 lane roads where we kept the speed to around 55, we were getting- no shit, close to 40 mpg. Almost as impressive as the Echo we drive in Oz, which I'm guessing by conversion got around 43 highway.

Highway driving with cruise control on 65, we ended up with with closer to 35.

City driving drops that closer to 25- a VERY noticeable difference.

That seems to be in line with what I've heard about hybrids- that they're great for city travel, but that highway mileage is comparable or perhaps even lower in some cases than a small efficient conventional vehicle.

[NYC_SKP]

37. I think you're generally right.

Subcompacts do well.

One big advantage to Hybrids is that in heavy traffic, like here in the Bay Area or LA, the motor is off while others are idling.

Highway travel at constant speed can be pretty good, with 42 on one long trip from Sacramento to Long Beach at 80 mph (42MPG0 but that was an exception.

[Merlot]

9. Uncomfortable seats indeed!

Rented a Prius for a weekend trip to see if I liked it. Much as I enjoyed driving it, nothing would make the seats more comfortable. I tried every adjustment between seats and steering wheel. Had to put a rolled towel behind my back and still had major neck and arm pain.

So I bought a Saab 9-3 instead. Gets about 33 highway, probably more if my foot weren't so heavy ; )

But, dang, the seats are SO comfortable!

[GliderGuider]

11. Jetta TDI with an after-market performance chip - 47 mpg highway, 40 mpg city -- Correction

I originally said: Measured with Roman "thousand pace" miles and those wimpy little American gallons. In sensible units that comes out to 6 l/100km hwy, 7 l/100 km city.

On edit: Gallons are confoozin'! That 47/40 is actually in big-ass Imperial gallons. The mileage in world-standard American Empire gallons is 39/34. The measurements given in SI units are correct. The car is a 2001, which predates the current higher-mileage engine, and the chip is a go-chip, not an economizer.

[NYC_SKP]

13. There are dozens of cars with better than Pruis fuel economy...

I've lost the link, but as I recall, a list of the top 100 worldwide cars for high MPG numbers included many better than the Prius, many of them Diesel and unacceptable here due to EPA standards (and perhaps competition with detroit) and others that are just too small for American tastes. Some Jetta models were on the list, as I recall.

One wonders why your performance chip wasn't standard....

[frazzled]

14. Around 47 in dead winter, around 50 or 51 in spring/summer (with provisos)

We live in the center of a large city in a cold climate. Often we take the car out only to do a grocery shopping once a week. This is the worst kind of driving for a hybrid--going just a mile or two in less than 10 minutes in urban traffic--it really takes your mileage down, especially in winter. If you drive for 20 minutes or more, you can get great mileage.

If we fill up in the suburbs and then drive for 20 minutes or so doing 35-40 miles per hour, we can get that baby to average up to 62 mph easily. But then we return home, to our short city errand jaunts, and our gains get reversed. The weather makes a difference, too as does wind and other factors.

We have learned the tricks to push that mileage up (speed up and coast, etc.). But it takes so much game playing to do that, we've pretty much given up on the hi-jinx. Paying attention to the traffic is more important.

We're happy with our 47-51 averages. We've had the car for 2 1/2 years, and could not be more happy with it. We don't find the seats uncomfortable at all, but we're kind of small people. We feel we use about half the gas we used to (or even better), plus the added benefit of putting far far fewer polluting emissions into the air. This is especially true in the city, where you are idling often at lights and in jams. Since we idle in the electric mode, we both save gas and the planet. Enough that it would make a big difference if most cars were hybrid. Some day, a much better technology will be available. But we hope that for the next 8 years or so, we can drive this Prius and feel okay. (We kept our last Toyota, a Camry, for 12 years: a new car is a huge energy drain, too, so don't just go out and buy a new hybrid to get 10 or 15 mpg more, unless you need a new car.)

[NYC_SKP]

19. 47-51 is great!

And you're right, especially if one has something like a Toyota, there's an environmental impact on any new car.

[benddem]

15. I have to travel over the mountains

on the way there I average 60mpg, on the way back 51mpg. It's the stop and start stuff that ruins the mpg...but btw 40 isn't bad compared to 22mpg. I use the pulse and glide on the straight roads in town. If I can go on our itty bitty bypass I can keep the mpg over 42 but if it is just stop and start...38-39. Mine is a 2004. First red one in the area...now I can't find mine in a parking lot. Edit added In winter with snow tires never got above 38mpg but I didn't go over the mountains for obvious reasons.

[NYC_SKP]

20. I'm not too unhappy with my 37-40 average range, but

if there's anything I can do in addition to my driving behavior, I'd like to learn more.

[benddem]

40. coast every chance you get

no jack rabbit starts. Try to avoid short trips where you drive a mile or so, stop then another mile or two. That is killer.

[AndyTiedye]

32. How Do You Get That in the Mountains?

Going up the hill drops our 2005 Prius into the teens, and we don't make that up on the downhill.
How are you getting 51-60?

[benddem]

39. Going west

there is more down hill than up...I guess. So I coast down at 100mpg or better. My Prius has gotten 50+ mpg going to Portland since I bought it. We are at 3600 feet and the summit is about 4600 and then Salem/Portland is around sea level.

[AndyTiedye]

47. What About the Other Way?

[Bill219]

16. 2007 Prius

average between 52-54 MPG

Never gone below 51 which was the lowest which was during the winter months

My wife and I have a competition and she once got it up to 61 MPG on a full tank of gas

[peacebird]

17. definitely overinflate the tires, will add mileage. We get 48 in the winter and 51 rest of the year

Had the Prius for 3 years now. I think it would get better mileage if I were doing city driving, or if I didn't have a lead foot :P but so it is....

[NYC_SKP]

21. Thanks, see my next post here... nt

[trof]

22. 2008 base model.

Running between 70 and 75 I got 46 on a 1500 mile road trip, coastal Alabama to Boston.
44 on the way back.
Headwind?
I dunno.

On runs into town 12 miles away I can get around 50 using a little hypermiling.
We live in a rural/suburban area.

BTW, I got dealer added cruise control for just under $300.
Same as original.

[NYC_SKP]

24. That's good mileage, enjoy your new car! nt

[NYC_SKP]

23. BREAKING: Good results from tire pressure increase.

When I got in the car this AM the average for the last few miles was 35.5, I've been resetting a lot and that might be for 30 miles of town driving.

I took it up from 35 to around 42, tires rated to 51, and went to buy a better gauge and compressor valve chuck to get more accurate pressure readings.

Results, from 35 to 43 for the maybe 12 mile trip with three stops and no special changes in driving behavior (some gliding, but also some jamming around slowpokes).

What happens with the next few fillups should be interesting. I'm not sure what effect overinflation will have on tire wear, but it would be satisfying to see a tank average of 52 or greater MPG.

[NYC_SKP]

25. For Hybrid Civics, is there a great site like "Priuschat"?

for my girlfriend, she got one 3 weeks ago...

[Bigmack]

26. 2005 Prius

In Washington (state) we average around 50+ miles to the gallon, except when we're carrying two bikes on the rear bike rack....or coming back from buying a month's groceries at Costco. I did get 60 MPG a couple times, but only by VERY careful driving!

Interestingly, when we're down in California where we usually spend 4-5 months every winter we get c. 46 MPG, plus or minus, depending on the weight we're hauling. When we brought the little chest freezer "home" to the old trailer we live in when we're down there, the MPG were in the LOW forties, but I was just grateful that the freezer fit into the little car! Ms Bigmack

[NYC_SKP]

30. Yes, they're great for hauling.

I replaced my Volvo v40 wagon, the Prius had more length from the back of the front seats to the rear, and more space between the wheel wells.

[tinrobot]

27. Ford Escape Hybrid - 38mpg

I was getting 32, so here are the things that worked for me:

Tire pressure - I keep it just a little high (38-40 on a 35 psi spec)

In the city, I drive in "L" gear (not quite like a standard low gear, on the Escape it kicks off the engine sooner and uses more regenerative braking) That probably got me the biggest boost.

Accelerate/Decelerate slowly. I've learned how fast I can accelerate without the engine kicking in.

Try not to take short trips. If you bundle your trips so engine doesn't have to always warm up, it'll get you better mileage.

[NYC_SKP]

29. Thanks, that's good for an Escape...nt

[AndyTiedye]

31. Usually Around 42

We live in the mountains, and going up the mountain kills our mileage.
That plus we would get killed if we tried to drive 55 on 280.

[NYC_SKP]

41. 64.5 MPG at 45 MPH over a four mile flat road run.

And 52.5 on a 6 mile mixed route, city and 72 mph freeway, my old commute.

The tire pressure increase made all the difference.

I actually BEAT the EPA rated fuel economy which was 51 hwy and 60 city on my sticker, I think.

Now I have to find out what kind of trouble I might getting into by keeping 45 psi in 51 max psi Michelin Pilot Primacy tires while the car sticker says 35 psi.

[skids]

42. Summertime it's 53-55 combined, 60 country roads, 40-something highway.

It's an 07 with middle-rung options -- no luxuries that didn't come bundled with the vehicle stability control. This is my second one, I had a lot of practice with my 02. So I'm a pro at not letting the brake pads touch down (there's a mod you can do to install a brake pad detect LED on the dash if you can't get the feel for when they touch, it can be a bit tricky to detect. I keep the tires in the 38-40 range, and I do maintenance at the dealer every 5K. Try not to run the AC but will run it rather than open the windows. Try not to do any short trips and make multiple errand stops on one long trip.

Wintertime it can fall as low as 38 combined for me.

[lectrobyte]

43. '05 Prius, usually in the mid 50's, a little worse in the hottest and

coldest parts of the year. I usually run the tires 38/35 front/rear, but more for better handling than any fuel savings that might make.

[Tumbulu]

44. Honda Civic Hybrid 2007

Average for first 20,000 miles is 53.2 mpg.

Best was 69.1 mpg for 152 mils. Worst was 45 mpg going fast on a highway.

Mostly I drive on rural roads with tire pressure 5 psi below the max.

I love the car and so do the passengers. I bought it after taking the little online test that the Union of Concerned Scientists has on their website. It calculated a much lower carbon footprint with the Civic for my type of driving over the Prius.

[NYC_SKP]

46. Remarkable!

My girlfriend can have that to look forward to in the future...

[YankeyMCC]

48. 2006 Prius

In the summer and doing a lot of highway driving up to the White Mnts I can get up to as much as a 60 mpg average.

But more common is 45 to 50 mpg during the summer and down around 40 mpg in the winter, but I only just learned (at the end of this past winter) how I can try and bump that up with some strategic insulation so I should do better next winter.

[southerncrone]

51. My Ford ZX2 gets 35-36 town, got 41.5 last week highway.

Fun to drive, too. Has pep.

[hatrack]

52. My 2001 is still ticking right along, just shy of 80,000 miles

I've averaged between 45-50 mixed summer, and 40-45 mixed winter.

I'm not a hyper-miler by any stretch, but I am fairly feather-footed and coast to the best of my ability whenever possible.

I've also been known to slowlyslowlyslowly accelerate so as to engage electric-only mode for the best part of a mile, depending on terrain.

On edit: forgot to mention - I also overinflate by about 5 pounds, which does help with mileage - 5-8%, roughly.