[fridapaz]

Hi friends
I've had my Prius for just a week. I drive it almost exclusively in the city, save for today when I drove only 120 miles round trip on the highway. The navigation system tells me that I averaged 43 MPG over 150 miles of driving. That sounds low to me. What do others think? :shock:

 

[ehurtley]

Hi friends
I've had my Prius for just a week. I drive it almost exclusively in the city, save for today when I drove only 120 miles round trip on the highway. The navigation system tells me that I averaged 43 MPG over 150 miles of driving. That sounds low to me. What do others think? :shock:

Four big things:

1. The EPA estimates are VERY optimistic. VERY few people get 60 mpg on a regular basis, and 50 is a safer average. (Of both highway and city.)

2. During the first few thousand miles, the car is still being 'broken in'. You will get lower mileage during that time.

3. Remember, the EPA estimate for highway is 50. Taking into account that the EPA estimate is high, and that you will get lower-than-expected mileage for the first few thousand miles, 43 isn't bad.

4. This car drives differently than most other cars. It will take some getting used to for you to get high mileage. (Technically, most of the things you do to get high mileage in the Prius also apply to other cars, it's just more obvious on the Prius, with both its computerized tracking of mileage, and the fact that you pay attention more.)

My Prius is now 73 days old, with a lifetime average of 47.65 miles per gallon, in 3138 miles. It's only been in the past 500 miles that I have been able to consistently get 50 mpg or higher as an average for the day. (I have only 20 days that I have exceeded 50 mpg average for the day, and of those, half are in the last 20 days.) Assuming my trend holds up, then according to my calculations, I will pass 50 mpg as a lifetime average sometime in December. (Of course, the colder weather will probably reduce my mileage, so it may take a very long time, if ever.)[/list]

 

[Victor]

5th thing. Hows your driving style in general. Are you an aggressive driver, fast of the mark at lights, hard on the breaks. Do you load your car full of stuff you never need? Do you carry several people all the time?

These all affect the consumption.

 

[Hep]

Your mileage will be much lower the first 5-10 minutes of each trip. If you make many short trips, you won't get the 47+ MPG that you expect. Cold weather will also decrease your mileage quite a bit.

 

[An04Prius]

mileage

Consumer Reports tested the 2004 Prius and says 44mpg in normal typical driving mix. So you are right on target at 43. I agree with the others that you can "learn" to drive for better mileage with this car by watching the mpg computer, and seeing which driving styles effect the mpg.

 

[alanlpa]

I have had my Prius for about 6 weeks now , the first 1500 miles I got 50 mph, mostly around town. My wife (lead foot) took it on two job trips average milage 425 per trip she got 46 mph first time and 43 mph second trip. Its all in the way you drive this car what milage you get (opinion).

 

[AgentElrond]

I've had my Prius for just a week. I drive it almost exclusively in the city, save for today when I drove only 120 miles round trip on the highway. The navigation system tells me that I averaged 43 MPG over 150 miles of driving.

Correct me if I'm reading this wrong, but is that 150 miles since you bought the car? If so, that would leave about 30 "city" miles, which may equate to a number of very short trips - short ones (5-10 minutes) will drop your mpg.

For comparison, the first tank on our 2003 was 43.2 (calc); I didn't hit 43.0 in my 2004 until the 3rd tank, so it sounds like you're off to a good start.