I know a lot of you early adopters out there claim that your Prius's gas mileage started to improve after several thousand miles but after watching my Prius go through a winter here in Rochester, I am a bit skeptical.
I've seen my screen mileage on a tank of gas drop from the low 50s in the summer down to (barely) the high 30s in the winter! [Part of the reason the drop is this dramatic is that here in Rochester, almost all of my trips are 15-20 minutes or less.] And, this got me to thinking---Maybe you folks who were claiming a mileage increase with age got your car in the late fall or early winter of '03-'04 and then saw the mileage improve when spring came!
At any rate, I know that for my Prius, any gradual improvement in mileage will be more than masked by this very dramatic seasonal cycle, at least unless I compare data from times separated by a full year.
I've seen my screen mileage on a tank of gas drop from the low 50s in the summer down to (barely) the high 30s in the winter! [Part of the reason the drop is this dramatic is that here in Rochester, almost all of my trips are 15-20 minutes or less.] And, this got me to thinking---Maybe you folks who were claiming a mileage increase with age got your car in the late fall or early winter of '03-'04 and then saw the mileage improve when spring came!
At any rate, I know that for my Prius, any gradual improvement in mileage will be more than masked by this very dramatic seasonal cycle, at least unless I compare data from times separated by a full year.