Poor Gas Mileage
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:?: rtva
It always helps to know WHERE you are. You can create a "signature" which contains your geographical location and other pertinent information. Go to "Profile" - enter your location and create a signature, then check "Attach Signature"
so Forum Members can help you.
Ambient temperature, terrain and driving habits have noticeable effect you your mileage. Mileage always goes down in colder weather. Also multiple short trips will definitely kill mileage.
It always helps to know WHERE you are. You can create a "signature" which contains your geographical location and other pertinent information. Go to "Profile" - enter your location and create a signature, then check "Attach Signature"
so Forum Members can help you.
Ambient temperature, terrain and driving habits have noticeable effect you your mileage. Mileage always goes down in colder weather. Also multiple short trips will definitely kill mileage.
There are numerous threads on this topic. Perform a search and read all the inputs from different owners as to a possible solution to your drop in MPG.
If this doesn't yield results, then by all means report back here for further assistance. The combined power of the forum members can solve your problem! :wink:
If this doesn't yield results, then by all means report back here for further assistance. The combined power of the forum members can solve your problem! :wink:
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420 Posts
Cold weather and winter-formula gasoline would account for some of that drop-off. And of course, your've searched for this topic at PriusOnline and considered the myriad mpg-damaging issues that have been covered before, so I won't bore you by repeating them.
RTVA, if you are in the more northern climes, then my mileage was about 53 as well, until lately when I have dropped to 43-44. Normal.....rtva said:I bought a new 2005 Prius and was getting 53+ MPG. Now I am getting 42-44. The dealership says there is no problem. Anyone have any ideas?
MPG will drop in the winter. That is just a fact of life that people paying attention to MPG have been dealing with for decades. Fortunately, many of the ways of dealing with it are the same for hybrids too.
CHECK THE TIRE PRESSURE!
That is the first and most significant problem newbies fall victim to. Tires naturally lose a little bit of pressure anyway, so you should be routinely topping them off. But the temperature dramatically amplifies the PSI loss. For each 10F degrees lower, tire pressure drops by 1 PSI. So your tires could easily be around 8 PSI (or even more) lower than they were just 2 months ago. That will have a profound negative effect on MPG.
Having lost that much tire pressure, which is usually not even noticeable when driving, is quite dangerous... so much so that an upcoming federal mandate requires an indicator light to inform drivers, since a disturbing number of them actually reach the danger level and don't even know it.
Dealing with that normal pressure tire loss is one reason some people choose to increase the PSI above the recommended minimum. Personally, I've been using the maximum for years in my Prius. That's 44/42 (front/rear PSI).
CHECK THE TIRE PRESSURE!
That is the first and most significant problem newbies fall victim to. Tires naturally lose a little bit of pressure anyway, so you should be routinely topping them off. But the temperature dramatically amplifies the PSI loss. For each 10F degrees lower, tire pressure drops by 1 PSI. So your tires could easily be around 8 PSI (or even more) lower than they were just 2 months ago. That will have a profound negative effect on MPG.
Having lost that much tire pressure, which is usually not even noticeable when driving, is quite dangerous... so much so that an upcoming federal mandate requires an indicator light to inform drivers, since a disturbing number of them actually reach the danger level and don't even know it.
Dealing with that normal pressure tire loss is one reason some people choose to increase the PSI above the recommended minimum. Personally, I've been using the maximum for years in my Prius. That's 44/42 (front/rear PSI).
Another MPG robbing issue in cold weather is in the car trying to keep YOU warm.
Heat to warm the cabin has to come from somewhere, and in the prius, as in most cars, most of that warmth comes from the excess heat from ICE.
Now in the Prius, the ICE will normally shut down a minute or so after the warmup starts 7 seconds from when you turned it on if you are standing still, even though it has not reached optimal running temperature. However, if you are demanding heat, ICE will not shut down so readily.
Thus, some of your gas consumption is not to travel, or even to keep the ICE/CAT/O2 sensor warmed up, but rather to keep you warm, but offering no miles to show for it.
Heat to warm the cabin has to come from somewhere, and in the prius, as in most cars, most of that warmth comes from the excess heat from ICE.
Now in the Prius, the ICE will normally shut down a minute or so after the warmup starts 7 seconds from when you turned it on if you are standing still, even though it has not reached optimal running temperature. However, if you are demanding heat, ICE will not shut down so readily.
Thus, some of your gas consumption is not to travel, or even to keep the ICE/CAT/O2 sensor warmed up, but rather to keep you warm, but offering no miles to show for it.
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