Prius (Gen 3) Fuel :: Daily Commute Is Below Average
Jun 6, 2013
I'm relatively new with my 2011 Prius. I've been averaging about 53.6 mpg, but I feel as if I can do better. I've set 54 mpg as this "magic number" that I'm aspiring to, but if I ever reach that, the number will probably rise to 55 and so on ... (As an aside, if I just set the cruise control while on the commute I'm about to describe, I get the same mileage as I do when I'm working on hypermiling, so I don't know if it's worth the effort with this route).
My daily commute is around 15 miles. About half of this is a hilly and curvy road. The PSL on that portion is 55 mph, and it is a two-lane (one lane in each direction) road. At least one of the hills are so steep that if I DWL, I'll lose between 15 to 20 mph from the bottom to the top; that's with the HSI "pegged" right before the power section of the line. I can maintain speed, or at least lose less, if I go into the power area. Additionally, there are several curves at the bottom of the hills where I must brake down to around 40 mph to safely negotiate the curve.
Finally, it is well-trafficked road as well, so, while observing the speed limit, I may have 10 cars piled up behind me, which makes me nervous.
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So over the past view days I have been hearing some sort of light squealing noise coming from my car during my daily commute. At first I though it was wind noise or something stuck in the grill of the bumper. When I looked the car over this morning, I didn't see any plastic or something caught in the grill to be causing the noise. Then I thought maybe its my wheels, brakes, or rotors but found out it wasn't that after hearing the noise stopped at a stop light. I did a few revs and heard slight squeal coming from the engine bay.
So I don't really know what to look for now. The sound is fairly faint, but a high pitch squeal.
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Here is the thing. Sometimes, out of the blue, the indicated MPG for my commuting trip shows too high number, something like mid 60's. Sure enough, next day, I can count for the indicated MPG to go under the average, something like low to mid 50's. The average is high 50's (translated to mid 50's MPG by the gas pump). The difference cannot be explained by ambient temp (not much variation and garaged car) or battery state (I have constant charge with my style of driving) or difference in the traffic (very predictable). I'm puzzled about it. What is striking is the compensation next day after.
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When I first bought the car I was resetting the trip/mpg every day and getting a daily reading. Then I started to realize that wasn't accurate as a per tank reading. So now I judge my weekly trip/mpg. Currently I am getting 57-59 mpg on the MFD(I do not have a scangauge yet) - so i guess that would equal 54-57 actual.
My commute is 43 miles one way. half of it is mixed city driving a mile of low speed out of my neighborhood to a 55 mph with two 2 mile 35 mph zones and then the second half is interstate.
I have been working on keeping the SOC high for the 55 mph so that i can most of the time slip in and out of high speed "stealth" mode. Usually with the MFD around 69-75? and not drop speed too quickly. maybe a mph per 2 miles depending on the grade.
I try the pulse and glide in the 35 mph zones. coast in, then glide as far as I can and pulse back up. I have been playing with a couple ways,
OPTION 1: use in electric only-takes longer and kills SOC.
OPTION 2: Pulse hard into el+ICE and its crap mpg for a small amount of time. Pulse gently into ICE and decent mpg for a little longer amount of time.
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I deliver mail out of my 2014 Prius C and noticed that my MPG is only about 30-35 MPG? What am I doing wrong?! I thought stop and go driving is the best way to get the best MPG?
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For those of you regular Gen3 (non PiP) that average in the low to mid 60's for MPG during the warmer months of the year....what do you average in the winter for mpg? And what is your yearly average?
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So we bought our 2013 prius v 3 last week and have since put on just under 300miles. This is our family vehicle but most of the miles have come from me driving it to work. My commute is in the Phoenix area and the temps have been in the 30-40s in the morning and 60s when I leave. Terrain is flat, and mostly fwy, maybe 70% hwy and 30% streets. My gripe is that I have never seen the avg get over 38mpg. I have not taken it out of Eco mode the past 4 days.
Should I wait till after the first full up to start getting real numbers?
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I'm so fed up with this Prius C. I did nothing but city driving and I got 302 for a tank at 8.247. It's going to the dealership to see if something is wrong. I haven't got over 369 on a tank before and that was highway driving.
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I have an 07 with 81.5K miles. Just a few weeks ago I've noticed a "rumbling" sound when starting the car in the morning before my AM commute. To me it sounds like an exhaust issue. This sound is becoming more frequent and now occurs most of the time while I drive. The volume has not increased, only frequency. The engine sounds ok, and no lights or indicators are showing.
MPG performance is down from 45-50MPG to about 40MPG but I think this may be because it's been extremely cold here lately and maybe the gasoline bladder has shrunk? Anyways, what this could be? If it's an exhaust issue could it require replacing the entire exhaust system because it's a hybrid (one mechanic friend I have said this might be the case)? Could it be something as simple as getting a new muffler?
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I have been realizing that random every so often miles or months (varies completely) that my average fuel consumption resets itself and starts retaking brand new information and has discarded the old. Is this normal?
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A couple weeks ago, the "average fuel economy" display on my 350 F-Sport disappeared - when I'm looking through the different displays, it skips straight from "average speed" to "current fuel consumption". All the other displays are still there, so I'm not sure what caused this. I'm wondering if I'll have to bring it in to the dealership.
Some info about the car: It's a 2014 IS 350 F-Sport with ~6000 miles, and it just had its first service a few weeks ago (shortly before this problem started).
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I know I am unusual but most days I drive about 3-4 miles. I can get 2-3 days out of a charge. Should I plug in every night or just when needed? Does it use more kWh to plug in every day?
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General misfire when the engine light comes on. This error has been occurring almost daily, sometimes it pins it down to cylinder 3. My wife's nephew who is a mechanic says it could be the sensor, but I have only been getting around 30 mpg though the car seems to run alright. I did go ahead and get the plugs replaced, as I was told it could be a bad plug but the error light still comes on as before and the mileage appears no better. What could this be? I am retired on fixed income and dread the very idea of an expensive diagnostic & repair session with a dealer service. Their solution for about everything wrong has been to replace the gas tank (three times already in the life of the car). Last time that did not fix what was going on with the car..
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I can't find the average mpg display anywhere. On my 2008 I could hit the info button and it would display your average mpg but on my 2013 Prius 3 there is no reading for that, at least I can't find it.
In the owners manual there is a pic of one of the display's that has it in there, but I can't seem to find that display anywhere.
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That MPH average at the bottom right of the screen. Is that actually show the average miles per hour that you have driven? Mine is currently displaying 24. I never drive that slowly, much less often enough to average out my usual 55-70 driving. What is the purpose of that display?
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I have a new 2015 Prius five and can't figure out how to determine average mpg. In my 2007 model, there was an info screen that displayed average mpg that was reset each time you refilled the tank. With the new Prius this screen is gone and all I can find is a display showing average mpg for the last 5 minutes.
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Average MPG per tank is automatically reset anytime you fill up with more than about 4 gallons. But the owner's manual PDF I've been reading for the C seems to indicate that this is manually done by resetting one of the tripmeters. What is actually the correct method?
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I have a "new to me" 2009 Touring that I purchased on 9/2/10. She had approximately 35K miles on her and an Average MPG of 39.6. While I have managed to increase that average up to 41.7, I'm tired of looking at the results of the previous owner's bad habits.
I have hit the Reset button on the Consumption screen several times, but the only thing resetting is the number of miles driven. I have reset both the Trip A and Trip B Odometers, again the only change is the trip odometer reading, NOT the Average MPGs.
This is making me a little crazy as my previous car was a 2004 Prius and the Average MPGs AND miles driven automatically reset any time I filled up with fuel.
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On average, how many miles do you average between fill ups. I understand that this is all dependent on everyone's respective commutes, road conditions, ability to charge at work, etc., but i'm interested to know what you all do on average.
I'm still on my first tank and have 905 miles with one bar left on my tank.
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I just upgraded from a 2004 Prius Six to a 2012 Plug in Advanced. My wife used to love watching the average mpg for the current tank of gas as she drove, and wants to know where to find that display on the new car. For some reason, I just can't find it and couldn't find any reference to it in the FAQ. Am I missing something simple? That number was her favorite incentive.
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For the average mileage calculation that appears in the odometer screen, what resets it? Seems that it self-resets at 1,000 miles. Is this correct?
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