Repair Costs

Not with me. I get less than they do.

Try this one:

' Look for the Prius under Toyota. Most all reported from owners are under 48 mpg through the model's years. The range among owners of a 2005 model are 32-61 with 47.8 Avg. User reported figures. I find some in CA getting 35 mpg a bit odd though. I know gas gets watered down, but to what degree and where is it?

Hell, I fish. Did I ever get a small one? Wanna see the 10 footer? Opps, we ate it. ;o) In a realtively small forum, those most enthsiastic report an extremely high number like in the upper 60's or 70's and skew the data towards the higher end. One in the greenhybrid forum (Silk Shorts) reports 71mpg as his "norm." In over12,158 miles, he's used 18 tanks of gas for an average of

675.4 miles per tank? Come on. You really think someone drives 675 or better on "every" tank? More like its calculated with someone missing a reciept or two. Rarely will one skew it downward to the same degree to make it valid, okay add a reciept to the pile to make the mileage drop. Easier to forget a reciept and report the subsequent higher milage. It's too small of an "enthusiastic" group to be reliable, but their numbers are interesting.

I stand by that. My dealer service manager thinks 44mpg is good. Wonder what he thinks is poor? Next time I'll tell him "I'm getting 34 mpg." If he says "That's good," I'll know something's wrong.

So you have better gas, terrain, temps, whatever. Maybe my foot is heavier. I'll still maintain the average for the car is far less and more like the mid 40's for most people. I would say the lowest I got was going over the Grapevine along I-5 where I averaged 39 mpg. Rarely do I see over 48mpg on the screen for any length of time on mine.

I am more curious if it is the car or the driver. Switching two drivers who report differing numbers between their respective vehicles, would the numbers change? Is it a problem with the car? Dunno.

We had the MTBE until it was found in the ground water north of here and they were provided bottled drinking water to the locals. Since we get the E-branded stuff, my mpg hit seems less for me. I have in the past seen

47mpg as a norm for a short while in the summer, but now it's more like 43mpg. The E-branded stuff costs less in the winter, but it takes more to get the same range.

Oh, I just checked the screen. It shows 42.7mpg with 267 miles on the odo. Even worse than 43mpg that I thought. ;o)

B~

I've experimented a bit. If I drive 75 on the interstate my mileage drops into the your range. At 55 I consistently meet or beat the EPA rating. I live 3 miles from the nearest town and 60 miles from the nearest city. A tank consumed driving back and forth to the small town will yield mileage in the low 40's. A tank consumed driving back and forth to the city (at 55 mph) will yield mileage in the low 50's. A 5 minute drive in the city will yield mileage in the high 30's. A 30 minute drive in the city will yield mileage in the high 60's.

Based on my experience the factors affecting mileage are, in order of significance, are these:

Duration of trip Driving Speed Wind direction/speed Outside temperature

The Hubby usually drops it off on the way to work (they are on the Allston/Brighton line right by the Green B Line ) and it's always ready when we go after to pick it up.... always seem reasonably priced to us (tho reasonable is a subjective term, I know).

Cheers Russ

Well, it's sure more reasonable than my place it! Hmmph. Now didn't you get your car in ?Westboro? I gather, IIRC at all, that either isn't near you or doesn't have such reasonable prices for that.

Did you say you live in MA? This past nine days we've had plenty of rain and the temperature hasn't gone much above 50, if that. If you've been using your defroster and I hope you have, your engine pretty much has stayed on while you were stopped.

If a vehicle gets 15 miles to a gallon and loses 1.5 miles when the air is on people think that's not much. If it gets 20 miles to a gallon and it loses 2 miles people still think it's not much. But when normal is 50 and you lose 5 people shriek!! But in each case above it's still 10%. I've said it before and I'll say it again... When your mileage drops because of the weather so has everyone else's too. And I bet they refrain from keeping tabs during this time.

mark_

HC Boston is closer and on the way for the hubby and their prices are reasonable service-wise. He bought his there, and yes I did get mine from the wonderful Gilles at Westboro (great memory you have there). Our favorite HC Boston sales guy moved on to Scion and then left the area I believe or we'd have bought there.

Russ

In the Consumer Reports original article, they did their math wrong. It looks like they corrected the online version, at last.

From an earlier posting 21 days ago:

City: Represents urban driving, in which a vehicle is started with the engine cold and driven in stop-and-go rush hour traffic. The driving cycle for the test includes idling, and the vehicle averages about 20 mph.

Highway: Represents a mixture of rural and Interstate highway driving with a warmed-up engine, typical of longer trips in free-flowing traffic. Average test speed is about 48 mph and includes no intermediate stops or idling.

My trick is to maximize my City MPG by driving a fuel efficient city route and speed:

Scroll down to the route map to see the change. Also, note there are some speeds that should be avoided.

Back in early January, I had just finished 3,000 miles but didn't get my hypermiler star. I looked at the data and realized my very first entry, my very first 251 miles at 75+ MPH had an MPG of 39 MPG. I verified that MPG on another, shorter segment. So I asked the community if I could drop just that first tank. Their answer was 'NO we must have all of the data.' So the data remains:

I got my hypermiler start three weeks later, the end of January. But apparently I am one of the folks who "fudge their figures" inspite of the "bad" data being still in the hybrid database.

It is easy to toss out accusations that the GreenHybrid.com posters are just lying but I would observe that most folks are not getting EPA numbers and STILL reporting their numbers. They are not claiming as good as the EPA sticker yet their reward for honest reporting is "fudge their figures."

I've made a study of the Prius and found what works and what doesn't. Because of this my most fuel efficient route is also the shortest, 9.8 versus 13 miles. The shorter distance compensated nicely for the slower speed so my commute time has not changed.

We have it in Huntsville too.

You are free to look over the FAQ and see if maybe you can do better:

Bob Wilson Apparently a Fudge Chef

Some - okay, maybe all - of the problem is I never fall in the 55 mph range on the roads I drive on. More like 65 to 80+ mph speed which takes a toll. Don't know if I'd ever get into the pulse/glide thing to maximize the mpg. I'd probably fall victim to some road-rage Dodge driver.

I fear this week's northbound I-5 journey will put me under 40 mpg, maybe more like 38 mpg range. Traffic hustlles in the boonies on that road and I've been passed at 90+ mph. If I can remain locked on cruise, I may get 40 mpg. I-5 must be some secret U.S. autobaun I haven't yet read of. The trucks seem to know the CHP's shift and eatry breaks in the early am and will run you over.

Hwy. 95 in Nevada is another "I can't drive 55" place. Talk about desolate.

I guess I'm doomed to getting in the lower 40's short of driving at less than flow-of-traffic speeds. I've turned the screen off as it gets depressing seeing 38-43 on the screen when I read of everyone elses's numbers.

B~

Which year Prius? With my 2003, NHW11 model, the key is to avoid driving faster than 70 MPH. Also, look for large vehicles to follow, not tailgate, just follow. They also tend to hold steady speeds other than on hills.

There is evidence that the transaxle oil has a significant performance impact. How many miles do you have on it?

I don't use it beyond coasting up to lights. It really is a slow-speed technique.

If you drive segments of ~2 hours long, you might consider using cruise control and start plotting your MPG vs. MPH. Once you have your vehicle performance curves, you can get some mastery of the game.

BTW, some of us are looking at making our own underbody pan out of heavy duty, sign plastic, coregated stuff, coroplast:

Good luck!

Bob Wilson

If you set your cruise control for 65, you should average about 50 or so.

I find that the figures for 2004 through 2006 are all between 47 and

47.9 MPG.

If I had reported my mileage a year ago, it would have been about in that range, but in the past year, I'm averaging between 50 and 51.

I'm in the Phoenix, area; I definitely don't have better temps. The gas hasn't changed, but I have increased my mileage by three to four MPG since a year ago.

Some people on the prius mailing lists have reported that mileage differed--sometimes by a lot--depending on who was driving the car.

Ya' know. I just got this car serviced last week and I'm only getting 37.8 mpg on the screen in last 100 miles.

I know they put in Mobil 1 over the old Dino Havoline, but I cannot figure out why the dramatic drop.

I just checked the tires and they were down to 30 psi all around from dealer. I bumped them back up to 40 front, 38 rear.

I'm going to try and set the cruise control at 50, 60, 70, 80, and 90 mph and see what the thing does at each. I know I drive fast and am hot off the line, but still seems low overall compared to others.

Back next week.....

B~

I've got to check my tires too. I tell them to fill them, but I don't think they do. Also, someone here told me to stomp on the emergency brake 10 times in a row, and that helped the first time my car's mpg dropped a lot post service.

What? That's ridiculous.

Is your oil over the fill line? The optimum is 3/4 between F and E.

I have pressure sensor tire caps at 40 psi.

I use a run of at least 150-200 miles to make sure enough gas is burned to get a good metric. I'm looking forward to your data.

Bob Wilson

An old cure for brakes that drag as a consequence of oxidation.

D'ohh!! That wouldn't happen if one simply set the emergency/parking brake every time one parks. Shit happens, so use the parking brake.

I've read here or in the Yahoo groups that extensive use of regenerative braking instead of mechanical braking will result in the build-up of rust on the drums and rotors. My relentless quest for that 55 mpg tank will probably lead to squeaky brakes that last the life of the car.

You don't have a choice under normal conditions; it uses regenerative braking except for hard or panic stops and when the car is traveling under six miles per hour. So every time you stop the car, you're using mechanical brakes.

I doubt that there will be any build up of rust on drums or rotors.