Winter Gas Mileage

A question for all who drive a Prius in cold and snow country. This summer I was consistently getting 50+ miles per gallon with my 2001 Prius. Now that it's Winter in Ohio I can barely get 42. I realize that this is still pretty good. I also realize that there are a lot of factors that affect gas mileage such as wind, road conditions and the amount of time the engine has to run to warm up the car. This is my first Winter with the car. Is this typical? Can I expect to go back up to 50+ MPG this summer?

Reply to
DBLZOOM
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Yes indeed. The shorter the average trips the worse the hit is, and 42 is pretty good for such cold weather.

For a graphic indication of how much the temperature affects fuel economy, try running the heater full blast and controlling the temperature with the windows. I got a 25 mpg 5 minute bar in the display when I tried it in town!

Mike

Reply to
Michael Pardee

I have a 2004 that I'm going into my 2nd winter with. My mileage recently dropped in the mid 40Mpg range too. Had the same issue last winter. A major factor this time of year is the winter fuel formula. Yes your mileage will improve with the weather/fuel formula change.

-dn-

DBLZOOM wrote:

Reply to
David Norton

I hope so. I live in MN and experience the same thing.

Reply to
Bill

Oh, good (I think). I was always in the low 50s and was a bit chagrined to see the upper 40s for my last tank. And this tank, just started, seems to be even worse. Of course, it is

0F this morning. I just need to remind myself that this is still about 3x as good as I was getting with my last car. How quickly our expectations change!
Reply to
Jean B.

My experience after two winters in New England is that 45 mpg us common for the Winter mileage and that 55+ is common for the summer. Here is gets real cold, and just the energy spent heating the car interior eats into the gas mileage, and well as the additional energy required to push through the snow covered back roads (they don't always plow well

-- its an economy thing)!

D>A question for all who drive a Prius in cold and snow country. This

Reply to
John Baker

This year's freeze-up began with a freezing rain followed immediately by a few inches of snow. My driveway begins an upward slope immediately off my apron, a slope I couldn't climb under these conditions with the mini-van I owned a few years back. I traded that van for a 4WD Explorer and kept that when I purchased my Prius for conditions like this. My Prius makes it up the driveway easily so the Explorer just takes up space in the garage. The Prius is much more stable on ice-covered roads so my current tank (45 mpg after 230 miles) looks a LOT better than the 16 displayed on the Explorer's mileage computer screen.

Can't recall if I mentioned the big surprise I experienced the first time the Prius traction control completely took over. I was climbing an icy slope somewhat more severe than my driveway. Never noticed the wheels slipping but the car simply went slower and slower. About 1/2 of the way up that slope I found myself at a standstill with the engine idling and the gas pedal at the floor. How do they do that? The thing just refuses to break traction and instead simply gives up. Thinking about it later, I appreciated it's response to the futility of my demand.

Reply to
Bill

Thanks for the replies. At least I know I'm not alone. I can't wailt 'til Spring.

Reply to
DBLZOOM

Oh! Now this interests me because I have hung on to my AWD Passat mostly because I am not sure how the Prius will do on slippery roads. I don't like having two cars--esp. since I have found out that it is a misnomer to call my garage a 2-car one. :-(

BTW, my Passat was getting ca 21 MPG and then slipped to ca 16 MPG for some undiagnosed reason--and Volkswagen just says it is fine. Well, that was the last straw that drove me to get a Prius, which I should have gotten years ago.

Reply to
Jean B.

I'm thinking your Passat probably does much better on icy roads than does my top-heavy Explorer with it's fat tires. It wasn't all Firestone's fault they rolled over after tossing a tread. When I say the Prius is better on icy roads than the Explorer I may be saying more about the Explorer being lousy than the Prius being great. As I recall you have a level 6 with VSC. On a straight and level stretch of very icy roads, and keeping my wits about me, I never see the VSC light flash but I've tested the feature a couple of times now under slippery but otherwise safe conditions and it works as advertised. Car just keeps going where you point it but with that light flashing on-and-off in time with the grating sound of the ABS brakes.

Reply to
Bill

The slippery road symbol (is that VSC?) flashes when I go over bumps!!!! Odd. I think the ABS brakes have only kicked in once thus far--and the sound is a lot less jarring than the brakes on the Passat. I am wondering whether all such brakes are not created equal--I may like the ones on the Prius better.

BTW, you have a good memory!!!!

Reply to
Jean B.

My memory isn't all that good, Jean, but I think the VSC/ABS deployment light is just to the left of that icy road symbol. I'm guessing the VSC/ABS light might flash when accelerating over a bump but not when coasting over a bump. I say this because in order to activate the VSC when I tested it I had to accelerate on a slippery curve. One of the techs who posts here might add that VSC senses two conditions: deviating from the chosen path and one wheel going faster than the other. I'm not certain.

Reply to
Bill

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