My Prius 2004's 11 years of fuel economy data

[Denly]

All manual, mix city/hwy
1st Focus hatch 330k km later average 6.5L per 100km in the summer and 7.5L per 100km in the winter over it life time
2002 Passat 1.8t 240k km later average 7.5L per 100km in the summer and 8.5L per 100km in the winter over it life time
2010 Cooper S 90k km later average 6.5L per 100km in the summer and 7.5L per 100km in the winter so far

 

[pauldun170]

Just about every Prius driver I know is hitting EPA estimates.
This in NY traffic and weather.
Having driven with them, they aren't doing anything special. They drive normally. This includes owners in my hilly area.
Drive smoothly and confidently, while respecting following distances and staying "in the ball park" with speed limits and you should be able to hit EPA estimates.

If you want be a lead foot and drive aggressively then you'll need to accept the resulting MPG penalty that will occur in just about any car.

 

[ultimatebob]

My 2012 Chevy Cruze Eco has been averaging 35 MPG since I bought it.

That's not bad, considering that it's a bigger and cheaper car than the Prius.

It's too bad that the thing is death trap, though. It must have had at least 4 safety recalls so far.

 

[NutBucket]

My 05 Forester XT gets horrible mileage. The one and only thing I dislike about it.

I never got/get good fuel economy in our turbo Subies...but I think that has more to do with heavy feet

 

[gorb]

according to the display in my 2013 civc ex (rated at 28 city/39 hwy) my average mpg is 26.6 :/

i often did the math in my previous car which was a 2006 sonata (24 city/33 hwy) and i averaged around 21 mpg

 

[JulesMaximus]

I think I test drove a Camry hybrid when I bought the Prius, and I did like it better, but IIRC it was a bit more expensive. Without looking, I imagine the Avalon and the Lexus are way out of my price range. I paid like $26k for the Prius.

I think the answer for me is a little Golf or something, with a five speed.

I paid $28k for the Camry XLE. Only options I don't have are the JBL stereo and the blind spot monitoring.

 

[Insomniator]

Not even. I had a CR-Z for 3 years. I put over 40k on it and averaged 40mpg in mixed driving...epa rating was 37 highway. All it takes is easy acceleration and coasting/regen. Pretty easy and not douchbaggy at all.

Besides, here in LA being aggressive gets you nowhere. All you end up with is a lighter wallet and more stress.

So you drive like a grandma, got it. Probably in the left lane too right?

 

[NutBucket]

On long downhills the car coasted quite nicely at 80

 

[tortillasoup]

My 2012 Chevy Cruze Eco has been averaging 35 MPG since I bought it.

That's not bad, considering that it's a bigger and cheaper car than the Prius.

It's too bad that the thing is death trap, though. It must have had at least 4 safety recalls so far.

Cruze may be a cheaper car than the Prius but it's definitely not any larger. Trunk space is smaller in the Cruze and the cabin space is exactly the same a 94 cubic feet.

 

[dtgoodwin]

I only have one year's worth of actual data, but my 2008 Prius driven over 21862 miles is averaging 44.30 MPG. I'd estimate that it is probably 60% hwy 40% city. I think that my battery, while good, is quite reduced in it's capacity. I can average over 50 MPG on the highway over long distances, and actually get reduced mileage in the city. I recently moved to an area with a lot of hills to get to my home and that really has a dramatic effect on the economy of the Prius - much more so than my other vehicle (a TrailBlazer). The Prius economy in town has gone down about 20%, while it has affected the Trailblazer less than 10%.

Like any vehicle, the Prius becomes notably less efficient when driven close to it's max. When climbing hills, after the battery runs down and cannot contribute, the ICE runs really hard and it's economy goes to the toilet. If I plan routes where the battery can contribute without running out, I will obviously get significantly better economy than routes where it runs down to the point where it no longer can help.

 

[Eug]

Well guys, I just bought a Prius plug-in.

I went in for a Prius v, and didn't like it. The base model felt like a cheap minivan but squashed. It didn't suit my needs either. It turned out my daughter's car seat wouldn't even fit easily despite the overall car size being bigger, but it did fit in the regular Prius. I think the reason was the height of the seats. In the Prius it cleared the back edge of the seat, but in the Prius v it was right up against it. Both are less roomy in the rear seat than my old 2004 Prius, at least when it comes to child car seats if you can believe it.

So, I didn't even bother test driving the Prius v. I did test drive a base model Prius and liked it better. Eco mode sucks though. Normal mode is OK, but Power mode is better. The lack of door handle sensors on the passenger side and the trunk was annoying though.

But, it turns out what I wanted in a used Prius wasn't even available. He started talking about all their other cars but I wasn't interested. So, I was about to leave and the salesman was all stressed about losing a sale. He went to see if there were any other newly arrived ones available and their head guy suggested I have a look at their Prius plug-in demo, which wasn't actually listed for sale. (He probably figured that being an ex-Prius owner I might actually be stupid enough to buy it. ) I told them I didn't want a plug-in but I'd have a look anyway. The price listed in their system was also crazy high, so I'm guessing it was probably a price from a year or so back or something. Nonetheless I made an offer, and after some back and forth, it was accepted.

It's pricey for a used 2012 Prius, but OTOH it had only 29000 km and it was the top-of-the-line tricked out model with the radar cruise, collision warning stuff, higher end NAV system, door lock sensors on both sides and trunk, and all that various crap.

 

[thedarkwolf]

04 jetta wagon TDI my over all average is right around 30mpg with I think a rating of 34/44 lol. I've done as bad as 24mpg and as good as 46mpg. My problem is I live within 3 miles of most of the places I go on a daily bases and that screws my mileage. A plug in hybrid would be perfect for me but I'm not going to go $25k in debt to drive a car 9k miles a year and save a few buck on fuel.

 

[tortillasoup]

Well guys, I just bought a Prius plug-in.

I went in for a Prius v, and didn't like it. The base model felt like a cheap minivan but squashed. It didn't suit my needs either. It turned out my daughter's car seat wouldn't even fit easily despite the overall car size being bigger, but it did fit in the regular Prius. I think the reason was the height of the seats. In the Prius it cleared the back edge of the seat, but in the Prius v it was right up against it. Both are less roomy in the rear seat than my old 2004 Prius, at least when it comes to child car seats if you can believe it.

That's surprising, did you try out the sliding rear seats? Prius V rear seats are suppose to be able to slide back, at least that's from what I know.

 

[TridenT]

So you're gunning it in a Prius. Okay...

 

[Eug]

That's surprising, did you try out the sliding rear seats? Prius V rear seats are suppose to be able to slide back, at least that's from what I know.

Yeah, I slid the rear seats all the way back. If you slide them forwards it actually gets cramped even for regular seating, like a compact car. Tried tilting the rear seat back too since that's an option, but that doesn't help actually. I think it partially has to do with the height of the front seat. When I installed the car seat the edge was touching the front seat's top edge. I tried tilting the front seat forward but then it became very uncomfortable.

In the regular Prius, the top of the front seat is comparatively lower I guess, because the edge of the car seat cleared it.

The car salesman tried to help out too, but couldn't make it work either in the Prius v.

Actually, I could make the car seat work if I adjusted the tilt of the seat itself, but when I've done that in the past my daughter leans forward when she falls asleep with her head hanging forward. With the proper tilt rear-facing, when she falls asleep her head stays in the seat.

The cargo space of the Prius v is enormous though. Unfortunately I think that is a bad design. They should have had more rear leg room instead, esp. since you can always just slide the car seats forward if you need to have more cargo room.

So you're gunning it in a Prius. Okay...

Yes, stupid, I know.

 

[Ramses]

04 jetta wagon TDI my over all average is right around 30mpg with I think a rating of 34/44 lol. I've done as bad as 24mpg and as good as 46mpg. My problem is I live within 3 miles of most of the places I go on a daily bases and that screws my mileage. A plug in hybrid would be perfect for me but I'm not going to go $25k in debt to drive a car 9k miles a year and save a few buck on fuel.

Short drives are brutal on fuel engines, both economy and longevity. Mind the VNT and EGR too. Last I checked a friend of mine with an 05 a4 PD sedan was lifetime/100K average of 44 and he was usually either at idle or on the floor.

 

[Eug]

Shortish drives will work wonders for my fuel economy with my new Prius Plug-in. I charged it up at work today and made it home on my 16.5 km commute with exactly zero gasoline usage.

I suspect my lifetime gasoline consumption on this car will be less than half of my previous Prius.

 

[Ramses]

My bicycle and I still got you beat, but I work from home.

 

[tortillasoup]

Shortish drives will work wonders for my fuel economy with my new Prius Plug-in. I charged it up at work today and made it home on my 16.5 km commute with exactly zero gasoline usage.

I suspect my lifetime gasoline consumption on this car will be less than half of my previous Prius.

Sounds like this car was exactly what you needed.

 

[thedarkwolf]

Short drives are brutal on fuel engines, both economy and longevity. Mind the VNT and EGR too. Last I checked a friend of mine with an 05 a4 PD sedan was lifetime/100K average of 44 and he was usually either at idle or on the floor.

Funny you mention that since I just got a code p2564 boost control position sensor or in other words VNT issues. Boost is working fine and I actually checked the VNT system out last year when I had another boost issue. Most common problem is a busted wire to the sensor according to the forums so hopefully that is all it is.

 

[Ramses]

Probly so if it's building boost OK. They don't like to be babied though. The fabled "italian tuneup" does most TDI's I've met a lot of good. One of the bonuses of a diesel is that one can and arguably should drive them like it's stolen as they say, and still get 40mpg and long service life.

 

[thedarkwolf]

I hope so. If I took it to a dealer they would just tell me a need a $2k turbo replacement .

 

[soulcougher73]

Driving styles make a *HUGE* difference in hybrids. I've got a C-Max and I can regularly pull 47-52MPG trips on the way home. My wife is lucky to hit 35 on the same trip. She hammers the gas, doesn't keep it operating on EV, and couldn't coast to a stop if a gun was to her head.

How do youl ike the C-Max overall? It's one of the hybrids ive been sorta interested in.