Posted by Michael Pardee on August 4, 2006, 12:56 pm
> M.S.
> I do not understand how your Prius can get such good of mileage. I'm in
> the same hot environment in the So. Cal Central Valley and I'm only
> getting 38 mpg now with AC running almost always. Very odd, although the
> local dealer has no explanation as to why a couple of Pri's in a company
> pool vary so widely in their mpg's. Even though the drivers rotate
> between them, they still produce the same mpg for the most part (one at 37
> and the other at 46). Must be good ones and bad ones?
I suspect there are some Prius that have undiagnosed problems that drop fuel
economy into the 30s. We used to see a lot more of those reports in the
Yahoo Prius forum, but they have become less common for some reason.
Assuming your tire pressures are okay (the stock pressures will cost you
about 5 mpg and wear the tires rapidly in the first generation - not sure
about the current version), there are a couple things that have been known
to cause such poor mileage. The first one is easy enough: some shops
overtension the parking brake cable and the parking brakes drag. If you use
the parking brakes regularly that goes away in a week or two, but applying
the parking brake hard and releasing it about ten times apparently does the
same trick. The other one was only reported once: the fuel injectors tested
bad and were replaced under warranty. Problem solved.
Mike (getting about 50 mpg in Flagstaff until we changed tires, now mid-40s)
Posted by Michelle Steiner on August 4, 2006, 1:16 pm
> Mike (getting about 50 mpg in Flagstaff until we changed tires, now
> mid-40s)
What tires did you get? I want to avoid them when I have to change
tires.
--
Stop Mad Cowboy Disease: Impeach the son of a Bush.
Posted by Michael Pardee on August 4, 2006, 6:24 pm
>> Mike (getting about 50 mpg in Flagstaff until we changed tires, now
>> mid-40s)
> What tires did you get? I want to avoid them when I have to change
> tires.
I got Yokohamas. In fairness, I haven't bothered to see what pressure I can
run them at; if I can do 42/40 they should be better. However, they are 195s
and not LRR so there may be limits....
Mike
Posted by Michelle Steiner on August 4, 2006, 1:15 pm
> I do not understand how your Prius can get such good of mileage.
> I'm in the same hot environment in the So. Cal Central Valley and I'm
> only getting 38 mpg now with AC running almost always.
I don't know why you're getting such low mileage. As I said, I tend to
keep at 65 on the freeway; most of the rural driving is at 45 to 50, and
in the city it's 25-35. The lowest I've ever had was 42 MPG, and that
was on my first tank.
I make heavy use of the cruise control whenever I can, and the rest of
the time, I keep a light foot on the go-pedal, and try pulse-and-glide
whenever I'm able if I can't use the cruise control.
I know people who routinely get the high 50s or even low 60s; I don't
know how they do it.
> Running I-5 the way I do (85+) can get it down into the upper 20's to
> lower 30's. Also, our gas is pretty watered down during the summer
> months with the "blend." Don't know if Arizona has accepted the
> watered-down ethanol stuff yet?
We get MTBE in the Winter and ethanol in the Summer.
--
Stop Mad Cowboy Disease: Impeach the son of a Bush.
Posted by Bill on August 4, 2006, 9:06 pm
>> I do not understand how your Prius can get such good of mileage.
>> I'm in the same hot environment in the So. Cal Central Valley and I'm
>> only getting 38 mpg now with AC running almost always.
> I don't know why you're getting such low mileage. As I said, I tend to
> keep at 65 on the freeway; most of the rural driving is at 45 to 50, and
> in the city it's 25-35. The lowest I've ever had was 42 MPG, and that
> was on my first tank.
My Prius got into a mode a while back (last summer) where it wouldn't charge
the battery and the engine ran continuously. Problem went away with a
re-start and then reappeared a few days later. It was hot when it happened
and the A/C had pulled the battery down. Hasn't happened since the last
recall upgrade but I have no reason to believe that upgrade solved the
problem. Read about an identical situation in the Prius_2G group a few days
ago.
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> I do not understand how your Prius can get such good of mileage. I'm in
> the same hot environment in the So. Cal Central Valley and I'm only
> getting 38 mpg now with AC running almost always. Very odd, although the
> local dealer has no explanation as to why a couple of Pri's in a company
> pool vary so widely in their mpg's. Even though the drivers rotate
> between them, they still produce the same mpg for the most part (one at 37
> and the other at 46). Must be good ones and bad ones?