I rented a Prius recently and drove from Nashua, NH to Hartford, CT and back. Mostly highway driving. The display said I had averaged 44.7 MPG. When I filled the gas tank before returning the car I calculated that mileage and found it to actually be about 41 MPG. Still pretty darn good.

Jason

My MPG average over the 3years that I have owned and driven it, has been 45.4 mpg. The driving methods I use are simple. No jackrabbit starts, glide to a stop where possible and giving only as much gas peddle a is needed to maintain speed or make the necessary moves. The easiest way to ruin the mpg is to press the gas peddle in excess of what is necessary to maintain the speed I desire. I am giving up nothing to achieve this mpg. I love the car. I’m not crazy for its outside styling but it doesn’t put me off either. It is well engineered, well designed interior and reliable.

I have owned a Prius since July 12th and love it. I consistently get 50 mpg on the Interstate at 70 mph. In town it varies greatly depending on how many times you stop and start.

I’m a hypermiler and no matter what the model of vehicle, I can squeeze better mileage out of it than can the average driver just because of how I drive. If the sticker says 40, I can probably squeeze 50 or better just because I can drive in a
more polished manner than can the average driver.

I’ve tracked my mileage for over a year here…

Date Miles Gallons Average MPG

July 04, 2007 422 9.624 43.84
July 14, 2007 542.5 10.804 50.21
July 28, 2007 540 9.775 55.24
August 02, 2007 447.9 9.246 48.44
August 14, 2007 451 8.852 50.95
August 24, 2007 484.1 9.204 52.60
August 31, 2007 461.2 9.952 46.34
September 4, 2007 513.8 9.642 53.29
September 16, 2007 475.2 8.967 52.99
September 26, 2007 491.6 9.763 50.35
October 7, 2007 508.1 9.969 50.97
October 17, 2007 508.6 9.060 56.14
October 31, 2007 454.7 9.051 50.24
November 8, 2007 427.6 9.171 46.63
November 17, 2007 467.7 9.438 49.55
November 23, 2007 486.9 10.011 48.64
December 5, 2007 467.4 8.965 52.14
December 11, 2007 425.3 9.123 46.62
December 21, 2007 469 10.002 46.89
December 30, 2007 420.3 9.421 44.61
January 10, 2008 460.7 9.157 50.31
January 19, 2008 437.6 8.981 48.73
January 29, 2008 410.5 9.346 43.92
February 12, 2008 446 8.513 52.39
February 23, 2008 431.7 9.965 43.32
March 24, 2008 467.3 9.028 51.76
April 03, 2008 499.2 9.619 51.90
April 16, 2008 524.1 9.758 53.71
April 26, 2008 541.1 9.139 59.21
May 04, 2008 432.9 9.113 47.50
May 13, 2008 488.8 9.460 51.67
May 24, 2008 538.6 9.115 59.09
June 07, 2008 493.9 9.801 50.39
June 18, 2008 584.5 10.286 56.82
July 04, 2008 605.7 9.945 60.90
July 13, 2008 506.3 10.807 46.85
July 25, 2008 563.1 9.731 57.87
August 09, 2008 581.5 9.346 62.22
August 14, 2008 408.6 6.722 60.79
August 15, 2008 411.2 9.249 44.46
August 22, 2008 480.7 9.168 52.43
August 28, 2008 511.3 9.539 53.60
September 08, 2008 503.9 9.293 54.22
September 16, 2008 503.4 9.937 50.66
September 26, 2008 560.1 10.093 55.49
October 5, 2008 469.7 8.380 56.05

Brian Dobbs
briancorydobbs@gmail.com

It all comes down to being an informed buyer. You don’t buy a pair of Gucci shoes for comfort and cost-efficiency. Most , if not all, consumers already know this sordid bit of reality. If you purchase a Porsche or a Jaguar, it’s not for fuel or cost efficiency and one generally knows that. Every time you take one in for servicing, you are going to pay. And you are going to do a lot of servicing. As long as you know what you are buying into, you can’t complain. And if you don’t know what you are buying into, don’t complain because that means you’re an idiot. There is a ton of information for the consumer to make informed decisions. The Prius is definitely the ultimate in vehicle purchases, whether hybrid or otherwise. And if you don’t like the way it looks - what do you want?

Depending on how you’re driving it, where you’re driving it and the terrain.

Normal yuck driving, 44 MPG.
Careful driving, 52 MPG

The car does have good performance, so it’s real easy to fall into that stupid jack-rabbit throttle it away from the intersection, stand on the brakes for the next stop type driving. While regenerative braking helps take the sting out of it, you can get way better fuel mileage.

Careful driving is the same for all vehicles, hybrid or not. Slow accell and decell with anticipation of traffic ahead is necessary to increase fuel mileage. When you come to a stop, step on the brake to the point the engine stops. A feather touch on the brake pedal signals the engine controller that you are anticipating creeping and the engine will stay running longer. Pressing down a little harder signals you have no intention of moving and the engine shuts down pretty immediately.

We have a long, downhill offramp coming into my town. You are slowing from 65MPH to a 15MPH corner at the bottom. Learn to use the dynamic braking to charge the battery. If you have good high pitch hearing, you can hear the controller switch through several modes as it progressively turns up the regeneration to slow you. Go from the light deceleration to the next step and the battery pack can be fully charged by the time you hit the bottom of the hill. I’ve often driven the whole length of the parkway on just battery power alone if the traffic is right and you don’t hit too many traffic stops.

On freeway driving, drive 5MPH below the speed limit. If you try to drive the speed limit, you are always coming upon someone you need to pass. A lot of people are doing a pretty good job in our area of gauging their speed such that we have a pretty good convoy going at continuous steady speed in the slow lane with only an occasional need to pass camper rigs and other 55MPH traffic. Seems most of the Semis in our area are sticking to this rule (60MPH).

I get to laugh as all the OPEC lovers blow by me at 80-90 MPH. They should be thanking us as we’re pretty much watching them run up in wolf packs on our back bumpers filling BOTH lanes to have to consolidate left to pass. Since we’re not clogging the left lane, it makes it easier for them to help burn all that extra fuel to keep Uncles Fayad and Hugo happily rolling in cash.