After almost 3000 miles I cannot get my gas mileage<br>above 40 MPG. Have done everything from starting <br>to gain speed slowly from a standing stop, with a<br>few people behind me unhappy,to rapidly increasing <br>speed to the speed limit. At this time my mileage<br>is less on city streets than on the freeway. Anyone<br>else encountering this problem.<br><br>Toyota at the customer service number cannot see <br>anything wrong with the mileage I get by saying that<br>gas mileage can vary and what I get is within the<br>lower limits of what to expect.<br><br>Is anyone else getting this low mileage and does<br>anyone have any ideas as to the swolution.<br><br>Other than that the Prius handles great and draws<br>a lot of attention.

Hi!<br>I suggest you join the "groups" list:<br><a href=http://groups.yahoo.com/group/toyota-prius target=new>http://groups.yahoo.com/group/toyota-prius</a><br>and read message 6299:<br><a href=http://groups.yahoo.com/group/toyota-prius/message/6299 target=new>http://groups.yahoo.com/group/toyota-prius/message/6299</a><br><br>Th\ is is the "Prius Mileage Calculator", created by a group member, and will give you a good idea if your car is performing as it should. If your driving is primarily short trips less than 10 minutes, mileage less than 40 could be normal because the car is spending all of it's time warming up!<br><br>Sam

&gt;Is anyone else getting this low mileage and does<br>&gt; anyone have any ideas as to the swolution.<br><br>Yes (to your first question). My in-town mileage averages 29-30 mpg. On the highway it's much better -- above 40. Overall, however, I'd say that the advertised Prius mileage is quite bogus -- or at least needs a bunch of footnotes pointing out that certain people in certain situations might possibly get the advertised mileage.

&gt; Is anyone else getting this low mileage and does<br>&gt; anyone have any ideas as to the solution.<br><br>I get better mileage than that even in the winter. (Data is available on my website.)<br><br>Check your tire pressure. Too low will dramatically reduce MPG. You should have at least 35 PSI in front and 33 PSI in back. Also, try a different brand of gas.<br><br>For further assistance, please join the rest of us at:<br><a href=http://groups.yahoo.com/group/toyota-prius target=new>http://groups.yahoo.com/group/toyota-prius</a><br><br>JOHN<br><a href=http://john1701a.com target=new>http://john1701a.com</a>

There's nothing bogus about the advertised Prius mileage. It was measured by the government in the same test that all other cars sold in the US must take. The advertised mileage has the very footnote you requested: "Your mileage may vary". That's the only footnote any other car has to print, so why should the Prius be treated any different?<br><br>The Prius performance on the city test does, however, show that the government tests aren't that good a predictor of real world performance. How many of you run around the "city" on a treadmill all day?<br><br>The government city test measures a car's performance on a 20 minute run on back roads with low speeds (around 30-35) and few stops. It's actually pretty easy to beat the 52 MPG rating with a Prius under these conditions. But they're not that typical.<br><br>More to the point, it's pretty easy for the Prius to beat just about any other car at the MPG game under whatever city driving conditions you may really encounter. So Prius' relatively higher city rating is not at all bogus.<br><br>Robert Snyder<br>NJ-PIKACHU

The mileage rating is hardly bogus. In fact, I'd say it's under-estimated. On every tank of gas so far, I've averaged over 50 MPG in combined City/Highway and it has been as high as 55 MPG. Try driving with a lighter foot. It really makes a difference.

I have had my Prius for 2 months now and have had 6 fill ups. I am averaging about 50 MPG (calculated, not per the computer). I have learned that the short trips on a cold engine really ruin your MPG. Try to combine errands together. Lots of people have lots of advice on ways to improve your MPG. You might want to join the other Prius group to get moe info.<br><br>Ann

One thing you did not tell us is what kind of driving you do. Mostly short trips? Mostly highway? Mostly hanging around in awful city traffic?<br><br>For example, we know from previous comments that Natalie (the one for whom NSD, Natalie Style Driving) was coined, takes very short trips (there is nothing in her town further than 5 minutes away as I recall). That is where her under 30 MPG happens.<br><br>What is your situation?<br><br>(I still wonder about Natalies barely-40MPG on the highway, though).<br><br>Burns<br>LOWCO2 - NH<br>Still waiting for 2002 (soon! Please let it be soon!)

I too am always disappointed by the low mileage on short trips (shows we should be biking for those ones!!). The service manual says the engine must get to 180 deg F ( I think that is the number) before the gasoline engine will turn off with the hybrid system on. Thus when you start the car from cold (say 50 F) it takes a certain amount of energy from the gasoline just to get the metal, oil and water up to 180 F, this energy is later wasted when the engine cools off. Assuming about 150 kg of metal and about 10 kg of water equivalent in fluids, this represents about 3 kWh of thermal energy (using specific heat for aluminum and water), if 30% of the gasoline energy is then assumed to go into pure engine thermal heating (35% for exhaust heat and 35% to drive car and/or charge battery at low engine speed then this 3 kw represents about 0.3 litres of gasoline. (gasoline has about 9 kWh per litre) At 4.8 litres/100 km this 0.3 litres means about the equivalent of 6 km of normal driving, which would explain why a 6 km trip gives about half the mileage compared to fully warmed up (or there abouts). Numbers above are pretty loose but do illustrate it takes significant energy to heat engine the first time.<br><br>If I am brave I will disconnect the thermistor on the engine, wire in an equivalent resistance to 190 Degrees F and do some comparitive driving...maybe after the warranty expires!!<br><br>Last 460 km at 4.6 l/100 km no air, almost all highway driving up here in canada.<br><br>cheers

Why not develop a "regenerative cooling" system to top off the battery after the car is turned off using the radiant energy from the hot engine?

Ask the dealer to check your valves. When I received my prius, the valves had not been set correctly at the factory. This resulted in lower than expected gas mileage. It didn't get caught in my case until the catalytic converter was partially clogged by the unburnt fuel. This resulted in our friends at Toyota buying me a new cat converter! Point this out to your dealer, maybe you can get better mileage and save Toyota some $$<br><br>PS: I was very pleased with how my dealer (John Elway Autonation Toyota in SE Denver area) handled this. Very quick and professional.

&gt;(I still wonder about Natalies barely-40MPG on<br>&gt; the highway, though).<br><br>Where did you get that "barely-40MPG"? I get above 40 mpg on the highway. A Prius is a great highway car, imho. It's just not so great around town. As I mentioned earlier, my around-town average is 29-30 mpg. And yes, I do know how to maximize the mileage. I'm not "driving wrong." It just plain doesn't like the typical trip in my town -- four minutes or so with a/c blasting.<br><br>On the highway, however, it gets above 40 mpg. I drove it on a 2500+-mile trip in July and found the average mileage not bad at all. I can't remember now the exact figure I ended up with for that trip, but it was above 40. I think maybe around 42. It was even happier on a trip to North Carolina earlier this month. It loved the mountains. I happened to have occasion to cross the "Eastern Continental Divide" three or four times on this trip, and my Prius adored passing that sign. Its gauge would stay on 100 mpg for the next twenty minutes. (It wasn't as happy going up the mountains, of course, but even with that the overall gas mileage on that trip was very good -- mid 40s.)<br><br>So whatever the official figures may say, I will say that for at least some of us the highway mileage is far, far better than the in-town mileage. I would highly recommend a Prius for somebody doing lots of highway traveling -- especially if they travel through places where they can have the routine Prius service done. I have not been able to recommend a Prius to my local friends because when they say things like, "I assume you have to take it to Columbus [25 miles away] for service," I have to answer truthfully, "No. The Toyota place in Columbus won't touch Priuses."<br><br>I was interested in adding cruise control and called the dealer where I bought the car -- 200 miles from here. Nobody could answer my question about the possibility of adding it, however, because the one person who could work on Priuses was on vacation.<br><br>Bottom line: The Prius is a nice car in many ways, but if I had it to do over, I would not have bought it. The service hassle alone is enough reason. (And yes, I was stupid not to do the homework in advance. I assumed that any Toyota dealer could service it, and the dealer I bought it from did not suggest otherwise.) I bought it on a whim. (Contrary to popular myth, there are not always long waits to buy a Prius. The day I bought mine, there was another one sitting there waiting for anybody who wanted it to buy it.)

Sorry, Natalie. I thought that you had only gotten just about 40 on the highway from the previous discussion a few months ago. That seemed on the low end to me. If that had been true, low end on both kinds of driving might say there was something happening beyond just the type of driving you are doing.<br><br>Burns