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What To Expect In The Real World Of The PRIUS


culliganman

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For those of us with a year or better on our Prius cars we share some things with newcomers.

What to expect om mileage: Terrain can effect mpg's...weather can effect it...YOUR DRIVING WILL DEFINITLY effect it...Summer to Winter blends of gas can play a part in mpg's...AC and other accessories can effect it too.

E.P.A. says the Prius is rated at 60 city & 50 hiwy....It ain't a gonna happen!! Most of us have come to expect hi 40's and maybe very low 50's. This is normal for most of us on the average. I'm not a KNOW-IT-ALL, I'm just passing this along from several sites of Prius & other Hybrid owners.

Culliganman(free us Prius)

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  • 6 months later...

As a happy owner of a 2005 Prius which I purchased in July 05 I'd like to share my mileage experiences. As of today we have about 8,000 miles on it. Like mentioned earlier, alot of factors affect the fuel economy on this car. One of the biggest factors is the grade of the road, going uphill will reduce economy and level or downgrades will greatly increase economy. So far we only have experience driving in the hot Las Vegas summer and a bit in Southern California. We have been running the A/C on high most of the time and average about 40MPG on the highway and 45MPG around town as long as we are somewhat conscientious about our driving style. If we're rushing around our fuel economy drops into the high 30's. We can't wait to see what happens this winter when we stop using the A/C. We'll post our experience.

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driven one of these for a few hours testing and I can say these are a fantastic car. The electronics are great!

I loved when the car was in stealth mode driving through a parking lot... catch a few people out. :D :D

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driven one of these for a few hours testing and I can say these are a fantastic car. The electronics are great!

I loved when the car was in stealth mode driving through a parking lot... catch a few people out.  :D  :D

That's neat when it's moving along and you can't hear anything at all. You can really surprise people that way, so you have to watch out.

A few years ago, my company had a seminar on hybrid cars at a local hotel, and there was a Prius there. It was supposed to go into one of the meeting rooms for a demonstration, but the hotel staff said "hey, you can't drive a car in here - it's a fire hazard!!". We told them it was an electric car, drove very slowly through the hotel lobby to the conference room, and the engine never started up once...they never knew the difference. Fun!

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What's the performance of Prius in the snow ...in the northern part of the country with winter seasons???  :)

They're excellent. I used to live in Michigan, and one day we got three feet of snow in one day. My office closed up early, we all went home (I had to get a ride home from a co-worker with a 4WD truck because I drove my Supra in to work that morning), and the next day almost everyone was snowed in. Most of our staff didn't even make it in to work that day, and some of the people who lived close to the office drove in on snowmobiles because the snow was so deep that day. Our general manager was the first person to arrive at work the next morning after the storm, and he drove from Grand Rapids to Lansing (about 60 miles) in his Prius...no problem.

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  • 3 months later...
  • 2 years later...

Hi, three weeks ago we bought what I like to call a "starter Hybrid" or "My First Hybrid", a 2002 Prius with 74000miles on it. So far our lowest average has been 46mpg. 1 trip my wife got 65mpg and we can't figure out why. this is rural driving at 55mph with a couple stop signs along the way.

A trip on the freeway at 70mph and a 20mph wind at our backs yielded 49mpg, but only 43mpg coming back into the wind at 65mph. It is so cool to drive through town electric only. This car the engine likes to start unexpectedly sometimes and we're not sure this is normal but we're enjoying the MPG's so far. Myself I try to see how good I can get and usually can SQUEEEEEZE 50mpg out of it. But driving "normal" for me I can manage 47mpg without trying too hard.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...

I have a 2006 Prius, with about 30K miles on it. My MPG averages 35-40 in town, and 45-50 on road trips. I do run the a/c almost all the time, because of asthma problems, but I don't think that would affect the mileage too much, since the a/c runs off its own electric motor. I keep the tires at 42/40 lbs and really don't baby the car. Using hypermileage techiques I've gotten as high as 62 mpg, but the folks around me don't appreciate it! Speed is of the essence in SoCal......

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  • 10 months later...
What's the performance of Prius in the snow ...in the northern part of the country with winter seasons??? :)

On snow and ice; my 2002 Prius with its skinny tires seems to own the road. :ph34r: It slices through deep snow without pulling or hydroplaning. It stops very well on snow and the ABS brakes work good on ice. Starting out from a stop can sometimes be a challenge as it's heavy for its size and carries its battery pack in its rear which doesnt help for traction.

A minus; the super touchy overpowered brakes are difficult to control under any conditions and I hate them. :angry:

Sheer arctic "why do I live here?" cold; starts no problem in ridiculous cold and puts out a fair amount of heat although it takes about 15 minutes to get the interior warmed up. With short warm-ups I get 42 mpg average in winter.

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  • 3 months later...

what happens when the car is older? we all know old cars have long starting times through wear and tear?

My '05 has 70K+ and starts just like it was new.

Only problem I've had with it is a water pump failure on the hybrid side. (Fixed under warranty).

This is my third Prius and I'm pleased with them. Just bought a 2010 RAV4 and my wife says the Prius is hers. ;-)

jn

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