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Your Mileage Will Vary | |
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First off, I would suggest inflating the tire pressure... try something like 38/36, 40/38, or 42/40... leave about a 2-3 psi difference between the front and rear. For your town driving, the best thing to do is consolidate your trips into one if possible. You want to go on the longest portion of the commute/trip first so the car warms up quicker. During cold weather, warmup takes much longer and this really kills early mileage.... this is more prominent in a hybrid than a typical gas car since the engine is used less and thus tends to require a longer time to warmup. You may look into getting a block heater installed... some people have them installed in their cars. I don't have any information about block heaters, but there is somewhere on www.priuschat.com. But as far as town driving goes, if you are making short trips you are hardly using much gas anyhow.... and when the warm weather comes, the improved mileage will more than make up for the low. It's hard to notice in the 2nd generation Prius because the fuel economy indicator resets at every fillup. Over the year your mileage will be higher. Another good tip that will help in any driving... more so in cold weather... is practicing neutral driving... what I mean is if you pull back the throttle you can see on the screen when there are no arrows flowing between the different parts (like in between the wheels, electric, and gas motor). Once you get the hang of it, getting into this neutral state is second nature. (NOT by the shift lever... this can damage the car if the gas engine is on) Lower mileage in colder weather is a problem cars, in particular modern cars, face. In cold weather, the Prius ECU (basically the computer that controls how the car is working) increases fuel consumption to maintain a specific fuel:air ratio. Cold air is denser, and thus more fuel is burned to match the ratio. Not sure the logic behind this... probably has to do with keeping up the gas engine performance in cold weather. Again, this is something other modern cars also experience. Another thing to consider is breakin - you'll see higher fuel economy (not like a huge difference) as you gain more miles. |
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