been driving our new prius c Two 2013 for 3 weeks. the first full tank gave us 28 mpg. it's been cold here in vt and many days the farthest we've gone is 5 miles round trip. we also splurged and got a car starter for it since we don't have a garage. my theory for the low mpg is all of these factors combined with learning out to drive a prius (this is our first) and the fact that it's new (had 45 miles on it at purchase). my husband thinks it's broken and we need to call the dealership figuring even if things were bad it wouldn't be as bad as 28 mpg and since it's the "c" for city it should be doing great on these short trips. thoughts and/or suggestions? thanks!
Cold will be lower MPG than warm. (This graph is from a 2001, but the idea is the same) http://john1701a.com/prius/documents/Prius-2001_MPG_Graphs_Lifetime.pdf Short Trips will always be worse than long trips, as the engine/drivetrain need to warm up. (this is a graph I made up for my Gen 2, there are no units) A new Prius both takes time to wear in and to train it's driver.
welcome to priuschat! seems low to me. check your tyre pressure, reset your trip meter and go for a nice long scenic drive. report back with mpg's, all the best!
another thought is that the first tank is always skewed because the dealer doesn't quite fill it all the way up.
The car being new should be relatively minor. The new tires are also a minor factor, they will do slightly better after a few thousand miles. But new hybrid driver, very cold weather, short trips, and the remote starter for warmup are big factors. Any road condition other than bare dry pavement will also hurt. Compared to any non-hybrid gas burner, your car is doing extremely well. Longer trips in warm dry spring weather, when you need no heat and don't use remote start, will show whether or not the car is broken.
Cold, short trips, and remote starter? Those are some of the worst things for mileage, especially all together. You should be getting much better mileage when you don't have the cold and remote starter working against you.
Not broken, new driver to this type of car, extreme weather conditions and short trips all add up to lower then expected MPG, give it time and warmer weather to show you how great a car it is.
I got my 2013 Prius C the same time you did. I commute 6 miles (about 12-15minutes) to work, in temps ranging from -10F to 37F. I run the heat a maximum only for the first 4 or 5 minutes when the engine will run no matter what anyways. And I'm lucky to break 32mpg with that short of a commute on a cold engine. I don't allow the car to warm more than a minute before driving. On the 37F degree day, I reached 48mpg, and that with a carefully trained foot to trigger the EV mode. I covered a 125 mile trip today in temps between 17F and 25F, maximizing triggering the EV mode when I could on downhills, and not exceeding 45mph: Average 61.4mpg.
