New 2026 Prius LE low MPG

My 2917 Prius 2, on average, exceeded the EA number of 52 combined. My 2025 Camry, which a 5th Gen hybrid, did not have its true fuel economy until after about 1300 miles. I now regularly exceed its combined 48 mpg rating.

 

how are you measuring mpg's, calculated at the pump after filling the tank? is it the first dealer tank?
no, it won't go up if something is wrong, without correcting it.
but if you've made a calculation error, or incorrect assumption, yes, it will go up.

 

1. it's cold up there
2. car/engine hasn't broken-in yet
3. it's still under warranty

Go though a couple tanks of gas before jumping to conclusions. It is heavier, larger, with a larger engine than your 2017.

Good Luck.....

 

Maybe try using real numbers.

I always use tank averages calculated at the pump.....by ME.
If I read the OP correctly, you do not even have ONE tank's worth of miles in this car - and you've driven a lot less than a half-tank's worth of miles in my GMC pickup.

You should wait until the kid is out of diapers before picking a college......

 

Almost 5000 miles on my '26 LE.
I've found my actual mpgs are generally 2 less than the car says.
I always fill up when empty-ish.
You have very little miles on it to come to any conclusion at all.
Winter is tough (see my thread on the subject).
I've got 61.6 on the car computer right now over a half tank gone.
I've been freezing my nice person off, to a degree, turning off the heat, since it's been warmish, in my quest. It's 8 F here this morning so, I don't know....

 

Gotcha.
Give it a few tanks before panicking.
Calculate gallons pumped and miles driven, then report back.
All the best!

 

nice person? lol.

 

I’ll chime in – I’m also a new ’26 LE FWD owner. Only ~300 miles on the odo so far. Biggest difference is, I live in the south and haven’t needed extended warm-up times or heater use at all, no snow to drive on, etc. My cumulative Lie-O-Meter value (the car display) bounces just above or below 57 mpg so far. Once I need to refuel I'll do a hand calc (gallons/miles driven) just for grins (anticipate display being optimistic by ~1-5 mpg, we'll see).

You have everything working against you in Michigan in the winter – winter blend fuel, higher air density with colder temps (more drag resistance at highway speeds), longer warm-up times, etc. Don’t know your driving regimen (shorter vs longer trips, city vs highway, etc), guessing that maybe a lot of short trips with heater use may be keeping the engine running for extended periods compared to what your spring/summer driving would yield.

For highway-type driving I was surprised at the outsized contribution of higher air density with colder ambient air temps in reducing fuel economy. In a couple weeks I’ll be driving on a ~1900 mile trip to California on a ‘southerly route’ (I-10). If it’s cold and I have some headwinds, I won’t be surprised at all if I show 40 mpg (or less) on my car display/actual hand calcs after refueling running at 70+ mph on the interstate.

As others have said – I wouldn't be concerned quite yet, run a few tanks of gas through it, do hand calcs on consumption, wait until you get spring and summer consumption values for comparison.

 

As said, it's cold. With all those affects, winter blend gas has less energy than summer.
Your display could have all the space shifting and idling done with the car before you got it in the calculation. Resetting it will give results for just your driving.
EPA testing is done with thousands more miles of wear on the tires than you have now. Rolling resistance will improve with time.

The only thing I'd do at this time is check the cold tire pressure. It will drop with the cold.

 

30 seems impossibly low. Even in the Michigan winter. You can't rely on what the computer in the car is telling you if there is only 150 miles on the car - who knows what happened when it was at the dealer before you picked it up.

Re-iterating what others are saying: You really need to fill up, then fill up again after a few hundred miles, and see how many miles you drove and then how many gallons you used. And then analyze. And keep in mind that the Michigan winter will knock down your MPG at this time of year. You won't really know how it is performing until you analyze a couple of tanks in April and later.

 

That is the forum replacement for a-s-s