i just purchased a 2008 prius and have a 2004 with 97,000 miles. the new one has nitrogen tires and is getting around 45 mpg--although on a trip to colo. and nm it got about 48mpg. the 2004 has just had its 95,000 mi service and is getting 38 -40 mpg. my question is ,why the difference? i notice in the forum tires,oil and ethanol are popping up in explaning lower mpg. is there any hard data on any of these factors? any indication that age per-se has an effect ? note it IS 100-110 degrees daily where i live! thanks.
I can tell you that filling the tires with nitrogen is silly at best. Worse if you paid for it. There is no advantage to filling your tires with N2.
actully there is an advantage to filling tires with nitrogen. Less times to the air station to fill up. :mullet:
This is a very good suggestion. I know for sure that Honda hybrids will suffer when the 12V battery gets weak because more energy is wasted charging it. While I haven't read much about it here, I can't think of a good reason why the same shouldn't apply to Toyota.
My Prius came with tires filled with nitrogen at an nominal cost, of course. The purpose of the nitrogen versus air is to reduce the deflation that commonly occurs in weather fluctuations, specifically warm to cold. I wasn't told there would be an increase or decrease in MPG's. I was told the nitrogen molecule is larger and does not escape somehow like the air molecule from the tire. It sounded like it was good advice at the time of the buy.
I know the local Jeep dealership in tow offers lifetime Nitrogen for $39 I believe. Pay once and you can bring your vehicle back to have your tires adjusted for free. It's a bit on the expensive side, but convenient for many people that want to check their air pressure a bit less frequently.
