I have an 05 prius with 133,000 miles on it...My current commute is 50 miles per day where the morning commute is on freeway at 75 mph, but the evening commute is at least 40 minutes of bumper to bumper. back in the day when I drove 85 miles per day with open freeways, I was getting about 45 mpg, but now with my shorter commute, I seem to be falling just short of 40 mpg.. I'm wondering if this drop in mileage is a function of the high mileage on the car...anybody have a similar experience?
There was a thread recently, which detailed the effects of a low/old battery. Apparently both the 12V and the traction battery can cause a problem similar to yours. A quick search should turn up the thread. Maybe a week old? Chuck
I'm in the same exact situation age and mileage wise, an 05 with 135,000 miles. However my 150 mi daily commute has not changed at all. I did replace the 12v battery at ~ 115K. However I haven't noticed any significant drop off in FE, maybe a mpg or two at most. A buddy traded his 04 for a Gen 3 when he was just below 250,000 miles. Up until the end he was still getting 48-ish mpg. He did do a complete service at 150K including plugs and new serpentine belt. I haven't done either yet.
http://avt.inl.gov/pdf/hev/end_of_life_test_1.pdf found little change on fuel economy on 1st gen Priuses after 160K miles. "Prius demonstrates by having a 60.8% reduction (highest change of the three Phase II vehicles) in battery pack capacity and an average decrease in fuel efficiency (Phase II, AC-off and AC-on combined) of only 1.3% (lowest change of the three Phase II vehicles)." "Priuses had an increase of 1.2 mpg without AC and a decrease of 2.0 mpg with AC."
Very interesting report cwerdna. Do you know if any similar tests have ever been published for the Gen II Prius?
See the thread below for checking the 12V battery yourself: http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-ii-...ather-done-my-beautiful-prius.html#post991935
