[attachmentid=2211]Here is my experience with gas mileage on my 2004 Pkg 9 Prius over the past 33481 miles. Following is a summary of pertinent considerations: 1) Home-San Diego, moderate climate, therefore little winter/summer variations 2) Retired! No daily commute. Lots of short trips in town 3) Only minimal "babying" for super mileage. "Just Drive It" 4) 5 "major" trips -2 San Diego to Spokane, "normal" driving with traffic -1 San Diego to Spokane via Yellowstone, driving speed limit (torture) -1 San Diego to Utah National Parks (pretty heavy duty mountain grades) -1 San Diego to Sierra Nevada Mountains (Huntington Lake) Observations: 46.17 mpg mean (average) overall-acual calculated mileage 47-48 mpg typical on the road, 51.2 mpg driving speed limit (not worth it) Car has performed with perfection, rarely on "tough mountain grades" does the battery decline to purple bars. Zero mechanical problems with the car, occasional early driver-related learning curve issues Lifetime gasoline cost per mile $0.0515 See graph for further information Questions/Comments?
Congrats on the great mileage. I'm fond of saying that the EPA does their tests under "San Diego" conditions, so I can't say that I'm surprised. Looking forward to our Prius' first summer on the East coast; the winter's been bad on the mileage; mostly from my girlfriend wanting to have the heat on all the time. Pfft! Wimp! I'm curious when you say "Lots of short trips around town." Our experience is that very short trips (i.e. ~1-2 miles) is bad on the mileage (this has been discussed ad nauseum here). What do you mean by "short trips?"
Living in La Mesa and with a 10 mile commute plus extra driving I get 42-44 in town but on several trips to LA and Paso Robles I have gotten 46-52. My little trips in La Mesa kill me because of the hills and lights. I do not try overly hard and tend to drive 70+/-.
My "short trips" are kind of a mix of 1-2 mile and 5-50 mile trips. For those of you in the SD area, SDSU to E. El Cajon and SDSU to Oceanside are the longish of the short trips. San Diego is kind of hilly. Probably the mileage is skewed a little towards the high side because of the longish trips I've taken and weekly trips to Oceanside. My take is that gas mileage is very dependent on mpg paranoia and driving habits (for what it's worth)
