I purchased a 2014 Toyota Prius Two, not II as Roman numerals were for model year 2010, in June of this year. When I first purchased the car I noticed that it said I add roughly 600 miles till the tank was empty. That estimate has gradually gone down over the weeks and now it estimates around 400 or so. Does the car "learn" how you drive and make adjustments? Because I also "think" I notice, it very well may just be me, that I am getting less mpg based on how I drive. I drive the same way every day. I have to. I live in LA and drive to work on the 405 every morning. I cant do 60 one day and 35 the next. I drive the same speed, for the same amount of time there and back and I notice every week the average mpg's per trip get lower and lower. I used to get 60-70 with each commute, now its in the low 40's. Any thoughts or ideas? I think I am just super nervous that something is wrong because I do not know too much about these cars. Thanks
Welcome to Prius Chat! Sounds normal to me. Yes I do think the first couple of tanks the car is adjusting. 600 miles on a tank would be a helluva a lot and would earn you a spot in our 600 mile Club. I can't comment too much because I have a Gen2 (pre-2009) which was worse than your car...I am lucky to get 400 miles per tank. The Gen2 had a flexible gas tank which was hard to fill over 8 gallons. You at least have a rigid fixed volume gas tank. In California, your gasoline is EPA/CARB Reformulated gasoline with 10% ethanol. Same gaso I got here in the Northeast corridor. It's relatively low energy content so your MPG will not be as stellar as some Prius owners in other states. Many posts here on how speed impacts MPG and so on. What MPG are you getting? Is that by hand calc or by Display reading? Display reading is usualy optimistic. Make sure you have good pressure in your tires...many here go to 40/38 or so.
Welcome. I just drive my 2014 and enjoy it immensely. It's become my go-to vehicle, and has spoiled me with it's frugalness. Now I am astonished how fast my other cars consume fuel. Congratulations to you!
If your commute has a lot of higher speed driving, that has a big negative impact. That's why the EPA fuel ratings on the sticker are lower for highway driving than city driving, the opposite of most vehicles. My lowest MPG tanks have been on interstate driving trips. Checking the tire pressure, as suggested above, is good advice also.
Start calculating your mpg for each tank full, maybe register with an online mpg logging site? Fuelly is popular.
Gasbuddy also lets you log your fuel usage as well, though it's a little harder to find it on their site. But if you want to find the cheapest gas around your area, it's a good place to do it. I've been doing the fuel log on both fuelly and gasbuddy, though admittedly it's a bit redundant.
i think more details are needed. if your average mpg's have dropped from 60-70, down to 40, i would say something has changed.
I was able to get 602 miles on one tank of gas only once and it was with my 2012 Prius model two with the smaller tires. My wife's Prius is a 2013 persona with 17 inch wheels which only gets 480-500 miles per tank. I say only as if that is a bad thing. Meanwhile, my 2014 honda crv barely cracks 300 miles. never should have gotten rid of my prius.
MN is a terrible place in the Winter though, and the crv is more luxurious inside, but it sucks filling it up.
