On Saturday, I filled my 2010 PriusIV at the Hess station in Chichester, NH. Every day since, my indicated MPG has gone up about one MPG, with my 40 mile round trip to work. I had been running around 46-48 MPG indicated this winter. Monday it was up over 50. Yesterday 52, today it is up to 53 mpg and I have used 1/2 tank on 256 miles, which is much better than my winter stats. I can only guess that Hess started pumping a different gasoline this week as I can think of no other variables over the same closed daily route.
Has the temperature changed as well? Between higher temps and summer blend fuel, most of us see much higher MPG than in the winter. This includes a reduction in foul weather which hurts fuel efficiency for everyone. Unfortunately most vehicles get such poor MPG that they never notice the 2mpg drop (from 20 to 18). It just looks like a much larger drop in the Prius because of a higher MPG number but 10% is still 10%. Fortunately for us, the 10% drop translates to a larger MPG number change (50mpg to 45mpg) BUT because the Prius is so efficient, the resulting loss is still less expensive than those going from 20mpg to 18mpg. Lets do some math based on a 20,000 mile/yr average. I'm using this because that is what I used to average. I drive more now. 10,000 miles / 50mpg (summer) = 200 gallons * $3.50/ga = $700 10,000 miles / 45mpg (winter) = 222 gallons * 3.50/ga = $777 vs................................................................................... $77 10,000 miles / 20mpg (summer) = 500 gallons * $3.50/ga = $1750 10,000 miles / 18mpg (winter) = 556 gallons * $3.50/ga = $1944 ............................................................................................$194 Sucks to be the 20/18mpg driver doesn't it? lol
I, too, am noticing a remarkably better tank this time (60 MPG, versus lower 50s being the previous norm and a previous high of 56.7 with no ethanol). I filled up on March 31st. It's probably a combination of factors (getting better at driving it, warmer temps, etc), but I suspect the gas is different as well.
Yes, we have had some really warm weather in NH the last few days, so it's probabably a combination of fule blend and weather. Engine warmup seems to be happening more quickly.
I have seen a drop of 60 degrees to 45 degrees with rain weather drop my mpg by 10 mpg's. This happened in one day in the Northwest during the spring of 2010. Temps were in the low 60's, clear and dry, later on in the day a cold front moved in with temps in the mid 40's and rain. During the nice weather mpgs indicated were about 60 mpg, when the weather changed about 50 indicated. al
gee i feel so sorry for you nw'ters. try going from 80 to 40 overnight. or winter in general where it can get to -20-30 below.
