Well I discovered today having the heater off helps with having ev mode kick in more. I find that strange as I didn't think the engine would be used more with the heater but there you go.
Spec me a Hybrid.
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My AC is run off the battery ... hence the reason I can sit in standing traffic for up to 45 mins with the ICE off and the AC on.
Those of you who actually own hybrids what kind of driving do you actually do, City, Commute or mixed and what kind of MPG figures are you seeing? Just interested as i would like a hybrid in the near future, my daily is 25 miles each way only so 50 a day and only 5 of those are miles those are slow moving traffic as i come back into the out skirts of the city. I average 45-50mpg in my Passat CC.
In my Lexus GS 450h
Normal commute from Bolton to the centre of Manchester ... about 28 miles, average speed of about 15mph ... I’m getting about 37mpg
If I take the shorter but slower route, about 24 miles, average speed of about 10mph... I’m getting about 33mpg
Driving down to Portsmouth for the ferry last week I averaged 50mpg
Driving through France and Spain sticking to the speed limits (ish) I usually get about 42mpg
Soldato
The lay of the land makes a big difference to mpg. I can do a local trip of 7 miles & get as high as 120mpg going (Gen4 Prius) but around 70 coming back. (This is a 40mph road)
This is because there is a fairly steep downgrade followed by a very long 5 mile stretch of slightly down hill/level and the car will run all that way with the engine off, sometimes the battery will be moving me and sometimes coasting which also puts charge back
Coming back the engine will run a lot more because I will have run the battery down quite a lot and it's slightly uphill coming back inc a fairly steep bit. Coming back will also recharge the battery quite a lot because I'm not using it so much unless I accelerate briskly which is not likely due to traffic.
In summer mpg will be a lot better than winter, turning up the heater for e.g will make the engine run a lot more to keep up the temperature,running the electric air con has negligible affect however.
In the city this car excells on fuel economy. You can use ev mode in stop start/local traffic which helps a lot. I'm averaging circa 50mpg, but that's including motorway driving and a/b roads all at speed limit speeds.
Compared to the diesels, I do feel the newer ones give great economy but it was the reliability of things 'possibly' going wrong which swung it for for petrol + electric.
Compared to the diesels, I do feel the newer ones give great economy but it was the reliability of things 'possibly' going wrong which swung it for for petrol + electric.
It's reasonable. £40~ full tank and circa with the mixed driving I can get 400ish miles out of it. Bearing in mind the tank is 45 litres. Whenever I've filled up from the range showing 10 miles left it's taken 33l~ or there abouts.
I like it. For my needs and phv it's perfect.
Soldato
I'm surprised at some of the low mpg figures being quoted here, you have a plug in and only get 50mpg? I get way over that with a regular hybrid, my current mileage is 15,000 miles from new @ 68mpg. If I go on a long trip & don't get near 80mpg+ I'm disappointed
It is not a plug in hybrid. It's engine + electric motor.
Soldato
apologies, I thought you'd put phev but now I see it was phv
I'm not sure the "self charging" ones use the electric motors over about 30mph. At least the older ones didn't.
Soldato
That's certainly not true of both the hybrids I've owned, it's a fallacy perpetuated over & over by confusing the EV button with the general ability of the hybrid vehicle to run on electric mode up to 60mph+. I think that in the 10 years I've owned a Prius I probably pressed the EV button 5 times, I just never bother with it.
The reason being is that it will cut out above 30mph so to get the exact same effect you just lift your foot off the gas and lightly back on and your in EV mode- providing your not going uphill. Every time I lift my foot off the gas the EV green light comes on regardless of speed. Whether I can continue driving without the engine coming on depends on the road incline but it's easily possible to drive at 60mph on a reasonably level road with the engine off
Which car do you have?
Soldato
Gen 4 Prius
Soldato
A mixture of roads if I go on a long trip, as I mentioned it's very dependent on the terrain and you won't get the same mpg both ways for that reason. I drive briskly but I don't tank it down the motorway at 80mph
My previous car was a gen 2 Prius on 17" wheels and averaged 55mpg and barely reached 70mpg on a long trip so the gen 4 is a huge improvement.
I have the 15" wheels which gives better mpg (8-9) than the 17" rims, I drive in eco mode but all that does is alter the pedal response
Even the wrong grade engine oil will knock 10mpg off much to my annoyance as Toyota specifies synthetic 0W-20 but wont force dealers to use it, you have to argue with the service centre and in my case do a viscosity test to prove they lied. The correct grade of oil in a hybrid is very important to reduce drag as the engine is always turning even when it's off.
Looking on fuelly for UK Prius 2016 there are wildly conflicting results, there are some getting overall mpg like me and a few even better but also some getting as low as 44
I couldn't get anywhere near that low no matter how hard I drove it so I'm certain they have the wrong grade oil in for starters and probably 17" wheels but even then 44mpg cannot be normal.
Soldato
My overall mpg for 15,800 miles