Prius fuel economy
[with A/C]

We just moved from Keene to Ashland, Oregon. After reading your website, I have a feeling you might live in the Keene area. I just bought an '07 Prius. I've been troubled by in-town mileage averaging about 29 mpg, while highway mileage has been about 48 mpg. Does this sound normal to you or do you think something is wrong with the car. I understand break-in periods...but getting about 1/2 of what the "window sticker" claims is pretty drastic. We have had the automatic A/C on and the temperature is in the 50's.

Hm, that's a lot worse than what I was getting at first (35 mpg), but then I was driving the car maybe every two or three days AND it was a very cold January and February when I picked up the car.

When you say "just bought," is the car a month old yet? I'd wait three months -- for break in, but also, more important, for you and whomever else is driving the car (the "we") to learn how to drive it. I found, having had two sporty Japanese 5-speed standard hatchback cars before the Prius, that I needed time getting used to an automatic (again) and used to driving, hm, how should I describe this? Driving "lightly" on the accelerator and willing to coast a lot. (Btw, I drive fast, i.e., above the speed limit, and I don't necessarily drive to squeeze every drop of gasoline.)

I notice a difference in gas mileage when I drive the car and when my spousal equivalent (SPEQ) drives the car. She doesn't drive my car that much, and I have decided long ago not to give her suggestions about driving the car. So, while sitting in the passenger seat, I can hear the engine race at times because she's used to her 5-speed Camry's pickup. The pickup in a Prius is much, much slower. Stately even!

A/C will drain a lot of your gas mileage. Especially "automatic" A/C. I see that here each summer. (Heck, each spring, summer, and fall. I'm one of those who's been wearing shorts all year 'round for at least five years now. In short, so to speak, I like cold weather.)

The A/C in the Prius (this may be true in all Toyotas; heck, maybe in all modern cars these days) seems funky too me in that in "automatic" mode, the A/C is on all the time. At 50°, I wouldn't think you need A/C after a while. Yes, to cool the passenger compartment when you first step into the car, assuming that it's been baking outside while parked. But once you've driven around for five minutes, cooled the passenger compartment, then unfortunately you have to hit two buttons to turn the A/C off and change the ventilation to fan. I think that's a major user interface problem: taking your eyes off the road, having the relatively fine motor skills to press buttons (one of which is a touchscreen) just to turn off the A/C and adjust the ventilation. I found myself at the beginning thinking, aw, the hell with it; just leave the A/C on. Then I realized the relationship between A/C and mpg.

I saw a dramatic increase in gas mileage after three months of owning the car. I can attribute it to a lot of factors (the eventual start of spring and warmer weather, me driving more [I'm self employed, so I don't drive the car every day], my driving skills). So, I suggest hanging in there. Give it about three months.