my mileage in the FWD has dropped to about 25-27 overall. once the car warms up (10-15 min) i can maintain 30-31 on the instant econ, but the average isn't peachy. since my car is still breaking in (4,300 mi) it's starting to level off. i can't wait till my car has it's first real summer! learning the fake shift and L driving has been helpful learning early on.

no problems in the snow tho...i actually got my car stuck in snow last week (somewhat intentionally). i was heading out to see some bands play downtown and was looking for free parking on the street. i found an untouched parking space only 2 blocks from the venue, but i could tell when i pulled in, getting out would be tough. rocking the car back and forth was no problem, in about 7-8" of snow (and a snowplowed pile). it performed exactly the same as my old escape.

 

It seems to be essentially a warm-up issue. My commute is only 20 miles each way (30 minutes), and when the temp is below 5 degrees, it doesn't really get fully warmed up in that time. This may be exacerbated by the fact that I don't have garage space for it, so it sits out in the full blast of the weather all night (and all day while I'm at work). It gets partially warmed up by the end of the drive, but the extreme temps make it cool down again somewhat, even at a moderate-length stop light.

Yesterday I had the chance to drive for about 50 minutes non-stop, mid-afternoon - I think the temp was in the high teens - and it did finally get warmed up to the point that it was acting more normally.

My Average FE for the past 2-3 days has been 26-28.

 

In the Dearborn thread they mentioned putting in a makeshift heater block for the trip since it was going to be cold. Basically I think you just put a chunk of cardboard fit to block the air flow in front of the radiator. I used to see it on trucks all the time back up in the Chicago area.

Anyone know if this works for he FEH? I guess I could give the old college try this week. I have dropped to 24.5-26.5MPG in the recent cold spell here in NC. I have made 27MPG for a day when the car was warmed up some and it was hovering around 50 degrees.

I'll give this fake shift a try because I can definitely say that I have gotten good mileage when using hybrid mode (I drive 90% highway miles). The fake shifting should help greatly on the my ramp entry (all of them have inclines at the the bottom).

 

Was drivng today at 17'F ambient temperature.

Noticed the Fake Shift would not work while the ICE was cold.
( Under about 160'F )

That's right... going down the highway at 55mph at 2400 rpm, I took my foot off the gas, and RPM stayed steady at 2400.

Thinking this was a fluke, I tried it several times at different speeds and RPM.
Same result.

After the car exceed about 160'F ( 15 miles! ) the FS worked as expected.
Just FYI for all you cold climate drivers!

-John

 

My Mother drives an 06 Prius & she commented the other day how her mpg dropped "substantially" in cold weather.

~John