First time Prius Owner here.
I've had this since late Aug 2007. so far I'm impressed.
It gives good mileage(Around 38-40 in town, 48-50 highway) if you’re coasting or cruising most of the time. I’ve had it since late August. I like it but I’d rather have something bigger of course with bigger you trade off some mpg.
Fortunately my commute is less than 5 miles, before it was 30+. They say it will get better MPG once it hits the 5,000 mile mark. I have family and friends that live all over so I end up refilling more often than expected, not that I’m complaining!
For ~400 miles to the 10-gal tank it’s much better than the 300 miles per 20 gal I was getting on my old 95 Windstar. My next vehicle will likely be a Highlander Hybrid.

I was wonder what techniques could be employed to further improve its MPG. I'm at 3000 miles now. Should I use an Ethanol mixture? I notice the MPG goes down when I run the heating. I figure though since the engine is warming up anyway I may as well utilize that by turning on the heat. My guess is in summer the mileage will go up. But I expected around 45 in town and 55 or 60 on the highway. I try to coast when I can. I heard that you can "lightly" push on the accelerator and it will run off the battery at speeds ~35 or below. Is this true? Anyway I was wondering if anyone had tips or ideas on how to squeeze as much mpg as possible from their prius.

I live in Redmond, WA btw.

 

Welcome to the CLUB!

You might start with the local, Prius FAQ. One important thing is to begin recording your mileage in the database. This gives you a way to measure how well things are going.

GOOD LUCK!
Bob Wilson

 

Congrats on the new Prius! My wife and I love ours and are definitely loving the gas mileage we have gotten in the past year. As for getting more MPG's, do check out the FAQ's. But just in general, I do have to say that short winter driving is not going to give you the MPG you want to see. Also, play around with acceleration and watch your MPG gauge. A light foot is the way to go, but even with regular driving you should be able to get mid 40's in town and mid 50's on the highway. Best of luck!

 

Thanks!

I had another question about the key light that flashes. I notice sometimes when I walk to my car a red car icon with a key in the middle of it flashing. Is this normal? The car unlocks when I touch the handle but I wasn't sure if this light flashes continously or just when I am in range with the key.

 

Welcome to the club! The flashing key symbol means that the car is searching for the key. If the car is going to be setting idle for more than a couple of weeks it is suggested that you disable the smart-key function.

Until the weather warms up it will be difficult to see the bigger mpg numbers. I went from the ~80 mpg/tank in the warm weather to ~73 in the colder weather.

 

I am a real Newbee about 4 days. It currently about -15 outside and our trips have not been long. My average according to monitor is around 27 MPG. Sunday when we were having a heat spell of 30 above it was 37 MPG.

I was complaining to a friend today about the low MPG and was told to stop bragging.

Looking forward to the day when the little snow flake is not showing on the dash.
(the snow flake is a light that is on when the outside temp is below 36 degrees or so)

Bruce

 

With the cold temperatures you might look up grille blocking to improve your mileage. Also change your oil to synthetic mobil 1 5W-30 or 5W-20.

 

From what I was told and I've noticed this myself, short trips do not really give you high mpg reports. Anything less than 8 miles may give you a low mpg. Just be easy on the throttle and learn how to coast to a stop. Your longer trips should be more beneficial.