Low Mpg

[Opifex]

About a week ago I filled up, reset the trip meter and drove about a mile home. Since then I've had to get the car out a few times to drive my wife into the local town. It's less than a mile and we normally wouldn't think of driving but she is recovering from illness and in Provence at the moment we are suffering sub-zero temperatures and a biting northerly wind (known locally as the Mistral) so we couldn't do a slow stroll into town without risking ears and fingers dropping off. As a result my trip meter is showing 18.5mpg!! I didin't know it could go that low!

[ian rooke]

Hi in my experience after resetting the trip it takes about 60 miles for the average reading to settle down and give a accurate reading ,very short journeys and cold temps will drag it down.

[Cyker]

Yeah, short journeys, esp. in winter, can result in some shockingly low mpg!

Hybrid and diesel owners are the worst affected, but those smug gits in their tiny-engined petrol smart cars and aygos are affected the least!

[Grumpy Cabbie]

If you're not already try using Eco mode. Because it's so cold and you're only doing small journeys your engine isn't having time to fully warm up nor and more importantly, neither is your heater. As such the engine will continue running for probably most of the time and you're not getting the benefit of the hybrid system.

Using Eco mode will switch the engine off earlier and reduces the output of the heater. This should enable you to get better mpg's for this short journey use but at the expense of a longer warmup time in the cabin, meaning a colder cabin. I think in any car a short journey like yours in these conditions will result in very poor mpg's. Just be glad you don't have a diesel as they take forever to warm up in subzero conditions.

[ian rooke]

Hi I have blocked the rads off with foam insulation which seems to make a difference of 4/5 to the gallon the insulation is one length of 15mm pipe foam on the bottom Rad and 2 short pieces on the top rad leaving about 60%of the rad open, don't look good but it seems to make a difference in the cold weather.

[Bike Nut]

I've blocked the lower part of the radiator using the same method and compared to last year my MPG has increased by around 5 MPG, but could be something to do with having 30K miles on the clock.

So far the car usually returns an indicated 50MPG winter/60MPG summer.

[johalareewi]

I am currently running the gen3 with 100% lower grill blocked, upper grill still open. Still getting over 50mpg on really cold days (~0C) and around 60 mpg on cold days (~5C).

[Cyker]

Blocking off the radiator is a good old diesel cabbie trick, but should help us too :)

[timberwolf]

Blocking off the radiator is a good old diesel cabbie trick, but should help us too :)

I have a cunning plan, block off the fuel filler and then you'd never have to fill-up again? :hokus-pokus:

[AEO]

I block the grill of my Auris Hybrid as soon temperatures are below 12 Celcius.

Below 10 Celcius I also block the upper grill.

Right now it is very cold, last Sunday it was -14 Celcius below zero here in the Netherlands, and even with a blocked grill it takes a lot more time before the engine is heated up!

But My Auris Hybrid (same engine as Prius III) still runs 20 km per liter during these winter conditions.

The nice thing about the Auris Hybrid: it has a temperature indicator!

[Cyker]

Blocking off the radiator is a good old diesel cabbie trick, but should help us too :)

I have a cunning plan, block off the fuel filler and then you'd never have to fill-up again? :hokus-pokus:

I think I may have found a teeny weeny flaw with your otherwise brilliant plan... :P

[johalareewi]

Blocking off the radiator is a good old diesel cabbie trick, but should help us too :)

I have a cunning plan, block off the fuel filler and then you'd never have to fill-up again? :hokus-pokus:

You could do that with a PHEV Prius.