I am interested in knowing the actual miles per gallon (MPG) that you get in your hybrid. It would help to know the year, make, and model of that vehicle.

Consumer Reports recently said that the EPA estimates on the new car window stickers overstate the MPG of hybids -- the actual MPG turns out to be significantly less than the EPA numbers.

2010 Prius III. 49 to 52 mpg here. LOVE IT!

I average 44 in my 2012 prius V. My wife's 2005 Prius 45- 48. BTW there is a "Prius chat"forum. Google it.

Things that make you go "hmmm".

See GM EV1.

I don't own a hybrid but recently rented one for a week and a half. It was a 2013 Hyundai sonata hybrid. Nice car and is now in my consideration set if we need a second vehicle to go with our SUV or if our cargo needs change.

We did a lot of highway miles on it and averaged over 50 MPG. It was refreshing to drive it 700 miles between fill ups. A lot of the mileage depends on how you drive it. The Hyundai recharged the battery whenever braking or coasting so going through mountain passes really helped the mileage. I even spun the tires a couple times when we had to get across busy roads. EPA estimates for all vehicles are overestimated -- ON the highway miles they assume steady driving at 55 MPH. Vehicles with smaller engines or less aerodynamics suffer greatly over that speed due to an inability to overcome the air resistance. City mileage assumptions are lower speed with more frequent stoppage but generally less idling at red lights than reality. Cars are engineered around these 2 standards and anything outside lowers the numbers.

Several years ago we rented a Prius in Miami. Drove it around town and then down to key largo and back. Only had to fill it up on the way back to the airport. I liked the mileage more than the car though.

Very true,

I always thought they took a sample vehicle in a lab. Nope, it's all done by mathematical formulas. They take the weight of the vehicle, size of the engine, a few other measurements and POOF! there's your mpg.

So really not a lot of encouragement for making engines more energy efficient.

we get about 42-44 mpg. In the summer with AC on we do better than with the heater on in the winter.

This is our second Prius, and our last one. We are totally happy with it but just ready for a change.

That's very odd that the heater would affect your mileage.
But the AC runs off the battery instead of being one of many things driven by a belt as in many cars, so it should not impact your mileage at all.

No, I bet I get it... The engine is forced to run more often to provide heat, where it wouldn't normally need to run when only battery powered driving is needed.

2013 Toyota Prius-C (the little one @ $18,000 - leasing for @ $300 per month) 54mpg usually & 50mpg on the 'hot' days with the ac going. (live in Redding CA which is VERY hot in the summer)
Great little car-

http://www.mommygoggles.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/new-little-tikes-cozy-coupe-anniversary-car-with-removable-floor-panel-free-next-day-delivery-839-p.jpg

Try this thing on for size. It doesn't need any gas, and babes love them.

I got a surprise last time I rented a car, they gave me a Prius. Took me 60 seconds to figure out the car engine wasn't going to turn over, duh! (I turned it off and on several times.) It was in electric mode aka golf cart mode (dead silent). Annoying that it "beep beep beeps" when you're backing up. Car won't go if you're not wearing your seat belt. Won't power up unless your foot is on the brake. Hated that there was a horizontal bar across the back window. Lots of distracting displays showing my current mpg and how much of my power is gas versus batteries.

But I got used to all that pretty fast. I think I could drive one of these no sweat. When I took the car back after the weekend and had to fill it up, it took only .7 gallons, about 1/4 of what I usually use when I visit Dad who lives on top of the hills. I only got 20mpg up the hills but I charge the battery down the hills. Display said I averaged 44-48 mpg. I was using a lot of AC and lots of hills.

For next car I'm thinking Prius V.

But as hubby says, it's a chick car i.e. small and cute.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 08/20/2013 08:14PM by crom.

2008 Prius - Daily driving 44 -46 mpg around town ( I get 46 my wife gets 44). 52 mpg on the highway on trips.

Front passenger seat folds down, rear seat folds down, will hold mountain bike, whitewater kayak or 9'6" Longboard, garden supplies lumber inside etc. It's a great car.

2012 Prius - 44 mpg in mixed driving.

2007 Camry -- 42 mpg on highway (rural area).

What about the electric engines? A coworker of mine got one of the early Honda Insights. Her electric engine conked out just before her 100,000 mile guarantee expired. She got it replaced gratis but would have been out however many thousand dollars otherwise.

Interesting. I've got one of the new Fiats. It has a crap engine -- I have to turn the AC off to go up a steep hill. However, it gets almost as good mileage as some of these hybrids.

Anyway, I get about 28-30mpg in the city, and 40-42 on the highway. All gas.

Good to know, the Fiat has style appeal.

Currently driving the Versa Hatchback (big back seat for teenager). I'm getting 26mpg Summer/28mpg Winter around town. But on a long drive PhX to Moab, I got 40mpg doing 75-80mph. CVT combined with cruise control was amazing on hills. No shifting back and forth between gears.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/20/2013 08:21PM by crom.

I'm usually around 30MPG, but when I was down in AZ this June, the poor beasty was very unhappy. Had two incidents where I put it in gear but it didn't connect. Took it into the shop when I got home and all they could think it was, was the heat.

Maybe we use different transmission fluid up here? Not sure.

My Viper gets 26 on the highway. Thought the gas gauge was broken. Haha.

What MPG does it get when it is biting other cars?

Just bought a 2012 Prius c, and ran it to near empty to see the gas mileage, I got 44 miles to the gallon. I am very happy with my purchase. It will pay for itself. I kept my 2004 Subaru forester for camping and such, but it only got like 18 miles to the gallon, so I am getting double the miles and more in my Prius. I won't complain, and all things considering the Prius is very affordable.

Yeah I think it is slightly overestimated, but I figured as much when I bought it. It states that It gets 48-52 miles to the gallon, but when I ran it from full to empty and logged the miles I got 44 miles to the gallon, but that is still nothing to scoff at.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/20/2013 06:35PM by jl1718.

Lexus 450h SUV hybrid

30 mpg

I have a MINI Cooper S convertible and a full tank gets me about 600 miles-- about 40 MPG. It runs on gas.

Brand new Prius. In Eco mode I get between 50-60 mpg according the car's own reporting. Today at the pump I had to put in 9.5 gallons after driving about 520 miles, which is consistent with that.

www.fuelly.com lets drivers track their mileage. You can look up their reports.

I have a 2011 Honda Insight. When my husband drives (lead foot, hard braking) the mpg is 38. When I drive, and I usually have it in eco mode, mpg is closwer to 45. Driving style makes a world of difference w this car. Amazing highway mileage, family of five takes road trips w about 50 mpg average.
It's no Prius, but its more affordable msrp.

I average 94.4 MPG and get over 102 mpg on long trips in my 2005 Honda Insight. I have purchased 3 of these first generation Insights over the years, and all have achieved the same MPG.

The Insight I (2000 to 2006) is an amazing vehicle. The manual tranny model is far superior in fuel economy to the CVT's. Because the manual tranny model has the lean burn feature, it is good for aprox 23 mpg better than the CVT.

The Insight is made of aluminum, is very aerodynamic, and has underbody flat panels that help manage airflow and cheat the wind. An extremely well designed and reliable car!

What about the engine on these cars? I noted in an above response that the engine on my coworker's Insight gave out before 100,000 miles. Her warranty covered it, but barely.

How many miles do you get out of hybrid cars? I'm used to getting between 130,000-180,000 miles out of my gas powered Hondas and Toyotas.

In the summer, the Volt will go ~45 miles on a single charge, which costs me less than two bucks. The car, which is very well-engineered, has saved me in the past 10 months about $1,500 in gasoline bills. It's an amazing product of American engineering!

I drive my Volt to/from work, stores, and other places, and plug it in when I get home. On a regular household electrical (110/120V) outlet, the car fully charges in about nine hours (overnight, for many commuting Volt owners). The charging time is cut in half with the special charging unit sold by GM (cost ~$500).

After the charge is depleted on a longer journey, the Volt's small (1.3L) gas engine automatically starts and powers the electrical system, which runs the car. With a full charge and full tank of gas, it'll go 380 miles.

Interestingly, the Volt was designed so that the battery charges when the driver brakes, and when the car coasts downhill.

The Volt is exceptionally quiet, which I REALLY like. It has a hands-free integral phone, USB port (great for playing music using an iPod), Bluetooth, XM radio, seven airbags, a back-up camera/video display, moving/parking sensors (they beep when the car approaches an obstacle), and more.

The Volt is environmentally friendly because in electric mode, the emissions are zero.

GM recently lowered the Volt's price by $5K and the 2014 model reportedly goes even farther on a charge due to improvements in the battery. Leasing a Volt is an acquisition route that many people have reportedly taken.

I love my Volt, and encourage you to test-drive one at your local GM/Chevy dealership!

we have decided to buy a 2013 Prius and it will be DW's car. Her daily commute is 50 miles and her current Honda CRV gets only 21 mpg. So she can save a lot of money on gas.

My brother-in-law has a hybrid Toyota Camry, he likes it for his daily commute. But as in all things, there is no free lunch.

Hybrids cost more than the normal model, for example the hybrid Camry is $4,000 more than the base model. $4,000 buys a lot of gas. Because of the batteries, the car weighs more so you are replacing tires more frequently. The batteries usually last 100k or more, my bro-in-law keeps his cars till they die. Replacement batteries are $6,000. Ouch. It took him five years to save the ~ $4,000 in gas to make the hybrid purchase cost-effective. So he's ahead now, but isn't looking forward to when the batteries start to fail.

He said his next car will be a base Honda Accord or Nissan Altima with a CVT transmission. Pretty good mileage (27 city 36 highway) in a much cheaper full-size car.

Natural gas Honda Civics are an interesting option.

If by hybrid you mean lithian battery run, here's what my mechanic son explained about them.
He has had HVMAC or hazardous waste disposal training.

The "hybrid" car has a row of six to eight lithian batteries running down the middle between the seats. Lithian is highly toxic and burns incrediably hot.
When a hybrid car is in a smash up wreck those batteries catch on fire and hurt the enviornment severely. The Fire fighters can only show up and put up a perimeter to keep people back and let the vehicle burn down. Then the HAVMAC team gets called in to mop up the enviornmental hazard mess.

So hybrids seem to be a great idea on the outside, but a severe enviornmental impact. Also, when those batteries wear out and have to be replaced, where do they go?



The other thing about the battery cars is they have a very short range; about 100 miles before you have to charge up again. I understand that charging them up takes about eight hours.
So if you get an emergency call from a family who needs you and they live a five hour drive from you, you'd better have a gas engine to back you up.

Actually I'm intrigued by diesel engines that can run on renewable plant oils. They seem to be the smartest answer to transportation, but I guess we're not supposed to be able to travel very far from our villages.....

The other thing to consider is who is going to work on your car???

Some cars in our area can only get an oil change from their garage, if they need something more they have to be transported to a garage that can fix them some 400 miles from here...so check out your service people too.

Sounds like you guys like your hybrids. My supercharged rover uses premium gas and gets 15 mpg or less. But it is the most awesome car to drive. There is no greater thrill than pushing that gas pedal down and feeling the supercharger take over.

My son wants a hybrid. He is Mister Green - Which one is best?