I have been getting about 31 mpg no matter what I do. I did go on a long distance trip and got 35 but I can't seem to get any better milage. does anyone have tips to getting better milage. HELP

I am getting between 34 and 36 in stop and go traffic. The heat of the day kills my FE. I take the same trip once during the day and once at night and I always get better at night and the traffic is not the issue.

Heat does not kill mileage, AC does. In fact heat is great for mileage if you can stand to drive without AC. Try to use AC less. If you live somewhere dry try an evaporative cooler.

does anyone have tips to getting better milage. HELP

I just went to the trouble today of posting on edmunds.com several posts about how to get good FE. They are the same comments as here but the comments on Greenhybrid are all spread out over several threads. Not recommending edmunds over GreenHybrid, it's just that yesterday they started a new thread specifically for tips on driving and it makes it easier to find specifics.
I like the Green Hybrid forums best as they seem more personal and they have the milage database.

This is what I know:
- on long highway trips, will eventually end up near EPA 40mpg, seems to me over a fairly wide range of average speeds (55-70mph).
- city is a mixed bag. Been seeing ~33mpg average. Some short trips we see 40mpg, but seems a bit inconsistant and I don't understand why yet.

Sounds like you are getting worse mileage, possible reasons:
- tire inflation level
- your braking style, try to brake earlier and lighter than normal, though this wouldn't tend to affect your hwy mileage

We received a DVD from Toyota a few weeks back, did you get one? Haven't seen it yet, presume it has some driving tips.

One thing owners of the hy camry can do for a comparson is;Find a flat stretch of hiway and set the cruise for 65 (my test was showing 64 on the speedometer) With the car warned up my MPG guage stayed very close to 40. It would go up and down for a moment when the road varied but 40 was the benchmark. I'am sure there are some cars that are better and worse. Just like when we were kids and all bought honda 50's 1 guy had one that was faster than the others and one had the slowest one even though there the same exact motorcycles.It would be intresting to hear what everyone gets at 65...JOE

Not a bad idea, but it's almost impossible to get a place that's truly level, and the mpg between slightly uphill could be very different than slightly downhill. If folks want to try this (I'm game, once I find a spot), we should go both directions on the same stretch and average the two numbers.

I.ll start a new post for this..Joe