as the temperatures have dropped, my FE has taken a nosedive too. my instant econ has been hovering around 31.5 for the past week or so (in 40-50F) but yesterday when i left for work it was only 24F outside! by the time i got to work (40 min later), it was all the way down to 29.3. any way to slow the spiral? as previously suggested, i'm driving easy for the first 10 min or so, till the car warms up a bit...

i guess the mpg is still w/in ford's est. range so i shouldn't be complaining, but the drop was rather dramatic yesterday. what happens when it's -5F outside?

 

Courtney,

It takes energy to keep the engine, catalytic and you warm. All of it comes from the gasoline, so in cold weather (and it does get cold in Michigan) your gas mileage drops. My 2004 Prius gets almost 50 MPG in the summer, drops to the low 40's in the winter and it's warmer here in Connecticut.

JeffD

 

it will just get worse as the temps drop.... for numerous reasons. Brad Berman summed it up pretty well here.

 

This is why I say my FEH loves South Florida. The hurricanes come through and go but old man winter last for months up north. Just got off the phone with my sister in law in AK where its not only freezing but its still night most of the day. Forget about a hybrid there. You snow birds need to come here to our beaches and enjoy a cold one right now. Just forget about that warm cup of coffee and open your eyes and ears to Jimmy Buffet in Margaritaville. For the next 5 months my FEH is going to get some good gas mileage driving along the beaches.

Eat your heart out.

Crap, here comes another hurricane (Gamma), better shut my mouth.

 

I'd get banned if I actually responded to that.

Anyway, yes, it's cold, and it sucks. The article has a lot of good points, there are ways to help minimize that, including garaging it, if possible. I have heard, though I'm not sure if it makes any real difference that if you don't turn the heat on, and have it set to cold air, you'll reach ICE off faster. (Then you can use the heat after driving a mile or three.) I tried the technique this week, and found that ICE off occured about a minute sooner at best, hardly worth it, IMHO.

As I mentioned in another thread, I'm feeling the bite. I started out with a 33.8 tank, but between that 20 degree temperature drop, all that nasty wind, and even a bit of snow, I ended up filling up today at 32.6. Blech. There can be a bit of comfort in knowing that everyone is taking a hit, but really, it's not much comfort going from 34.7 a tank to 32.6, knowing full well that it's only going to get colder, windier, and the roads are going to get worse. Also, the more tanks you have and more miles you've driven, the less the impact a crappy tank has against your LMPG, which may also be of small comfort.

On the plus side, after hearing about how cold it gets and how some other hybrids don't generate much heat, I'm amazed by how fast the FEH generates heat, near instant, especially compared to my old '95 Explorer, so at least we can stay warm and toasty while our MPGs sink.

 

i have decided my car hates the cold. a lot. i'm about to register a miserable tank of gas, averaging only 25.5mpg. it was ugly and i'm very disappointed to say the least. while out driving the other day, my instant econ bottomed out at 23.9mpg (lower than when i first got the car!). after resetting the system, i got it to jump to about 27 briefly...but haven't been able to keep it much above 26mpg since.

if this is what happens to the 4x4 FEH in 20F, will it be continually worse in 10F and below, or level off? i guess that might be for the '05 FEH's to answer if they've been thru a full winter. my FEH is in a well insulated garage but it doesn't seem to be making a lick of difference. the ICE seems to be running almost continually, even when i'm stopped at red lights.

 

Hi Nimhbug:

___It gets worse

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes

 

Ouch. I hear you. For once, my longer commute is nice, as it seems to be going a long way towards keeping me from such abysmal tanks. I've dropped noticably as well, I was down to 30.2 as my low on this tank, but right now I'm comfortable with the 31.3, thanks to my long commute and a good draft.


It occured to me (IMHO) a way to describe most hybrids. It's a regular vehicle to the Nth degree. A "Super" version, if you will, with all the strengths and weaknesses all greatly magnified. We get a strong performance at a much lower fuel cost, they're far more efficient, more technical and informative, with greater stamina (fuel tank distance) and in some cases (Horse)power. At the same time, hybrids are costlier (initially), more complex (More to go wrong, and costlier to fix), and do far worse in any situation where vehicles don't do well traditionally. (A 20% MPG loss means a lot more to a 35 MPG vehicle than a 12 MPG vehicle.) Which means in the cold, when normal vehicles do poorly, we do even worse.

 

After driving the '06 since I got it in June, I took back the '05 last week - just as it got cold here in Boston. Driving to work the other morning (22°F), the ICE barely shutoff at all. It was maddening since even at 35-40° the '06 would shut down at certain locations EVERY TIME.

For the first time since we got the hybrids, I was the one lowering the average mpg on a tank my wife already had 300 miles on.

Was ready to call the dealer to bring it in but from what I have read here, this is just something to get used to for the winter....

Gonna be near 50 today - maybe go out and drive some pointless mile to raise the average (I'm kidding - not when there is football on!)

Happy Sunday. Go Patriots.

 

In my Prius II, as temps go into the 30's my ability to glide with battery only power to the wheels is curtailed. Even colder, and I find it difficult to glide with no battery flow.

My strategy is going to be the same as warmer weather for pulsing, and trying to stay below 40 MPH on city roads, but my long glides will wait for spring.

In the worse case, I think I'll be limited to pulse engine only, pulse with assist, glide with regen, and everything off at stops.

Boy, is that HSD specific lingo, or what.