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This morning was very cold (around 7celcius) and it only warmed up to about 19 degrees.
I put 250 km on my taxi and ended up using 5.1L/100km instead of my usual 4.5 or 4.6.
This morning was real slow for business and I had a couple of 1/2 hour waits before things picked up. I noticed even after we were busier that it took much longer for the consumption to drop to 0.0 when gliding. I was quite surprised to see a drop in fuel economy when the temps are still well above freezing.
Tomorrow is supposed to be a normal August day and be 25 degrees. It will be interesting to see how the fuel economy is compared to today.
Has me wondering what the fuel economy will be when it is -10 degrees. At that temp I will be moving non stop for most of the day so it might not be too bad with the converter staying warm. At $5.40 a gallon, I am hoping to keep it around 5L/100km during the busy winter season.

Hi Lucky1,

Did you adjust your tire pressure for your morning temps? Tire pressures change 1 PSI per 10 degrees F.

Also, the air is more dense when cold.

And the car is cooled more by air flowing through the engine compartment, which can drop the car back down into Statge 3, from 4. Also, you will find that you will need to get over 35 mph to for the car to allow you to glide in these conditions. Many of us unprofessional drivers use grill blocks in colder temps. But, we are not driving all day, and the level of grill block we use might be too much for long duration driving. We use plumbing tubing insulation, wrapped around the lower grill horizontals. Its quick to put on, and pull off in the afternoon when its below freezing in the morning, and 70 in the afternoon (happens here on occaision). Its also possible to block the grill only partially with this tubing.

Did you need to use the defroster? That will keep the engine running.

In 0 F weather I get about 43 mpgUS. But I only have 40 minute morning commute, and the car takes 15 minutes to warm up in the morning.

Thanks for the info Donee-- I had read a little about grill blocking and had planned on doing that late in September. Now that I see you can put the insulation on and off easily I might check into that sooner. Pretty rare to get a day like yesterday in August. n
Only had the two Prius cabs on for 4 months and am new to the terminology. I will have to read up and see what stage 3 and 4 means.
Thanks for the info