Quote Originally Posted by alleyoop View Post
Good Question! Our Prius gets 53mpg on the freeway, without bikes. However, with the bikes on the back (low hitch carrier, the most fuel efficient way) it goes down to high 40s. Still good MPG, but the bikes do take a bite.
Wow, you must have one hell of a Prius! Those MPG's are impressive!

My husband and I drove our two cars (2005 Prius and 2004 Matrix) across the country together. We started with the bikes on the Prius but found that our gas mileage was barely above 33 mpg on the highway. The Matrix was getting the same mileage! We switched the bikes to the Matrix to cross the mountains past Denver because the Prius battery drain was soooo intense that we feared we'd get stuck before getting over the big mountains. When we put the bikes on the Matrix - it continued to get 33 mpg on the highway while the Prius shot up to it's normal 48-49 mpg. We never averaged better than 50 - but then again, it was the middle of winter at the time.

Gas mileage aside, my biggest little complaint about the Prius was that the sloping back window wouldn't allow us to fit both dogs in the far back without putting the seat down. On the Matrix, we can do that (more head room). Other that that, we really liked the Prius and mostly sold it because it was fetching such freakishly high prices in the fall of 2008.