Since its inception the Toyota Prius has always been one of the best fuel sippers around. From the first generation’s 41-mpg combined rating to the current generation’s 57-mpg combined rating, you’ll definitely save on your monthly gas bill. But the Prius can far exceed its advertised gas mileage if you really try, as one owner just set a new fuel economy world record in a cross country road trip.
Earlier this year owner Wayne Gerdes took his 2023 Toyota Prius LE on a 3,211-mile trip from Los Angeles to New York City. Facing extreme temps and elevation changes, the Prius was able to edge out an impressive 93.2 mpg on the trip, a new world record as verified by Guinness. While impressive as hell, Toyota was quick to include a disclaimer mentioning that this was an extreme use case and the mpg number isn’t “typical.”
Gerdes himself talked about how the trip took a lot of planning and required changes on the fly:
For a record attempt like this, it’s a lot of planning,” he added. “You can’t just go sight unseen into doing this. You have to have that plan. But you also have to be able to work on the fly. So, if things change, you have to switch up your plan. Reroute. Figure out what you’re going to be able to do to achieve that goal.
Neither Gerdes nor Toyota divulged details like how much gas was used, how much he paid for it or his average speed. According to Carscoops, based on the Prius’ 11.3-gallon tank, Gerdes was able to squeeze out an impressive 1,052 miles per tank, hundreds more than Toyota’s own quoted stat. Unsurprisingly Toyota is eating this up, with Toyota Marketing vice president Michael Tripp saying, “the world record for the highest MPG to us is just one more proof point that the Prius truly is an engineering marvel.”
In 2017, a Kia Niro hybrid set the Guinness record on an LA-to-NYC trip with an mpg figure of 76.6, and only 4.1 tanks of gas were used. Back in 2008, an Australian couple set a similar record by hitting 90 mpg driving around the Australian coast in their Honda Civic 2.2 i CDTi, which worked out to 75.6 mpg in U.S. gallons.
This isn’t Gerdes’ only fuel economy record, either. In 2015, he set a record for the lowest fuel consumption while driving to the 48 contiguous U.S. states in a diesel car, using a 2015 Volkswagen Golf TDI. That 8,387-mile trip took a few weeks to complete, with Gerdes achieving 81.2 mpg and spending less than $300 in fuel.