T180 Mpg Still Lower Than Expected

[Rick D4D]

Well a year ago we went to Scotland and we got an 46mpg out of a tank of fuel but this year the best we managed was 42mpg and at that I had to drive at 50-55mph in 6th with a feather for a right foot :( anyway Thursday we filled the tank in Edinburgh visited a friend (about 5 miles) and set of home all the way down the A1 at 9pm. when we got home we had done 287 miles, average speed 50mph, time travelled 5hours, MPG 34.3, that is a long way short of what Toyota quote for a open run so I had a trip up to see MR T. Long story short they called me back and booked the car in for 3 days next week so they can take a look, I know they will start with the EGR but I know and have also told them this is clean but like they said they will have to follow Toyota's flow chart of things to look at.

I will keep you all informed and a bit of luck this will get sorted but IMO I suspect the 5th injector is a burning more fuel than it should or the DPF is not working correctly. I also have a few other small niggles for them to look at but these are very small

1. aircon does not seem as cold (not sure if If we have to pay for a re-gas or will be under warranty)

2. boot Toyota Badge is all bubbled on the chrome finish

3. handbrake silver finish worn off due to wear

4. all 4 alloy have minor signs of corrosion but this is very minor but then again corrosion is corrosion no matter how big it is

5. sunroof water tray rattles in the tilt position on some road surfaces, this might be down to the high tyre pressures or something might be a little loose

as you can see not a big list and mainly only points 2&3 are 100% warranty work as the wheels may not be corroded enough and the sunroof may just be down to the tyre pressures and road bumps etc, when I mentioned the AC they said they will check it and if it is out of Toyota temperature spec then it will be under warranty otherwise if it just needs re-gasing to get it better then I will have to pay. I dont mind this but they quoted me £100 over the phone 3 weeks ago so when many local garages do this for around £40 they will have to lower the price if they want the work, I would rather they do it but not at 120% more than local garages in the area.

[boozehound]

really sorry to hear tht fella, ive been out in the car today for an hour, suburban driving with the a/c on full blast and i was averaging 16mpg. Just one of the reasons i have defected to vw's scirocco because if thats the mpg im getting then i might as well get a powerful petrol for more power and the same mpg. the dpf technology is just too much.

[boozehound]

this is in the auris btw, aint got the vw yet

[Rick D4D]

does anyone know the official Toyota MPG figures? all I can find is 54MPG Combined

[OldSkoO1]

does anyone know the official Toyota MPG figures? all I can find is 54MPG Combined

Hi Rick

It's 45.6mpg combined and 54.3mpg (Extra Urban) and 35.8mpg (urban).

[Rick D4D]

does anyone know the official Toyota MPG figures? all I can find is 54MPG Combined

Hi Rick

It's 45.6mpg combined and 54.3mpg (Extra Urban) and 35.8mpg (urban).

Thanks, I was asked by John (service manager at MR T) if I could put some notes in writing as he says this is better for the mechanics to work with and also it documents the problems at Toyota so say the DPF is at fault but he says until it gives a good symptom or an ecu fault code they would not know, then the documentation will help get this swapped under warranty if the warranty had run out as it shows it was an ongoing issue / problem.

Here is the notes I will be taking with the car

Auris T180 problems at approx 35k

Well a year ago May09 we went to Scotland and we got an 46mpg out of a tank of fuel but this year the best we managed was 42mpg and at that I had to drive at 50-55mph in 6th with a feather for a right foot anyway Thursday we filled the tank in Edinburgh (Shell diesel and was brimmed level with the filler cap) visited a friend (so about 5 miles local with aircon on) and set of home all the way down the A1 at 9pm with no aircon. when we got home we had done 287 miles, average speed 50mph, time travelled 5hours, MPG 34.3, that is a long way short of what Toyota quote. We did the same trip last year and got around 43MPG for the drive home, this is the same for local driving were now we struggle to get around 35MPG local but a year ago we could easily get 40MPG. I would say on average the MPG has dropped by around 20% from January 09 15k to May 10 35K, the T180 has always been serviced by a Toyota dealer and since we have owned the car it has been serviced about every 8K.

Toyota MPG Figures in blue and what we get in red

45.6mpg around 33-37mpg combined, 54.3mpg never seen over 45.6 and now only get about 42 at best (Extra Urban) and 35.8mpg funny enough we don’t seem to get any worse than 26mpg and that was when it was very cold in the snow, in normal weather we get around 32mpg so not that short here(urban)

Please note that we have added no fuel since Edinburgh and all the trips were reset so you can see how the car has performed over the tank of fuel, Trip A is the mileage since the last fill up.

In my opinion I suspect the 5th injector is a burning more fuel than it should or the DPF is not working correctly, but not being an expert I will also add I could easily be wrong. I also have a few other small niggles for them to look at but these are very small and minor.

1. Aircon does not seem as cold as last year and seems to have to work harder and longer to get the cabin down to the climate control temperature. I mentioned the AC was advised that you will check it and if it is out of Toyota temperature spec then it will be possibly under warranty otherwise if it just needs re-gassing to get it better then I will have to pay. I don’t mind this but was quoted £100 over the phone 3 weeks ago so when many local garages do this for around £40 you will have to lower the price if they want the work, I would rather you do it but not at 120% more than local garages in the area. Please talk to me on this with price etc if I have to pay.

2. Toyota boot Badge is all bubbled on the chrome finish. 100% warranty issue in my opinion.

3. Hand brake silver finish worn off due to wear from hands when using handbrake. 100% warranty issue in my opinion.

4. All 4 alloy wheels have minor signs of corrosion but this is very minor but then again corrosion is corrosion no matter how big it is. I am not sure if this will be covered by warranty as like I said it is very minor but then again corrosion is corrosion no matter how big this is, if this is covered by warranty and you do change the wheels can you please balance the inside and outside of the rims with stick on weights as they are done now.

5. When the sunroof is in the tilt position on some road surfaces the tray that catches the water rattles a lot. You can open the sunroof and flick this with your finger and you will know what I mean. This might be down to the high tyre pressures that Toyota advice hence nothing you can do or something might be a little loose.

6. The plastic surround around the clocks that clips in on 4 lugs is known to rattle like crazy on some roads and then will stop for a month or so before rattling again. Toyota might have a fix for this as I believe it is common with all Auris owners but if you don’t have a cure please don’t remove as at the moment it has stopped rattling.

7. The parcel shelf is know to rattle over some bumps and even jump out of the clips where it clips and pivots in the boot. This might be down to the high tyre pressures that Toyota advice hence nothing you can do or Toyota might have a fix for this as I believe it is common with T180 / SR180 owners.

8. The passenger seat is creasing again down the side near the bottom; we have had this problem since a new back was fitted due to the ratchet breaking. I do know you have now tried 2 different covers and in my opinion if you don’t think you will get this any better then just leave it as it is not that noticeable.

Well in all fairness apart form the very poor MPG that in our opinion is well short of the 45.76MPG combined that Toyota quote as we cant even get this on a long run with a feather for a right foot, The Auris has been a decent car just let down by a few silly design faults / flaws like the low quality dash finish and silver paint that rubs off. We have been very happy with the service provided by Ron Brooks Mansfield and has been outstanding and what is to be expected and is appreciated, compare this with the service provided by Inchcape Derby when we purchased the car and it is worlds apart.

When we bought the car things were agreed at point of sale etc but on collection these works had not been done or was done to a very poor standard. The car was not valeted properly as I found about 6 items of courtesy car paper work in the car dated 6 months earlier and the hand books were missing, this in my opinion is one of the easiest things to get right and a basic task and not what the customer should be finding. Then the corroded locking wheel nuts that was agreed to be swapped for a new set but the dealer thought I would not notice they had fitted a second hand set and releasing the car with an outstanding 6month old recall waiting to be done on the steering.

[Rick D4D]

Just dropped the T180 off and since we filled up in Edinburgh we did 280 miles open roads no traffic or ac around 70mph, and 60 local and the tank is empty / beeping low fuel, this is around 25% less than we used to get as normally we could always get 400 miles from a tank and between 450 - 500 miles on a run.

I await the outcome of this and may take the car for a run down south at the weekend to see if this is improved when I get the car back ;)

[Rick D4D]

Well I assume MR T has looked at the car today but I have not heard anything from them yet, lets just hope no news is good news ;) I have come to the conclusion that with our low MPG the car is either running rich hence using more diesel than required or we have an over active DPF system as there is 100% no diesel leeks so these are the only 2 places the diesel can leave the tank.

[Rick D4D]

Here is how we have got on with MR T

Well a year ago we went to Scotland and we got an 46mpg out of a tank of fuel but this year the best we managed was 42mpg and at that I had to drive at 50-55mph in 6th with a feather for a right foot :( anyway Thursday we filled the tank in Edinburgh visited a friend (about 5 miles) and set of home all the way down the A1 at 9pm. when we got home we had done 287 miles, average speed 50mph, time travelled 5hours, MPG 34.3, that is a long way short of what Toyota quote for a open run so I had a trip up to see MR T.

Well they have done a lot of checks for the MPG and nothing seems to be wrong, they might have improved this with some of them but only time will tell. What they have done is taken snapshots of what the engine is doing so if the MPG does not improve they can do this again and compare to see what could be wrong, but at the moment they feel they will have to send all the evidence to Toyota to look over and see what could be the problem

1. aircon does not seem as cold (not sure if If we have to pay for a re-gas or will be under warranty)MR T got the ac down to 5oc so suggests changing the pollen filters and see how we get on before spending money on a re-gas

2. boot Toyota Badge is all bubbled on the chrome finish Fitted new Badge

3. handbrake silver finish worn off due to wear Fitted new handbrake lever

4. all 4 alloy have minor signs of corrosion but this is very minor but then again corrosion is corrosion no matter how big it is Fitting 4 x new wheels in the morning with center caps

5. sunroof water tray rattles in the tilt position on some road surfaces, this might be down to the high tyre pressures or something might be a little loose suspect down to tyre pressures and road surface along with the parcel shelf

All looking good lets just hope they can get down to the bottom of the MPG ;)

[Rick D4D]

Well to be honest I dont know why I bother? a lot of people moan about the MPG so when ours is bad I post all the info and keep everything updated so everyone knows what is happening and judging by the amount of views and replies it feels as I am typing to myself :(

I just dont know why I bother

[andytran]

Well to be honest I dont know why I bother? a lot of people moan about the MPG so when ours is bad I post all the info and keep everything updated so everyone knows what is happening and judging by the amount of views and replies it feels as I am typing to myself :(

I just dont know why I bother

Mate, your not on your own...

Im sure 90% of T/SR 180 owners have got abysmal economy, something which has been discussed infinitely over the past few years. Unfortunately your posts are nothing new, hence the relative lack of response. Although 372 views isnt too shabby!

Nothing will change it, bar a total engine redesign. Mr T wont be able to do much to help you I think. It may be a DPF or 5th injector problem, but more likely, its just a design which was made for low nox emissions and not economy.

This is generally a quiet forum due to the relative low numbers of Auris owners anyway...

Sorry, but keep posting! Ive read em all!!! ;)

andy

[dervdave]

Well to be honest I dont know why I bother? a lot of people moan about the MPG so when ours is bad I post all the info and keep everything updated so everyone knows what is happening and judging by the amount of views and replies it feels as I am typing to myself :(

I just dont know why I bother

Sorry Rick, I have been following the saga but didn`t realise you were wanting comments, I was just waiting for the dealers findings :)

[letmetalktomark]

I have been following this over the last few days as I find the SR180/ T180 MPG "thing" fascinating.

I am off to test drive one tomorrow so I will be keeping an eye on real world figures during the test drive as an example of what I could look to expect.

Regardless on how it goes tomorrow I will be checking back in to see how you have gotten along.

[Rick D4D]

Ok got the T180 back, all the work done but one of the wheels come damaged so they will have the car back next week to change the last alloy. Regarding the MPG last time I stripped the EGR valve to check how often I should do this http://toyotaownersclub.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=106241, it appears I did not notice one of the gaskets dropped down on to the floor pan this is my mistake probably caused when I dropped a bolt and spent over 15 minutes retrieving this. Any way MR T has refitted new gaskets and also removed the ECU fuse to wipe its memory back to default, I dont know if you all know but all modern car ECU's are self learning so resetting this so it can self learn from a clean EGR valve can be a good idea. To no surprise MR T had to put some diesel in as when the wife dropped the car of the diesel low warning had come on at around 350 miles from the last fill up, I will get the bill next week when they have finished the other alloy to my knowledge this will be for the new pollen filters I asked to have fitted, some diesel they had to put in and maybe EGR gaskets etc as this was my fault (I do get the impression through this will be done under warranty).

I dont know who reads this but I will like to say a big THANKYOU to John (Service Manager) and the guy who did the work on the car (dont know his name) at Ron Brooks Mansfield and as usual the service was very very good and more than met our expectations.

I will say that I am very interested in the Honda CRZ and was maybe thinking of swapping the T180 in a year or so, the CRZ is something I am looking at and maybe an Urban Cruiser. I have found the current Toyota range IMO lacks any small family cars with any grunt / Around 150-160BHP and this is steering me away from Toyota a little, I do like the sound of the Auris Hybrid but this lacks all the toys / gadgets in the T180 so I would find this a backwards step rather than an improvement. What I will say is that the Toyota customer service and new 5 year Warranty is making the decision to buy a car other than a Toyota an hard choice, no matter what people say about the recent recalls we never felt unsafe in our car and was more than happy how Toyota handled the whole situation.

[Rick D4D]

I have been following this over the last few days as I find the SR180/ T180 MPG "thing" fascinating.

I am off to test drive one tomorrow so I will be keeping an eye on real world figures during the test drive as an example of what I could look to expect.

Regardless on how it goes tomorrow I will be checking back in to see how you have gotten along.

Great car mate and don't be put off by this, just remember if you buy the car and you are happy if your MPG is around 35-43 depending on the roads you drive and speed you will never be disappointed. If you get more then that is a bonus and also reset the average MPG at the start of your test drive so you know what you did when driving around

[Jike]

Great car mate and don't be put off by this, just remember if you buy the car and you are happy if your MPG is around 35-43 depending on the roads you drive and speed you will never be disappointed. If you get more then that is a bonus and also reset the average MPG at the start of your test drive so you know what you did when driving around

Ditto !!!

Great post

[OldSkoO1]

Well to be honest I dont know why I bother? a lot of people moan about the MPG so when ours is bad I post all the info and keep everything updated so everyone knows what is happening and judging by the amount of views and replies it feels as I am typing to myself :(

I just dont know why I bother

I was following this too Rick, i know your on the ball when it comes to your car so i felt posting some suggestions might be a bit insulting to your intelligence. I know you have probably tried everything.

In brief i would just try an assisted DPF purge with v-power (because it burns hotter for less). Keep revs around 2.5 - 3k for a m-way cruise at least 15 mins. Only when fully warm for the turbo bearings and let the engine idle for 1min - 1min 30sec after to allow the oil to circulate under no load to dissipate heat away from the turbo bearings. In this short time / or off boost temperatures can half.

I hope you get it sorted mate.

I felt this way when i posted my guide to MPG and the T180. I was sad enough to do some RPM/Gear tests to figure out the most optimal RPM range. People didn't seem interested.

[dervdave]

In brief i would just try an assisted DPF purge with v-power (because it burns hotter for less).

With regard to Shell V Power and DPFs, after I had some issues with my 2.7d Jaguar and its DPF (turned out to be a faulty pressure sensor) I started using V Power after I noticed it didn`t regenerate as often which I put down to the engine running `cleaner` and touch wood haven`t had any further trouble in 4yrs + an average of 38mpg :D

[boozehound]

Ive said it before but the mpg issues is one of the reasons i am defecting to a 210ps scirocco on tuesday. The auris T180 is a great car but losing 10mpg to a 5th injector to reduce particulates is not high on my agenda.

[Rick D4D]

The auris T180 is a great car but losing 10mpg to a 5th injector to reduce particulates is not high on my agenda.

I feel a lot of people will agree with this but with the way the government's are pushing lower and lower emission targets in then it will only get worse. Am I right in thinking that the T180 was around 5 years in front and is one of only a few diesels on the roads at the moment that will meet new targets in 2012?

The other point with this is that diesel /petrol /oil is supposed to be a precious fuel we should not wast yet these 5th injectors can be as wasteful as 20% in mpg.]

We are taking at trip down south in the morning so hopefully we will see 40mpg ;)

[Badgers]

I've just bought an Auris T180, having decided to go for a sporty diesel after having an Audi S3 which was thirsty.

I've been very disappointed with the Auris fuel economy so far! I've been driving mostly on motorways, dual carrageways, and bit of A roads (with a little bit of city driving), and got just 360mls out a tank before I had to refill. I've not owned the car long enough to work out exactly what the economy is, but the trip computer hasn't read above 35mpg on any journey. Today I did 130mls, nearly all motorway, and got 32mpg on the computer. I'm driving at the speed of the road, and spending a fair bit of time in cruise control @ 70mph.

Is this normal? I'll be mighty peeved if it is, as I've got rid of a much quicker car, in the name of economy, and only getting a slightly better fuel economy. I really was wanting a car that would be able to do mid 40's on a journey.

[andytran]

I've just bought an Auris T180, having decided to go for a sporty diesel after having an Audi S3 which was thirsty.

I've been very disappointed with the Auris fuel economy so far! I've been driving mostly on motorways, dual carrageways, and bit of A roads (with a little bit of city driving), and got just 360mls out a tank before I had to refill. I've not owned the car long enough to work out exactly what the economy is, but the trip computer hasn't read above 35mpg on any journey. Today I did 130mls, nearly all motorway, and got 32mpg on the computer. I'm driving at the speed of the road, and spending a fair bit of time in cruise control @ 70mph.

Is this normal? I'll be mighty peeved if it is, as I've got rid of a much quicker car, in the name of economy, and only getting a slightly better fuel economy. I really was wanting a car that would be able to do mid 40's on a journey.

Welcome to the world of the 180 auris!

Unfortunately, mpg is a big issue. However, you should expect at least 40mpg on a steady run, so sounds like your car may be as thirsty as Ricks!

Maybe try an ECU reset and clean your EGR valve?

Rick, if this made a difference, please let us all know!

This maybe a silly question, but can anything be done to disconnect/bypass the fuel guzzling 5th injector?

Finally, one small point Ive noticed - Having owned Ford/Audi/BMW/Fiat/VW diesels over the years, Ive noticed all of them turn their oil black within a few miles of a service - both of the Auris's Ive had keep their oil clean for thousands of miles, much in the same way that a healthy petrol engine does. I wonder why this is?

Andy

[OldSkoO1]

I've never had less than 420 miles out if a tank in 3 years. Had a couple of 500 plus tanks too. Dont know if its the way I drive or my car or both. But m amazed at people not being able to get above 36. I do better in winter. I distinctly remember doing just shy of 38mpg on a 2 hour boon around the peaks.

So I would say it isn't normal. I would love to drive problematic cars just to see.

Yes like andy said pull the ecu-b fuses out from the fuse box under the bonnet. Pump the foot brake till it goes hard wait 5 mins then go for a gentle drive shifting with the green lights. Ideally do this after you have warmed the engine up.

[Badgers]

Admittedly my car history of the last 5yrs has read A3 Quattro > Z4M > S3 so I'm well used to sporty petrols, and I'm still learning how to drive the Auris. However.... I've had the car what 10 days, and what at first I dismissed as me not knowing how to drive a sporty diesel correctly, has quickly became apparent that the car is just very thirsty.

I'm completely new to Toyota (and Jap cars), so forgive me for not being entirely clued up on them. How is it that I reset the ECU?

[Rick D4D]

Well we travelled south this morning and over about 120miles at 60-70mph we got 38.4mpg, While driving I was thinking to when this dropped and thought that it was around Dec09. Back in Nov 09 we changed all 4 tyres Vredestein Sessanta and these are very good in both wet and dry conditions, Would I buy them again then No because after around 6k the fronts are half worn so these are also a lot softer than I was led to believe. I also know that some civic owners had these and did rate them but said their mpg dropped by around 3mpg with these fitted, so now I am wondering if this could be were our mpg has gone as now the best I can get is around 42mpg were before it was 46mpg. That is 4mpg short and maybe the few mpg the civic owners reported went missing.

The question is out of all the people who cant or struggle to get 40mpg how many of these have the original Dunlop SP01 tyres fitted as I am beginning to think that maybe the people who do not moan have Dunlops fitted and maybe others dont.