"claimed" Tank Range Vs Reality

[Dizeee]

Just a thought, Toyota claim the car will do 460 miles on a full tank. A link on the IQ club also shows of one that has cracked 502 miles driving across the country.

Why is it then that I can't do any more than 250 miles from a tank?

I fill it to bursting point and drive it like it's a delicate piece of China, sticking to 2-3k revs and usually doing motorway journeys at 70mph in lane 1. I know how to drive and be economical so "driving style" doesn;t really cut it with me. I am averaging 51.8 mpg and this seems pretty good, but still need to fill come 260ish miles. How long can you go for on the last flashing bar?

Any thoughts?

[justin7]

mate its an absolute joke, how toyota have got away for not being done for extremely exaggerated figures is beyond me. im sure its advertised as over 60 mpg car yet youd be very lucky to even get near 55 or 50.... suppose its a city car still ...if your in a city its stop start and you wouldnt get anywhere near that.... i just dont know! 500 miles is utter b*lls*** though. I bet toyota achieved those figures by planning a route that is majorly downhill the majority of the journey. rant over.

[LA-LA]

The tank can "hold" 32 Liter and my consumption is 3,8 Liter for 100 km (calm riding!): So a max of 850 km = 528 miles.

Normaly the flashing bar is "good" for 60 miles for most iQ.

[Cyker]

BTW, driving at 70mph uses a lot more fuel than driving at 60mph ;)

It does seem people here wth newer Toyotas (Aside from the smug Prius lot ) seem to have trouble achieving higher mpgs.

Not sure if the cars just aren't bedding in or perhaps driving style?

I'm hitting low-mid 60's pretty easily in my Yaris D4D; Driving at 60mph on motorways, looking ahead and moderating my speed so I can just roll past lights without having to stop for them etc.

But I'm not driving like a OAP learner either; Usually I'm off the line first (light car + high torque = win :D) and I'm up to 4th gear and 30mph before I've even got to the other side of the junction

I'm not using super thin oil (10W40) but I am using higher tyre pressures (40/35), which does help with the coasting.

[TRS]

To be honest, I always look at the combined figure and then knock a few miles off it to get to what I would expect to achieve. When I was looking at the IQ, based on the figures Toyota quoted I felt I should be looking at mid to high fifties and fortunately that is what I get. I do feel that to get decent figures you have to drive reasonably sedately, not like a 90 year old gran but I have noticed that if I drive it in a spirited fashion, the MPG figure soon drops off. I'm sort of lucky in that my commute is not in heavy traffic, but there is sufficient traffic to ensure shall we say relaxed progress!

[mr ben]

yes thats true what you say and you have got it spot on . the iq is not so bad if you drive it to its plus points

mr ben

[justin7]

i actually do though, like this was before i increased my wheel size. i found i could never achieve a high 50 mpg average or ever touch 60. I know everyone will say this but i use all the hyper mile-ing techniques and methods mentioned above me.... just... from what im seeing it would be damn near impossible for me to achieve 60 miles on single flashy..

[Dizeee]

52 is my best, but then I had not thought of the bedding in process. My IQ has done just under 10k and was one of the first ones on a 58 plate. Things have improved from 44mpg to 52mpg after just one tank of fuel.

[atkiman]

i think if you put one on a speed bowl and drove it at 55 mph on cruise control , you'd probably get to the claimed figures, however as we all know life and the a14/m6/m25/m1 is not like that. i did read the bit about the the test drive toyota did through several cities in crap weather and achieved an extraordinary result , but , they were on a mission and I'm going home or going work and I'm not carrying a spare can of fuel in the back to test the theory. 290-300 mls and then fill it up is fine for me, I'm still saving £7 a day over my RAV4.

[Dizeee]

I agee with the above, however, my last bar light started flashing today having done 294.0 miles. I went on to 305 miles before filling up. IF you can get 50 miles from the last flashing bar then I may have achieved 350 miles to a tank, but I am not sure when I am going to run out. I will test this with a can of fuel in the boot at some point to see what the last bar actually gives you.

I used Shell fuelsave today and have driven back on a fairly urban route of 10 miles. Unbelievably I have averaged, yes averaged 59mpg over this journey. When I hit the motorway on my next journey I want to get it to settle on 60mpg which it was at for a large part of the first 10 miles of my new tank. If I can do this I may get to a theoretical 400 miles on a tank.

This is my 3rd tank of fuel now and since collecring it I have jumped from 42mpg to 59mpg. Maybe next tank it will be even better, who knows.

[atkiman]

remember that average readouton the panel is'nt an acurate one. get the calculator out , you'll always be over on the readout than the actual mpg.

[Cyker]

They really need to put the 1.4 D4D in the IQ and Aygo...

(Smug mode: Just refuelled; Did 529 miles - Roughly 65mpg! Tank cost me £50.10 tho' )

BTW, are you lot calculating your mpg's or using the trip computer?

The trip computer is about as accurate as the fuel gauge after it drops below half :D

[MattIQ]

Most I've done is 430 miles on one tank.

I'm averaging 55.4mpg and have worked out that I can drive 100 miles from when the last bar starts flashing.

IQ1 Manual.

I may be tempted to have a tank of super unleaded for my next fill up, just to see if it does make a difference.

[stormuk]

Just for info the mpg figures are not from toyota

Click me for more info

[Cyker]

imho, 55mpg on a petrol engine is already extremely good efficiency.

It is very hard to get more than that without extreme hypermiling unless you have a very light diesel or a hybrid...!

The main reason my Yaris can get the mpg it does is precisely because it's very light (Less than a tonne!) and has a small diesel lump in it.

[MarkyPancake]

I'm lucky if I average 30 MPG around town in my iQ3 multidrive and whilst it's better than my old 4.3L V8 Lexus, it's nowhere near the book MPG and only 12 MPG more than I was getting from a 4.3 V8 that weighed about twice as much as the iQ.

If I had known the iQ was this bad in the real world, then I definitely would have bought something else.

[thewildblue]

Hello all, been a lurker for a while but just though I would join to reply.

Ive been tracking my MPG since I got the car back in October 2010, Im just coming up on 6k miles. I do most hilly Dual carriageway driving but also some town work.

In my experience Ive noticed the following;

1). On super unleaded in +10c its better on fuel (even with a tight engine) with 55+ being possible no problem.

2). On suepr unleaded in 5c or less its sucks the juice like good un and 48-52mpg.

3). In the cold weather it drops significantly, due to air density (car runs richer and has to work harder to displace the air) increased road friction and the fact that the IQ takes an age to warm up and runs on choke.

4). Dont turn the heater dial round until you have done about 5 miles on a trip or else it stays running on choke for longer as the thermo just opens and the engine runs cool again.

5). Car returns best MPG at around 50-55 as is expected, Ive had 64mpg out of a tank (super) and 60mpg from normal (last week when the weather warmed slighty).

6). The trip computer generally over-reads when the mpg is averaging below 50 and is quite inaccurate (50.3 reported vs 48.3 real) where-as once you over 55mpg it under-reads (the 64mpg run was 55.6 on display).

7). I usually get the light come on with about 21-22 litres used leaving a supposedly 10 litres or so in the tank or just over 2 gallons, so over 100 miles if you dont thrape it everywhere. I have done 70 miles with the light flashing and it still only took 28 litres to fill.

8). Work out all your mileage manually.

9). My overall average is 52.5 since ownership of the car. Ive dropped to a very low 40s with messing about in the snow with loads of handbrakes and wheelspin fun (turn off nanny controls much more fun).

10). Thrashing it on a motorway run will still return very high 40s early 50s if you do it right. The car will pull past 105 indicated on the mway, or so Ive been told.

11). I cant wait for the summer as MPG will hopefully go back to 57+ alot more as long as Im patient though driving slowly cant get boring and make you lose the will to live...

As for the official figures from what I understand they are done on a rolling road, hence no wind resistance. Complete con, though this is the only car Ive never managed to match the extra urban over a tank, yes on a short trip of 15 miles on a warm engine with fresh fuel Ive had a readout of 74mpg but thats it.

[Dizeee]

Very interesting and I have found I agree with all the above. Never thought about temp and air density though.

Your comment on flashing light got me thinking and I have realised that both times I have filled I have only got 26 litres in (supposedly the tank holds 32). That must mean I have a fair amount in reserve.

I also agree about the motorway thrash MPG - last night I was hovering around 70 - 80mph having got there gently and I saw my MPG drop from 55 to only 53.8 which I didn't think was bad. Off the motorway I made it back up to 54 so all in all good.

[Fueled by Persil]

Thanks for tips TheWildblue.

The heater is a good one.

I have filled twice now since getting the car the reserve on fuel tank is massive

I am getting better with the MPG now at 52.50 with mixture of Motor-way and Urban driving.

I think when I do long trip it will get better but i only do short journeys i.e 25 miles

I use Fuelly now to track my MPG now

[jimbo747]

To the bloke who said about coasting - don't. The engine will still be using petrol to keep it running. If you go down a hill in 5th or 6th, and assuming revs are over 1k, then you will use no petrol at all.

Highest average I once managed in my 1.33 was 57mpg, in France where the area was flat, hardly any cars, driving around 50mph and with aircon blasting out.

Most of the time in hilly derbyshire, odd motorway and A roads, and flooring 2nd gear, I get around 42-45mpg average.

I could never drive around doing 60 on a motorway or change up at 2500 rpm just to save a few pence - life's way too short for that!

[Dizeee]

Sorry but that is incorrect - when coasting your engine is idling. If you go down a long hill with the engine idling you are getting more miles for less fuel and your MPG will rise. This is why if you coast for around .2 of a mile your MPG jumps up noticeablly. I always have places I do this, long downhill motorway slips and some downhills near me, and the MPG rockets up.

[MattIQ]

To my (limited!) knowledge, then I think Jimbo is correct.

If you're coasting - I assume you mean in neutral gear - and no foot on clutch/accelerator, then the engine will be idling at ~900rpm and will use a small amount of fuel to keep itself running.

However, if you're going downhill in 4th/5th/6th gear with your feet off clutch/accelerator, then the engine will consume almost no fuel, the motion of the wheels are driving the engine around since the vehicle is in gear.

Perhaps you should give this method a try and see if comparable results are achieved?

Apologies if this doesn't make complete sense, I've tried to explain it the best I can!

[thewildblue]

Coasting uses more fuel on modern cars as when you just lift off in a modern car its shuts the fuel off completely.

You can see this on cars with a higher instant readout than the IQ, usually clutched down in neutral coasting would return figures in the 500mpg bracket as opposed to the 999mpg you would see when just lifting off in gear.

The IQ is superb at lift off in gear coasting and can travel quite a distance and still maintain speed, I suspect it has rather a heavy flywheel as its relatively slow to spin up to speed (rev it in neutral) and takes a while to drop again, dont even think about heel and toeing it as it just doesnt seem to like it as its just wont blip quick enough.

[PumpkinSteve]

Does anyone know why the fuel consumption of the IQ differs so much when the Yaris using the same engine is consistent?

[Dizeee]

Shape/type of fuel tank?