Fuel Compsumption

[the fox]

Hi I'm from the Rav4 forum I have a question my mate just bought a 2010 plate 1.3 petrol Auris he gets nearly 50mpg round town, on the motorway the mpg drops to something like 45mpg and it's very flat going up hills on the motorway in sixth he has to drop to fifth even fairly small inclines is this normal for this model please ignore spelling mistake of consumption us Rav4 owners are anti nerdy

[FROSTYBALLS]

I'm on my second Auris 1.33. Think sixth gear is quite a high gear, so yes it is normal for the Eco indicators to signal a change down to 5th on inclines.

[Mooly]

If it feels "flat" then its well worth "resetting" the ECU simply by disconnecting the Battery for 5 minutes. If you do then press the brake pedal with the Battery still disconnected as this applies the brake lights across the supply and ensures all charge is removed.

I've had this happen twice on my 1.33 in the first two years, the symptoms being it suddenly felt flat on motorway driving. The difference resetting the ECU made was remarkable.

Whether coincidence or not I have found out that the specified 20 grade oil had not been used during the first two services. Since using the correct oil the problem has not reappeared. Coincidence ? I don't know.

[Bemused2]

Yes, sixth gear is very high. Need to change down on inclines or when doing less than fifty on the flat.

Wish I got 50 mpg around town, more like 40. Motorways at the legal limit! 45 mpg.

[the fox]

thanks for your kind replies I will give the ECU re-set a try when I see him Friday afternoon cheers Auris chaps

[cfc]

I have a 1.6 petrol so may not be relevant. This is my first Toyota ,previously I owned mostly diesels of various makes.

The change to petrol is because I do far less miles now.

Point I am making is you get used to the low speed torque of diesels, my last was a 2.0. I was disappointed with the lack of "umph" with the petrol engine, until I got used to holding a gear much longer and letting the motor rev. 5 or 6 K if needed.

With previous diesel, up changes were made at about 2 K. because of the torque.

It takes a lot of getting used to after the diesel motors!

[Uncle Buck]

That is very true - the last 1.6 petrol I tried felt utterly gutless. But I do have 277 lbs/ft of torque at the wheels, so it makes most petrols feel poorly below 4k rpm !

[Uncle Buck]

Much to my amazement, the latest fill-up has revealed an average MPG just over 45 ! The computer read-out is stating 43.8 MPG, but doing a brim-to-brim calculation it's actually 45.2 :) To say I'm pleased & stunned at the same time is an understatement. I didn't expect to ever get near the govt official figure of 45.6 MPG for this model.

My normal commute is around 30 miles each way on A-roads, busy in the morning & quiet'ish in the evening. Which means I overtake trucks & buses whenever safely possible to maintain decent progress & give myself a better view of the road. I never use 6th gear under 60 mph as it just clogs the DPF & it starts regenerating much more often. Seems to work so far .... :)

[Cyker]

The VVTi engines are very typically japanese; They definitely seem to work better at higher RPMs than e.g. Ford or VW engines! Weirdly this doesn't seem to impact the mpg as much as I'd expect...!

Heck, even my 1.4 D4D seems to like being revved a bit (A high revving diesel engine? Madness!)

That may be the V-Power in my case tho'; This new Nitro stuff is even worse low down than the old V-Power, feels like I've lost a lot of torque in the 1000-1500rpm band. Almost feels like driving a petrol car until the turbo starts to spin up!

[Adam C]

I drive a Yaris 1.33 (mk 2 with Stop/Start) and I have to say in this car the 1.33 works great. Mind I have noticed the car can sometimes feel 'flat' but I've noticed pressing the accelerator a little harder has a sort of 'turbo' effect and unleashes a bit more shove that I can feel. Was impressed that while cruising at 50mph in 6th, I approached an incline and the car started to slow. But pressing the accelerator a touch more then allowed me to gain speed again - even on the hill.

Uncle Buck, I wonder if that's where other T180/SR180 owners are losing mpg (re not using 6th below 60mph). Out of interest has yours suffered the head gasket trouble at all?

[Uncle Buck]

Touch wood - no, mine hasn't had any problems yet. Hopefully it won't, but I keep a close eye on the MPG, oil used & coolant colour just in case.