Mpg And Build Quality On Yaris Hybrid

[xray_matt]

Hi,

I have a 2013 Toyota Yaris Hybrid and my daily commute is purely urban driving at speeds below 40mph. The car runs pretty much in electric mode most of the time, however I am only achieving 43 to 45 mpg and the best it has ever done is 58mpg. This is way short on the 70+ mpg claimed.

I have also noticed that as the colder weather is drawing in, the cars dash is constantly rattling. I have been told this is down to the cold weather but have never experienced it on all of the 7 previous cars I have had.

Does anybody else have similar issues with their Yaris or Yaris Hybrid models?

Matt

[FROSTYBALLS]

Car manufacturers and car dealers have to use the EU fuel consumption tests in advertising, etc. However as these tests are a laboratory testing regime, they bear little relation to what an owner may be able to achieve in real life. See http://www.toyotaownersclub.com/forums/topic/155252-eu-fuel-consumption-tests/

The Honest John site operates a service called Real MPG, where owners can submit their fuel consumption figures onto a fuel economy register - and this provides more realistic indications of what fuel consumption owners are actually achieving. See http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/realmpg/toyota/yaris-and-yaris-hybrid-2011/15-vvt-i-hybrid

If you're not happy with the rattling of the dashboard go back to your dealer, and politely state that you're not happy with the car, and want it looked at..

[xray_matt]

Hi, I am awhere of the EU fuel consumption tests but just a little shocked at how far out the real world mpg is. I have had a range of petrol and diesel cars in the past with manual, auto (torque convertor, CVT and semi-auto) gearboxes and have found them to be very close to and even some exceed the stated mpg claims from the manufacturer. I just wondered if any other hybrid drivers have noticed such a difference.

The car is due its first service in a few weeks so will mention the dash then, again just wondered if other people had any issues to which were solved so that I can put to the service department. In my experience with rattles in cars of the past, service departments don't give them much attention.

Both these two niggles aside its a nice car and my third Toyota (previous iQ and Aygo).

[FROSTYBALLS]

Previous topic on Yaris Hybrid fuel consumption: http://www.toyotaownersclub.com/forums/topic/147120-poor-yaris-hybrid-mpg/?hl=%20yaris%20%20hybrid%20%20mpg

[Wiz201]

Hi I've been driving a yaris hybrid around as a courtesy car for the last few days since Tuesday, never experienced a rattling dashboard so I would mention to dealer as it doesn't seem normal. I love that car and would like to own one if money was no object.

[xray_matt]

I will mention it then.

It is a great car to drive isn't it? I find it effortless, especially the CVT gearbox. I know they all get criticism for their buzzy nature but they really are very smooth. The electric motor gives it that little extra kick when pulling away from a junction, I have often suprised the odd boy racer.

Thanks all.

[Cyker]

Might just be a combination of winter and, if it's a new car, the petrol engine wearing in; Like diesels, it takes longer than a petrol car because it has a lower duty cycle.

We have a few people who are regularly getting high-60's/low-70s mpg here on a mix of urban and A-roads, and others who are in the mid-50's so it seems pretty variable.

I just filled up my Yaris D4D today; 34 litres for 505 miles :)

[Madasafish]

Hills screw up consumption as does winter.

I live in North Staffs and looked at a Yaris hybrid. i decided I would never achieve 50mpg due to the hills.So bought a Jazz instead

[xray_matt]

The car is 12 months old with nearly 8000 miles on the clock. My commute to work is all fairly flat with no hills to climb, so it spends a lot of its time in EV mode. I try not to have the climate control on to help with the fuel comsumption and likewise drive as smoothly as possible, hitting the EV buttom if I hit any traffic. Luckily I like the car bar the MPG and the build quality, but at least I have it on a PCP so can hand it back at the end of the agreement.

I looked at a Jazz too (liked the space) but stuck with Toyota because they were very generous when it came to discounts, probably because I had my last two from that dealership and the fact I had during one of their VIP events.

[Steve_75]

My Yaris diesel's dash rattles quite a bit in cold weather. Seems to either come from around the panel below the heater controls or around the cup holders below that. Pretty annoying but didn't bother getting it looked at during the service as in my experience of dealers, rattles either suddenly become silent in their hands or they just can't fix them. Mine just gets a good thump now and again until the heater (eventually) warms up enough to shut the rattle up.

Surprised at your economy being so low on the hybrid though I guess it depends heavily on how it's driven.

[xray_matt]

I guess its a Yaris thing, just surprising as never had a car that is so affected by the cold. I think you may be right about the dealer and the rattles, sometimes you can end up with more as they disturb the cars fixtures and fittings to investigate.

The economy is the most disappointing aspect of hybrid ownership. I consider myself a relative sedate driver and have always managed good fuel consumption. My previous Aygo with the MMT regularly achieved over 60 mpg and the iQ cvt before it around 55-59 mpg. The mini cooper I used to own would get 53 mpg which was brilliant as its official combined cycle was 47mpg.

[FROSTYBALLS]

Have you adjusted your driving style since getting the Yaris?. Perhaps having a look at topics in the Hybrid/Toyota Prius club may provide some pointers.

[xray_matt]

Have you adjusted your driving style since getting the Yaris?. Perhaps having a look at topics in the Hybrid/Toyota Prius club may provide some pointers.

Yeah I watched the various YouTube videos, there is a good one from Toyota UK. Did that when I was deciding between the hybrid and the normal Yaris. Have reviewed them since too. Having looked at previous posts it does say that the winter has a big affect due to the cold. Maybe my Yaris just doesn't like the cold and its telling me via the dashboard and mpg :)

This is the first winter I have run a hybrid so have little to compare it too. However my wife used it for her 60 mile round trip to work yesterday and having reset the mpg monitor managed 55mpg. That is on mixed urban and extra urban roads plus she isn't what I would call economical in her driving style. I did the same with her car ( Astra 2.0 CDTi automatic ) and got 49mpg.

[sammoj]

The flaw is the way the EU insist on MPG tests and then allow advertising. I have 4,000 miles on my 63 Hybrid T4. Regular work commute, 5 miles mostly urban is about 50mpg at the moment and I do use the heater. In September when I got it that was nearer 57mpg. The best I managed was a 63mpg up to scotland and back but never managed to repeat that. The EU figures give a false expectancy and therefore we are all disappointed when we go out in the real world.

This week I have been down to Leicester and back to Newcastle which was about 400 miles, average 54mpg but we were battling gail force winds on the way and thanks to some lovely roadworks in EV mode for a significant chunk of the M1 at either less than 30 or parked.....

I don't think Hybrid is spectacularly economical, my previous car (Jaguary 2.0 xtype) would do 50mpg on a long run but was about 31mpg round town and diesel of course costs more. I am saving money but is it more than a petrol Yaris at £3k less I suspect not. I do however have the satisfaction of feeling smug about low emissions and enjoy the drive with the CVT gear box.

The main downside is in EV mode trying not to knock over pedestrians in the car park!

John

[FROSTYBALLS]

"The flaw is the way the EU insist on MPG tests and then allow advertising."

The flaw is the unrealistic compulsory EU fuel consumption testing regime and that the EU prevent the use of any other fuel consumption comparative data being used by manufacturers and dealers in advertising and publicity (which includes brochures, etc).

[sammoj]

Thats what I meant... we are given flawed figures which set unrealistic expectations and therefore disappointment.

[Cyker]

Well they should be comparable to other cars since the tests will be similar. I must say that, like your cooper, my D4D is the only car I've driven that I've matched or exceeded the rated mpg!

The 1.0 and 1.3 Yarisuseses seem the least affected by the winter as, like most petrols, they waste a lot of energy as heat which warms the engine up to operating temperature a lot faster. The diesel and hybrid don't generate as much waste heat (Partly why the D4D can have a variable turbo!) so unless you're going on a fairly long run, the engine will probably only get to its optimal operating temperature just before you get to your destination

Additionally, cold reduces a battery's reaction rate which reduces its ability to charge quickly or provide large amounts of power suddenly (Like during acceleration!) so you loose a bit of efficiency there too.

Just endure it for now, you'll love it in summer ;)

[MikeSh]

I've never really believed that hybrids would be much more economic than straight petrol except perhaps in very stop-start traffic. It takes energy to move a car and that energy comes from a petrol engine in both cases. And heaven knows how long it would take to save the extra cost.

A different matter would be a plug-in hybrid (or an electric car with backup generator), where you can do sufficient miles in EVM to not need the petrol at all between charges for most journeys. Yaris plug-in? I could be interested (but then again, I probably don't do enough miles these days to payback the extra cost :( ).

[Steve_75]

In my experience, the only cars that get anywhere near their official mpg in real life driving are those with a decent sized petrol engine with no turbo. I find something like a 1.8 or 2.0 will usually equal or beat it's combined figure if you're reasonably gentle with it and don't do too much town driving.

If a car has a turbo, it makes it a lot more difficult to achieve the combined figure as that was probably achieved without the turbo spooling up (which is pretty much impossible to do in reality). Because these small capacity turbo engines give good headline mpg and emissions figures, the manufacturers are falling over themselves to replace bigger n/a engines with them.

Diesels almost always have turbos now and therefore have the same issues as these small turbo petrol engines. My Yaris diesel has a combined of 72 and I achieve about 62 on average (down to about 58 lately with a lot of heater and AC use). On a run, driving really gently, I can get it up into the 70s but not easily.

I did consider the hybrid when I bought mine but the extra cost of the car put me off, plus the way I look at hybrids is they're great round town but effectively on the motorway, it's mostly running as a normal 1.5 petrol so in these conditions shouldn't be as edonomical as the diesel (though should be vastly superior round town).

I've done nearly 13,000 miles in mine in 10 months so economy was the main driver for what car I chose.

[Twang53]

Hi.

I must admit that the Yaris Hybrid is a car I definitely want to own at some point.

Most reports I've seen and read are pretty much saying the same thing, that it is a really fantastic car.

Certainly get the rattling dashboard looked at.

As to fuel consumption, I think what other members have said is right. You can't always go by the official figures,

especially as these are conducted in laboratory conditions.

I bought a 2011 1.33 T Spirit six speed manual in the middle of November 2013. I have to say I absolutely love it. It's the best car I've ever owned.

I find that I'm getting around 450miles from a full tank of fuel, give or take a few miles.(I'm usually down to one bar on the fuel guage at that point).

The only thing that I found difficult was the satnav. I took the car back to my local Toyota dealership, and the saleman who sold me the car, patiently sat there and talked me through the operating procedure. (I've never had satnav before.) It was one of many features I wasn't expecting until I took it for a test drive. As for the stop/start, what a joy. I can't speak highly enough of my car.

I wrote everything down that Sam told me and am now getting to grips with it.

Hope this helps.

[xray_matt]

The hybrid Yaris is a nice car to own, really nice to drive. It's just ashame that it's not got the quality of my parents previous generation Yaris whose plastics appear a better quality. Got the car booked in for its first service and they are going to investigate the dash issue.

As for its mpg I reset the trip computer the other day and got it up to 55mpg before it settled down to 47mpg.

[IanLorenc]

Just slinging in my two penneth.

Definitely get the dash checked out. I mean, the interior doesn't feel particularly substantial, but I'm rattle-free.

As for fuel economy, I'm averaging about 60mpg at the moment (I'm hoping that'll increase in the summer, and with more miles). My worst fill-up was 54.1mpg, and my best fill-up was 63.9mpg. My best single journey (5.4miles, urban) was 73.2mpg (http://s448.photobucket.com/user/IanLorenc/media/Temp-1.jpg.html).
Check out fuelly.com, to see what other owners are getting in the real world:

www.fuelly.com/car/toyota/yaris%20hybrid

[Cyker]

In my experience, the only cars that get anywhere near their official mpg in real life driving are those with a decent sized petrol engine with no turbo. I find something like a 1.8 or 2.0 will usually equal or beat it's combined figure if you're reasonably gentle with it and don't do too much town driving.

If a car has a turbo, it makes it a lot more difficult to achieve the combined figure as that was probably achieved without the turbo spooling up (which is pretty much impossible to do in reality). Because these small capacity turbo engines give good headline mpg and emissions figures, the manufacturers are falling over themselves to replace bigger n/a engines with them.

Diesels almost always have turbos now and therefore have the same issues as these small turbo petrol engines. My Yaris diesel has a combined of 72 and I achieve about 62 on average (down to about 58 lately with a lot of heater and AC use). On a run, driving really gently, I can get it up into the 70s but not easily.

I did consider the hybrid when I bought mine but the extra cost of the car put me off, plus the way I look at hybrids is they're great round town but effectively on the motorway, it's mostly running as a normal 1.5 petrol so in these conditions shouldn't be as edonomical as the diesel (though should be vastly superior round town).

I've done nearly 13,000 miles in mine in 10 months so economy was the main driver for what car I chose.

That is so very true; I find the secret to getting high mpgs in my Yaris D4D is to keep it below 2000rpm, which is the rough turbo threshold. This is really the recipe in most turbo'd cars, but the nice thing about the D4D is it has the low-end grunt to make that do-able without you having to be a snail and is why I love the engine so much - I can switch my driving for power or economy to a much greater effect than any other car I've driven :)

You can kinda do it with the HSDs too by accelerating as hard as you can without taking the indicator out of the first segment thingy.

It does suck that you can't change the HSD's level of lift-off regeneration - I reckon if you could turn it off and maximize coasting time, that would bring a significant mpg boost for people who bother to learn how to pulse and glide.

You can fudge it with current HSDs but I found it extremely difficult - You have to get a really accurate feel for how much pedal pressure to apply for a given speed to let it coast without regenerating or using power. Not impossible but tricky; I'd say it needs similar levels of finesse as clutch control in a really underpowered car :)

[IanLorenc]

That's the driving technique I try to employ. Accelerate briskly up to desired speed, but without the power indicator straying from ECO, into PWR.

Also, I'm trying to get better at utilising 'glide mode' (no arrows showing on HSD display). As Cyker points out, not impossible but definitely tricky. I'm getting a little better at it though.

The picture I tried to link to, in my last post:

[Cyker]

Oooh, 73.2! Niiice