First Impressions Of My New Yaris Hybrid

[vanilla.coffee]

I took delivery of my brand new Yaris Hybrid last week.

Icon and I upgraded to the Nav on the Touch and Go system.

This is my first hybrid although I do have experience of driving electric type cars due to the nature of my job.

My first experience was the Chevrolet Volt / Opel Ampera before those cars launched in the UK and most recently, the Hyundai iX35 Hydrogen Fuel Cell.

The Yaris is equally as silent when in EV mode and not that less so once the engine runs at low rpms.

It is early days re economy evaluating and the time of year will play its part in preventing favourable results, however I am currently pleased with what it's doing thus far.

I am using an app called 'Road trip' to track mpg and I have averaged 53.6 to date.

My commute is 6 miles of rural B roads, 46 miles of M40 motorway. Leaving in the cold and dark in the morning and returning in the cold and dark at night.

I'm tickling it along the rural roads ensuring to keep the gauge away from the PWR segment and maintaining a steady 60 ish on the motorway, overtaking the lorries on the downhill sections rather than accelerate past them on the inclines.

The car drives beautifully, it is quiet and smooth - refined with more bearable than expected road noise at speeds.

I have no regrets purchasing this car at all - a wonderful little thing!

The one thing I am having difficulty with is this.

Because of the nature of how it drives, one is not encouraged to drive it quickly. On the contrary - I look forward to 30mph zones!!!

Lifting off to encourage EV mode has become a sport in itself in order to get the MPG's up on the display.

The difficulty however is trying not to feel anti social at those speeds. I had no idea that driving to the legal speed limits would annoy so many people!

I confess that prior to this car I would have been one of them I am now ashamed to admit.

I am finding it hard to maintain the self discipline of sticking to said limits and not annoy those cars behind me simply itching to get past. A ridiculous concept I never envisaged experiencing before.

Never been overtaken so many times before - extraordinary just how many people are in such a hurry to get somewhere maybe a minute or two quicker than me.

It is not a criticism of the car, I don't have any. Actually, that is not true, the lack of storage space up front is crazy and the cup holders at the front of the centre console are too close together to fit to takeaway Costa's.

So that is my first impressions of a wonderful little car. I am actually looking forward to each days commute - it feels like an event each time I press the start button.

Marvelling at the seamless transitions between engine start ups and power downs.

My dream for the future when I come to trade this in for a new one is that the next Yaris will be a plug in hybrid. Or maybe even a full EV with a range of 200+ miles.

Thanks for reading. Will update this with fuel mpg stats as I go for any readers thinking of getting one in the future.

Regards,

VC

[Grumpy Cabbie]

Because of the nature of how it drives, one is not encouraged to drive it quickly. On the contrary - I look forward to 30mph zones!!!

Lifting off to encourage EV mode has become a sport in itself in order to get the MPG's up on the display.

That is a probably the worst thing you could do to get good mpg's. It's a common thing for new hybrid owners to do thinking they're doing the right thing. It will give you an immediate high 100+ mpg on the instant display but you will never achieve long term high mpg's doing this and the car will just have to work harder to top up the electrical energy you've just overused.

It's a petrol car with electric assistance, not an electric car. Trying to force it to be the latter will cause an increase in mpg's.

All this is meant in a good way and not a criticism to you. To get the best mpg's you should just drive the car normally and gently and the computers do all the rest for you. They also do a better job of it than the owner ever could. The Toyota system is very well programmed. If you try and 'force' the car into electric mode by backing off and on as you describe or by using EV mode at the lights etc, the car will cycle the HV Battery more and cause it to go lower than it would like. The car then compensates and puts more effort into charging and thus increases fuel consumption.

There are many posts on here about this and some go into a great degree of detail in the various warm up cycles the hybrid goes through to gain the best economy. Again, this is no criticism of you and it's your car to do as you wish, but to get the best mpg's out of your car, you should just let it do it's thing.

My Prius is a worn out ex taxi and still gets 60/70/80 mpg on a run. If I get less than 50 mpg I've been hammering it and less than 45 is just plain abuse. :)

If you have any questions about the hybrid, how it works, how best to get good economy without compromise, then ask away. There are many friendly members on here.

[MEP's Yaris GS]

As above regarding the forcing EV use, I only do it on my PiP at the end of my journey for the last mile to home as I can recharge it off of the nation grid, but wouldn't in a normal hybrid.

[Grumpy Cabbie]

Another couple hints to get the best out of your hybrid;

1, Ensure tyre pressures are spot on. Even 2 psi lower than recommended and it will badly affect mpg's.

2, B mode is not to get better regen as many dealers suggest. It is only for use when going down a long hill. It's almost like an engine brake on a HGV, effectively so you don't overload the HV Battery.

[vanilla.coffee]

Thanks for the replies guys.

Have been trawling through this section of the forums for a while but always willing to learn of others knowledge and experiences.

[CPN]

The car drives beautifully, it is quiet and smooth - refined with more bearable than expected road noise at speeds.

I have no regrets purchasing this car at all - a wonderful little thing!

:

:

So that is my first impressions of a wonderful little car. I am actually looking forward to each days commute - it feels like an event each time I press the start button.

Marvelling at the seamless transitions between engine start ups and power downs.

Couldn't have put it better myself! :-) The only thing I would add is that I've become a bit of an "mpg bore" in conversation so I must get out of that habit but it's a bit difficult when it does such fabulous figures most of the time!

It's a petrol car with electric assistance, not an electric car. Trying to force it to be the latter will cause an increase in mpg's.

Excellent advice! ...and...

To get the best mpg's you should just drive the car normally and gently and the computers do all the rest for you. They also do a better job of it than the owner ever could. The Toyota system is very well programmed.

This is something I have learnt very quickly. This is one very clever little car! :-)

[PeteB]

...It is not a criticism of the car, I don't have any. Actually, that is not true, the lack of storage space up front is crazy and the cup holders at the front of the centre console are too close together to fit to takeaway Costa's...

It's particularly crazy when you think the mk 1 & 2 Yaris were best in class in this respect (along with the sliding rear seat that gave better rear legroom than an Auris when you didn't need a large boot).

A 2011 Yaris I owned had two glove boxes on the passenger side, another one for the driver, a drawer under the front seat, centre tray, coin drawer and retractable cup/bottle holders up by the outer air vents that you could swivel to keep cold drinks cold.

Why they ditched all these things on the mk 3 it totally beyond me - I'm sure it's lost a fair number of sales.

[PeteB]

one other thing is to think far ahead when you're going to have to slow down - I lift of the accelerator up to half a mile before roundabouts if I'm doing 60+, especially if the approach is downhill.

When braking, it pays to try to get the ECO needle at or close to the bottom of the GEN area *, but no further (pressing the brake pedal harder at this stage adds the friction brakes to the regen braking, and wastes energy that could otherwise be recovered).

Obviously, safety and consideration for other drivers needs to temper this quest.

[* left of the GEN area on digital displays]

[Grumpy Cabbie]

Thanks for the replies guys.

Have been trawling through this section of the forums for a while but always willing to learn of others knowledge and experiences.

lol you're in trouble now :)

This link might help further understanding of the hybrid system on it's warm up cycles. A common misconception for owners trying to kid the system is to think "aha, I can drive the last mile home on EV and/or electric mode and run the HV Battery down to 2/8 bars, as in the morning the engine will be running on the warm up cycle and that extra power could then charge up the HV Battery instead of going to waste".

This again seems correct in theory but is also the worst thing to do for economy (unless you live at the top of a steep hill and drive down it first thing). The hybrid system had a number of cycles at first warm up and will run the car like a diesel/electric train for the first few minutes of travel, or the engine is running like a generator and the car is exclusively powered by the HV Battery - hence reduced power.

This link explains it more;

http://www.toyotaownersclub.com/forums/topic/160385-no-torque-during-warm-up-charge-of-battery/page-2

It also shows the hidden extensive programming in the hybrid system and why it is better to just drive the car rather than out wit it.

[Ten Ninety]

One thing to be aware of with regard to other drivers' frustration is the likelihood of the speedo over-reading by a greater margin than you might be used to. Both Auris HSD and Prius HSD are particularly bad in this respect, so I would guess the Yaris might also be. I suspect some sort of conspiracy by Toyota to make hybrid drivers go slower without realising, and thus achieve better mpg!

Although the over-reading is unlikely to have changed your actual speed by more than 1 or 2 mph around the 30mph area, I find there's a weirdly large difference in 'feel' between travelling at 33/34mph (which is really 30mph) on the speedo and an indicated 30/31mph which in reality is high twenties. I suspect I'm not alone in this, as I find the tailgating and dubiously-judged overtakes tend to reduce significantly in frequency when I'm holding 33/34 on the speedo.

On the subject of forcing the car to run on the Battery, there is a wealth of good, scientific evidence which demonstrates that doing this will make fuel consumption worse. However, I would add that despite this evidence, regular and deliberate use of milkfloat mode does not make it impossible to achieve excellent figures. If the ECU doesn't feel like switching automatically then I'll do a throttle-lift to kick it in whenever I'm in a 30 zone, simply because I like creeping through villages emitting no engine noise or pollution. 70+mpg at the pump over 18 months would suggest this strategy might not be the most efficient, but equally it isn't going to have a disastrous effect either.

[CPN]

You're right about the speedos. However, I have to say that in my Yaris anyway, it is no worse (but no better) than many previous Toyotas I have owned. One of the very reasons why, in all my previous cars and this latest also, I make use of a GPS speedo (which is MUCH more accurate) rather than relying on the one built in to the car. For example, to cruise at a true 70 mph in the Yaris you need to be doing an indicated 74-75 on the speedo. This is actually about the same kind of overreading as my previous car, a GT86.

[vanilla.coffee]

These are good points.

I shall take my Garmin with me tomorrow to check actual speed compared with the speedo.

Top tips. Thanks.

[kithmo]

According to my GPS dash cam, in my Prius Plus it's an even 10% over all the way up.

[PeteB]

Some people that have found the hidden screens on the Prius multifunction display have seen a speed display that is very accurate (in km/h) - the speedo display has been nobbled thanks to EC directives that say the speedo MUST overread *.

I'm told if you buy a Prius in some countries, like Japan or the US, the speedo is very accurate too.

I think if you plug some of the diagnostic accessories into the On Board Diagnostic port they also display the correct speed.

I've also seen that some GPS are more accurate than others, even different versions of the same software - I've had 2 versions of Tomtom running at the same time and seen 2 mph difference between them.

My current Tomtom and my Dashcam display slightly different speeds but they are much closer to the truth than the speedo.

[* EC directives 75/443 (1975) and 97/34 - a speedometer installed in an EC compliant vehicle must be at least 10% (minus 4 km/h) over the true vehicle speed. Thus, at a true 70 mph, the speedometer must be showing at least 74.51 mph.]

[CPN]

Why am I not surprised that we have the good old EU to blame for that nonsense!

By the way, GPS accuracy will always be dependant on how many satellites your device of choice is hooked up on. I too have owned many TomTom devices and frankly, the sensors in them are not very good. I was lucky if I got 5 or 6 satellites locked on at most. On this device I am typing this on (Nexus 5), I have never seen it locked on with less than 10 and more usually is 12. That gives a very high degree of accuracy. It's the same device I use for Torque in the car...

[CPN]

Oh and by the way, it's not the software or even versions of it that make the difference. It's the quality of the hardware sensor that does it...

[vanilla.coffee]

Speedometer test result this morning-

From an indicated 20 all the way up to 70mph the speedo reads consistently 3mph above GPS Garmin Satnav.

And here's a useful tip for speed accuracy - the 'Glass of Water' app I installed on the Touch and Go displays vehicle speed as accurately as the Garmin.

Thanks for the tip guys :-)

Sent from my iPhone using Toyota OC

[FROSTYBALLS]

In the UK, regulations stipulate that the speedometer must never show an indicated speed less than the actual speed. The indicated speed must not be more than 110% of the true speed, and for all actual speeds between 25 mph and 70 mph (or the vehicles' maximum speed if it is lower than this), the indicated speed must not exceed 110% of the actual speed, plus 6.25 mph. For example, if the vehicle is actually travelling at 50 mph, the speedometer must not show more than 61.25 mph or less than 50 mph.

The UK regulations are slightly different to the EU regulations.

[Grumpy Cabbie]

The speedometer must be programmed to over read. When I had my taxi meter in it uses the same pulses that the car uses as it attaches to the same sensor/sender. The meter has an option that displays actual speed as required for calibration. This would read the exact and correct speed, matching the satnav in 99% of the time, whereas the car speedo would overread.

[PeteB]

...The UK regulations are slightly different to the EU regulations...

interesting, I'd understood the EU regulations were mandatory and overrode previous national legislation. Looks like you're saying this is not the case...

[FROSTYBALLS]

The EU regulations state:

The indicated speed must never be less than the actual speed.

The indicated speed must not be more than 110 percent of the true speed plus 4 km/h at specified test speeds. For example, at 80 km/h, the indicated speed must be no more than 92 km/h.

So for the EU at 100kph (62mph) the speedo should read no more than 114kph (rounded up to 71mph), and for the UK, 62mph should read no more than 74mph (rounded down)

[vanilla.coffee]

I downloaded 'Dash Command' app for my iPhone and purchased a wifi obd2 connector for the 16 pin DLC socket which arrived today.

Had a quick play but will explore more over the next few days but initially it is nice to be able to watch engine rpm and coolant temp primarily amongst many other data parameters.

Interesting to see just how low the engine rpm is when cruising along.

I'm fascinated to monitor how long it takes for the engine to get up to temperature tomorrow morning.

Still very much enjoying the whole hybrid experience.

Tyre pressures were 35psi all round.

Book says 33 standard and 36 Eco.

Might tweak them up to 36psi tomorrow when they're still cold.

[Grumpy Cabbie]

And the moral of all this speedo shenanigans is that when Mrs Cabbie got a speeding ticket for 38 mph in a 30 zone, she got a ticking off from me as the actual displayed speed would have been about 41/42 mph, so even worse. No excuse for that one love :)

[vanilla.coffee]

1155 miles later and these are the stats thus far-

In the cold and dark I'm quite pleased with these figures.

Once it's all run in and the warmer weather returns these should improve a little further I'm guessing.

Sent from my iPhone using Toyota OC

[CPN]

Looking good.