Improving Fuel Consumption During Short Trips In Auris Hsd Touring

[jmecosta]

Hi all,

We just bought a 2015 Auris HSD Touring, and we notice that when first starting the car the ICE starts and stays on for 2 or more minutes (i suppose to charge it).

Is there any way to stop the Auris from doing that, my usual commute starts with 6 of miles in city and then about 15 miles highway, usually when driving in highway the Battery recharges fully and i able to run in EV after arriving to another city again.

During this first couple of minutes the fuel consumption is really bad, it would be great to choose to use only the ICE for the first minutes of driving instead of letting recharge straight after start. To make things worse i need to make a short stop of 10 minutes to drop our kids and after that the engine goes on like crazy for another 2 minutes when it had just done that when we first started the trip.

Any ideas on how to improve this.

br,

Jorge Costa

[Wayne2015]

Welcome Jorge

Dosen't answer your question, but a great thread here in testing how to improve MPG at startup:

http://www.toyotaownersclub.com/forums/topic/170127-warm-up-period/

Your car starts in ICE straight away???

Shouldn't do as there is no starter motor etc - and the electric motor starts the car, then after about 30sec-1min the ICE kicks in....

Hopefully others on here will chip-in and advise...

[Auris 1.6 vvt-i]

Hi, jmecosta. As a matter of fact, the initial ICE kick-in is not for Battery recharging purposes (I thought it was, but once I had a Battery half full and ICE still kicked-in). The ICE starts in order to get its temperature up to normal operational temp then turns off - no matter how full my Battery is, if engine is cold, it runs, then goes off. The hybrid module is a very sophisticated unit and it manages its processes very wisely, so it doesn't really care about your (or mine, or anybody else's) fuel economy but rather what is best for the system. Enjoy your new ride and don't pay so much attention to every penny

[jmecosta]

ohhhhh... but that makes sense.... i am stuck with this for the winter then, considering average -10 in Finland. just hope the engine heater that we have installed will improve the situation although not totally sure it actually heats anything other than the ICE.

Thank you for the reply, really helpfull

Br,

Jorge Costa

[kevin h]

completely different to the Prius which could be driven on EV for the best part of a mile if Battery charge permitted, even when very cold. Usefull when your first 0.75 miles is flat and then its a long down hill. The Auris is rubbish at this, as even on a full Battery, she will not go to EV.

I find my 12.5 mile commute is getting about 60mpg compared to the 66mpg at the same age and time of year from the Prius. Sometimes wish I'd stayed with a Prius, although the auris feels more solid.

[jmecosta]

Wondering if going to Toyota and complain about if they can do anything about it. Looks to me its then just software.

Although I suppose the reliabiltiy of the batery in the Auris is higher than in Prius