Auris Hybrid 2011 MPG

[Anthony Poli]

The tyre size is right 

[FROSTYBALLS]

2 minutes ago, Anthony Poli said:

The tyre size is right 

Aside from the speed rating - ZR in place of W.

[Terry North East]

So basically the wheels could be solely responsible for less efficiency? 

What " wheels are standard?

Why are these wheels less efficient?

[Terry North East]

What is zr in relation to w?

Sorry for being stupid.  

[FROSTYBALLS]

The 'ZR' speed rating was originally for tyres capable of over 150mph - this speed rating has largely been superseded by 'W' and 'Y'.

Original equipment wheel fittings on the first generation Auris Hybrid were either 15 inch wheels with 195/65/R15H tyres or 17 inch wheels with 215/45/R17W tyres, depending on vehicle specification. The T4 could have either 15 inch or 17 inch wheels and the T-Spirit 17 inch wheels.

The 17 inch wheels will be heavier than the 15 inch. This weight difference and the wider tyres fitted to the 17 inch wheels (which will give more grip) will, to a degree, adversely affect fuel economy.The 17 inch wheeled cars also had slightly poorer CO2 emissions for the same reasons as above.

[Beekeeper D]

You have big wheels which go with low & wide (for an Auris) tyres. 

This gives more rolling resistance (and air resistance) than tall and skinny tyres. 

My estate has the same size wheels and slightly wider still tyres. But decent economy is still possible. 

Because of the 'wide' tyres, I think the effect of low pressure (and not specially low rolling resistance tyre design) would be magnified. Tyre rolling resistance really counts if you are trying to get beyond 55mpg or so. And will certainly affect motorway mpg. Mine came with with 30 psi tyres. They do very very much better at 36psi (more than 5mpg better).

What make/model tyres do you have? Are they all the same?  

 

A Hybrid Health Check is just a computer diagnostic of the hybrid system alone. I doubt there is a problem with yours. It does provide an extended warranty on the hybrid system, which is nice to have.

The hybrid system doesn't do much while cruising on the motorway. Its benefits are scavenging energy that would have been wasted through the brakes, so that it can be usefully employed later. (OK, there is more to it, but that is the big and simple bit.) 

Motorway cruise mpg is about speed, petrol engine efficiency, aero (like a roof rack) tyre rolling resistance and the hilliness of the terrain (and then stuff like aircon, lights, wipers, heated rear screen, etc). Unless the Battery is truly shot (so the petrol engine is frequently using fuel trying to charge it up), it shouldn't make much odds to motorway mpg. 

Rolling resistance is affected by water on the road. And the petrol engine efficiency can change (despite the tech) with air temperature and humidity. Then there's the lights, wipers, blower, etc. So Winter for lots of reasons gets worse fuel efficiency than Summer ... 

 

I'm sure that I could drive my car so as to get 45mpg. Especially if I was meeting lots of hills. And/or I was in a real hurry! The computer won't over-rule your driving. To get the best out of the car does need you to drive it "better" - just like any other car, but more so. 

/ All my mpg figures are as reported by the car - I know this is flattering the figures by at least 5%, but it is my basis for day-to-day (as opposed to tank to tank) comparison. 

And surely everyone knows that "official mpg figures" are just comparative results on standard tests and not expected by anybody to be indicative of typical-use mpg figures. By the way, I would neither believe a salesman who said a car was a "crumpet magnet" nor expect a refund if I hadn't pulled within the month! 

 

ZR is a maximum speed rating. (Let Google help you!) The Auris Hybrid doesn't need 150+ mph tyres! 

http://www.blackcircles.com/helpcentre/tyres/what-does-zr-mean 

[Anthony Poli]

Even on the Autobahn, I haven't attempted to see how close to the 110Mph as stated in the manual 

Last time I tried that, there was a 911 hanging off my bumper because I was too slow lol

 

[Terry North East]

Thanks for the replies.

When I read 70mpg I never believed it for a second however when I ask a sales person if I would get equal or better mileage than my aygo I was trading in and he says yes and then proceeds to tell me I should hit 60 I should have some rights for him to deliver on that. 

I hear you all keep saying how I drive the car and I appreciate you don't know me or have any reason to trust me but as I say. I rarely get to 70mph, I have it in eco mode, I don't turn ac on, I use cruise control And I never go in the power zone. 

I think that should get me mid 50 mileage so I'm going to get some answers tomorrow.  

I will let you know the outcome.  

Thanks for all your feedback.  

[Heidfirst]

HonestJohn's RealMPG suggests 55.5mpg http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/realmpg/toyota/auris-2007/18-hybrid However, whether you achieve that will depend upon lots of things already mentioned.

[Sigma365]

Hello all.

Just thought I'd chip in on this one. I've got a 2010 T-Spirit hybrid (someone asked the op if his was a T-Spirit, I assume it makes a difference?) I have 215/45 R17 tyres on @ 35 psi, drive in eco mode, rarely use cruise, have A/C on most of the time & drive 20 mile round trip for work Mon-Fri and 50-60 mile at a weekend. It's pretty hilly our way so I hit the power zone from time to time, but I try to keep out of it when possible.  

My mpg has been slowly creeping up since I had the car (end of April) by .1 / .2 mpg per week, with the occasional heavy right foot costing me .4 / .5 mpg .

I'm currently on 49.2 and I've set myself the target of 50 mpg by the end of the year. I had it at 49.6 recently and thought about making the target 60mpg! 

[Anthony Poli]

32 minutes ago, Sigma365 said:

Hello all.

Just thought I'd chip in on this one. I've got a 2010 T-Spirit hybrid (someone asked the op if his was a T-Spirit, I assume it makes a difference?) I have 215/45 R17 tyres on @ 35 psi, drive in eco mode, rarely use cruise, have A/C on most of the time & drive 20 mile round trip for work Mon-Fri and 50-60 mile at a weekend. It's pretty hilly our way so I hit the power zone from time to time, but I try to keep out of it when possible.  

My mpg has been slowly creeping up since I had the car (end of April) by .1 / .2 mpg per week, with the occasional heavy right foot costing me .4 / .5 mpg .

I'm currently on 49.2 and I've set myself the target of 50 mpg by the end of the year. I had it at 49.6 recently and thought about making the target 60mpg! 

The T spirit's have 17" wheels and tyres, this gives lower mpg than the 15" fitted as standard on the rest.

Personally I would recommend on 36 PSI, since you use motorway. It might be only 1 PSI, but it might pay off.

 

[Beekeeper D]

Terry, you have been asked several times what make & model your tyres are. You haven't responded to that. 

From their being ZR rated, my presumption is that they are designed for speed, grip and handling performance - rather than low rolling resistance. 

Neither have you said what pressure they are actually at (and verified that on a second pressure gauge).  

These are essential facts for this discussion. 

 

My suspicion is that the tyres are likely the only thing "wrong" with the car itself. 

And if they are really wildly unsuitable for the vehicle, would be the only thing you could reasonably moan about to the supplying dealer. 

 

Something you could ask at the dealership would be for the salesman to demonstrate, by a test drive, what fuel economy figures the car is capable of - and then, for your own comparison, you could re-drive the exact same route and see how you manage to do. If its only a few miles, check that the Battery charge is equivalent before you start the re-run -- it makes quite a difference over 5 miles or less. 

Getting the best out of the hybrid system is not about driving slowly. It needs you to drive it such that it can do better. 

 

By the way, what mpg did you get when you test-drove your car before purchase? 

On one of my early (and unsympathetic) shopping-around test drives, I managed to get down to an indicated 47 or so. On another, I saw around 56 indicated, but re-driving the same route in my old car immediately afterwards, at similar speed saw less than 30mpg indicated. That gave me some sort of indication of the sort of comparative economy figures that I should expect. And as I've learned to take advantage of what the car can do (and set the tyre pressures properly), my expectations have been exceeded. 

I am thinking of changing my own tyres, not for reasons of fuel efficiency, though definitely not to new tyres at a lower efficiency rating. 

[FROSTYBALLS]

According to the AA the difference between an A rated tyre and a G rated tyre in terms of rolling resistance and fuel consumption could be as much as 7.5%. 

As regards the EU tyre labelling, in November 2016 revised criteria comes into effect with lower limits on noise and rolling resistance. For example with noise a tyre currently rated as having three 'waves' for noise will not meet the revised criteria.

[Terry North East]

Car tyre make and the pressure is as per the manual the garage have told me after I told them to check today.  

 

 

 

[Terry North East]

I will double check the pressures myself next time I fill up. 

Are these tyres poor efficiency?

[Beekeeper D]

Michelin make a huge range of tyres. 

Current UK (car) range is here - http://www.michelin.co.uk/GB/en/tyres/all.html#!filter/category:Passenger CAR

Are you sure there is no other model designation? "Michelin X" (if that is what they are) are a vintage, long out of production model - not on that list.

Which would be very odd. To put it mildly. (They don't even have an EU rolling resistance rating.) 

Mind you, ZR ratings were superceded by new rating definitions in 1990 ... 

 

Michelin Primacy3 or even EnergySaver+ is probably what might be expected ... though quietness is but one important attribute attracting me to the CrossClimate. 

[FROSTYBALLS]

OE tyres fitted to the first generation RHD Auris Hybrid 2010-2012 were 195/65/15 91H Michelin Energy Saver GPNX (15 inch wheels) and 215/45/R17 91W Michelin Primacy HP GPNX (17 inch wheels)

[Beekeeper D]

Oh, on the subject of pressures, you will probably find Toyota's advice to be 

"For speeds of 99mph or less, the front and rear tyres should be inflated to 33 psi. For speeds above 99mph, the front and rear tyres should be inflated to 38 psi."

I doubt that there is a significant step-change at 98mph. More likely a gradual progression. 

For those Aurises fitted with 15 or 16 inch wheels (but curiously missing from the 17's), there is an additional comment that 

"For maximum fuel efficiency, you may choose to inflate your tyres to 36 psi at speeds of 99mph or less."

 

I reckon I'm perfectly safe running my (17's) at 35psi and cruising at 70 not 99mph! 

And I must repeat that there was a step-change in the fuel efficiency when I went from the 30psi that the car came to me with to the 35psi that I have currently set. 

 

Last point. My pressures are measured at essentially ambient temperature. Set when hot (like just off the motorway) they will be rather lower once everything is cold. 

[Catlover]

Today I just bought an Auris Hybrid T-Spirit, silver, 60 plate with 62k on the clock - pick it up next Thursday.

I tried a Prius last Tuesday, loved the looks and the dashboard but found, for me, the Auris was better to drive.

I found this thread very interesting. The dealer (VW main dealer) is putting on 2 new tyres, so have I got it right 215/45R17W Michelin Primacy HP GPNX set at 36psi s the way to go?

[Anthony Poli]

Should be fine at 36.

So you will be counting down the sleeps till Thursday