My "new" Auris Hybrid - 1st experiances

[Catlover]

Picked up my 2010 "60" plate Auris T-Spirit (63,000 miles) Hybrid  last Thursday afternoon. Drive home, about 30 mile, was good, getting used to how it drives.

Went out Thursday evening, approx. 11 miles on A and B roads, checked the mpg - reading 58.2. Returned home and the total mileage (22) was reading 64.2 mpg. Pleased with that. Friday sat the wife in it and we went 55 mile to Llanduddno and back, total about 110 mile, plus what I did Thursday evening and the reading was 64.4 mpg.

I am well pleased with that as I am still getting used to the car. I kept it in Eco mode all except a long hill on the way home and I pressed the Power button to help getting up at a decent pace - I did leave some cars behind/caught up with those in front.

Whether I can tweak any more out of it, I will just have to try and then wait and see.

 

 

 

[catnash]

Gets addictive to see how much you can get mpg wise...

[Slasher_uk]

Hey there you 2 cats, loving my Auris but I have to admit when my Prius first went I did miss it but now I'm happy. It's so easy to drive and mid 60's seems to be my average mpg. Enjoy.

[Anthony Poli]

3 hours ago, catnash said:

Gets addictive to see how much you can get mpg wise...

I wouldn't waste my money on additives, made no difference on a previous car.

A few things that I have learned from owning a hybrid:-

1st drive of the day when the temperature is cool, you will struggle to get the mpg as good as when the car has been run for 10 mins or more.

Cruise control is great for those long roads with no step uphills, downhills will never give you as much energy back as you have used to go up.

The longer you can coast to a red light helps in 2 ways, while coasting you are generating power and not using any, plus while you are already moving and picking up speed is less than from a standing start.

There are times when you can lift your foot and your speed doesn't drop off until you have released your foot too much.

The warmer the weather the better.

 

[haelewyn]

Read up a bit on the eco and power buttons. The eco allows you to stay in electric drive or green zone more easily. The "power" drives more sporty and keeps the ICE on more and longer.

Full throttle will give you the same amount of power in either mode. The buttons change your car's reaction to the throttle but full throttle is 100 percent power in eco, normal or sport. Even in EV as full throttle will end EV mode in a few seconds.

EV mode is only useful for a few things as you will learn a bit later. Like for moving the car a few yards. Conditions need to met to enable EV mode too (like Battery charge over a certain %).

[Anthony Poli]

Read up a bit on the eco and power buttons. The eco allows you to stay in electric drive or green zone more easily. The "power" drives more sporty and keeps the ICE on more and longer.

Full throttle will give you the same amount of power in either mode. The buttons change your car's reaction to the throttle but full throttle is 100 percent power in eco, normal or sport. Even in EV as full throttle will end EV mode in a few seconds.

EV mode is only useful for a few things as you will learn a bit later. Like for moving the car a few yards. Conditions need to met to enable EV mode too (like battery charge over a certain %).

 

 

Tried the different modes when I first had the car, now it's always in eco. As I'm a miser and want to get the most out of my tank. EV is for showing off. ;-)

 

 

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[eygo]

haelewyn you forgot to mention the other ev use to be able to creap up on people without them knowing

then see how high they jump when they realise you are there.

[haelewyn]

Always eco too. I try to make a game of it for myself to have perfect mog. 

Never tried to creap up on people. :-).

I use the EV mode for example to move the car away from the wall so I can open the trunk, for 200 meter ride to pick up my parents (start the warm up from there so the car is not running while I wait for them to get in) and things like that.

[Anthony Poli]

4 hours ago, eygo said:

haelewyn you forgot to mention the other ev use to be able to creap up on people without them knowing

then see how high they jump when they realise you are there.

Some of the people at work, hated me for doing that 

 

[martin68]

So If i press the EV button just after pressing the power button, will the petrol engine stay off while i maneuver around my car park to turn round and drive down to the main road? I haven't tried this yet, but in eco mode my engine kicks in every time about 10 seconds or sooner after pressing the start button.

I'm also finding on occasion that while driving under 40mph with the needle in the lower area of the green zone, that EV wont kick in and is not available when i press the ev button, but this only happens occasionally, is this normal?

[martin68]

How is Catlover getting 64mpg? i can't get much over 55mpg on most journeys i do. is it because i have 17" wheels?

[Anthony Poli]

The Ev button is just a way of forcing the car to run on electric only, for things like moving parking spaces. This is only available when the Battery has enough charge and the temperature is within the computers limits, also if you speed is under its limit.

The way the hybrid system works,  there is built in warm engine warm up procedure. Unless you force it into Ev using the button straight after start button.

After the warm up has finished, the car will then switch to Ev as the computer chooses.

Personally I would suggest you ignore the EV button, unless you like to sneak up on people 

With the needle in the lower half of the eco zone, do you see the ev car symbol and not the EV letters appear ?

When you see the car symbol, you are running on EV.

 

[Anthony Poli]

19 minutes ago, martin68 said:

How is Catlover getting 64mpg? i can't get much over 55mpg on most journeys i do. is it because i have 17" wheels?

Not it's not just the wheels, but I hope you don't think I am being unkind here. There are some things you can do differently to help increase your mpg.

1. When setting off, I let the car creep away from a standstill before applying a bit of power until I get unto 10-15mph, before increasing the power to just past the O in ECO on the dial.

2. I use cruise control on most journeys, where i'm on long stretches that aren't stop start.

3. I don't use the brakes, instead let the car coast/regen unto traffic lights where possible.

4. You can be below the ECO and still be running on petrol and its still giving you high mpg.

These are some of things that work for me.

Some of my journeys home from work are between 65 and 70+ mpg.

First thing in the morning I can't get past 55mpg.

[haelewyn]

Martin : Driving on electric engine can be done on higher speeds, for example on eco mode, compared to ev mode.

First way up to 40 mph ,   on EV mode half this speed or less.

 

Getting good mpg : most depends on your rides. Starting with a warm engine makes a huge difference. Ideal driving is like driving from one queue to an other. Drive and charge Battery, then queue on electric engine. A perfect drive for mpg is where you can repeat this cycle again and again IMHO. 

[Catlover]

51 minutes ago, martin68 said:

How is Catlover getting 64mpg? i can't get much over 55mpg on most journeys i do. is it because i have 17" wheels?

Hi Manfred, my Auris Hybrid is the T-Spirit so has the 17" low profile tyres.

I have been light on the throttle for a long time, just part ex a really nice Qashqai diesel and I could get 57-58 mpg out of that. Having said that I am light on the throttle, I do keep up with the flow, I don't hold up traffic just so I can squeeze a little more mpg.  I only got the Auris Hybrid last Thursday lunch time, majority of the time I am in Eco mode. I watched You Tube videos of driving style, mostly in the USA and with the Prius which you probably aware is basically the same engine/hybrid parts as the Auris, plus comments made on this forum. Add to this the "common sense" I gained over the years, and its put the mpg where it is. Its likely to be a challenge to get much more, but time will tell.

It was nice today.....went to an out-of-town shopping centre, when we returned to the car I wanted some petrol, the station being at the entrance to the complex, maybe 150 yards. I just selected EV and quietly made my way to the pumps without the engine coming in, that's a good saving.

Maybe of interest, the car has done 63k miles (2010) so I put some Archoil AR6400 Pro petrol tank additive. Pricy, but its a once every 5000 miles, so half a bottle every 5k miles = £10.50. Will see how it works..

 

[martin68]

I got my Auris Touring sport excel on the 1st May, so i'm also still quite new at driving it, so far ive drove about 250 miles.

I live near Ammanford in South Wales and Ammanford is about 3 miles away and down hill, so when I drive there, the petrol engine hardly kicks in, but on the way back home, its up hill nearly all the way and the needle is often just under or just in the red power zone. Today i was going uphill at 30mph and as soon as i got to the top of the hill, ready to glide down in ev mode, i had to break quite hard as there was a parked car just over the brow and i had to give way before over taking it, I lost speed momentum, and lost the energy i gained, so naturally i was pxxxd off.

what reading on the car do you go by when you view your mpg? I look at the reading between the dials and have it set to eco monitor.

on the radio screen the bar graph view, my best score so far was 64mpg, but all the other scores are in the 50's

 

[Anthony Poli]

Since your still getting to know your new wheels, it's normal not to get the most out of it.

On the radio screen, where you have the trip history, at the bottom  you should see a button/option called trip information. That will display the mpg minute by minute, as well as a live view.

The live view will help to show you, when you are doing well. On the motorway at 70, I wouldn't expect as much as you get on other trips as the engine will be more on than off.

[haelewyn]

For hills, i think it's the good way (if no traffic is following you it's more obvious to do so) for MPG that you speed up a bit before the hill (f.e. to 50 mph), just use a little throttle when going up to keep momentum but still slow down (f.e. 35 mph), then go downhill cruising and increasing speed on no throttle and if you can just under 40 to keep the engine off.
For long hills, B mode on the gear shift is ok (when you would increase speed too much).

Expect a few months to learn more about this thing.
If you are looking for advice on MPG, more than what was written above, go looking for the term 'hypermiling' or watch youtube a lot.

To see all kind of MPG's, i check my Ultragauge (yeah ... sorry .. there it is again) and especially the momentary consumption. That tells me to ease down on the throttle sometimes. Then i try to drive electrical whenever i can. No use on saving it up. In most circumstances the Battery reloads fast enough so don't save up on electricity.

To 'force' your car to go to electric driving, at speeds of less than 40 MPH, just use no throttle at all for 1 or 2 seconds. On that moment your car will most often switch to electric engine. Then continue electrical drive. Don't let the car decide all. Decide for yourself..
Same thing when driving on Cruise control. Speed up 1 mph when CC is on, then no throttle any more. The car will decrease speed to programmed CC speed and switch back to electric when speed is lower than 40 MPH.

[Catlover]

My 2010 T-Spirit does not have a radio display screen ie the 6" display screen (or whatever size).  I have 2 dials in front of me, the charge/eco/power dial and a speedo dial. All my info comes up in the centre of the speedo dial but I have to scroll through it via a button on my steering wheel. Just been out to my car this morning and scrolled through to "average mpg" and it now shows 62.6 - that's after shorter runs at the weekend and a trip of about 25 mile return to a out of town shops yesterday.

When I am driving I have the display that shows a wheel being driven by an engine or a Battery, or the wheel charging the Battery. I am fascinated by this (novelty wear off soon), perhaps I should be watching the on the go mpg (the figure adjusts every 4 seconds or so).

Manfred, have you checked your tyre pressures - it will be critical, too low and the rolling resistance will be detrimental to mpg, too high and you could wear out centre of tyres quicker and possible loose some grip. My tyres say set at 36psi, but sure I read on here some are going to 38psi - check it out.

[Anthony Poli]

I have kept the same display as you have and look at the power dial too.

I must be improving if I am seeing more excellent flashing up.

 

 

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[Catlover]

So, I have had my 2010 Auris Hybrid 2 weeks now. Just checked this morning what my average mpg is over that period and it is reading 61.2mpg.

The HUD I purchased for £20 is working very well, I do like the digital speed reading and having it on my windscreen I feel I am driving safer (easy to read).Not done many motorway miles, but I am surprised that the rev counter (on the HUD) doe,'nt seem to move much above 2000rpm

I find the seating comfy, but not as comfy as the Qashqai I sold, and can get a good position. I tend to use the cruise control less then when I was in the Qashqai - relying on my right foot more.

[haelewyn]

I use the cruise control mainly to stay under the legal speed where it is difficult to maintain, on long drives to stick to the most economical speed which is different every time and as a lazy solution.

The right foot can really outsmart the electronics, for example when the road is not flat. My idea is that to save petrol, it's best to speed up before the hill, slowly lose speed while climbing, cruising while going downhill.

Revs on highway driving will only go up to >2000 at higher, less legal speeds.

[stevechelt]

On 6/2/2017 at 9:08 AM, Catlover said:

The HUD I purchased for £20 is working very well, I do like the digital speed reading and having it on my windscreen I feel I am driving safer (easy to read).Not done many motorway miles, but I am surprised that the rev counter (on the HUD) doe,'nt seem to move much above 2000rpm

What is the HUD you purchased? I currently have a Prius which has a HUD, but when I change car soon I may buy an Auris hybrid and one thing I'm sure I will miss is the HUD. I am guessing it does not show a power meter as the Prius does. 

[Catlover]

There are varius HUDs available ranging from £20, other contributors on this thread have said they have an app on their mobile phones.

I wanted a Head Up Display of my mph (as per the Prius which I test drove), just a simple one. It actually shows mph, rpm of engine (when engine is being used), Battery condition, and water temperature. All this info comes from the vehicles OBD11 (think thats what it is called) - the plug in diagnostic socket all cars are fitted with now (below the steering wheel cowl in the Auris Hybrid).

Go on eBay and do a search for Head Up Display - there are more expensive units (up to about £40) which give more information. Am sure there is a thread on here just for HUD. - edited see below 

• Home 
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• Toyota Forums 
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• Head Up Display (HUD)

[Anthony Poli]

3 hours ago, Catlover said:

There are varius HUDs available ranging from £20, other contributors on this thread have said they have an app on their mobile phones.

I wanted a Head Up Display of my mph (as per the Prius which I test drove), just a simple one. It actually shows mph, rpm of engine (when engine is being used), battery condition, and water temperature. All this info comes from the vehicles OBD11 (think thats what it is called) - the plug in diagnostic socket all cars are fitted with now (below the steering wheel cowl in the Auris Hybrid).

Go on Ebay and do a search for Head Up Display - there are more expensive units (up to about £40) which give more information. Am sure there is a thread on here just for HUD. - edited see below 

• Home 
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• Toyota Forums 
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• Auris Club 
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• Head Up Display (HUD)

Is there any chance you can post a picture of the set up and the display on the window?