Yaris Hybrid Fuel Economy

[YarisHybrid2016]

I've started a thread as I've been commenting all over the place regarding various experiments and trials I've been doing recently regarding maximizing fuel economy while driving normally (so not hypermiling), as well as finding out what hurts fuel economy.

Last weekend I did 170 miles on mostly dual carriageway and motorway, with only a few slow-downs for roundabouts, and stopping at a few (maybe 10) junctions.

I drove at least at 52 MPH, accelerating only to maintain this speed where it was going to fall. I let the speed build on downhill sections. I also modulated power so it never went below the middle of the ECO range.

Upon parking up at the end of the journey, the computer reported 76 MPG. Fuel used was 2.3 gallons, giving an estimated range of 554 miles! The fuel guage moved approximately 1/3, allowing for the fact you can drive over 100 miles from full before it even moves (indicated fuel was at one tick mark below 3/4 tank at the start of the journey).

My car has nearly 17000 miles on it now. Tyre pressures are at recommended pressures (35 psi front, 30 psi rear).

I have since done short journeys giving around 65 MPG, and I'm about 25 miles from filling up. I'll check the logged tank milage and report back, but final distance on this tank will be around 480 miles.

I think 550 miles range is quite realistic assuming the vehicle is driven long-distance. I'm absolutely blown away by this finding. It is far in excess of anything I could have hoped for.

[Mike J.]

My summer best is 73mpg on a 60 mile journey from Ipswich to Cambridge which included town centre driving both ends - on the dual carriageway, just set cruise to 60mph.

[Cyker]

@YarisHybrid2016 - You considered upping the tyre pressures? I run mine at 38/35 and find it gives me a bit extra mpgs, esp. on A-roads and motorways!

 

[YarisHybrid2016]

I did for a while but it was starting to wear the center of the tyres on the front particularly. Combined with the fact the tyres hold their pressures very well, and the fact I last checked them when it was +5 C outside...

Recent tests have been at the correct pressures.

[YarisHybrid2016]

Filled up - 498 miles on the trip. That is by far the best tank (for me) yet.

Uplifted 33.6 L (to the brim), giving a tank average of 67.3 MPG.

[Yarishybrid2015]

@YarisHybrid2016 did you have a/c on or off during your long run?

[YarisHybrid2016]

@Yarishybrid2015 Fellow namesake , AC was ON (LO, fan on minimum mostly, sometimes 2 bars).

Weather was dry, fairly sunny, OAT +18 C, little wind. Speed was mostly 52-53 MPH, with increases when going downhill. On the downhill segments, I put the power needle in the middle of ECO, then lifted off as I approached 70 MPH. As the terrain flattened out, I put the power needle back to the center of ECO until reaching 54 MPH again, then set it to where it was for holding around 52-53 MPH and let the speed settle again.

I noticed on an extended constant-speed run, the power needle sits half-way between middle of ECO and the next higher tick mark. I did some experimenting this evening, and found I can't do this on shorter runs. It seems that over a period of 15-20 minutes, the Battery builds sufficient charge for the electric motor to take sufficient load off the engine to get incredible MPG.

On the motorway segment, the road must have been near perfectly level. Instantaneous was reading 99.9 for much of the time at 52 MPH, dropping every few minutes to 87-95 MPG for maybe a few seconds, before returning to 99.9.   It did this both ways on the motorway.

[vivalacoulter]

I can't wait for mine to arrive now, these figures are mind bending for me! My current car has averaged 22.4mpg over the last 18 months! 

[yammie]

In the last 7 months I've gone from a 14 year old Yaris to a 14 plate Aygo to a 65 plate Yaris Hybrid. I couldn't get on with the Aygo sadly due to a back problem and so I have gone back to a Yaris but a hybrid this time. I love the car BUT the fuel consumption is a bit of a joke.

Unless you live in a area that is completely flat you don't have a chance in hell of achieving Toyota's claimed of 75mpg plus. So far I've managed a mere 52.3mpg in fact I'm using more fuel that I did in my 14 year old Yaris. Its great around town but the motor quickly starts up, yes you can drive gentle but then your under the feet of other drivers. In the real world I would say it near impossible to achieve what Toyota claim. I do like the car, its quite apart from tire noise, as for some one saying increase the tire pressures that is very dangerous as I found when I had to do a emergency stop soon after I got the car, and the wheels locked up and skidded. when I got home and the tires had cooled down they were all set at 40psi!!! now that will wear your tires out quick. I now run at what Toyota say in the handbook 32 front and 29 rear as I drive on my own 99% of the time. Ive now done four runs of 110 miles with mixed A roads and the A1 up to Durham and each time its shown 52 mpg.

I could just sit there at 50mph on the A1 but then you have the truckers up your backside. When I got the car last month it had done only 11,000 miles, it now performs better since I've put a 1,000 miles on it and used a bottle of injector cleaner in with a tank of super unleaded fuel which I use all the time. Why because the modern unleaded is rubbish, how do I know well I've been involved with classic racing for the last thirty years and this new unleaded fuel with ethanol added is doing a lot of damage to carburettors (yes I know the car in fuel injected ) and float needle sets corroding them badly in a very short time.

 I've gone on a little rant so I apologise to you all, I still love the little car. Cheers Yammie

[vivalacoulter]

5 minutes ago, yammie said:

In the last 7 months I've gone from a 14 year old Yaris to a 14 plate Aygo to a 65 plate Yaris Hybrid. I couldn't get on with the Aygo sadly due to a back problem and so I have gone back to a Yaris but a hybrid this time. I love the car BUT the fuel consumption is a bit of a joke.

Unless you live in a area that is completely flat you don't have a chance in hell of achieving Toyota's claimed of 75mpg plus. So far I've managed a mere 52.3mpg in fact I'm using more fuel that I did in my 14 year old Yaris. Its great around town but the motor quickly starts up, yes you can drive gentle but then your under the feet of other drivers. In the real world I would say it near impossible to achieve what Toyota claim. I do like the car, its quite apart from tire noise, as for some one saying increase the tire pressures that is very dangerous as I found when I had to do a emergency stop soon after I got the car, and the wheels locked up and skidded. when I got home and the tires had cooled down they were all set at 40psi!!! now that will wear your tires out quick. I now run at what Toyota say in the handbook 32 front and 29 rear as I drive on my own 99% of the time. Ive now done four runs of 110 miles with mixed A roads and the A1 up to Durham and each time its shown 52 mpg.

I could just sit there at 50mph on the A1 but then you have the truckers up your backside. When I got the car last month it had done only 11,000 miles, it now performs better since I've put a 1,000 miles on it and used a bottle of injector cleaner in with a tank of super unleaded fuel which I use all the time. Why because the modern unleaded is rubbish, how do I know well I've been involved with classic racing for the last thirty years and this new unleaded fuel with ethanol added is doing a lot of damage to carburettors (yes I know the car in fuel injected ) and float needle sets corroding them badly in a very short time.

 I've gone on a little rant so I apologise to you all, I still love the little car. Cheers Yammie

That's a little disappointing! I take it you're leaving good distance to recoup energy and braking gently?

[Heidfirst]

18 minutes ago, yammie said:

Unless you live in a area that is completely flat you don't have a chance in hell of achieving Toyota's claimed of 75mpg plus. So far I've managed a mere 52.3mpg in fact I'm using more fuel that I did in my 14 year old Yaris. Its great around town but the motor quickly starts up, yes you can drive gentle but then your under the feet of other drivers. In the real world I would say it near impossible to achieve what Toyota claim.

This is par for the course for any manufacturer under the NEDC test (which is a laboratory test & is the only figure that any manufacturer can legally use in advertising) - which is why it is being replaced with something that will more closely resemble real world usage. & under NEDC the difference between test & real world figures is typically larger for hybrids & PHEVs than for diesel/petrol (although those can also typically vary by 25%+). It is possible for some people to achieve the NEDC figure but most won't.

[Anthony Poli]

31 minutes ago, yammie said:

In the last 7 months I've gone from a 14 year old Yaris to a 14 plate Aygo to a 65 plate Yaris Hybrid. I couldn't get on with the Aygo sadly due to a back problem and so I have gone back to a Yaris but a hybrid this time. I love the car BUT the fuel consumption is a bit of a joke.

Unless you live in a area that is completely flat you don't have a chance in hell of achieving Toyota's claimed of 75mpg plus. So far I've managed a mere 52.3mpg in fact I'm using more fuel that I did in my 14 year old Yaris. Its great around town but the motor quickly starts up, yes you can drive gentle but then your under the feet of other drivers. In the real world I would say it near impossible to achieve what Toyota claim. I do like the car, its quite apart from tire noise, as for some one saying increase the tire pressures that is very dangerous as I found when I had to do a emergency stop soon after I got the car, and the wheels locked up and skidded. when I got home and the tires had cooled down they were all set at 40psi!!! now that will wear your tires out quick. I now run at what Toyota say in the handbook 32 front and 29 rear as I drive on my own 99% of the time. Ive now done four runs of 110 miles with mixed A roads and the A1 up to Durham and each time its shown 52 mpg.

I could just sit there at 50mph on the A1 but then you have the truckers up your backside. When I got the car last month it had done only 11,000 miles, it now performs better since I've put a 1,000 miles on it and used a bottle of injector cleaner in with a tank of super unleaded fuel which I use all the time. Why because the modern unleaded is rubbish, how do I know well I've been involved with classic racing for the last thirty years and this new unleaded fuel with ethanol added is doing a lot of damage to carburettors (yes I know the car in fuel injected ) and float needle sets corroding them badly in a very short time.

 I've gone on a little rant so I apologise to you all, I still love the little car. Cheers Yammie

With our 2013 Yaris hybrid, we have the tyres at 36 and at 50mph the mpg is upto 73.

It did take a while to find how to get the best out of the car without driving any slower and have the Air con on auto at a reasonable temperature.

The one thing that really messes up your mpg, is constantly varying speed, mainly stopping for traffic lights. Avoid using the power part of the dial for more than short bursts, 

[vivalacoulter]

23 minutes ago, Anthony Poli said:

With our 2013 Yaris hybrid, we have the tyres at 36 and at 50mph the mpg is upto 73.

It did take a while to find how to get the best out of the car without driving any slower and have the Air con on auto at a reasonable temperature.

The one thing that really messes up your mpg, is constantly varying speed, mainly stopping for traffic lights. Avoid using the power part of the dial for more than short bursts, 

Do you find you get any uneven tyre wear with those pressures?

[Anthony Poli]

2 hours ago, vivalacoulter said:

Do you find you get any uneven tyre wear with those pressures?

I do apologise, I will have to double check the tyre pressures. They are what the manual says for motorway driving, but there is no uneven tyre wear.

Prius owners have been over inflating their tyres to gain more mpg for years, 

[vivalacoulter]

1 hour ago, Anthony Poli said:

I do apologise, I will have to double check the tyre pressures. They are what the manual says for motorway driving, but there is no uneven tyre wear.

Prius owners have been over inflating their tyres to gain more mpg for years, 

Ah fair enough, thats just something I would never have considered coming from more performance orientated cars where a bit more grip is better than a few more MPG's...

 

Going to be a bit of a learning curve!

[Anthony Poli]

43 minutes ago, vivalacoulter said:

Ah fair enough, thats just something I would never have considered coming from more performance orientated cars where a bit more grip is better than a few more MPG's...

 

Going to be a bit of a learning curve!

Yes it is a learning curve and it sometimes contradicts with what you used to do in a non hybrid before.

On the Auris I have replaced the worn out tyres, with Michelin cross climate. They are supposed to have a lower resistance, but it could be that my driving techniques have improved, since I am doing better in the Yaris too.

[haelewyn]

@yammie Read up a bit on hypermiling and on "pulse and glide" driving technique. Check youtube for many hypermiling and Prius driving tutorials. This will get you going to improve mpg a lot.

One thing though : the hybrid is never cheap on driving high speeds on the highway. Can't change that too much.   Good luck !

[Yarishybrid2015]

Have some one bought these racing chips or power boxes for their yaris hybrids? Any improvement for the fuel consumption?

[vivalacoulter]

I really wouldn't bother with one of those... Sure fifth gear did a test and showed no difference. Plus a custom map is more suitable for modern cars and I'm sure there aren't many hybrid tuners out there...

[YarisHybrid2016]

52 MPG? I get that in the dead of winter.

You do need to learn how to get the best out of them. If I sit on a motorway at 70 MPH and use cruise, I'll get 55 MPG if I'm lucky (last time I got 52 MPG).

I did 160 mile round trip a week or two ago, and over the entire journey, I averaged 76 MPG. I drove at a steady 52-54 MPH, letting it accelerate down hills.

The motorway was nowhere near as bad as I thought it might be at that speed, and found it rather comfortable! It was also more relaxing as everything was passing me, and I could enjoy the view!

Mine has 17k on it now, so you'll find your MPG will improve over time if it has 11k on it. From what others are saying, MPG improves as late as 40k. Then again, these are cars that will go 300k on regular servicing, so not much of a surprise IMHO!

A note about the Premium unleaded (98 RON): The couple of times I ran a tank of this, fuel economy wasn't as expected. It dropped, and the power needle sat higher for a given speed. I've found it best to run on non-supermarket 95 RON.

Supermarket fuel: it seems to definitely drink this stuff, so I avoid it. Last tank of supermarket returned a tank MPG of 48. I only usually see a figure that low if I'm permanently driving like a moron, flat-out all the time. 

[vivalacoulter]

2 minutes ago, YarisHybrid2016 said:

52 MPG? I get that in the dead of winter.

You do need to learn how to get the best out of them. If I sit on a motorway at 70 MPH and use cruise, I'll get 55 MPG if I'm lucky (last time I got 52 MPG).

I did 160 mile round trip a week or two ago, and over the entire journey, I averaged 76 MPG. I drove at a steady 52-54 MPH, letting it accelerate down hills.

The motorway was nowhere near as bad as I thought it might be at that speed, and found it rather comfortable! It was also more relaxing as everything was passing me, and I could enjoy the view!

Mine has 17k on it now, so you'll find your MPG will improve over time.

A note about the Premium unleaded (98 RON): The couple of times I ran a tank of this, fuel economy wasn't as expected. It dropped, and the power needle sat higher for a given speed. I've found it best to run on non-supermarket 95 RON.

Supermarket fuel: it seems to definitely drink this stuff, so I avoid it. Last tank of supermarket returned a tank MPG of 48. I only usually see a figure that low if I'm permanently driving like a moron, flat-out all the time. 

Darn I was going to use Tesco Momentum 99. I pass an Esso everyday so I guess I could use their fuel. I'm just wondering about the long term benefit (if any) of using the higher RON fuel as I know they normally have more cleaning agents in them too.

[haelewyn]

I use an ultragauge and decide my speed by using that tool, more exactly the exact momentary mpg it shows. 

I have seen the number to be different always, depending on wind, road surface, angle of the road, etc. Same road on an other day is often not the same speed. 1 km per hour more or less can sometimes change the consumption by almost 0,5 liter per 100 km. In an other car, you would match the highest gear to a certain speed or revs. Don't forget a hybrid has an unlimited amount of gear ratios so that is maybe one reason the result is never the same.

I think the best result I can get anywhere between 90 and 110 km per hour is between 4 and 4,5 liter per 100 km. Om centrum I have found that consumption and the matching speed I turn the cruise control on and go on like that. When it goes downhill, consumption drops to 3+ or sometimes to 1+ liter per 100 km.

When I know a hill is coming, I speed up before it, cut the throttle a bit while climbing, ease on the gas while going downhill. Going uphill I limit my speed just to not be in other people's way but no faster. I try to be a bit faster than trucks always so they don't have to start overtaking me. Sometimes I find a higher speed that is good on mpg, I guess down wind and down hill :-)

Where other people enjoy to race, I enjoy getting somewhere and getting better mpg while doing so. My previous car being a diesel 1,4d4d, I never matched the mpg that gave me. So still trying to break records :-)

Ron98 is just not the right type of fuel for this car. It's logical that it will perform less good on it.

[Anthony Poli]

39 minutes ago, vivalacoulter said:

Darn I was going to use Tesco Momentum 99. I pass an Esso everyday so I guess I could use their fuel. I'm just wondering about the long term benefit (if any) of using the higher RON fuel as I know they normally have more cleaning agents in them too.

I am using ordinary Asda fuel, I have used the fancy Shell petrol while in Germany last year and didn't really see any improvement.

Went with a roof box on the Auris and still managed 57mpg while driving 70 with cruise control, the car was fully loaded. The warmer weather makes a big difference, rather than worry about your average mpg, it would be better to go by how many miles you get for a full tank of petrol. 

The pulse and glide technique is best suited for no traffic situations, as you will annoy other drivers with you speeding up and slowing down.

Maintaining momentum and light touch on the accelerator will work well.

[haelewyn]

I can't really drive and calculate per tank while doing so. That doesn't work for me. Always getting the best instantaneous mpg (× 800) results in one good figure per tank.

 I do calculate mpg per tank afterwards and I keep a list of every time I bought gas, with details. Indeed summer / winter driving makes a big difference. So does driving and starting with a warm engine.

I do agree the light touch on the accelerator often works great at any speed.

Gas : only tested it with diesel at times when I was doing 70.000 miles a year crossing Europe for my job. I found at that time, almost 20 years ago, that almost all brands gave me the same result but one supermarket brand sucked hard on mpg.

Where I drive now, I get to use pulse and glide very often though it is not always possible. I can imagine it would be different in other areas. On a main big road, 70 km per hour only allowed, I do burn gas when others are behind me, sticking to 70. When nobody is behind me I slow down to 60 on Battery power, better than loading an already full HV Battery. When HV is full, the electric engine helps a bit every so often, but driving purely electric is always the best deal. When I pulse and glide doing so, the Battery lasts longer.  It also works on congested area driving. All bits help.

[YarisHybrid2016]

@vivalacoulter : Try it, but so I've only seen negative effects. I don't do enough miles to get through a tank as fast as I would like for testing, so environmental conditions change too much between tests for meaningful comparisons.

The last tank of supermarket fuel was Morrisons petrol. It's cheap for a reason!

I use Esso or Total 95 RON. Either seem fine.