Range Readout Touch 2

[Mick F]

I'm getting to grips with the Trip information on the Touch 2 screen in our September 2014 Yaris Hybrid.  How is the Range calculated?

Of all the cars I've owned with a trip computer, the range had varied with the average fuel consumption since last reset.  Our Yaris seems to have a mind of its own in this regard.  We have just over a quarter of a tank of fuel and the range is showing 72miles.  Absolutely wrong IMHO.

I reset the trip info, but the range stayed where it was.  Maybe it won't go down per mile driven but it will decrease generally.  It's a completely untrue and useless figure.

Am I not getting the point here?  All the other cars we've owned have worked very differently to our Yaris Hybrid.  Am I doing something wrong?

Thanks,  Mick.

[FROSTYBALLS]

The hybrid has a tank capacity of 36 litres. The low fuel light comes on when there are approx 5.2 litres left. I would imagine the range will show fuel remaining excluding the reserve that Toyota allow - which historically seems to be quite generous. 

[Mick F]

Yes, I understand this.

Fuel remaining equals range ............. but at what fuel consumption?

It doesn't seem to make any difference if we're driving on the flat/downhill/gently.

The range "pauses" when were being economical and never increases ............... like it has on all the other cars we've owned.  Sometimes, we could leave home with (say) 100miles range, but that was because we'd been driving locally up and down the hills.  If we went further afield, say onto a dual carriageway, we could get home - without a reset - with 200miles range.  It's worked out over the average fuel consumption since last reset.

Our Yaris isn't like that at all.  Range is unrealistic and pointless.

Mick.

[FROSTYBALLS]

16 minutes ago, Mick F said:

Range is unrealistic and pointless.

Of the 21 new cars we've had, we have only ever viewed the range as an indication - at the end of the day it is an estimate.

[Mick F]

Yes, I know.

Maybe you're not getting my point?

In all the other cars, the range is calculated by the average fuel consumption since last reset.  Our Yaris is no doubt the same, but it never increases.

"Normal" car ............... Say you reset your trip computer.  Drive hard up a hill and you'll average maybe 20mpg.  Say you have 10gals in the tank.  Your range will be 200miles.  Say you then relax and drive gently at maybe 60mpg for the rest of the journey.  What is your range now?  It could be 400miles and the readout will say so.  ie the range readout will have increased from 200miles to 400miles.

With our Yaris, it would stay at 200miles until the range became less.  ie it wouldn't increase, just pause, then decrease.

My question still remains.  How is the range calculated?  It seems very different from any other car I've owned.

Mick.

[FROSTYBALLS]

6 minutes ago, Mick F said:

Maybe you're not getting my point.

Not the case.

As far as I'm aware the ECU estimates the range given a number of factors including driving style, speed, etc.

 

 

[Mick F]

Yes, I know how it works.

It's just the same with other cars, but why doesn't the range increase when your average consumption goes down ................ like it does with other cars?

Mick.

[FROSTYBALLS]

From memory the range on my 2009 and 2012 Auris didn't work in the way you describe and neither does our current Aygo and i20.

[Mick F]

Last two cars worked like I described for definite.  Renault Clio and Fiat500.

Maybe it's a Toyota thing then.

[Mick F]

21 hours ago, Mick F said:

I'm getting to grips with the Trip information on the Touch 2 screen in our September 2014 Yaris Hybrid.  How is the Range calculated?

I reset the trip info, but the range stayed where it was. 

Tried again today.  65miles on Range on the Touch screen and on the trip computer on the dash.

Resetting the trip info on Touch screen both on the history and the this trip, I would have expected that the range would be blank until it re-calculated .............. but no it didn't and it remained at 65miles.

How is this 65miles calculated when it has no idea what the average fuel consumption is because it has been deleted?

Mick.

[Mick F]

Just filled the tank to the brim.  Supposedly 36L in there and the range changed to 334miles making an average of 42mpg.

Considering I reset the trip computer AGAIN, how and why is this 42mpg calculated?  Where does it get its figures from considering I've reset everything?

What happens if I go up the A30 at a steady 50mph for 50miles to the M5 up to Bristol and back and achieve 60odd mpg or even nearly 70mpg like I get normally?

Where and why is this 42mpg stored, and how do I get rid of it?

Mick.

 

 

[Mick F]

PS:

Just thinking ............ if you can't reset the range readings, and our Yaris is over three years old and we are the second owners, is this 42mph stored from when the car was brand new?

Mick.

[CPN]

For the "where", I would suggest that it will be burned into the relevant ECU as a "baseline" mpg for the Yaris Hybrid and I would also suggest that you can't "get rid of it" as you put it.

As to the "why"? I would further suggest that 42 mpg as a starting point for a full tank of fuel in a Yaris Hybrid is more than realistic rather than the false figures they give for the Hybrid in the sales blurb after doing "mpg tests" under laboratory conditions! The Hybrid only works well over long steady journeys, in my experience, where high 50s and 60s in mpg terms are easily achievable but you'll never see the ridiculous 85 mpg often quoted in the brochures...

Why do I say this? Simple. Having now owned two Yaris Hybrids since 2014, they are at least consistent in the fact that if you are constantly doing very short journeys during winter (as I am at the moment) then the real world fuel consumption is appalling (around the mid-40s mpg) compared to those sales mpg figures quoted. Short journeys (less than 5 miles round trip), especially in winter where the powertrain never actually reaches optimum temperatures, in a Yaris Hybrid are your enemy!

[Mick F]

29 minutes ago, CPN said:

For the "where", I would suggest that it will be burned into the relevant ECU as a "baseline" mpg for the Yaris Hybrid and I would also suggest that you can't "get rid of it" as you put it.

Thanks.  That makes complete sense.

Now, why did other cars I've owned not do it like that?

Seems like If I drove up the M5 gently, the range figure becomes completely meaningless.  At least the other cars had a reading and I could see the actual range. I would reset the trip computer frequently on a long journey to keep an eye on it and watch it change as my speed varied.

Thanks again, Mick.

[CPN]

I always base my range on my own tank to tank full calculations and the real world average mpg that results. Currently, my overall average is 51 mpg (since new for ALL journeys aggregated) and therefore 7.92 UK gallons (36 litres) equates to around 404 miles if I'm doing a long motorway journey but that shortens to about 348 miles if you discount the 5 litre reserve; which I'm quite happy with. Even at my atrocious current short journey cold mpg rates (around 43 mpg) it still equates to around 292 miles before the reserve light comes up which is fine for us. I'm confident that I can manage to do a round trip to my mum's in the West Midlands from Doncaster (roughly 230 miles) on a full tank without needing a refill really.

[Mick F]

On 05/02/2018 at 3:15 PM, CPN said:

For the "where", I would suggest that it will be burned into the relevant ECU as a "baseline" mpg for the Yaris Hybrid and I would also suggest that you can't "get rid of it" as you put it.

Just been reading the handbook.  It seems that they suggest it is YOUR average fuel consumption, and not a "standard" hard wired one.  This is obviously wrong.

• Driving range

  Displays the estimated maximum distance that can be driven with the quantity of fuel remaining.

  • This distance is computed based on your average fuel consumption. As a result, the actual distance that can be driven may differ from that displayed.

Edited February 8, 2018 by Mick F
Typo

[CPN]

If that is really the case, then I would expect the range to drop to 0, after a reset of everything, until it can start working things out? ...but this doesn't happen?

[FROSTYBALLS]

One could consider disconnecting the 12v Battery to reset the things.