2.0L Excel HB - thoughts so far

[Timmon]

8 hours ago, AndrueC said:

I think I missed a trick this week. I've had my kitchen replaced and as part of that the installers removed an old disused radiator. It was only half way through the week that I realised the radiator was mounted on the other side of the garage back wall and that since the pipes to it came down inside the garage I could have just had them put it on the other side of the wall. My garage has an insulated door so I might have been able to ensure the car was always above 16c in the morning (currently it can be as cold as 10c).

I don't know if it would save energy overall but it's a shame I didn't think about it first. I'm wondering if it's worth getting someone back in to install one there anyway but now there will be the extra cost of a new radiator 😕

 

Once you get outside the car will detect low temperature and fire up the engine, not sure what you will achieve by having a heated garage in winter. Guess you will have to weigh up the cost of burning more gas to heat the garage constantly and the cost of installation Vs the few seconds of EV mode before the car fires up the ICE. You probably already get most benefit as you are, because you won't be using all the power I do, to run the rear windscreen heater, demisters etc on a cold morning.

[OXYGEN]

Guys, I read somewhere that Toyota hybrids can be forced to do in EV described situation.

Within a second after pressing the start button, press the EV mode button. This way ICE will not start. Only problem is there should be enough Battery...

I have tried it twice and it worked, but it was not that cold.

But you can always try and see if low temperatures allow this trick or not.

[AndrueC]

41 minutes ago, OXYGEN said:

Guys, I read somewhere that Toyota hybrids can be forced to do in EV described situation.

Within a second after pressing the start button, press the EV mode button. This way ICE will not start. Only problem is there should be enough battery...

I have tried it twice and it worked, but it was not that cold.

But you can always try and see if low temperatures allow this trick or not.

Yeah but forcing EV mode like that is generally considered to be a bad idea from an economy point of view. Though whether it's a worse idea that tricking the car by warming the engine before starting off is anyone's guess 🙂

I'll be filling up tomorrow after mudgolf and I'm not expecting a great mpg figure. It's been cold, wet and windy here since the last fill. I'm getting thoroughly sick and tired of this autumn and the winter doesn't look to be any better. But at least snow seems unlikely so far.

[OXYGEN]

If I understood correctly, he wanted just to move the car few meters to make way for the other to pass. In this case I don’t want and I don’t need to warm the engine.

[AndrueC]

28 minutes ago, OXYGEN said:

If I understood correctly, he wanted just to move the car few meters to make way for the other to pass. In this case I don’t want and I don’t need to warm the engine.

True. Forcing EV mode for that situation would make good sense.

[nielshm]

2 hours ago, OXYGEN said:

If I understood correctly, he wanted just to move the car few meters to make way for the other to pass. In this case I don’t want and I don’t need to warm the engine.

Correct. Lets say the car goes into a limp/safety mode, when the engine is cold, speed is limited to 5 mph and 100 m. distance, that would be more than enough. The normal Battery status is 5 bars charged - or better. 

[Catlover]

What you really need is a pure electric vehicle so you don’t have a petrol engine that wants to be warmed up.  Life’s a compromise at times.

[OXYGEN]

I don’t remember how many bars was minimal for EV mode, but just try it next time. Hopefully low temperature will not prevent it.

 I used it to leave a quiet indoor parking. And since I will anyway use the ICE later, and there will be regenerative braking, I didn’t care if consuming the Battery in the beginning was efficient or not.

[nielshm]

I'm allmost at 2000 miles. Some small things seems strange. 

My phone Samsung S8 gets disconnected every 10-15 minuttes, only for 5 seconds, and reconnects. 

Auto headlight dip, works poorly. Some times is works really well, detects every car from a nice distance, but mostly it doesn't seems to notice everything. 

Cruise control with speed adaptive function enabled, detects cars driving on motorway exits, so it looks pretty wide. 

[AndrueC]

I was unimpressed with the Sat nav this last trip. On two occasions its instructions for leaving the motorway were very poor. On the way up at M6 10a (M54) it kept telling me to keep right until just before I reached the last slip exit (for lane 2) when it suddenly told me to exit onto the M54. I had assumed it was just going to take me up to the M56 then across to North Wales. No harm done either way (I didn't have to swerve and either route is fine) but not very clever.

Then it did the same thing coming back after rejoining from the M6 Toll. It kept saying keep right (which is for the M6 North/East) until the last slip for M42 south. In this case I thought it had just gone doolally so I was ignoring it anyway.

But it should not still be saying 'keep right' while the exit it wants you to take is already passing by.

Most sat nav systems tell you where you will be going 'next' - this one doesn't normally. I have turned off the junction list display for motorways though so I assume that's why they included that but I don't think it had this problem originally so I suspect it's the result of the last update.

[nielshm]

The lid on the console box seems to have a bad fit. I can move the lid sideways, making small clicking noises. It also happens when I place my arm on top, a little noise can be heard. Does your Corollas have the same issue?? 

Mpg's are getting closer to 54/55. It's still strange that the car can't exceed 60 mpg on a flat road doing 55 mph. I wonder how much higher rolling resistance is with winter tyres? On the same road, EV mode can't be turned on with higher speed than 45 mph, with winter tyres. Of course driving slightly downhill changes things, but a 100% flat road is a bit challenging. 

[TonyHSD]

Hi, 

for the rolling resistance, it can be really bad and it is a normal. Even when I first switched to winter tyres the car was like having difficulties to accelerate, I had many different cars , been in a trade for years but I never had such an impact on rolling resistant with any other cars but the hybrids, they just don’t like winter tyres at all I guess because of the drive train they have, higher rolling resistance acts like a brake,. For example if you drive a BMW 330d there is so much low end torque directly delivered to the wheels that the driver never feel those “braking” effect. It is there but we can’t feel it and with the hybrids we can, also when slowing down higher tyre rolling resistance plus regen brakes make things worse too so the car can not travel as much as if with summer tyres. I am ok with it , safety over efficiency more important but every time I switch between winter and summer tyres I need time to adjust myself, even sometimes I get out of the car and check all brakes if they are ok and not hot. 
Regards 

[nielshm]

I'm still struggeling to understand the real difference between the 3 drive modes, eco, normal and sport. 

Throttle respons is very different in Eco mode vs Sport, but what else if different? Switching between the modes doesn't change revs. Maybe it changes the point for EV driving? I read some where, that Sport mode uses more Battery power to assist acceleration, does that mean that the use of hybrid (engine+battery combined) is more limited, compared to Eco or normal? 

[Catlover]

2 hours ago, nielshm said:

I'm still struggeling to understand the real difference between the 3 drive modes, eco, normal and sport. 

Throttle respons is very different in Eco mode vs Sport, but what else if different? Switching between the modes doesn't change revs. Maybe it changes the point for EV driving? I read some where, that Sport mode uses more battery power to assist acceleration, does that mean that the use of hybrid (engine+battery combined) is more limited, compared to Eco or normal? 

Sport mode will, no doubt, mean an increase in fuel used, which in turn will mean some who use sport mode will be saying its not worth having an hybrid when i use same fuel as a petrol vehicle.  I have used sport mode, to see what it does, and decided I only may need that sort of performance when I have a long climb to do ie going up the M62 from Lancashire towards Leeds.

[AndrueC]

I thought it just changed the sensitivity to throttle movements. So in eco mode you have to move the accelerator pedal faster and/or further to illicit the same response as normal mode whereas in power mode the slightest movement in the pedal illicits a bigger response.

[rafletcher]

I thought that, as well as increasing throttle sensitivity, sport mode also weighted up the steering which is very light normally.

[nielshm]

In my Auris 1.2T with CVT, sport mode meant 700 rpm higher revs anytime, to increase instant power without having slow turbo respons. 

[TonyHSD]

Hi,

I noticed  when Battery has a good amount of charge and you select Sport mode then in hard acceleration the car has a much more punch than if Battery is drained or low on charge, however those will apply in hard acceleration in any mode , therefore I believe that sport mode changes the throttle responds only, and with the latest models may also change steering weight but I can’t said about that as I am an older car owner. 
Regards 

[nielshm]

I've been doing some experiments with Eco and Power mode.

It seems like, that Eco mode does'nt assist accelerations every time, even if the Battery is 60-70% charged. It takes a long time for the hybrid system (engine and battery) to get active, Battery must be charged to at least 80%, before turning on. I think Eco mode is designed to go into EV mode every time possible, but outside the city with higher speeds, that does'nt happen much.

Power mode assists every time I accelerate, unless Battery power is 30%. Power mode does'nt use pure EV mode much, but keeps the engine running with 1000 rpm's. Power mode is waiting for the throttle to be pushed. It seems like Power mode uses a larger amount of the batterys capacity compared to Eco mode. Power mode cant be made a permanent setting, the car resets to Normal mode when beeing restarted.  Eco mode can be made a permanent setting.

[nielshm]

If some one is having problems finding the sensor that opens the boot, is right under the square marking on the rear bumper. Stick your foot in, and it opens right up. 

[Timmon]

I have only found that for normal driving on trunk roads normal mode is best, Eco reduces your mpg considerably. As I don't do much town driving, where eco mode will be best, I use normal mode all the time. Sport as previously said does increase power considerably, but I don't really need it. Maybe if I need to get past lorries safely, I'll try it.

I am pleased with a trip to Devon using mix or trunk roads across the Cotswolds and the M5, that I was achieving 55 mpg, even with spells at almost 80 mph (!) and revs ticking over at under 2000 rpm, and even Battery only for short spells. I only used normal mode. Outside temperature 6 to 8 degrees. Highly impressive, when my SAAB would achieve about 34 mpg, and I don't really miss the lack of power compared to the turbo. Once up to speed, the turbo had no further use really.

Re the issue above on the main beam not dipping, I have found this too. 

So I just use it as a "back up" , manually dipping as I always have, with the auto system switched on in case I have a lapse of concentration and don't dip early enough for an oncoming car.

All these extra's are nice to have, but we are not in the age of an automated car yet, and I prefer to do the driving, not become reliant on a system that may fail. In a few years, maybe I can sit in the back seat and read a book, but for now, I like to be the driver.

[AndrueC]

I tried switching Highway view back on but it's not particularly helpful. Other sat navs do a good job of giving advance notice of upcoming road changes. I feel that the Corolla's is a bit weak in this area.

[nielshm]

Some how, I like the acceleration better when the engine is cold. When the car is cold, engine starts right up, and sits with 1300 rpm.

Even if I accelerate, revs does'nt go up, but seems fixed to 1300 rpm. So the Battery must assist quite a bit, I feel a nice firm acceleration, keeping up with traffic, but revs are the same. When I pass 25 mph, revs starts going up.

When the engine is warm, things are a little different. Normally EV mode gets the car moving, but at 10-12-15 mph, engine starts up, and revs to 1500 rpms or higher, to provide the same kind of acceleration. Of course I could be really gentle, keeping thecar in EV mode for as long as possibile, but that's not keeping up with traffic.

Some how, I just like the cold engine feeling better than the warm engine feeling.

[TonyHSD]

Yeah, I like that cold engine feeling too, it feels like you are driving a full ev with ice range extender 😉, but doesn’t last for long because the Battery gets drained quickly and engine rpm rises again to recharge and assist with acceleration. 

[allen2502]

Ok folks. I'm about to buy. The 2.0l excel 50 50 leather. 

But it comes with sport seats. ? 

Im.a big guy 6ft 1 

Weighing over 20st So I'm.a little concerned if the seat will be comfortable ? 

Toyota haven't got a car with the seats. So impossible to test it. I need to see. To try. 

I'm a taxi driver and will be in this 10 to 12 hours a day. 

Anyone got one ? Anyone live around south wales .