Poor mpg ?

[NeilRG]

I recently bought a 2016 rav 4 d4d..I'm happy with everything about the car except I'm not getting the mpg I was expecting (50/60 combined mpg in the reviews I read prior to purchase).I'm not particularly heavy with my right foot and currently only getting in the low 40's average.The car has a full service history and only 20k on the clock,has anyone got any ideas to improve on this? Thanks.

[philip42h]

You'll need to be a bit more specific about which engine, transmission and drive system you actually have - 2.2 or 2.0 L, manual or auto, FWD or AWD - since that makes a difference to the expected fuel economy. We can assume since it is a 2016 D4D is has a Toyota designed engine rather than the more economical BMW designed 2.0 Diesel, manual, FWD that boasts 60.1 mpg.

I say 'boasts' since the real world figures from Honest John's Real MPG suggest that you should be expecting results in the low 40's as you say you are ...

[Catlover]

The official quoted fuel consumption for ALL vehicles in the past appear exaggerated. Not only Toyotas but all vehicles and that's because of the world wide testing system forced on the car manufacturers.  Last couple years it been a different system that's in force which proves to be nearer to real life..... but real life driving for you in hilly Durham area is sure to be different if you drove in flat Lincolnshire.  Further, things like your interpretation of light footed could be heavy footed in someone elses standard.

[RUToyota]

50/60 mpg combined.?...I would suggest that's very optimistic in the "real world"...40+ seems a far more realistic figure..and one I would expect.

[PeteB]

Also depends on the type of journeys you do.

A few years ago a friend swapped a petrol car for a new one of the same model with a diesel engine, but he only did a few 1-3 mile journeys a week, the last thing that suits a diesel.  He found he was getting worse mpg than on his old petrol version, and ended up doing regular unnecessary longer trips just to stop the exhaust system fouling up and to make the amber engine warning light go out!

He recently exchanged it for a petrol version again!

[NeilRG]

Firstly thanks for the replies.My car is the 2.0 D FWD and I do probably 60/40 motorway/ town miles. I originally thought because of the low mileage over it's age it might have been because of the type of driving mentioned above and that it might benefit from a Terraclean type treatment but you've all put my mind at ease a little bit thanks 🙂

[Avalon]

Terraclean 🤣

Lets start with the basics, diesels are quite thermally efficient and as such (relative to petrol engines) generally take a little longer to warm up, you don't get decent mpg until it's warm, so the division of town/motorway without context is pretty meaningless. Given it's currently still winter, we still have cold weather and winter fuel additive, this reduces mpg. Next up if you are measuring the mpg using the trip computer, give up now, unless you've got data for multiple necked tank fills to allow for fill variations etc. then you're wasting your time. Download 'Road Trip' or similar, it'll calculate mpg etc. for you and (assuming you put the data in) break it down by fuel type etc.

[NeilRG]

I'm just an everyday driver Avalon, looking for a bit of advice.Having had a Terraclean treatment on a previous car I could see a noticeable improvement so I mentioned it in case it would help..I bow to your superior knowledge .

[Scottydog007]

For my RAV4 hybrid 2019, in this winter period I am getting a constant 37.5 mpg. This is for both motorway and town driving (50:50). On refueling the gauge resets and I check the figure constantly and I seem to get the same mgp plus or minus 0.2 mpg.

Now in the summer in the warm weather I will expect this figure to improve to 45 - 48 mpg. I bought the car when the weather was nice and this is what I was getting. For a large car and for the generally heavy fast driving I do, I consider this reasonable for a big vehicle.

[PeteB]

I drive mine pretty gently, but do a lot of short journeys which takes a bit of a toll.

Until October, my calculated mpg averaged 52, and over the winter around 42 (both optimistic in the car).  The overall average, since new, remains 47½, and I expect it to start climbing again now.

Interestingly, the average error of the in-car displays has been about 2%, Vs about 5% in all previous Toyotas where I've taken lots of measurements.

My best reported mpg was 58.4 on a 250 mile round trip last July.  (Mind you, my previous 4th Gen Prius managed 84 mpg reported on the same trip under similar conditions).

[philip42h]

Meanwhile, back on topic ... 😉

The OP was enquiring about the economy to be expect of a 2016 RAV4 2.0 D4D FWD Manual. Toyota originally quoted 57.6 mpg and Honest John Real MPG figures suggest an average of 46.5 mpg (i.e. around 80% of the manufacturer's quoted NEDC figure). That is mid 40s rather than the low 40s the OP reported.

As others have said, actual economy will depend on a variety of things including journey profile, driving style and ambient temperature.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that the D4D engine appreciates premium diesel fuel and many of us use such fuels exclusively. It doesn't really matter which brand (or even unbranded) just so long as it contains the appropriate cleaning additives.

Also the D4D requires regular 'long' runs in order to keep the emissions control system 'clean' and working as it should. An hour on the motorway - assuming that you can make reasonable progress - once a week seems sufficient to me but it does rather depend on what you are doing the rest of the time. The D4D won't respond well to a continual diet of stop-start urban crawl - you' be better of with something else,

And, finally, since the OP doesn't know the previous history of the car and its use, running through a tank of fuel with an appropriate system cleaner can't do any harm, won't waste too much money and might provide a little piece of mind.

... if we are still allowed out, of course ... 😀

 

[NeilRG]

Sorry for the slow reply,thanks Philip for your very informative response lots to think about there.Much appreciated 🙂

[Zak.Ahamed]

I laid my hands on my RAV4 hybrid which is an AWD 2.5L one gives me about 36/37mpg driving about in London during this winter. 

[robo1]

Neil 3 RAVs back I had  RAV4 mark 4 Diesel but 4WD.  fuel consumption was 40-44 mpg mainly mixed urban / motorway. Never saw 50mpg.