Staying warm

[Louie]

Greetings to all I am seriously miffed why ?  this week we  have been downgraded to Tier 3 despite South Holland having one of the lowest Covid infections in the UK.

Anyway i digress and the question is how do i stay warm in my vehicle while waiting for "her indoors" to finish  her shopping. I can turn the ignition on start the car and get

a fair flow of heat then the engine cuts out and goes into power saving mode (Corolla Hybrid GR sport 2l ). I have noticed that fuel consumption has rocketed in the cold weather possibly

because i like to stay warm as do most people. Any tips guys ? Please dont tell me to buy extra thick clothing 😂

[oldcodger]

Hi,

Good question and hope there is a simple answer as like you am often in that kind of situation and needing the heater on when stationary,  would really make us think twice about getting a hybrid model if we could not use the heater.

[TonyHSD]

Hi, 

keep it warm is no different than any other car, just put the car in ready mode, set your preferred temperature, turn off auto settings and AC,  no need of that in the winter, set the sir flow as your likes and enjoy warm and cosy cabin. The car will run its ice as much as needed for to keep temperature inside correct. Conventional ice cars use between 0.8 -1.2ltr an hour for using your engine as generator but Toyota hybrids uses half of that or even less. Fuel economy will be obviously affected., but not that much just as add on to the cold climate driving and if you have winter tyres fitted. I have all that done to my car plus keeping it on 6+hrs every night and consumption goes down from 60mpg to 50mpg or a bit below., summer vs winter season. Forgot to mention, never leave the car in ACC mode to use electric power or heater as this will discharge your 12v Battery and will not provide heat as the coolant cools down no no engine running or water pump. Hybrids are the best suited for that type of purpose as they no need to run engine all the times. If the car doesn’t provide enough heat means it’s reached the desired temperature and if you want more just turn the temperature up. One tip: keep fan speed at two bars. 👍
Regards 

[bigblock]

TonyHSD is correct. I have been parked up  waiting with plenly of constant heat coming through. The temperature is constant even when engine cuts out. It's never cooled down inside to get cold again as engine fires up to maintain set temperature. I don't see a problem with hybrids on this subject. It's normal to get less mpg in cold weather. I'm down to 53 mpg now. I was getting 62 / 65 mpg in the summer. (2.0 engine).

[MagicBoy]

Use the heated seat. It's more efficient than running the HVAC.

[Louie]

Hi Guys many thanks for your input. I think my problem is patience basically have very little. I do remember sitting in the car getting colder by the minute then I switched off the ignition and turned it back on with temps set to 20c and sure enough the engine started got a little warmer then it cut out. I remember thinking hey just a minute I need more heat but then I should have turned the temp controls up but by that time "her indoors" had turned up so we drove off. I do not normally sit around waiting for passengers etc so i will have to see what happens next time.

A big question for you lot does anybody know the service intervals for this model ?

[FROSTYBALLS]

1 minute ago, Louie said:

A big question for you lot does anybody know the service intervals for this model ?

Toyota service intervals in the UK are every 12 months or 10,000 miles, whichever occurs first. Intermediate services years 1, 3, 5, etc. Full services years 2, 4, 6, etc.

[Gray86]

16 hours ago, TonyHSD said:

Hi, 

keep it warm is no different than any other car, just put the car in ready mode, set your preferred temperature, turn off auto settings and AC,  no need of that in the winter, set the sir flow as your likes and enjoy warm and cosy cabin. The car will run its ice as much as needed for to keep temperature inside correct. Conventional ice cars use between 0.8 -1.2ltr an hour for using your engine as generator but Toyota hybrids uses half of that or even less. Fuel economy will be obviously affected., but not that much just as add on to the cold climate driving and if you have winter tyres fitted. I have all that done to my car plus keeping it on 6+hrs every night and consumption goes down from 60mpg to 50mpg or a bit below., summer vs winter season. Forgot to mention, never leave the car in ACC mode to use electric power or heater as this will discharge your 12v battery and will not provide heat as the coolant cools down no no engine running or water pump. Hybrids are the best suited for that type of purpose as they no need to run engine all the times. If the car doesn’t provide enough heat means it’s reached the desired temperature and if you want more just turn the temperature up. One tip: keep fan speed at two bars. 👍
Regards 

Tony, A/C is invaluable in the winter for keeping windows clear 👍🏻

[TonyHSD]

Hi Graeme, 

AC invaluable for keeping windows clear agreed but only if your windows goes mist for some reason., short town trips, wet clothing, heavy rain and some damp and moisture locked into the cabin. AC helps for that no doubt but also contribute for getting all those moisture issues too., in outside temperatures below 4C° the air conditioning does not work even the green light is ON and indicated that AC is turned ON. If you drive the car for more than 30 min each time you in and let it dry without Air Con you may have less mist windows next time you are using the car. Similar thing but other way around happens in hot summer days when using AC and you are keeping it ON until turn OFF car completely, if you switch Off AC manually 5 min before end of journey and lower the driver window a bit then you won’t have any bad smell or mist windscreen. That’s some tips sharing, many will disagree which is fine but this is what I always do and works with any car from Mirage to Maybach 🚗🚙👍

[Timmon]

The only thing I would add is that it is a good idea to switch the AC on every week, or at least once per month to ensure the inner seals are lubricated. If you keep the car a few years, it will thank you further down the line, less likely to have seal problems etc. 

[AndrueC]

I just leave my climate control on all year round set 19.5c There's rarely any need to fiddle with anything other than occasionally directing the vents to the screen for a couple of minutes in winter.

[john p williams]

10 hours ago, AndrueC said:

I just leave my climate control on all year round set 19.5c There's rarely any need to fiddle with anything other than occasionally directing the vents to the screen for a couple of minutes in winter.

Exactly right.

[TonyHSD]

10 hours ago, AndrueC said:

I just leave my climate control on all year round set 19.5c There's rarely any need to fiddle with anything other than occasionally directing the vents to the screen for a couple of minutes in winter.

Similar here at 22C°, manually  set speed fan 2, air flow towards windscreen and feet in winter No AC, in summer season I change air flow to middle of dashboard and feet, AC ON only when necessary- outside temperatures over 20C° etc. Important thing to change cabin filter more frequently than dealers does for you. I do 5 times a year with every service and it’s full with carbon and smells of petrol. 

[Geoff W]

I find hybrids are much better at warming up on a frosty morning than straight petrol or diesel cars. Before I went hybrid in my Yaris and later in my Corolla, defrosting the car on a winter morning meant sitting in the car with the accelerator slightly depressed waiting for the engine to get warm enough to de-ice the windscreen and warm the interior. With hybrids, the car goes straight to a very fast tick over and heats itself up quickly while I'm outside scraping frost off the windows.

[bigblock]

38 minutes ago, Geoff W said:

I find hybrids are much better at warming up on a frosty morning than straight petrol or diesel cars. Before I went hybrid in my Yaris and later in my Corolla, defrosting the car on a winter morning meant sitting in the car with the accelerator slightly depressed waiting for the engine to get warm enough to de-ice the windscreen and warm the interior. With hybrids, the car goes straight to a very fast tick over and heats itself up quickly while I'm outside scraping frost off the windows.

This morning I raced with my fathers Kia Ceed (2018 diesel) to see who would defrost and de-mist first. Result. After 10 mins my car was completely clear and safe to drive off. My dads Kia took another 5 mins. Scraping the windows was not allowed. All done purely on heat. So there you have it.

[TonyHSD]

Absolutely 👍 very true finding 🚗🚙

[Louie]

HI guys

 

Yes there is no doubt my Corolla demists my windshield and side windows in what i would call a jiffy in cold weather. My Golf took forever and eventually had to resort to using a non oily rag so top marks to Toyota design crew.

[AndrueC]

I keep my car in the garage. What's this 'icing' and 'scraping' you're all talking about?

😄