Estima fuel economy

[Suchuwato]

General question I wanted to ask other owners with similar cars what sort of MPG / KML people are getting.

I have a 2006 Estima Hybrid G Edition E-four 7 seater (see link).  80k miles on the clock. Had the car about 2 years and absolutely love it - comfort, elegance & style. 

I bought the hybrid as I was advised it was advantageous in terms of MPG/KML- even though I liked the fact the non-hybrids it was possible for people to move from the front to the back easily between the front seats - in the hybrid the hybrid Battery is located there and so not possible. 

I moved from a Mini One straight up to the Estima (all 2020kg of it) - so I am not really sure what is the typical performance of people carrier is.  Nor had I ever driven an automatic either - the CVT transmission was also new to me.

Based on the on-board monitors, I seem to average about 8.0 KM/L - which I think works out circa 18.2 MPG - this seems kinda so so?

I believe they were originally marketed as being capable of 40/45mpg?? 

What does everyone else average out at - would be interested to hear how that compares to the purely petrol engines and also with some of the newer post 2011 models?
What do modern cars average out at?

[FROSTYBALLS]

Estima hybrids were never officially sold in Europe so official fuel consumption figures weren't applicable to our markets.

If your figures are the Japanese fuel consumption,  as far as I'm aware Japan uses the US gallon which is 3.785 litres compared to the Imperial (UK) gallon which is 4.546 litres.

[Suchuwato]

good point - hadn't thought of that.
Think that would make it about 22.6mpg (UK)

[RUToyota]

Wouldn't have thought that's overly bad through the Winter months particularly..these are quite big, heavy buses after all.

I have the V6 and although I never really check mpg I reckon I could easily match that figure.

Like you, I simply love the comfort, smoothness and build quality of these vehicles..it still amazes me even after 6 years of ownership.

[Cyker]

Good grief you went from a Mini One to an Estima?! I can't imagine what it'd be like going from such a cramped tin box to a giant luxurious land yacht!  

[Paul T 59]

Hello all

i have a Japanese imported estimate on an 02 plate that has been converted into a camper. I only get about 30mpg even when not loaded up with gear. Is this normal or should I get more?

Thanks

paul

[RUToyota]

IMO that's not bad at all...it's a big heavy bus after all....what did you expect..?

[FROSTYBALLS]

Topics merged

[Tee_J]

I also thought being it being a hybrid, would have been more economical....until I realised that the Battery drivetrain only runs if you  trundling along at less than 20mph, and if you don't floor the pedal while doing that.  There a few spots in London where the speed limit is 20mph but mostly it's 30 (in town) /40 or 50 on A-roads, so you're mostly using the ICE when driving the hybrid. 

It is something I wish I'd known before purchase...but it still doesn't detract from my love of my Estima. 🙂 

I do mostly a lot of town driving and mostly on weekends and I cannot seem to get higher than 7.4Km/L. 

I wish it could be more. I drove up to Derby from London and back last year and it reported 7.6Km/L - which to me was terrible!! However I guess it was the impact of coming off the M1 into London's city traffic. 

[Catlover]

Certainly in the 3 hybrid cars we have owned (still got so of them) they run with Battery much more then when travelling less then 20mph and not flooring it.  There are lots of occasions at different speeds that the Battery is either working by itself or is running along with the engine.  Would think the Estim runs on the same principle. If you not looked at how to get the best out of your hybrid by working on your driving style then maybe that would help you understand the working of an hybrid. You Tube has some really good videos showing how to get the best from a hybrid, and that is from “normal” drivers.

[Cyker]

I think the electric drive of the Estima is underpowered for the weight of the vehicle so it's not going to be fantastic; You're not going to get super-high mpgs in it - It gets good mpgs for something so heavy, but you'll never get close to e.g. the Corolla or Auris hybrids.

I think around 40mpg is about the realistic maximum of the Estima hybrids, but general use will be less. I do wonder what sort of driving styles would work for you; I do find with my hybrid yaris it gets worse mpg with constant speeds than it does pulse and gliding.

But what you loose in mpg you get in opulence  

 

[Suchuwato]

thanks for all the comments - useful to know.

I believe the Toyota hybrid engines were developed and first used in Japan commercially in the mid 90s.  for the 2006 hybrid models i guess they'd have been developed 2004/5.  So clearly they're not gonna compete with the current hybrid engines that have had another 10-15yrs development. a neighbour of mine has the RAv4 or lexus 2016 hybrid and gets 35/8 mpg.

Yeah the purely EV mode - is described in the Japanese manual as a courtesy for residential parking (ie no engine noise) and is for up to a max 25km/h (but is sensitive to the cold/slopes etc and limited to about 1km in range in EV drive).

i tend to select EV mode at traffic lights so the cars starts moving via electric power then the engine kicks in (to overcome motion inertia).  

Not sure whether it's better to accelerate heavily /quickly to speed and then glide - or gently accelerate up to the required speed. 

Once i'm at speed i keep an eye on the energy monitor to gauge my foot pressure on the accelerator pedal to try and get the car to glide with electric motor merely sustaining the momentum.  I find using the cruise control which has a max of about 68mph seems to be useful - suspend it when approaching gradients and resume it on the level.

[Cyker]

With most of the Toyota hybrids, accelerating as close to the top of the Eco+ bar, without going into the Power bar, then cruising as much in the Eco bar as possible seems to get the best mpgs. I find going into the Power bar makes it noticeably thirstier if I use it a lot, but sometimes you just need the car to Go!

 

[Tee_J]

On 2/22/2022 at 6:23 PM, Cyker said:

but sometimes you just need the car to Go!

Exactly Cyker! 😄 

It is usually fully loaded up with mrs and bambini so with all that weight, it would be impractical to ease up to speed from a standing start - and with so many traffic lights about in town, that could get annoying for those in my rearview mirror!! 😄 

I generally get up to speed then just keep light pressure on the accelerator to maintain speed.

[htspike69]

Strip it out to two seats. 
Only joking but mph would be better 😆 

[JohnGW]

On 2/21/2022 at 9:22 PM, Tee_J said:

I also thought being it being a hybrid, would have been more economical....until I realised that the battery drivetrain only runs if you  trundling along at less than 20mph, and if you don't floor the pedal while doing that.  There a few spots in London where the speed limit is 20mph but mostly it's 30 (in town) /40 or 50 on A-roads, so you're mostly using the ICE when driving the hybrid. 

It is something I wish I'd known before purchase...but it still doesn't detract from my love of my Estima. 🙂 

I do mostly a lot of town driving and mostly on weekends and I cannot seem to get higher than 7.4Km/L. 

I wish it could be more. I drove up to Derby from London and back last year and it reported 7.6Km/L - which to me was terrible!! However I guess it was the impact of coming off the M1 into London's city traffic. 

That's 17.8mpg!  That's appalling, I may have to reconsider...................Better figures from others?  A lot of my driving around London will be sub 20mph as since this thread began a huge number of roads are now 20mph hence the decision to go hybrid.

[Cyker]

If you're buying an Estima for efficiency you're doing it wrong; The Estima is a very capable luxurious road barge, capable of carrying a large family and all its gear, it's not an eco box!

The 2.4 hybrid is, I suspect, more a compliance car than a real attempt at making the car more fuel efficient as, anecdotally, it's no better than the 2.4 non-hybrid of even the v6!

[JohnGW]

Bumping this thread back up.  My Estima has been electronically changed to MPH. The KM/L showed 7.2 on my trip to Europe.  This figure is way out and maybe the same for others reporting terrible MPG as as post above does with 17.8mpg  which is close to the 7.2 km/l mine shows.  If that were true I would have stopped to re-fuel 2 times on my long journey, manually working it it looked far more like 33 MPG which would also mean a quick doubling of the KM/L figure would be in the ball park so to speak, so something may go out of wack in the conversion process?

[Beduin_]

Your 7.2 km/l is actually 7.2m/l.

After conversion numerical value it is in miles/l but somehow it shows units as km/l.

I worked it out and it does match.

So yours 7.2 km/l it is actually 7.2mil/l wich is 11.53 km/l and that equals 27mpg.

My 2014 Hybrid use 33mpg combined and 35mpg motorway only.

 

[JohnGW]

Sounds about right, makes sense but I am definitely doing more than 27mpg on the long motorway journeys.

[Tee_J]

Mine has gone up to 7.7-7.8 'km'/l... I have been trialling using a mixture of E10 and E5 which seems to have caused the improvement... 'seems to'... time will tell... Still enjoying the 'land-barge' though!! 😉  

[Ricky67]

Hi everyone 

I bought a 2011 2.4 estima in March this year ,I've always use E10 fuel and on a run to Norfolk from London the kml only went to 7.2 then when back in London driving in traffic all week I only got 6.2 kml,

But I read a article on E10 and E5 .

E10 contains 10% ethanol per litre and E5 only 5% per litre ,and if you put 50ml of ethanol in a beaker then put 50ml of water you only get 96ml gross,because ethanol absorbs water and they said that it will absorb any condescension in the fuel tank ,and also that the onboard computer as to get the right air mixture to patrol and that can cause lower kml per litre ,so for the last month I have used E5 and it has made a difference in the smoothness of the engine and also the fuel consumption, now around town it does not drop below 7.1 and if I go to Maidstone it was showing 7.8 which it never got to at all going to Norfolk, 

It does feel smoother and seems to run better on E5 as someone on here said .

I,am going back to Norfolk next week ,so I will see what kml I get running on E5 ,and as someone on this thread said that even if it's reading kml it's really saying mpg which would be not a bad mpg for a heavy mpv .

I will update this thread when I get back 

Thanks ricky67

[JohnGW]

On the first leg of my EU trip the fuel station only had E5, so didn't question it but now thinking about it and having calculated the mileage at around 33mpg that could well be the difference. Certainly will monitor it now thanks all.

[Bigred247]

Hi Folks,

I have just purchased a 2014 Estima 2.4L Petrol. I am considering an LPG conversion to reduce fuel costs and do on average about 8000 miles/year. Has anybody here converted to LPG and would you recommend it? The only thing bugging me is having to lose the boot space and the inability of being able to fold my seats back in to the lower compartment. Any advice or suggestions? Thanks.

[JohnGW]

Went off the idea after reading the upper cylinder of the engines wears considerably quicker through the additional heat of gas and lack of cylinder lube that exists with pertoleum based fuels, some have an oil injection system to try and cure that issue. Also LPG is not reconised as a low emmision fuel by some cities like London so you still pay charges or banned. Eurotunnel won't let you on either which was another big thing for me.

Now if Toyota could make an EV version I'll take one!