How accurate is Toyota Auris Hybrid dashboard mpg? And is it comparable to non-hybrid Auris dashboard mpg?

[kaboo]

Hi everyone,

Last year November I got myself a new old Auris Hybrid and really love the car. Its the touring sports edition, so lots of space for our growing family plus so comfy to drive. We live along the congestion prone A34 and its gentle driving is so comfy. I think it has probably turned me into a calmer and less irritated commuter 😛 🙂

I had a question for you folks who have more experience with Toyota hybrids. How accurate and realistic is the dashboard shown mpg on Auris cars, and can you compare the mpgs between the two Auris' from different generations?

My usage is mixed between slow stop-&-go urban traffic of Oxford when I drop my little one to nursery some 7-8 miles away then drive down the A34 for 15 miles at avg 60 mph speed. Dashboard says am getting ~50-52 mpg. This is 2018 1.8 TSS Auris Hybrid Touring Sports. My previous car was the 2011 petrol 1.6 valvematic which showed ~37-39 mpg with the same commute. We still have the old car which has recently clocked 100k miles and my wife uses it to pick kids from nursery. So hers is a totally urban driving and her dashboard mpg has dropped tp ~32-33 mpg. She is a calmer driver than I am, so I think its down to the city traffic dropping the mpgs for her.

 

Cheers

[TonyHSD]

Hi, 

Dashboard mpg can be very accurate however you will need to work out a bit to make sure you are getting correct figures. Most important is when fill up with petrol to reset all dashboard readings like average speed, time been on, average consumption, trip mileage too. Then drive the car for a week or two and refill again full preferably at the same pump . Do your calculations and compare to the on board readings, they should be very similar. I have sometimes dead on exact numbers from what the car shows and actual mpg calculated with the tank full. Some members report around 10% difference, it does happen to me too but because I drive a lot my car has time to adjust and display more correctly. 👍

[Cyker]

I think it would be comparable between vehicles. For accuracy, I find my Mk4 is 5-10% optimistic vs what I calculate from the pump tho.

 

[MagicBoy]

In my experience it's reasonably accurate. Dash tends to be a little optimistic - around 4-5%. It'll tell me something like 57.5mpg average since last fill, and a brim-to-brim manual calculation will work out a little lower at say 55mpg.

Between generations and other engines, I can't say.

[TonyHSD]

Just filled up again, dashboard displays 59.5mpg average for 298 miles traveled, actual mpg is 61.3, very close. 

[kaboo]

Wow...ok so it means its definitely saving some gas compared to the old car. But how are you all getting 55-60 mpg? I think am quite calm driver.

[furtula]

Mine is also rather good, with maybe 3-5% deviation.

There's a certain technique to driving a hybrid, there were more topics about that.

 

[Cyker]

The Gen3 hybrids seem to do best on a mix of medium-speed A-roads and urban/town driving.

I've been trying to experiment with my Yaris, which has the newer Gen4 HSD, to see if accelerating hard for a short amount of time and coasting, or accelerating gently for a long time gets better mpg but it's been hard to tell! Part of the problem is I have no control over what the drivetrain does and it's always optimizing what its doing so it almost doesn't seem to matter how you drive as it adapts for the best combination of power and economy!

With my old diesel, short-hard accelerations to get up to speed were definitely more economical than long slow ones

[TonyHSD]

For the gen3 hybrids the pulse and glide technique works well and also there are few important steps that needs to be taken into account but these apply to all cars:

- smooth acceleration, anticipation of the road ahead to prevent unnecessary stop and goes, low average speed and lower cruising speeds, no use of CC. And yes if you drive in town you will do slightly better than if you do motorways at speeds over 65mph. 
I had a chance to drive a manual car recently and I did it the way I drive my hybrid and the results were obvious. I went up to 40mpg on the car typical 28-34mpg fuel consumption plus the driving experience was super smooth with no sense of hard acceleration, shift shock from gear changes or stopping faster than necessary. Driving a nice manual car sometimes it’s a real pleasure 🚙🏁👌

[Stopeter44]

50 minutes ago, Cyker said:

Part of the problem is I have no control over what the drivetrain does and it's always optimizing what its doing so it almost doesn't seem to matter how you drive as it adapts for the best combination of power and economy!

With my old diesel, short-hard accelerations to get up to speed were definitely more economical than long slow ones

I'd say that mirrors my experience, although I don't particular use the cars peppier capabilities that often. The biggest, if you can call it that, adjustment I have made is knocking 5 km/h of my autoroute cruising speed, which I used to hold at 110 km/h now I have at 105 km/h. At that sort of speed that means 9% less energy, for time penalty a little over two minutes for a 100km trip.

Admittedly, there could be other factors involved, but doing this when doing motorway runs, gave me about 0,5l/100 km improvement on the long trips, where EV mode is used much less than in daily "here and there" running.

I have also found that my feet have learned how to drive the car differently to the turbo ICE car I had before, essentially earlier and generally softer braking. I was constantly being scolded by the MyT app for harsh braking, nowadays it only happened when I have had brake suddenly or harder for a situation I had misread.

[kaboo]

Thank you, I suppose size of the car also will factor in. TS (or estate) model would be a bit heavier and consequently less economical. I accelerate by keeping the left-dial on the instrument cluster (forgot what its called) on the lower part of eco - as much as possible. Sometimes its not - like merging onto A34 from a short slip road. The instantaneous MPG readout is max when the left dial on the cluster is at the lowest. 

I try to keep heating to minimum in winters (drive with jacket on and set temperature to 18) and cooling off in summers. But because of the pollen season in full flow at the moment, I have to keep windows closed. 

I will drop the target speed on A34 to 65 mph and see how much difference it makes. The max mpg (dashboard readout) that I have noticed between two fuel refills has been 53 but generally its between 50-51. 

Tires probably make a difference too. I think my auris has 17in wheels and am using Michelin cross climate 2 which are rated C for fuel eco. Summer tyres rated for better economy might be better - but any fuel saving would be offset by having two set of tires and paying for a tire hotel service.

 

 

[MagicBoy]

Yeah, I'm on 17's as well. It came from Toyota on Dunlop Sports rather than an eco branded tyre. Did a 320 mile round trip the other weekend mostly motorway and dual carriageway with the cruise set to a true 70. With the odd bit of roadworks average speed was 60. Dash said 62mpg, pump maths says 59mpg. Which isn't bad considering the ICE is always running, the tyres and I had the AC on. Just about beats my old diesel for economy, useless at overtaking though!

Rural roads where speeds are lower I've seen the dash over 70mpg.

Also worth noting you'll get better economy in summer, I've seen a 5-10 mpg drop in winter.

[TonyHSD]

2 hours ago, kaboo said:

Thank you, I suppose size of the car also will factor in. TS (or estate) model would be a bit heavier and consequently less economical. I accelerate by keeping the left-dial on the instrument cluster (forgot what its called) on the lower part of eco - as much as possible. Sometimes its not - like merging onto A34 from a short slip road. The instantaneous MPG readout is max when the left dial on the cluster is at the lowest. 

I try to keep heating to minimum in winters (drive with jacket on and set temperature to 18) and cooling off in summers. But because of the pollen season in full flow at the moment, I have to keep windows closed. 

I will drop the target speed on A34 to 65 mph and see how much difference it makes. The max mpg (dashboard readout) that I have noticed between two fuel refills has been 53 but generally its between 50-51. 

Tires probably make a difference too. I think my auris has 17in wheels and am using Michelin cross climate 2 which are rated C for fuel eco. Summer tyres rated for better economy might be better - but any fuel saving would be offset by having two set of tires and paying for a tire hotel service.

 

 

When you accelerate  do not be afraid to push the car more, it’s even better.  On the power meter the hand should stay dead on the line between eco and power, when merging motorway or A roads simply push it harder even past that line into the power section. The trick is to push it to accelerate faster and then release a bit and keep within lower speeds 60-65mph is the best. 70mph true and over does affect efficiency, because of the air drag, engine still economical though.
In town driving, accelerate on both ice and electric then release a bit and the car automatically will switch to ev only , maintain steady speeds and when approaching a hill or even slight deviation just use slightly more power the ice kicks in and helps the car . If you are trying to drive in ev mode as much as possible you are actually draining the Battery and when is efficient to free roll on electric your Battery will be empty and engine will scream to recharge it. Avoid unnecessary acceleration and slow downs, watch the road and anticipate what is happening ahead. If complete stop is unavoidable slow down more progressively, using brakes a bit harder from time to time is also beneficial for the braking system cleanliness and for the Battery, more energy into it that you can use after for your free roll. You can watch some videos on YouTube about Prius , how the system functions, how to drive efficiently etc.  You will get use to with the time and you will improve your consumption. Tyres needs to be inflated to correct pressures on cold, early morning before the sun has seen the car, sunlight can alter the pressures by much, also driving away to petrol station to check is bad because pressures will rise again. 👍

[Stopeter44]

5 hours ago, kaboo said:

I try to keep heating to minimum in winters (drive with jacket on and set temperature to 18) and cooling off in summers. But because of the pollen season in full flow at the moment, I have to keep windows closed. 

Does that mean that, if it was hot and pollen count was low you would have windows open when driving at, say, 60 mph or above ?

If so, I think you are better using AC rather than the having the windows open, window open = more drag.

[Cyker]

6 hours ago, Stopeter44 said:

I'd say that mirrors my experience, although I don't particular use the cars peppier capabilities that often. The biggest, if you can call it that, adjustment I have made is knocking 5 km/h of my autoroute cruising speed, which I used to hold at 110 km/h now I have at 105 km/h. At that sort of speed that means 9% less energy, for time penalty a little over two minutes for a 100km trip.

Admittedly, there could be other factors involved, but doing this when doing motorway runs, gave me about 0,5l/100 km improvement on the long trips, where EV mode is used much less than in daily "here and there" running.

I have also found that my feet have learned how to drive the car differently to the turbo ICE car I had before, essentially earlier and generally softer braking. I was constantly being scolded by the MyT app for harsh braking, nowadays it only happened when I have had brake suddenly or harder for a situation I had misread.

I find if I want to get higher mpg on the motorway I just can't use the ACC - It'll often run the engine for so long that it'll hit 7 bars, even at speeds where it could run on MG2 alone.

When I'm driving, I naturally vary the pedal pressure as it's almost impossible for a normal human to keep an exact constant speed - You're always slightly accelerating and slightly decelerating - and I find as soon as I lift a bit that's enough of an excuse for the HSD to cut the ICE and switch to MG2, so the Battery gets used a lot more frequently.

The only time this isn't the case is when I'm using the ACC to follow a lorry (As that can happily follow the lorry from 50mph to 58mph on MG2, whereas I can't and will just overtake  )

In urban driving, braking is definitely a big part of it as you say - With manuals I got really good at coasting to a near-stop so I hardly ever needed to use the brakes to slow the car, just to stop it.

I do miss being able to use downshifts and engine braking to control how I slow the car, but the Gen4 HSD has a fairly strong off-throttle regen which I can vary with the accelerator, and that's allowed me to adapt the coast-down tricks I used in manuals to the hybrid.

The only problem with this is my brakes rusted to smeg from under-use and tend to shriek horribly - I need to try TonyHSD's empty road>N+brake hard trick to try and clean them up!  

[Parts-King]

15 hours ago, kaboo said:

Wow...ok so it means its definitely saving some gas compared to the old car. But how are you all getting 55-60 mpg? I think am quite calm driver.

I was once asked to go out with a driver who complained about poor MPG, I asked him to drive normally along a route we often used. He took off like Stirling Moss, we only went a few miles and asked him to pull over. I hit him with a few choice questions about his style of driving and asked was he showing off or was that normal? He was quite put out, I asked him to drive "normally" back to the dealership. On the way back I didn't think he was going to stop for a roundabout, he didn't, he went over it!! I asked him to pull over again, he did and I got out. I said he drove like an idiot and driving like that he was lucky to get the MPG he was getting, I also asked him never to come back and complain about MPG as I would never put another member of staff in the car with him. I walked back

Now then, I am not saying you drive like that, but it is amazing how people "think" they drive. The best way to drive ANY car to get good MPG is anticipation, look ahead, back off the throttle sooner, try not to use hard braking, if you are looking well ahead, you should be able to hardly use the brakes. I do 40 miles a day, some A roads, some dual carriageway, I can get between 65 and 74 MPG in my Corolla and I don't hang about, I get up to speed and back off the throttle, you would be amazed how much you can save by being a little gentler on the car and anticipating the road ahead. My AC is never off and I am nesh, I like the temperature at 22 in the winter and 19 in the summer, I don't worry about those things, better than having a window open 

[kaboo]

38 minutes ago, Stopeter44 said:

Does that mean that, if it was hot and pollen count was low you would have windows open when driving at, say, 60 mph or above ?

If so, I think you are better using AC rather than the having the windows open, window open = more drag.

No no... I use fan, try to keep windows closed in city and above 40 mph. Generally in my opinion, my wife would not agree, most of the year UK doesn't get too cold or hot to use heating or cooling. For me an extra layer helps in cooler weather and fan helps in summers. 

[TonyHSD]

Good experience shared here 👍👌

About the heater and Air conditioning, these two should be used accordingly  to the season and not trying to skip on them as fuel saving tip because the cabin air is also used as thermo control of the hybrid Battery. Batteries naturally likes a room temperature of around 20C° to perform at their best and to serve the longest. In cold winters setting up heating at 20C° and above is must have solution to warm up the Battery and in hot summers when air temperature outside is 20C ° or more turning ON AC helps keep Battery cooled. Hybrid battery cooler fan filter needs regular inspection, cleaning or replacement and to make sure you never block the grill so fresh air can always been supplied. 👍 

[kaboo]

Just came back from a round trip to Swanage from Oxford. Avg mpg of the trip 57.1. Thats a gain of 6 mpg from my usual avg. I just tried to implement some of the suggestions from this thread - mainly how to accelerate and keep my target speed at 65 mph on motorway/A34. Thats great without too much effort. Thank you all 🙂

 

 

[Spo2]

1 hour ago, kaboo said:

Just came back from a round trip to Swanage from Oxford. Avg mpg of the trip 57.1. Thats a gain of 6 mpg from my usual avg. I just tried to implement some of the suggestions from this thread - mainly how to accelerate and keep my target speed at 65 mph on motorway/A34. Thats great without too much effort. Thank you all 🙂

 

Excellent, which lane you are driving in at 65mpg? Aren't we supposed to do 60 mph in the outer and 70 mph in others? I was thinking won't 65mph middle lane trigger lots of overtaking from drivers behind?

[Spo2]

On 6/9/2022 at 3:49 PM, Cyker said:

I find if I want to get higher mpg on the motorway I just can't use the ACC - It'll often run the engine for so long that it'll hit 7 bars, even at speeds where it could run on MG2 alone.

When I'm driving, I naturally vary the pedal pressure as it's almost impossible for a normal human to keep an exact constant speed - You're always slightly accelerating and slightly decelerating - and I find as soon as I lift a bit that's enough of an excuse for the HSD to cut the ICE and switch to MG2, so the battery gets used a lot more frequently.

The only time this isn't the case is when I'm using the ACC to follow a lorry (As that can happily follow the lorry from 50mph to 58mph on MG2, whereas I can't and will just overtake  )

In urban driving, braking is definitely a big part of it as you say - With manuals I got really good at coasting to a near-stop so I hardly ever needed to use the brakes to slow the car, just to stop it.

I do miss being able to use downshifts and engine braking to control how I slow the car, but the Gen4 HSD has a fairly strong off-throttle regen which I can vary with the accelerator, and that's allowed me to adapt the coast-down tricks I used in manuals to the hybrid.

The only problem with this is my brakes rusted to smeg from under-use and tend to shriek horribly - I need to try TonyHSD's empty road>N+brake hard trick to try and clean them up!  

Yes, agree with re TonyHSD 'point. I occasionally do emergency braking on empty road as well. 

[kaboo]

On 6/12/2022 at 10:27 PM, Spo2 said:

Excellent, which lane you are driving in at 65mpg? Aren't we supposed to do 60 mph in the outer and 70 mph in others? I was thinking won't 65mph middle lane trigger lots of overtaking from drivers behind?

No no, am careful. If at 60 I keep at the left most lane where I cruised behind a lorry at a good distance, if left was empty I would go to 65 and keep there. When I had to overtake I would go to 70-73, complete the overtake and come back to 60-65. Also it was quite busy coming back on Sunday, so even in the middle lane traffic was around 65.

[MagicBoy]

On 6/12/2022 at 10:27 PM, Spo2 said:

Excellent, which lane you are driving in at 65mpg? Aren't we supposed to do 60 mph in the outer and 70 mph in others? I was thinking won't 65mph middle lane trigger lots of overtaking from drivers behind?

No. You might want to re-read the highway code!

The Highway Code - Motorways (253 to 274) - Guidance - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

TL;DR - Keep in the left lane unless overtaking. If you are overtaking, you should return to the left lane when it is safe to do so.

[Spo2]

14 minutes ago, MagicBoy said:

No. You might want to re-read the highway code!

The Highway Code - Motorways (253 to 274) - Guidance - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

TL;DR - Keep in the left lane unless overtaking. If you are overtaking, you should return to the left lane when it is safe to do so.

John, thanks. So in any of the left lane(s), you can drive up to 70 mph unless you are overtaking?

[MagicBoy]

41 minutes ago, Spo2 said:

John, thanks. So in any of the left lane(s), you can drive up to 70 mph unless you are overtaking?

It's a blanket speed limit in any lane of 70mph unless otherwise signed. The old fast and slow lane myth is just that and complete nonsense. Trucks generally have a 56mph limiter on them, but that's no valid reason for poor lane discipline.

Not to go off on a rant, but the number of drivers going slower since fuel prices shot up and bimbling along at 60mph in the middle lane with an empty lane or two on their left is concerning. As is the lack of visible police presence to help re-educate them. I passed my test nearly 30 years ago, and it's not like the rules have changed!