Distance to empty Corolla hybrid

[Zoey]

Hi all,

I purchased a 2022 Corolla hybrid recently. I notice that the distance to empty declines rapidly. For example, for a 5 mile journey, if I start at 155 miles distance to empty, by the end of the journey, it comes down to about 147 miles.
I wanted to understand if this is normal and how does it work usually?

Thanks in advance.

[AndrueC]

Distance to empty is questionable on all vehicles for a variety of reasons. Even for 'simple' petrol and diesel engines the system used to calculate fuel consumption is surprisingly inaccurate. Most such systems count the frequency and duration of injector openings and use that to estimate the rate of fuel consumption.

Then there's changing weather and road conditions which might mean that the average mpg being used in the calculation no longer applies.

Then there's the impact of fuel in the tank sloshing around as the vehicle move which impacts the float sensor such that the car has to average its readings in order to estimate how much fuel there is in the tank.

Distance left to drive is useful but you should never rely on it. Treat the displayed figure as 'accurate to within 20 miles' and act accordingly.

[Roy124]

My fuel gauge and range have been very 'accurate' so far in that a full range of 400 miles then drops by 100 miles per quarter. 

The tank capacity however suggests the displayed range is inaccurate.  Theoretical range full to empty should be in the region of 520 miles.  This suggests a reserve of 8 litres.  I don't propose to test this 😊

Then Andrue mentions weather.  It is too early to know for certain as I have only had the car for the month but the monthly consumption on MyT is 66 and the last week 64.  That last week is about 20% of my driving to date and there has been a marked drop in temperature and lots of wet. 

PS, for clarity this is for a Yaris Cross, I don't think the Corolla will be that different though its capacity will be greater. 

[TonyHSD]

Right now because of the season and very unstable conditions and temperature you may notice anomalies with fuel ranges on display. Best to check for yourself each time you fill up with petrol . My range has started to go down each tankful in the last two weeks. From 530 525 520 and last fill up 515, perhaps next one will be even less., this is happening every autumn., goes up in spring. Car calculations very accurate in my case. There is always some small difference between estimated range when full and when low on fuel with remaining range but you can easily drive another 40-50 miles after you have reached 0 miles on the dashboard, not recommended though, but you can 👍

[Cyker]

Yeah take the car's displayed range as a very rough guide only; There's a reason why EV owners call it the GOM (Guess-o-meter)  

I can make mine go up and down by switching between efficient and 'enthusiastic' driving    

I'd say generally mine is accurate to +/- 50 miles on average

[Trewithy]

The car cannot predict your future economy.  The miles to go is an estimate based on how much fuel is left in the tank, which the car knows from the float level in the tank and your actual fuel consumption for the last twenty miles.  So, if your recent journeys have been particularly economical the car will use that figure to calculate/predict an optimistic figure as to how far you can go on the remaining fuel.  If on the other hand your recent journeys have returned low MPG then the predicted miles to go would be pessimistic for the same amount of fuel in the tank.   

It is possible for the miles to go figure to actually increase even though you are driving and using fuel which is counter intuitive.  This can happen if your recent have recorded low consumption then you go on a particularly economical journey, so the car then revises its prediction for the future as you are driving.   This is why no accurate reliance can be placed on the miles to go figure.

[Cyker]

Yeah, it's a bit of a gimmick as most experienced drivers can estimate their remaining range once they get to know their car and how far it can go on one tank, and how the fuel gauge works.

(So in my Mk2, I knew once the tank showed 1/4 used, I'd only have half the range left, a bit over 200 miles   Man that has to be the least accurate fuel gauge I've ever seen  )

 

[Zoey]

Thanks everyone for sharing their knowledge on this 🙂 Appreciate it

[Steve Trice]

That's all pretty interesting. I took delivery of my HB/TS in early September, and when I first filled the tank the "miles to go" read about 680. That number dropped pretty quickly though, especially the last quarter of a tank. As I approach 4000 miles driven I haven't ever comfortably got near to even 400 miles out of a full tank, and post-fill up I rarely read more than 550ish. Based on this thread I can only assume that the dealer's delivery driver, who brought it up the M5 from Bristol to Telford, did so very gently and extremely economically, for which I doff my cap to him.

[davidif]

19 minutes ago, Steve Trice said:

That's all pretty interesting. I took delivery of my HB/TS in early September, and when I first filled the tank the "miles to go" read about 680. That number dropped pretty quickly though, especially the last quarter of a tank. As I approach 4000 miles driven I haven't ever comfortably got near to even 400 miles out of a full tank, and post-fill up I rarely read more than 550ish. Based on this thread I can only assume that the dealer's delivery driver, who brought it up the M5 from Bristol to Telford, did so very gently and extremely economically, for which I doff my cap to him.

Interesting Steve. Obviously as individuals our journeys may be wildly different. I have yet to see less than 500 miles from my 2.0 Excel although suspect that the current tank may be the first to do so with the drop in temperature.

[Steve Trice]

Just now, davidif said:

Obviously as individuals our journeys may be wildly different. I have yet to see less than 500 miles from my 2.0 

Blimey, I'd be well happy with that many miles per tank (fewer trips to the petrol station is always a bonus). Most of my miles are done on fast dual carriageways (e.g. A14 and A42) and motorways, so I'm certainly not in the MPG sweetspot.

Steve 

[Obsidian Estate]

I'd love 500 too. According to the mileage I've tracked my average is just over 380 a tank.

[davidif]

I suspect that the current tank will be less!

My journeys are conducive to good mpg's, 13 miles each way to the office on a country A road, 1 Junction of the M5 (usually at 60/65mph) and a short urban crawl!

[Obsidian Estate]

I do about 16 each way. A couple of miles through town on to an A road then on to an industrial estate at the other end.

I'm using Fuelly to track mileage, mpg etc. Since Feb I've done 4600 miles and averaged 53.8. Best being 60, lowest 47.4

[TonyHSD]

24 minutes ago, Obsidian Estate said:

I'd love 500 too. According to the mileage I've tracked my average is just over 380 a tank.

That’s quite low numbers. Are you enjoying a fast drive with the car? 😉👌

[Obsidian Estate]

21 minutes ago, TonyHSD said:

That’s quite low numbers. Are you enjoying a fast drive with the car? 😉👌

...Possibly...

[Kental]

58 minutes ago, Obsidian Estate said:

I do about 16 each way. A couple of miles through town on to an A road then on to an industrial estate at the other end.

I'm using Fuelly to track mileage, mpg etc. Since Feb I've done 4600 miles and averaged 53.8. Best being 60, lowest 47.4

My Fuelly is average 51.5 average 3664 miles since beginning of July and mine's a 1.8. 😂 Best 60.2, worst 47.7.

Perhaps I need to relax my right foot.

My previous car a 1.0 Skoda Octavia did 43.2mpg over 29293 logged miles.

[TonyHSD]

Is it better to do your own calculations instead of using an app?
I do my own and they match the car so accurately, it’s unbelievable. Latest check two days ago 55.1mpg exact as per the car dashboard readings. Range went down to 503 miles, with highest this summer was  535. 

[Kental]

1 minute ago, TonyHSD said:

Is it better to do your Ken calculations instead of using an app? I do my own and they match the car so accurately, it’s unbelievable. Latest check two days ago 55.1mpg exact as per the car dashboard readings. Range went down to 503 miles, with highest this summer of 535. 

No, fuelly is accurate to manual calculations, just a convenient way to store. I find the Corolla & Yaris car computers to be about 5% optimistic, the Skoda was worse 7.5% optimistic. My wife's previous car, a 69 plate Fiesta was bang on.

[AndrueC]

I work mine out manually and nearly always fill up at the same pump at our local Tesco. The car usually overstates the mpg by 5% although as I've posted previously I can fairly reliably get it to overstate by 10% or more - drive 180 miles at a steady 60mph then do three or four local trips at your destination. I once filled up when it claimed 71mpg and it was actually more like 61.

I think my 1.8 usually starts off predicting around 600 miles.

[Steve Trice]

3 hours ago, TonyHSD said:

That’s quite low numbers. Are you enjoying a fast drive with the car? 😉👌

Well, rarely below 75 on a clear motorway or dual carriageway A road, on which a good majority of my miles are driven.

[TonyHSD]

Usually the longer time we drive the more accurate is the dashboard reading and closer to the real world consumption. I do drive a bit more and perhaps this is the reason why I get very close or exact same numbers. Previously gf used the car and dashboard range and consumption were all over. 👍

[Obsidian Estate]

6 hours ago, Kental said:

My Fuelly is average 51.5 average 3664 miles since beginning of July and mine's a 1.8. 😂 Best 60.2, worst 47.7.

Perhaps I need to relax my right foot.

My previous car a 1.0 Skoda Octavia did 43.2mpg over 29293 logged miles.

I used it on my previous car too, my GT86. Over nearly 30k miles it averaged just over 34 mpg.

[Jimbotha]

I generally use the 'miles left' gauge as tool to improve my MPG. Each time after I filled up, I take not of what it is. I then reset my trip a odometer to zero. Say the 'miles left' is 520, then I try to drive in such a way that whenever, anytime through the tank, I calculate miles left, added to what I have already done on the tank, and see how close I can email to the original 520. It gives me opportunity to do some maths, and at the same time, I challenge myself constantly to drive as economically as I can.

[Popama]

I enjoy playing these mind games as well but when the onboard display on my previous car failed I realized that I pay more attention to the road when I can not entertain such distractions at all.