Cold weather query with Yaris Hybrid...

[Malcolm Preen]

Over the weekend, I've left the house at 8am... with the external temperature below 5c

In the summer, the car worked in EV mode until I left the local street (socialable for the neighbours), but this weekend, it was about 5-10 minutes before I noticed the EV indicator coming on.

The Battery was charging....

I'm guessing (as it worked fine once the car was warm) that this is a "feature".... but I wondered if anyone else had noticed this?

Can it be explained?

Should I be concerned and contact the dealer?

Thanks, Malcolm

[Cyker]

It seems to be normal cold-weather winter behaviour - Mine always does it if the heater temp is set more than a few degrees above ambient, but once it hits this time of year, even if the HVAC is completely off, the engine will still start up - I assume the car detects that it's below some threshold temperature and forces the engine to run just to get things warmed up.

If the temperature is set to comfortable levels it will also keep the engine running until the cabin gets to that temperature (And if the car is only slowly crawling through traffic that's basically forever!)

 

[Mojo1010]

It's normal as it's cold, nothing to worry about. 

[Bernard Foy]

41 minutes ago, Malcolm Preen said:

Over the weekend, I've left the house at 8am... with the external temperature below 5c

In the summer, the car worked in EV mode until I left the local street (socialable for the neighbours), but this weekend, it was about 5-10 minutes before I noticed the EV indicator coming on.

The battery was charging....

I'm guessing (as it worked fine once the car was warm) that this is a "feature".... but I wondered if anyone else had noticed this?

Can it be explained?

Should I be concerned and contact the dealer?

Thanks, Malcolm

In warmer temperatures the car will run on electric mode, I went out this morning it was -1Cel pressed the start button and the ice kicked in immediately. This normal and the car will run on ice for longer and more frequently in very cold temperatures.

[Eddie G]

Same here, colder weather so ICE kicks in more.

[CPN]

Also... with this current tank of fuel, I'm just about managing to cling on to a little over 50mpg average so far since the temperature plummeted... (last fill-up was at 60.89mpg...)

[Eddie G]

14 minutes ago, CPN said:

Also... with this current tank of fuel, I'm just about managing to cling on to a little over 50mpg average so far since the temperature plummeted... (last fill-up was at 60.89mpg...)

Mine has also dropped by 9 mpg and that's driving like Ernie The Milkman! but without all the stops 😂

[CPN]

Mind you, I could never have managed that in my previous Mk3... I'd be down in the 40s (mpg) by now in that!

[Malcolm Preen]

Thanks all.... Good to confirm "normality"

[Russ Taylor]

With the lower temperatures and wet weather recently the summer time mpg of about 62 has gone down to about 53 (echoing Eddie G above) and it is reassuring to know I’m not the only one noticing this. Eco and steady driving isn’t making much difference. Still very much like the car.

[Eddie G]

12 minutes ago, Russ Taylor said:

With the lower temperatures and wet weather recently the summer time mpg of about 62 has gone down to about 53 (echoing Eddie G above) and it is reassuring to know I’m not the only one noticing this. Eco and steady driving isn’t making much difference. Still very much like the car.

Still liking MK 4 as well even if an Aygo would probably be getting around the same MPG as a winter time running Yaris Hybrid.

[Cyker]

I'm still in the 70's... 

(But I am freezing!   )

Keeping the engine temperature up is a big challenge in the Mk4; It's crazy how fast it will go from 4 bars to no bars of engine heat as soon as I turn the heater on at 20 degrees!

Even with it off, in stationary or slow traffic I see it dropping from 4 to 3 bars fairly quickly.

This engine could definitely do with a blanket to keep it warm in winter!  

 

[Eddie G]

5 minutes ago, Cyker said:

I'm still in the 70's... 

(But I am freezing!   )

Keeping the engine temperature up is a big challenge in the Mk4; It's crazy how fast it will go from 4 bars to no bars of engine heat as soon as I turn the heater on at 20 degrees!

Even with it off, in stationary or slow traffic I see it dropping from 4 to 3 bars fairly quickly.

This engine could definitely do with a blanket to keep it warm in winter!  

 

One way to get the MPG up 🤔 but a lack of hair has me putting the heater on in the Yaris! unless put a wooly hat on 😁

[TonyHSD]

I won’t trade cabin heat and comfort for few mpg which for most people doesn’t mean much, because to feel a difference to your wallet between 53 or 63 mpg you really need to drive a lot, perhaps 20k + miles per year.
I often do even the opposite, I keep the car in ready mode for hours and the engine is running 2 minutes every 10 min or so, the hybrid tech is so good for that purpose, other cars like ice will need to run the engine all the time or if bev will deplete the Battery significantly. 
One trick here, if you arrive somewhere and you need to wait for someone, don’t turn off your car immediately, just keep it in ready mode and let the heater blow hot air and watch the temperature gauge, when the temperature drops low to around one bar turn off the car before the engine kicks in, doing so will maintain cabin warmer without need of ice to burn fuel.
After you restart the car the engine will kick in sooner but even without that trick it will do that anyway, because it’s cold and because it’s a hev, no real ev range available. 👍

I have been doing  that currently and mpg is so far best of all winters, but here the tyres help too, driving on summer ones, previously been on winters and they kill another 5mpg. 

[Mojo1010]

Got to hand it to cyker lol. I can wear layers indoors and don't turn the heating on but in the car I want heat in the winter, need that comfort level as least when driving unless u r cyker who is a gangster 🙂

[Cyker]

I might cave in by the end of the week as apparently it's going to be hitting sub-zero temperatures...! 

The worst thing is I'm driving super gently at the moment because of the crack in the windscreen, so the engine takes even longer to warm up than it does when I drive normally!! I have noticed the car is down about 3-4mpg from last year and I'm not sure if that's why, or if it's the fuel change (Even tho' they were marked E10, I think most fuel stations were still running E5 this time last year...!)

 

[Derek.w]

What it needs is more or larger Battery cells lets say 30 mile range in summer.

Oh it probably wont be self charging then but  a plug in Hybrid.

Ah well you cant have everythink.

[Cyker]

If they can make a plug-in hybrid Yaris that was otherwise the same as this one (i.e. similar fuel efficiency on petrol, similar driving dynamics, so without making it super heavy (The Mk4 is already uncomfortably heavy for a 'small' car!), or the size of an SUV (*ptoo ptoo*)) I must admit I'd be interested in it!!

The idea of being able to swing between electricity or petrol depending on which is cheaper will be a big plus going forward!

 

[TonyHSD]

Lol, forgot to mention, I am only using E5 99 Tesco , nothing else. Even my favourite E10 from bp is not as good and the car consumption is higher. Only E5 during winter for me. £161.9 p a litre 

[Rhymes with Paris]

Dreading the forthcoming cold weather here.

It's mainly the temperature change from indoors to outside, even though it's only 3 or 4 steps to the car.

It's enough to constrict the tubes in someone with COPD, and then it feels like breathing through a very small diameter straw.

Anyone got a private jet and a villa in the Canary Islands that I could borrow for the winter?

[Mojo1010]

Read somewhere a forum member had achieved record mpg in the winter for many years like braveheart in a cold car, squirreling away much savings, that's where I would start.

[DerekHa]

23 minutes ago, Rhymes with Paris said:

Dreading the forthcoming cold weather here.

It's mainly the temperature change from indoors to outside, even though it's only 3 or 4 steps to the car.

It's enough to constrict the tubes in someone with COPD, and then it feels like breathing through a very small diameter straw.

Anyone got a private jet and a villa in the Canary Islands that I could borrow for the winter?

 Know where your coming from Paul, my Dad and my Mother in Law suffered with it! All the best mate!👍

[Eddie G]

4 hours ago, TonyHSD said:

Lol, forgot to mention, I am only using E5 99 Tesco , nothing else. Even my favourite E10 from bp is not as good and the car consumption is higher. Only E5 during winter for me. £161.9 p a litre 

Same here E5 for winter only tried ESSO Synergy Supreme+99 so far then back to BP E10 soon as weather warms up with it being the UK around July 😂 

[Eddie G]

4 hours ago, TonyHSD said:

Lol, forgot to mention, I am only using E5 99 Tesco , nothing else. Even my favourite E10 from bp is not as good and the car consumption is higher. Only E5 during winter for me. £161.9 p a litre 

Will give that Tesco E5 99 a try next 👍

[RobertR]

Have anyone tried the remote control for the car AC? I mean it's only an on/off switch for climate control in the MyT app but still, I don't hassle with the AC setting in my car almost all winter, set to auto all the time, and no problem there, so the car is always set to the pleasant temperature in winter anyway. I am looking forward to using this comfort feature, mainly when the car is totally covered with snow and needs to be rake-off (some times a year in my region). I have also sacrificed some fuel for thermal comfort in winter.

How fast will the engine warm up when stationary during the winter? Because I can imagine when the HV Battery is low, the car will have a pretty significant load in terms of charging the HV Battery but when the Battery if full there is no much load for the engine. Maybe PTC cabin heater and charging 12V battery, but that's not much of a load. Will see.