Expected motorway mpg?

[Gren]

Hello,

Thanks for letting me join the club.  I'm strongly considering buying a nearly new Yaris Cross, which would be a petrol hybrid, but when I looked at the Which? test results it gave a surprising low figure for fuel consumption on the motorway. 

Most of my driving is motorways, I rarely do any town driving, as I have a long city-to-city weekly commute.  My existing Captur diesel is getting about 60mpg and although I don't expect to get that on the  motorway in a petrol car, I was astonished to see that the Which? report says they got 35mpg (!) on the motorway.  They did get 50mpg overall, but it's the motorway figure that I'm concerned about.

This would be a deal-breaker for me, so I'm keen to hear what existing owners get in these conditions.

Thanks!

[APS]

That sounds suspiciously low. I'd expect better than that.  On the other hand, get a normal Yaris. It has better aerodynamics and judging by Yaris owners here, you can expect to see around 60 mpg on the motorway.

[Bper]

Hi Ken,

A would look at a number of sites from real owners. This link is only one but plenty of real info available.

https://www.honestjohn.co.uk/realmpg/toyota/yaris-cross-2021

[Mojo1010]

Don't have a cross, think they get more than that figure from which. Since you are looking at nearly new, take a look at carwow or other broker prices, it may be cheaper new. 

[SinglePointSafety]

Given my experience of previous diesel cars and my YC, I'd expect - for the same driving style - a YC would pretty much match your Captur mpg

[Serban]

2 hours ago, Gren said:

Hello,

Thanks for letting me join the club.  I'm strongly considering buying a nearly new Yaris Cross, which would be a petrol hybrid, but when I looked at the Which? test results it gave a surprising low figure for fuel consumption on the motorway. 

Most of my driving is motorways, I rarely do any town driving, as I have a long city-to-city weekly commute.  My existing Captur diesel is getting about 60mpg and although I don't expect to get that on the  motorway in a petrol car, I was astonished to see that the Which? report says they got 35mpg (!) on the motorway.  They did get 50mpg overall, but it's the motorway figure that I'm concerned about.

This would be a deal-breaker for me, so I'm keen to hear what existing owners get in these conditions.

Thanks!

Depends on your speed and how much % of motorway/highway you do compared to city driving.

I'd expect you get 70+ mpg average if you keep your speeds under 72mph and you don't accelerate fast most of the times. 

Let's say you do 90% highway/motorway. I'd expect you get minimum 65mpg if you keep it under 75mph and not use eco mode either, sometimes accelerate fast to overtake or merge in. Throw the car in ECO mode if mpg is crucial? I get same figures in ECO or Normal drive modes because of my driving style, eco just forces you to accelerate slowly, but yeah.

 

[TonyHSD]

That’s a nonsense article 😂 
You can’t achieve 35mpg on any Toyota hybrids made post 2010 even if you try hard and mash the pedal to the metal all the time, always will be 45+ mpg 
Auto journalists are unbelievably stupid or play stupid their roles to influence people opinions and decisions. 
Yaris cross in worst case scenario will deliver above 50mpg guaranteed , no matter motorways high speeds , winter or mountain regions or any other factors. It’s a lightweight small suv with very efficient and smart hybrid technology like no other car make. 
I have Auris hybrid from 2010 with 254000 miles on the clock that still deliver 50-60mpg winter - summer respectively, currently seats at 57mpg. Sensible drive within the speed limits and 200+ miles daily trips every day. 

[AndyN01]

37 minutes ago, TonyHSD said:

.......Auto journalists are unbelievably stupid or play stupid their roles to influence people opinions and decisions.

And that's why I rarely believe anything that's said by journo's, advertising and marketing folks and others out to "promote" their own YouTube channel or whatever.

Give me some solid, reliable and trustworthy views/reports/thoughts and opinions from folks that are actually hands on and haven't got a financial incentive to "embellish" the reality.

You know - folks on, say, a forum that discusses the good and the bad with equal enthusiasm and knowledge.

Andy.

[Paul john]

1 hour ago, TonyHSD said:

That’s a nonsense article 😂 
You can’t achieve 35mpg on any Toyota hybrids made post 2010 even if you try hard and mash the pedal to the metal all the time, always will be 45+ mpg 
Auto journalists are unbelievably stupid or play stupid their roles to influence people opinions and decisions. 
Yaris cross in worst case scenario will deliver above 50mpg guaranteed , no matter motorways high speeds , winter or mountain regions or any other factors. It’s a lightweight small suv with very efficient and smart hybrid technology like no other car make. 
I have Auris hybrid from 2010 with 254000 miles on the clock that still deliver 50-60mpg winter - summer respectively, currently seats at 57mpg. Sensible drive within the speed limits and 200+ miles daily trips every day. 

Agreed, even my mk2(2005) at 97,000 was still pulling 55mpg plus with a combo of daily london commute (20 miles) and motorway driving (10 miles)

[APS]

57 minutes ago, TonyHSD said:

You can’t achieve 35mpg on any Toyota hybrids made post 2010 even if you try hard and mash the pedal to the metal all the time, always will be 45+ mpg 

This is true for the most part. If you push a hybrid hard, fuel economy drops severely. Possibly more so than a non-hybrid. Push it around a test track and you will see these low figures or even lower. That's probably what some journos do and base their figures on. But that's hardly representative of normal, day-to-day driving.

We always saw mid-30's to low 40's when we toured Europe in the Prius+, CT200, or the Auris - but that was always fully loaded with family and at speeds you wouldn't legally do in the UK. All three of these cars are based on the same 3rd gen Prius driveline. Modern ones will achieve even better economy.

[Stopeter44]

6 hours ago, Gren said:

My existing Captur diesel is getting about 60mpg and although I don't expect to get that on the  motorway in a petrol car, I was astonished to see that the Which? report says they got 35mpg (!) on the motorway.

Well, how fast do you drive on motorways ? The thing one has to learn about the Toyota Hybrid, and especially, the gen IV version in the Yaris Cross is how it works. Even if the car will run at 70 mph (+/-) under favourable conditions, if you go much faster than that, you charge the traction Battery (HVAC) alright, but above 70mph that charge has nowhere to go. In practice, your hybrid Toyota will behave like a normal petrol engined car.

So, if Which are charging around like any other car with the hybrid, it's likely to come out worse. Since having my Yaris, I have slowed down on the motorways. I used to run at 110kph, but saw very little difference between the Yaris and my previous Peugeot 208, now I usually run at 105 kph, and sometimes at 100 kph. This gives the Hybrid an opportunity to run in EV mode.

 

[Paul john]

1 minute ago, APS said:

This is true for the most part. If you push a hybrid hard, fuel economy drops severely. Possibly more so than a non-hybrid. Push it around a test track and you will see these low figures or even lower. That's probably what some journos do and base their figures on. But that's hardly representative of normal, day-to-day driving.

As we all know the fundamental workings of the trans-axel on a hybrid means if you drive a hybrid over 70mph the electric part of the drive train does not kick in. ( look for the EV logo ) and radically affects mpg the longer and faster you go over 70 mph. Hence your poor mpg on “european roadtrip at speeds not legal in uk”

As for the motoring journalist community i think back to that legendary “economy test” of a Prius mk2 by that well known hybrid lover (sarcasm alert) Jeremy Clarkson. When he set up a cold prius, driven by the stig at full speed round their test track to see what the fuel economy was. Unsurprisingly it was quite low. Go figure.

[APS]

11 minutes ago, Paul john said:

As we all know the fundamental workings of the trans-axel on a hybrid means if you drive a hybrid over 70mph the electric part of the drive train does not kick in. ( look for the EV logo )

It does use the electric motors at all speeds, at a minimum to keep the planetary gears rotating to maintain an appropriate gear ratio. The EV logo only indicates that the car runs as pure EV and the ICE is stopped, which is limited to 70 km/h on 3rd gen. The real problem at high speeds is that there is little opportunity for the system to recover any excess energy. You just fight air and rolling resistance and never coast unless you go downhill. BTW - I don't think we got poor fuel economy I'd say it was pretty darn good 😊 

 

[Mojo1010]

Since having the MK4 Yaris, mainly drive at 65mph or less at motorway to make use of EV. Someone I had a chat with when I had my MK3 hybrid, they had a polo 1.4 auto maybe one or two gen ago, averaging 30mpg. 

My just Yaris MK4 is getting around 71mpg in the last 1000 miles or so. Real life is about 66mpg. 

A resident 3 gen Yaris owner on 15" wheels are getting into the 80's average in the summer. Am a 3 gen Yaris owner too, but can't squeeze that much out of it 🙂

[Cyker]

On a flat road with no wind, the car will struggle to *hold* a speed above 60 on the electric motor alone, but it can run on the electric motor well over 70mph in other scenarios, e.g. going down hill. I'm often coasting back down to 60mph after a hard overtake on nothing but the electric motors.

The electric motor can also assist the engine at all speeds, even well above 70mph. Good for those quick overtakes  

As for fuel economy, I honestly believe there is no car more fuel efficient than the Yaris or Yaris Cross available for purchase right now - Even diesels struggle to get near the real world mpg of the Mk4 Yaris; It's only on long motorway runs they even have a chance against it.

Unless you're driving up and down hills with a boot full of concrete you'll struggle to drop the tank average below 50mpg. I'm usually in the mid-high 70's, and routinely breach the low 80's!

I'd really like to know how the heck Which managed to get 35mpg - The only time I've seen mine that low is when I've just refuelled on the A5 and burned out of the forecourt to merge ahead of traffic; As soon as I lift off it shoots back up and stays there! They must have reset the mpg then driven up a long hill with their foot welded to the floor and called the result the mpg!  

[SinglePointSafety]

I think the Which? motorway test might well be 'drive at 75-80 mph' and as others have said, at these speeds (a) the aerodynamics of the YC start to really matter (it's not the most streamlined of shapes) and (b) the car won't be able to drive in EV mode very much, if at all. Still not convinced that the 35 mpg figure is real, though....

"We also have a motorway-driving cycle where we accelerate up to, and sustain, motorway speeds. This cycle catches out a lot of cars that are efficient at low speeds but burn a lot of fuel on the motorway."

[Paul john]

3 hours ago, APS said:

It does use the electric motors at all speeds, at a minimum to keep the planetary gears rotating to maintain an appropriate gear ratio. The EV logo only indicates that the car runs as pure EV and the ICE is stopped, which is limited to 70 km/h on 3rd gen. The real problem at high speeds is that there is little opportunity for the system to recover any excess energy. You just fight air and rolling resistance and never coast unless you go downhill. BTW - I don't think we got poor fuel economy I'd say it was pretty darn good 😊 

 

I beg to differ. Over 70mph the ev portion is disabled. There are plenty of youtube tutorials which show how MG1 and MG2 work at speed. 

oh and the “pure ev” mode is indicated by a different logo on my car. 

[APS]

On 10/19/2023 at 8:22 PM, Paul john said:

beg to differ. Over 70mph the ev portion is disabled. There are plenty of youtube tutorials which show how MG1 and MG2 work at speed. 

Crossed wires perhaps. We're talking about the same thing. The electric portion of the transmission is an integral part and cannot be disabled. In fact, the car cannot move without MG2 rotating. Alone MG2/MG1 can move the car in EV mode, but only up to a certain speed. The maximum EV-only speed depends on the generation (about 40mph on 3rd gen). It is limited by the maximum rpm allowed for MG2 and 1. Above this speed (70mph on yours) the combustion engine must to run in order to reduce the speed of MG2. But MG2 and MG1 are always managing the forward drive and gearing between ICE and the final drive.

On 10/19/2023 at 8:22 PM, Paul john said:

oh and the “pure ev” mode is indicated by a different logo on my car. 

The two lights really show the same thing - "EV mode" forcibly tries to prevent the ICE from running, whereas "EV" indicates the ICE has been stopped automatically as it is currently not needed.

[Paul john]

2 hours ago, APS said:

Crossed wires perhaps. We're talking about the same thing. The electric portion of the transmission is an integral part and cannot be disabled. In fact, the car cannot move without MG2 rotating. Alone MG2/MG1 can move the car in EV mode, but only up to a certain speed. The maximum EV-only speed depends on the generation (about 40mph on 3rd gen). It is limited by the maximum rpm allowed for MG2 and 1. Above this speed (70mph on yours) the combustion engine must to run in order to reduce the speed of MG2. But MG2 and MG1 are always managing the forward drive and gearing between ICE and the final drive.

The two lights really show the same thing - "EV mode" forcibly tries to prevent the ICE from running, whereas "EV" indicates the ICE has been stopped automatically as it is currently not needed.

Ok “last word” is yours. Lets just leave it there and both drive our vehicles as we feel fit. 

[ToonCat64]

Hello, 

I have read the above reports of high fuel efficiency with interest. We took delivery of a Yaris Cross Hybrid in October and we can not get the fuel consumption above 50 MPG 😞 .... either there is something wrong with our vehicle or we just haven't learnt how to drive it efficiently .... anybody have any ideas on this ? 

[Stopeter44]

Lots of comments on the forum about getting the best out of a hybrid. 

• What is your usual motorway cruising speed ? Above 65 mph and you will get little or no electrical assistance, and the car will behave like a standard ICE.
• What are your braking habits ? If you go the next stop light as fast as possible, and then stand on the brakes, you'll have no Battery charging from slowdown. So you won't be getting any kinetic energy back.
• What temperature do you have the HVAC set to ? Too hot in winter and too cold in summer will also adversely affect fuel consumption. For very short trips in winter I turn it off.

Have you looked into the hybrid coaching feature of the My Toyota app ? This will give you hints about where you can gain efficiency. 

Edited December 17, 2023 by Stopeter44
I forgot about cold weather and heating

[Roy124]

Andrew, the previous comments were all written of consumption figures before mid October.   Your experience relates to the following two month.  Right off conditions have changed.   Most significant the temperature has dropped.   You have probably used wipers, heaters and lights more.  These all place a demand onnthevHV Battery to replenish the 12v Battery.  The HV, in turn, needs more input from the ICE. 

In September I got 64, then 62, 57, 56.

Your consumption is within 12% of mine, but that can be due to many reasons. Looking at regular trips this month I get 53 with the average brought to 56 by some longer runs.

 

[Roy124]

9 minutes ago, Stopeter44 said:

Have you looked into the hybrid coaching feature of the My Toyota app ? This will give you hints about where you can gain efficiency. 

One tip in the handbook is to allow the speed to drop by 5 mph on climbs.  Of course ACC will maintain your speed unless you are following a vehicle that slows down. 

ACC cannot anticipate. In a stream of traffic the preceeding car may draw away from you,  your car will allow the interval to increase before applying power to maintain the cruising speed of the car in front.  By then that car may already be slowing down. Had you not been using ACC you would not have wasted fuel.

 

[Primus1]

24 minutes ago, Roy124 said:

Andrew, the previous comments were all written of consumption figures before mid October.   Your experience relates to the following two month.  Right off conditions have changed.   Most significant the temperature has dropped.   You have probably used wipers, heaters and lights more.  These all place a demand onnthevHV battery to replenish the 12v battery.  The HV, in turn, needs more input from the ICE. 

In September I got 64, then 62, 57, 56.

Your consumption is within 12% of mine, but that can be due to many reasons. Looking at regular trips this month I get 53 with the average brought to 56 by some longer runs.

 

I agree, when I picked up my cross in July I was regularly seeing 68 mpg, then it became colder and it dropped to around 56mpg, colder still and it was down to 52mpg, went out yesterday and it went back up to 58/60mpg, as it was around 10/11deg, so I imagine driving on a long motorway trip at a steady 65ish will see a good fuel figure..

[Mojo1010]

1 hour ago, ToonCat64 said:

Hello, 

I have read the above reports of high fuel efficiency with interest. We took delivery of a Yaris Cross Hybrid in October and we can not get the fuel consumption above 50 MPG 😞 .... either there is something wrong with our vehicle or we just haven't learnt how to drive it efficiently .... anybody have any ideas on this ? 

There's nothing wrong with it. Colder now, as well everyone drives differently in different conditions.