I've bought a Swace

[Swacey]

Hello, I've bought a 2023 Swace facelift. I'm new to the world of Toyota and hybrids. If there are any other owners I wonder what mpg they are seeing. My mpg seems a bit high at 45 so far though we've only had it 3 days. Also when we start it in the morning it seems to start on engine and not ev, is this right? Thanks for any comments...

[APS]

Welcome to the forum!

When it's colder outside, like now, the engine will run to provide heat to the cabin. This does increase fuel consumption. Once the engine and cabin has warmed up, it will run more on EV at lower speeds.  The best fuel economy will be when it's between 15 and 20 degrees outside and it doesn't need to heat or cool the cabin much.

 

[Swacey]

interesting, thanks for the reply...

[Babar13]

Hello,

The first purpose of engine "powering on" is to heat up the CAT. As long as the CAT is cold, it will run with EV traction (but petrol engine ON) to prevent emissions. Around 1 minute later, the CAT is hot enought and the system can switch to EV if other conditions are met (no cabin heat, low traction power demand....).

 

[Swacey]

thanks for the information 

[Amboyo]

I have a Swace (motion spec) as well. Like others have said the engine will fire up when it is cold outside. On warner days it starts in EV mode only. 

As for mpg, I commute into London every day which is around 35 miles depending on what route I take. On this mornings commute it was averaging 83mpg, but it has taken me a while to adjust my driving after coming from diesel cars to achieve these figures. Overall I think my average is around 70mpg. That is also with the car in normal driving mode. I found the ECO mode makes little difference. I also tend to drive in a relaxed manner (which I think the car's setup suits) and let the BMWs fly past me so that they can gain precious seconds on their journey time.

I like my Swace but it does have a weird spec when compared to the Corolla. It has privacy glass and rain sensing wipers, but no parking sensors (which doesn't bother me), but it also has the heated lower windscreen and best of all the heated steering wheel which most corollas do not have. I never thought I would ever need a heated steering wheel but I have to say it has been lovely to have over the last few months.

[Corolla Mike.]

Any advantages  of the Swace over the Corolla or purely brand preference? 

Where Toyota offer 10 year warranty with dealer service, do Suzuki offer similar? 

[Amboyo]

Its 7 years 100k warranty. I do lots of miles so will no doubt hit 100k before 7 years. Slightly cheaper, closer dealer and the spec I wanted.

[Swacey]

so I've had my Swace for a couple of weeks now and it's great. The mpg obviously varies depending on the trip but over all I'm  averaging high 50's. 

There are a couple of things I'm finding a bit strange though. In general the safety systems are amazing but the sensor that see's that I'm approaching a slower car and assists with the breaking works 9 times out of 10 but occasionally fails to see the car and it's a bit disconcerting when there is no assistance.

Also this is the first time I've used adaptive cruise control and I thought it would be great but in practice, on the motorway, I'm finding I can end up undertaking traffic as the system accelerates hard to achieve the speed I've set and I have to quickly cancel it. Mayby I'll only use it on much quieter roads.

I wondered what other people thought of the safety systems and if they miss the days when it was just the driver in total control of the car.

[sportse]

I like the safety systems on mine, I haven’t needed to turn any off which is a sign they work well. On a previous Honda I had to always disable lane departure assistance as it couldn’t cope with anything. 

the adaptive cruise control is great on the Corolla as its radar based, however they do warn that in certain situations it can have issues depending on the rear bumper height of the vehicle in front. 

on my 23 model you can set it to not ‘undertake’ if you want, but this would cause issues for me with busy motorways with traffic moving at different speeds in each lane. 

I also have the option to set how fast the cruise control accelerates in the settings. 

[Swacey]

interesting. I'm not sure I've got these settings on my cruise control but I may have. I'll have to dive into the handbook, again!

[sportse]

On mine they are through the dash screen rather than the infotainment one. 

there are switches for on or off for several settings, but also a hidden extra menu if you hold down ok when selecting instead of tapping it. 

took me ages to find out how to set the parking sensor volume, it’s not the easiest of systems. It’s located on this hidden menu. 

[Swacey]

thanks for the reply. I've found all the settings now so will try them out next time I'm on the motorway. By the way, does anyone know what the small slot is in the centre console next to the shifter? 

[Corolla Mike.]

[Swacey]

oh wow, thank you. I thought it was for a sim or something...

[Swacey]

Hello again, when I've finished my journey and I park the car and I put my foot on the brake and then select P and then turn the car off, all while keeping my foot on the brake, when I eventually release the brake I get a little lurch forward until I assume the handbrake kicks in.  

Is this normal? it only seems to have started happening recently. Thanks for any help...

[trashman1965]

Daft question, but is the EPB engaged before you take your foot if the brake? The P red light should be lit when it's applied (and you can hear the motor finishes it's movement). 

[APS]

58 minutes ago, Swacey said:

Is this normal? it only seems to have started happening recently.

That's the parking lock in the gearbox. There is always a bit of play before it stops the car rolling. Your parking brake is most likely not applied.

You will not notice this if the ground is level enough so the car does not roll when you take your foot off the brakes.

[Swacey]

Thanks for the replies. That's interesting about the gearbox having a parking lock as well as the car having a handbrake, I'm learning stuff all the time thanks to this forum. I feel a bit silly now but I think it was just that the handbrake had come out of automatic mode for some reason and gone to manual mode. I'm not sure why. Anyway I just reset it to auto and all seems good again. 

[trashman1965]

Hands up all those on here who never missed something 😊

[Swacey]

Hello again, I'm really happy with the Swace now I've got used to the way of modern hybrid cars but today I got a surprise warning pop up on the display. It said something like  'traction Battery needs protecting, don't put car in N'.

If I'm at my local traffic light junction and I know I've got a bit of a wait I've been putting it in N and applying the handbrake thinking this is letting the car and the brakes relax but I'm obviously wrong. 

Does anyone know what is going on with this warning? Hopefully my learning curve will also help other people who are new to hybrids...

[Don Mac]

32 minutes ago, Swacey said:

Hello again, I'm really happy with the Swace now I've got used to the way of modern hybrid cars but today I got a surprise warning pop up on the display. It said something like  'traction battery needs protecting, don't put car in N'.

If I'm at my local traffic light junction and I know I've got a bit of a wait I've been putting it in N and applying the handbrake thinking this is letting the car and the brakes relax but I'm obviously wrong. 

Does anyone know what is going on with this warning? Hopefully my learning curve will also help other people who are new to hybrids...

Yes, putting the car in N is a big no-no. When you do that it won't charge the traction Battery, which charges the 12V Battery so the engine will be running for nothing if it's on. The Toyota manual makes this clear, presumably you just missed it in the Suzuki version. Unless you're going to tow your car there's probably no reason for you to use Neutral.

There is also nothing wrong with holding the brakes on (or letting the car do it) whilst you're waiting. It won't hurt them and they'll release quicker than the parking brake. If you disagree, just use the Park setting.

[SDR]

Yes.   The short answer is don't put the car into N!

You might find the long answer in the manual - if it is better than the Corolla manual.   If the traction Battery gets low the engine will start to charge it;   but only if the car is in D (or B or even in P).   The traction Battery doesn't get charged in N, hence the warning you saw.

If you are stopped at a traffic light and you want to take the car out of D, put it into P;   but you don’t need to do that.   It is perfectly OK to leave it in D.   You won't do any harm at all.   It is what the manual recommends.   There are no clutches to wear.   You could still hold it with the EPB but that is electromechanical and works only on the rear wheels.   Better to use the Brake Hold function.   Button next to EPB.   A firm push on the brake pedal, after you have stopped, activates it.   It releases automatically when you press the throttle.   It allows you to take your foot off the footbrake because it holds the hydraulic pressure in the brake system.    So it works on all 4 wheels. 

[Swacey]

interesting, thanks

[AndrueC]

On 3/10/2024 at 10:46 PM, Swacey said:

In general the safety systems are amazing but the sensor that see's that I'm approaching a slower car and assists with the breaking works 9 times out of 10

I didn't even know there was such a thing. There's an emergency feature that slams the brakes on if you're about to collide but it's news to me that there is a system that helps you apply the brakes on a normal approach. I would never trust something like that precisely because of my lack of trust and consequences of it failing.