Fuel Consumption Vvti

[mikew]

My wife wheedled me into getting a new 5dr XT-R VVTi at Xmas to replace her P reg RAV 4 Max which has behaved faultlessly all the time she has had it. (I reckon the new one must have been pretty nearly the last one ever delivered; I didn't pick it up until 23rd Dec and the dealer said garages from all over the place had been calling nearly every day since it arrived with them a couple of weeks earlier to ask if it was free stock!)

It's very nice, much more civilised than the old one, but I'm very disappointed that over her first 500 miles of gentle use the fuel consumption has averaged 26mpg which I think is a lot worse than the old one did. In my experience, once you are through the first few weeks and start using a new vehicle harder the consumption gets worse, despite things loosening up.

Can some of you with experience tell me if this sort of figure is normal please, or is something amiss?

Thanks

Mike

[jonbr]

Mike,

First of all welcome to the forums :D

You'll find several threads covering fuel consumption in this forum. Basically, the newer models (I have an 04 reg XT4) do develop better mpg figures once they are well run in. In my case it really settled after about 10k miles.

Also, the figures you quote I assume are calculated rather than those shown on the trip computer? Many have complained that the trip computer MPG figures are not acurate :(

[stay_aliveuk]

I can't get better than 28mpg with nearly 6K on the clock with manual box. They are not the best on fuel but I it wasn't a concern for me as I don't do many miles

[rav-U-like]

I've got a 2003 XT3 21000m driven modestly it has returned over the last three weeks the following

20/01 27mpg (calculated from fill up to fill up) - Trip comp 34mpg

27/01 27 mpg (calculated from fill up to fill up) - Trip comp 32mpg

27/01 26 mpg (calculated from fill up to fill up) - Trip comp 32mpg

I dont think I expected to be better than this although it is annoying that the trip computer is always wrong.

[mikew]

Thanks for the comments.

I've now found a couple of previous threads.

The mpg figure I gave was from the trip, which I assumed would be right, and which in fact seems to be consistent with what others are reporting.

Also I know we generally got about 32 from the old one, and my wife says she is definitely conscious of using significantly more fuel in this one, so again that matches.

Very disappointing that the much more up to date, and one would have thought more efficient, new engine is using more fuel, even when never being revved into the "performance" range (I think the VVT kicks in at about 4000rpm doesn't it? Never gone that high yet.)

Makes a mockery of the official figures!

I'll check the trip computer. Anyone found a systemic reason for it to be wrong?

Mike

[druand]

As I have previously written about speedometer innacuracy on this forum I have checked fuel computer against actual fuel used and find same. 2.0 D4D comp.= 43.5 mpg actual over 2 tanks 39.5 mpg.

Speedometer checked against portable Sat.Nav. Speedo reads 80mph. actual 72 mpg this was also checked by a calibrated speed gun at motor racing circuit where I am an official and speed confirmed to agree with SAT. NAV.

Toyota G.B. do not want to know as it is within industry accepted tolerance of 10%. When I argued the % error was 5% at 50mph, 8% at 70 mph, it could well be 10% or more at 80mph the answer was we cannot test that because the legal limit is 70mph.

NOT IMPRESSED!!!

[IanXT4]

I bought an XT4 Petrol mid 2004 and quickly realised that the displayed MPG was often optimistic, usually over reading by 4 -6 MPG.

On the first service I raised this as a fault/issue with Toyota and the service technician did a search on there internal "tech note" database.

There is an internal tech note regarding this “feature”, apparently its something to do with the radio unit interpreting a pulse from the Electronic Control Unit (ECU) to calculate fuel flow. There is an “issue” with this interpretation which leads to a 10 – 15% error in MPG, which I was informed was a known feature!!

I suspect that this “feature” could be improved or fixed with new software in the Radio unit and am surprised that later Rav’s still have this issue. (Unless Toyota did not think it was worth fixing? )

Once I found that it was not an actual sensor fault with my car, I didn’t bother chasing Toyota. It would be interesting to hear from anyone who has an accurate MPG display in a later model year.

With regards to fuel consumption I usually get around 28 MPG around town and 32 –34 MPG on longer trips. One thing I have found is the car really drinks petrol when it is cold. So if your journeys are all very short you are going to get very low fuel consumption.

Ian