Fuel Consumption

December 27, 2007

Before our car went for its 40000 mile service at a local Toyota dealer, fuel consumption was reasonable. On a recent trip from Worcester to Cardiff I noticed that it seemed to be using a bit more fuel than normal. Prior to leaving Cardiff I filled the car to the brim and on arrival back home after 89 miles travelling at an average speed of 65mph did the same again and filled it to the brim and it took 14.2 litres or 3.12 gallons.

A calculation showed that the car was doing 28.52 miles to the gallon which I think is rather heavy for a medium size engine car. My 10 year old Toyota Hilux Surf 4 x 4, 3.0 litre auto diesel gets 32mpg on a long run.

I did the same again today and on combined travelling for 109 miles I put in 15.83 litres or 3.49 gallons of fuel. The average was then 31.32 mpg. The Toyota brochure states that it should do approximately 36.7 miles to the gallon on comined travelling, that is town and rural. I think that 28.52 miles to a gallon on a long run is unjustified as i would have expected something in the region of about 40 mpg. My Volvo S80 2.4 did better mileage and that was a 1999 vehicle.

The electronic trip was showing that the car was supposed to be doing 38mpg whyen coming back from Cardiff. On filling the tank up again it showed mileage available as 266 miles whereaas normally it shows 366 miles. Surely it can't be that inaccurate?

Can any one give me some figures on consumption on an automatic? Thanks.

December 28, 2007

Any one?

December 28, 2007

Well I used to have an old 2.0 pre-vvti auto Avensis (which depending on your opinion I think were superior engines to the VVTi series), doing mixed driving I would get around 35MPG, in my 3.0 Camry I'm averaging around 27MPG according to my spreadsheet, the on-board computer reckons it to be 28MPG.

December 28, 2007

Well I used to have an old 2.0 pre-vvti auto Avensis (which depending on your opinion I think were superior engines to the VVTi series), doing mixed driving I would get around 35MPG, in my 3.0 Camry I'm averaging around 27MPG according to my spreadsheet, the on-board computer reckons it to be 28MPG.

I have a 1.8 vvti and was averaging 35.5 mpg in the summer. In recent weeks my average is down to early 30's, which is about a 20% reduction in economy. I put this down to the colder weather and the auto choke kicking in for longer which really bites into the economy. My driving and journey type has not changed so the colder weather is the only variable.

December 28, 2007

Perhaps the auto choke is sticking. At times we can smell a strong smell of petrol fumes however this can be quite some time after we have set out on our journey. The other thing is that on occasions when coming almost to a stop and then accelerating the car almost splutters and then is off okay. Had it back to Toyota today and they state nothing wrong with the car. I think that my Toyota dealer may be able to service a car but haven't the faintest notion on tuning it.

December 31, 2007

Back in 2000 I had a Mondeo 1.8 Auto which averaged 28 mpg which is why I got rid of it in 2002 for an Avensis 1.8 (albeit a manual). That car has averaged almost 39mpg throughout the 6 years I've had it but on my current daily drive to and from work (Peterborough to Corby) it does anywhere between 42 and 44 mpg. The car's done 103,000 miles.

My reaction to your problem is get it checked out. May be a sticking choke. I've noticed my revs staying higher for longer on the recent frosty mornings but still doing 40+ mpg.

Does the car run OK otherwise? Is the idle rough? Could be something to do with the air flow metering.

Hope this helps.

Kind regards.

Tony

p.s. If all else fails, when you're next in Cardiff, go and have a couple of pints of Brains Dark and a couple of Clark's pies on the way home!!

December 31, 2007

I got the Avensis Diesel as the old barge (Volvo 945) only gave me 27-28mpg no matter how carefully I ever drove it. I have now had it for 6 months and the fuel consumption is weird. We do mainly short trips 6-7miles each way with some short lazy ('can not be bothered to walk' ones..) and the fortnightly off to Edinburgh (75 miles in total). On average I get some 42-44mpg but of late in the cold weather it has been down to 31 which made me think that I had a hole in the tank for awhile. This car is not happy in cold weather doing short trips thats for sure...

The other day we drove to Bedford, some 280 miles down the A1 doing 70-78 most of the way and I got 57.8mpg (more like it... :D ). I used 1/4 tank in 210 miles so could in theory have done 800 miles... B).

Overall the consumption is very 'up and down' without any obvious reason, I think we drive pretty much the same way all the time, last 10 fill ups have given us: 38.5-42.8-41.4-42.2-44.1-30.8ouch-51.2???-30.45ouch-58.8-52.5, the last two during the England trip.

January 1, 2008

Back in 2000 I had a Mondeo 1.8 Auto which averaged 28 mpg which is why I got rid of it in 2002 for an Avensis 1.8 (albeit a manual). That car has averaged almost 39mpg throughout the 6 years I've had it but on my current daily drive to and from work (Peterborough to Corby) it does anywhere between 42 and 44 mpg. The car's done 103,000 miles.
My reaction to your problem is get it checked out. May be a sticking choke. I've noticed my revs staying higher for longer on the recent frosty mornings but still doing 40+ mpg.
Does the car run OK otherwise? Is the idle rough? Could be something to do with the air flow metering.
Hope this helps.
Kind regards.
Tony
p.s. If all else fails, when you're next in Cardiff, go and have a couple of pints of Brains Dark and a couple of Clark's pies on the way home!!

Prefer Brains SA. :thumbsup: I have had the car back to the dealer and they stated that they could not find anything wrong with it so in the meantime I will monitor the consumption.