Help! Very Poor Fuel Economy

[toyota-avensis]

hello guys as some you will know i have recently bought a toyota avensis 2.0 diesel. Well i put in £20 diesel to see how many miles it does per gallon. On the display it showed the range as approx 215 miles. I know it won't do the full 215 miles, but i expected around 140-150 miles. To start off with, it showed the mpg as approx 31.5-34.9mpg. After doing about 50 miles this dropped to 27.5mpg.

The total local mileage its only done on £20 is 90 miles, which i think is very low. It was serviced only 4k miles ago and i'm not due for another 6k. Its on 108k.

Could anyone tell me why i'm getting such low mileage? Is it because of winter? Could it be morrisons diesel brand (cost=£1.02p)? What can be done to help increase the mileage?

thank you for your help

[mightymac]

Hello mate,

I found myself in a similar situation not too long ago. I bought a 54 plate Avensis D4D with 85,000 on the clock. When I bought it, I noticed that the fuel consumption was around 32mpg. I also noticed a missfire/rumble from the engine around 1600-2000RPM. I took the car to Toyota and got them to run it through a plug in. It showed that 2 of my injectors were not injecting as they were supposed to. I had these changed (at a cost of £1000 under warranty) and my MPG went up to 39-40mpg. I think with the size of the car, engine and kind of driving I do (lots of traffic), that 39-40mpg is a fair return.

There may be other factors, such as a heavy right foot, the fuel you use (morrissons fuel does have a bad rap for being dirty), the kind of driving you do (i.e. like me, stuck in traffic a lot), the cold weather. It also may be because the car has done a lot of miles. All these factors contribute to reduced MPG.

For peace of mind, I would take it to Toyota or a reputable garage with diagnostics and get them to run a plug in. You'll find most company's will do this free of charge.

Hope you get an answer

[toyota-avensis]

Hello mate,

I found myself in a similar situation not too long ago. I bought a 54 plate Avensis D4D with 85,000 on the clock. When I bought it, I noticed that the fuel consumption was around 32mpg. I also noticed a missfire/rumble from the engine around 1600-2000RPM. I took the car to Toyota and got them to run it through a plug in. It showed that 2 of my injectors were not injecting as they were supposed to. I had these changed (at a cost of £1000 under warranty) and my MPG went up to 39-40mpg. I think with the size of the car, engine and kind of driving I do (lots of traffic), that 39-40mpg is a fair return.

There may be other factors, such as a heavy right foot, the fuel you use (morrissons fuel does have a bad rap for being dirty), the kind of driving you do (i.e. like me, stuck in traffic a lot), the cold weather. It also may be because the car has done a lot of miles. All these factors contribute to reduced MPG.

For peace of mind, I would take it to Toyota or a reputable garage with diagnostics and get them to run a plug in. You'll find most company's will do this free of charge.

Hope you get an answer

Thank You mightymac - Since its a 54 plater (manufactured aug 04), thats over four years old..surely thats out of warranty?

[JohnYossarian]

Hello mate,

I found myself in a similar situation not too long ago. I bought a 54 plate Avensis D4D with 85,000 on the clock. When I bought it, I noticed that the fuel consumption was around 32mpg. I also noticed a missfire/rumble from the engine around 1600-2000RPM. I took the car to Toyota and got them to run it through a plug in. It showed that 2 of my injectors were not injecting as they were supposed to. I had these changed (at a cost of £1000 under warranty) and my MPG went up to 39-40mpg. I think with the size of the car, engine and kind of driving I do (lots of traffic), that 39-40mpg is a fair return.

There may be other factors, such as a heavy right foot, the fuel you use (morrissons fuel does have a bad rap for being dirty), the kind of driving you do (i.e. like me, stuck in traffic a lot), the cold weather. It also may be because the car has done a lot of miles. All these factors contribute to reduced MPG.

For peace of mind, I would take it to Toyota or a reputable garage with diagnostics and get them to run a plug in. You'll find most company's will do this free of charge.

Hope you get an answer

Thank You mightymac - Since its a 54 plater (manufactured aug 04), thats over four years old..surely thats out of warranty?

Here on the forum many people have reported wrong readings by the on board computer. It might be a good idea to fill the tank up and then do 200 miles, top it up again and then calculate. As mightymac has rightly said the factors influencing the consumption are numerous and a diagnostic test would be very useful. In the long term the latter would pay off should the bad economy is due to some faulty parts.

Good luck!

[mightymac]

My motor is out of Toyota Warranty, but I took out a years warranty when I bought the car.

[Q.S.]

Hello mate,

I found myself in a similar situation not too long ago. I bought a 54 plate Avensis D4D with 85,000 on the clock. When I bought it, I noticed that the fuel consumption was around 32mpg. I also noticed a missfire/rumble from the engine around 1600-2000RPM. I took the car to Toyota and got them to run it through a plug in. It showed that 2 of my injectors were not injecting as they were supposed to. I had these changed (at a cost of £1000 under warranty) and my MPG went up to 39-40mpg. I think with the size of the car, engine and kind of driving I do (lots of traffic), that 39-40mpg is a fair return.

There may be other factors, such as a heavy right foot, the fuel you use (morrissons fuel does have a bad rap for being dirty), the kind of driving you do (i.e. like me, stuck in traffic a lot), the cold weather. It also may be because the car has done a lot of miles. All these factors contribute to reduced MPG.

For peace of mind, I would take it to Toyota or a reputable garage with diagnostics and get them to run a plug in. You'll find most company's will do this free of charge.

Hope you get an answer

If I had a diesel and was getting those figures I would be a little dissapointed personally. My 1.8 petrol gives me 38+ mpg regularly with a mix of town trafic and A road, single carriageway driving. My average speed is clocked up at 25mph which is about right for my journey time and the distance I travel to work and back. The mpg figure is from the on board computer but again is also borne out by manual calculations. Personally, I would be wanting it to be nearer 50mpg for a diesel.

Maybe I just have a lighter right foot than you guys?

[mightymac]

Fair point mate. I'm sure if I was doing motorway miles, then it would be up towards the 50's. However, in a petrol motor doing motorway miles, I'd think you'd struggle to get over 42mpg (just from experience), so it all evens itself out.

How olds your petrol Avensis? You done many miles?

[toyota-avensis]

Fair point mate. I'm sure if I was doing motorway miles, then it would be up towards the 50's. However, in a petrol motor doing motorway miles, I'd think you'd struggle to get over 42mpg (just from experience), so it all evens itself out.

How olds your petrol Avensis? You done many miles?

Before i got this car, i used to own a petrol 1.3 toyota corolla which had already done almost 170k on clock. In winter it would do approx 100 miles to £20 locally and in summer i would get 120 miles to £20.

I hope i haven't made a mistake by purchasing this diesel as it takes a long time to warm up in the morning, its got an extremely heavy clutch and its more expensive on road tax too compared to the petrol corolla

[Q.S.]

Fair point mate. I'm sure if I was doing motorway miles, then it would be up towards the 50's. However, in a petrol motor doing motorway miles, I'd think you'd struggle to get over 42mpg (just from experience), so it all evens itself out.

How olds your petrol Avensis? You done many miles?

She's an 02 reg with just over 60,000 on the clock. Has recently had a short motor under extended warranty due to burning oil but the mpg was just the same with the old unit. I was pleasantly surprised with the economy I get from her, much better than my old 1.8 Mondeo I had before the Toyota. Most of my travelling is work and back, about 7 miles through town (20, 30 and 40 limits) and about 5 miles of A road single carriageway, 60 mph.

I constantly have the average mpg displayed which makes me always aware of how economically I am driving. I dare say, if I didn't, it would probably not be as good.