Rav 4 T180 Fuel Consumption

[eastsoutheast]

Hi All

I have just purchased my first RAV 4, T180 07.

I drove to Bristol at the weekend which was all motorway driven fairly relaxed at 70 to 85 mles per hour. No traffic experienced so no periods of crawling along slowly.

I can not believe the fuel consumption!!!!!!

The computer tells me 27.1 MPG. Considering this was a motorway journey and the advertised fuel consumption i would have expected 40+. I live 2 mins from motorway

so there was no long journey through town involved.

A tank of fuel to go 260 miles is extremely alarming.

This is a regular journey and my previous car, Mercedes 320cdi auto returned 37 MPG.

I may have a fault or this could be normal and would appreciate your views/advice.

Many Thanks

Brian

[anchorman]

Hi Brian.

Welcome to the club.

There are several T180 owners and they will give you more detail when they come on. Your T180 will do better than that on the motorway but it is measuring the average fuel consumption since new or the last time somebody cancelled the reading. While the display is showing fuel consumption press and hold the right hand button to cancel/reset it. It will then take 10 miles or so to settle.

Previous comments suggest that T180s achieve low to mid 30s knocking around and 40 on a trip. Also don't read too much into that gauge - you need to check it when filling up until you get used to it.

Otherwise enjoy your new vehicle.

[duncerduncs]

Hi Brian

As Sir Anchorman says, I'd reset the average fuel reading and go from there.

I haven't got any higher than 33mpg when driving at 80mph on the motorway, saying that my wife has managed to average 29mpg on the last tank (gave her the car for a week) She has a very heavy right foot!

If you change gear at around 2000rpm you'll see your average go up, enjoy the engine power and torque band, and you'll see it go down! :D

[bomber06]

Hi Brian

Welcome

Anchorman is spot on. During the winter months I am getting around 35-36 mpg, but during the summer the mpg significantly increases to 38-40 mpg.

I find as soon as I am travelling above 60 and over 2000 rpm the mpg rapidly decreases.

When I first purchased my T180 i wasnt able to achieve anything like the figures above, I couldnt help myself being a bit heavy on the throttle.

My advice would be to keep under 2000 rpm and you should see an improvement.

[bothwell_buyer]

Hi Brian and welcome to the forum.

To make you feel better, I was getting 210 miles to a tank of V-Power. Then I had the car tuned - the boost increased to 14psi and the timing advanced.....and now the car is faster + I get 240 miles to the tank - great!! I know from the tuning done that the ecu is still running the engine at way too rich at high revs so a piggy-back engine manage system is being fitted to allow the engine to rev and power up to 7000, keeping the torque coming past 3500....and then I expect mpg to go up again.

Do as said in previous posts and if mpg is still poor, I'd personally take it to a Jap engine tuning specialist. Take it to a dealer if you want but dealers are generalists - its worth finding a specialist that has a good reputation. I'm lucky up here as the guys at The Garage are experts....

Last thing - what fuel are you using?

[vivianM]

Hi All

I have just purchased my first RAV 4, T180 07.

I drove to Bristol at the weekend which was all motorway driven fairly relaxed at 70 to 85 mles per hour. No traffic experienced so no periods of crawling along slowly.

I can not believe the fuel consumption!!!!!!

The computer tells me 27.1 MPG. Considering this was a motorway journey and the advertised fuel consumption i would have expected 40+. I live 2 mins from motorway

so there was no long journey through town involved.

A tank of fuel to go 260 miles is extremely alarming.

This is a regular journey and my previous car, Mercedes 320cdi auto returned 37 MPG.

I may have a fault or this could be normal and would appreciate your views/advice.

Many Thanks

Brian

I get around 33/34 mpg around the town locally, up to 36 on slightly longer runs and the very best on a dual carriageway/motorway 150 mile trip (for once sticking to speed limits) 40mpg, all as shown with the onboard computer read out - reset the readout next time you fill up as Anchorman says it does read the total mpg since last set and it might not have been reset for many miles. This is with Supermarket fuel!

Guy

[bothwell_buyer]

Hi All

I have just purchased my first RAV 4, T180 07.

I drove to Bristol at the weekend which was all motorway driven fairly relaxed at 70 to 85 mles per hour. No traffic experienced so no periods of crawling along slowly.

I can not believe the fuel consumption!!!!!!

The computer tells me 27.1 MPG. Considering this was a motorway journey and the advertised fuel consumption i would have expected 40+. I live 2 mins from motorway

so there was no long journey through town involved.

A tank of fuel to go 260 miles is extremely alarming.

This is a regular journey and my previous car, Mercedes 320cdi auto returned 37 MPG.

I may have a fault or this could be normal and would appreciate your views/advice.

Many Thanks

Brian

I get around 33/34 mpg around the town locally, up to 36 on slightly longer runs and the very best on a dual carriageway/motorway 150 mile trip (for once sticking to speed limits) 40mpg, all as shown with the onboard computer read out - reset the readout next time you fill up as Anchorman says it does read the total mpg since last set and it might not have been reset for many miles. This is with Supermarket fuel!

Guy

not bad figures eein as yer running it oan rainwater

[Mereside]

Hi,

If its any help I did a 200 mile round trip on Saturday mostley on motorway at 70-80 then into town and queues of traffic. I averaged 33mpg and the display indicated just short of 400 miles on the tank. This was on Shell -v-power which does seem to help. When I keep it down to 60'ish it averages higher 30's. My car has 10k on the clock and hopefully still running in.

Regards

[local hero]

Anyone choosing a T180/SR180 over the std model is doing so for the extra performance, it does seem a bit daft that you are being advised to keep the revs low + don't use that extra performance in order to achieve decent fuel economy, This is not a skit at either model by the way, I would dearly love one, so much so that i might see if my Mr T will let me have a 24hr test drive.. But no point buying a Porsche and never going above 40mph

[harleymlb]

Your fuel consumption seems sbout right for this model. My 2007 T180 has 40k on the clock and i have recently fitted a K & N filter and only use BP Ultimate with a cap full of Millers CETANE BOOSTER. With this i get around 27-29mpg on combined driving, on the motorways at a steady 75mph with cruise control on it does creep up to 33-35mpg.

You do not buy a T180 for economy!! Just enjoy it for what it is. Or go for a 1.0 Yaris, i had one as a courtesy car whilst the gearbox was being rebuilt (terrible 1st and 2nd gears!) and on a trip on a motorway for 200 miles average was 63mpg!!!!

Mark.

[Davrav]

Anyone choosing a T180/SR180 over the std model is doing so for the extra performance, it does seem a bit daft that you are being advised to keep the revs low + don't use that extra performance in order to achieve decent fuel economy, This is not a skit at either model by the way, I would dearly love one, so much so that i might see if my Mr T will let me have a 24hr test drive.. But no point buying a Porsche and never going above 40mph

The extra horses available to the T180/SR180 have to come from somewhere. All else being equal, they come from burning more fuel - think back to those physics lessons you slept through ;)

"The First Law of Thermodynamics says that energy, under normal conditions cannot be created or destroyed, simply transformed from one type of energy to another"

So, the potential energy stored in the fuel is converted into kinetic energy via the engine/drive train. You want more kinetic energy, you burn more fuel. Ergo the T180/SR180 will be less fuel efficient than the standard 140 engine

I think.................I did nod off myself in a few of those lessons ;)

Quote from Motorbar road test:

"The volume-selling diesel model will be the D-4D 140 with the 134bhp, 2.2-litre engine. It's quite fast enough for high cruising speeds and offers a good 0-62mph acceleration time (10.5 seconds) along with economical fuel economy — in the region of 42.8mpg. With prices starting at £20,315, this is, in my view, by far the best buy in the range.

My test car was fitted with the range-topping all aluminium 2.2-litre, four-cylinder, direct-injection turbodiesel with 175bhp and 295lb ft of torque from 2,000rpm. This gives a 0-62mph acceleration time of 9.3 seconds and, according to Toyota's official figures, a fuel consumption of 40.4mpg. However, I could not get my test car anywhere near that, and after a week's typical driving — some motorways, some A- and

B-roads — 'my' RAV4 could only return 28.4mpg."

[anchorman]

"The First Law of Thermodynamics says that energy, under normal conditions cannot be created or destroyed, simply transformed from one type of energy to another"

So, the potential energy stored in the fuel is converted into kinetic energy via the engine/drive train. You want more kinetic energy, you burn more fuel. Ergo the T180/SR180 will be less fuel efficient than the standard 140 engine

[bothwell_buyer]

Your fuel consumption seems sbout right for this model. My 2007 T180 has 40k on the clock and i have recently fitted a K & N filter and only use BP Ultimate with a cap full of Millers CETANE BOOSTER. With this i get around 27-29mpg on combined driving, on the motorways at a steady 75mph with cruise control on it does creep up to 33-35mpg.

You do not buy a T180 for economy!! Just enjoy it for what it is. Or go for a 1.0 Yaris, i had one as a courtesy car whilst the gearbox was being rebuilt (terrible 1st and 2nd gears!) and on a trip on a motorway for 200 miles average was 63mpg!!!!

Mark.

One of the things to consider is that the new generation ravs are a fair bit heavier too - what with 5 doors and all the electronic stuff. It makes my mpg really quite satisfying!

[eastsoutheast]

Hi All

First of all, many thanks for replying to me questions which is appreciated.

I did re-set the odometer at the start of my journey as i do a lot of miles and this was the first run in the car.

It has 15000 miles on the clock. The engine is quite rattly and also sometimes dies when started from cold so

i am not sure if there may be a problem.

I have since my post calculated my MPG on the trip using maths instead of the computer.

53.5 litres divided by 4.54 = 11.78 - 262 (miles from tank) divided by 11.78 = 22.24.

If the best fuel consumption i can expect is 22.24 MPG i dread to think what a mix of driving will return. This is what i would

expect from a range rover.

Either i have a fault or Toyota are deliberatly publishing miss-leading fuel consumption figures. Fuel consumption was

a consideration for me hence choosing a diesel and Toyotas own figs suggest a small increase in consumption over the

140 BHP model. I guess it would be like viewing a show home, ordering your new home based on spec etc and then finding

you have 1 bedroom instead of 3.

Once again thanks for all your replies.

Brian

[bothwell_buyer]

profuse apologies for my total ignorance - I don't pay that much attention to the new breed of RAVs and had assumed you had a petrol engine.

But you have a diesel......so

What Car says you should get 33 town driving and 40 average.

If 22 is all you get, I'd reckon you have a problem with the engine somewhere. Someone else here should be able to say, but I'd have thought at such a low mileage, then any fault would still be under warranty. I've not checked yer maths as I assumed its correct. 22 mpg for an oily burner is just simply awful - no wonder you're unhappy!!

I was happy getting 22mpg from mine where the engine is rarely below 3000rpm and the pedals on the floor. Since getting it tuned after a rolling road session (the rolling road cost me £60), when the boost was taken up to 14psi and the timing advanced, then my mpg has gone up 10% ! And the engine is still running pig rich!

The options are to go to a Toyota dealer who may or may not bother; an engine tuner to get the thing checked; or a Jap specialist tuner. I'd tend to go to the latter and if the thing needs fixed or parts then armed with the evidence, go to a dealer.

I'd assume that the handbrake is not full on; the brake calipers are not seized, and you've found gears above 2nd? (puir cheek eh?). If the engine is cutting out, then surely thats a sign that all is not well.

Have you checked that you're not towing a neighbours car to work?

[Plutus]

It looks to me like you have a fault - I get bettter than that from my petrol auto.

[bomber06]

Brian

I had problems starting mine up from cold, took it to the local dealers and they reprogrammed the ECU under warranty and solved the problem. Maybe the same problem is having an affect on your mpg.

The ECU upgrade has been covered in previous threads, its normally done at your next service unless you are experiencing problems.

I seem to remember a few weeks back an owner had a similar problem and again they reprogrammed the ECU and cleaned the ECR valve (not sure what that is) whcih was blocked and solved the problem

You might want to book into your local Mr T's

[bothwell_buyer]

Brian

I had problems starting mine up from cold, took it to the local dealers and they reprogrammed the ECU under warranty and solved the problem. Maybe the same problem is having an affect on your mpg.

The ECU upgrade has been covered in previous threads, its normally done at your next service unless you are experiencing problems.

I seem to remember a few weeks back an owner had a similar problem and again they reprogrammed the ECU and cleaned the ECR valve (not sure what that is) whcih was blocked and solved the problem

You might want to book into your local Mr T's

what a great guy!! And marvelluss memory - see if I had that sort of memory, I wouldn't be in the ssssshhitt state I'm in well spotted!

[OldSkoO1]

It is defiantly affected by weather

I have an auris t180, 43-47 in summer (sometimes 52) and 36 in winter. I'm at 40-41 at the moment.

So i'm actually of some relevant use here. I did have an sr180 rav for a bit last summer. I remember one trip, blasting around the derbyshire countryside, plenty of twisty roads, hilly roads etc plus some dual carridgeway gave 37mpg across the whole trip over a weekend and it only had a few K on the clock.

It is capable of it, i wasn't hanging around but it does seem a lot better with temps above 10dC.

[eastsoutheast]

Once again, thanks for all your help and replies. I am in the process of trying to resolve this through the supplying Toyota dealer (under warranty) and i am sure your answers will help me do this.

Many Thanks

Brian

[bothwell_buyer]

Brian

name the place and I'll be doon (down) overnight tae (to) torch the place (explain to them the error of their ways)