Hi,

It will soon be time for me to upgrade my 10 year old Nissan Maxima so I'm looking around for a good nect car. My initial idea was to buy a volvo v70 2.5T station wagon but I recently realized that the EPA numbers are about 65% better for a rx400h or highlander hybrid (in city traffic).

My commute to work is about 30 minutes through mainly 35 mph roads. Taking this shorter back road is fater then speeding on the highway (at least in traffic). Traffic is relativley light and the trip is relativley flat.

My question is:

How good is the highlander hybrid and the rx400h in city/suburban traffic?

In my case I'm looking at 10 minutes of stop-and-go followed by 25 minutes fo 25 mph roads with only a few redlights.

My question is how well would the rx400h stand against the vovlo v70 2.5T (rated 21 City MPG by EPA)?

I've read some comments on edmunds.com that said that the rx400h and the highlander is not getting the city highway milage as predicted. Is this true?

I wish someone would make a hybrid station wagon!

/Robert

 

Bob, my wife has a Highlander Hybrid 4WDi Limited. She gets around mid-20's but she has a relatively short drive to work going up and down some big hills. Most people who drive Prius's will tell you that they get pretty good mileage in the city. Since the HiHy uses the same technology, but scaled way up, I would expect City Only driving to yield pretty good results. The problem (when I drive it) is that the power is soooo tempting to use, and then that shoots hell out of your mileage. If you can resist temptation, you oughta do fine!

You should look at the database (User Cars) from the home page and then perhaps contact some of the members who are logging their overall mileage with their HiHys.

Good luck!

Don

 

Hi Robert,

I find it easier to get higher MPG in my fiancee's HiHy in city driving than I can in my Prius in city driving. Though I'm sure ultimately it boils down to driving technique, for me it's easier to get electric-assisted high mpg's in the Highlander driving at lower speeds than at higher freeway speeds. Of course drag figures into it as well. Much less at lower speeds, and it only gets worse and worse as you go up.

Through half a tank in my daily commute (she doesn't let me drive it *that* much ;-), I was able to average 34mpg, which is admittedly 70%freeway, 30% city, but considering I do better in the HiHy at 25-45mph, it sounds like it could be a good option for you if, as dshelman has pointed out, you can resist the power it has under the hood! ;-)

Rick

 

Hello Bob,

I too have a 4WDi. I'd have to say that in my experience the 0-35 (maybe 40) is the sweet spot. I have altered my routes to use less highway and have found that in many cases the back way is also shorter.

More to the point, I have been able to stay off the highway so far this tank and am averaging 30.6 right now. A 20 mile trip down the highway at 75MPH would whack that down to probably 27ish in a fat hurry. I tend to 'pulse a little, glide a little' even in mild traffic. As long as the top and bottom speeds are relatively close, say 10MPH apart, it seems to generally doable without inconveniencing other drivers. If you get to your top speed and the car behind you is RIGHT behind you it is probably unlikely you will be able to PnG until he's gone.

Anyhow, good luck. The HiHy is an awesome ride and gas is not getting cheaper.

Happy holidays
-Rodney

 

--

 

HybridBob,

It sounds as though you have an ideal route for an HSD vehicle. Your driving technique will decide pretty good from impressive fuel economy. 30 - 35 mpg strikes me as easily doable.

I don't know what your volvo choice costs, but if it is ballpark to the HiHy, this seems an easy choice

Good Luck

 

Thanks for all the answers.

I apologize for the rant but I got a lot on my mind about my next car

Hearing that the sweetspot for the HyHi 4Wd seems to be 0-40 mph is great for me! This is what I was hoping as this is what my commute is. On the freeway it seem to do as bad/good as the average sedan (which is not that impressive). So for me in my current situation it seems to make "sense" (in that I will pay a premium for a hybrid but do good for the environment).

If I can get close to 30mph (if I try all the techniques here) then it would be great and make sense over the (guessing) 15-18 mpg for the volvo in "city" traffic driven the same way.
I find that in my commute to/from work I can create a game of FEy and then it would be nice to still have the umph to impress people with for other times (I love to drive cars!)

So it seems that buying a SUV hybrid instead of an efficient Station Wagon makes some kind of sense in that I will help the environment a bit while sending a signal to car manufacturers that I like the idea of environmentaly sounder cars.

Next question is, would the explorer hybrid get a lot better mpg?
I must confess that the idea of buying a ford (SUV) is not that appealing but I'm trying to keep an open mind.

The funny thing is that I "hate" SUVs. I've been making fun of people driving them for years. SUV's are huge on the outside and small inside exactly the opposite of what you want! It makes no sense! Compare any SUV to the volvo v70 station wagon and see for yourself the volvo wins in all categories that you use a SUV for. In the volvo you get better seats, more room and storage and a lot better MPG and let's not even talk about saftey.
So now you can imagine how much fun my SO and friends have on my behalf when I mentioned the highlander!
I wish someone would make a SUV station wagon or at least an SUV that doesn't look like it wants to go off road (i.e real cross over). The Explorer and the Highlander just look silly to me. The rx400h looks ok but it's quite an expensive car and I while my ego appreciate the hp I would like to see it do better for FE.

Toyota is going the "wrong" way with the HyHi and rx400h they should at least offer two driving modes (commute and sport) and spend some more effort on FE (at least with the SW). If they could shut down cylinders in commute mode for lower speeds that would be great!

I would love to get a prius as it makes almost real sense but it seems just a notch to small for me (escpecially since my SO drives a Ford Focus). I'm 6'4" so headroom is of concern and I also need room for one (soon to be two) german shepherd in the "trunk".
I wish volvo would make an SUV, I think the 5 cylinder volvo would be a good hybrid candidate (it's already reasonably FE) . My next hybrid candidate would tthe Ford Freestyle redesigned to look even less stupid SUVish. Unfortunatley for me volvo is going down the disel route (which is very popular in Europe) and while it also makes sense I can't get a diesel for several years in the North East. I was also hoping that Toyota would but it into the element or similar car.

I read rumors on edmunds.com that the highlander will be redesigned next year. Has anyone heard this?
The picture they show looks really cool and I would buy that hybrid in a second would they announce it as a 2007 (available in 2006). What are the odds?

Thanks for letting me rant!

/Robert
I've already adapted a lot of techniques for FE here and I've noticed that my tank in my Maxima empites slower. I think driving smart can increas FE with maybe 20% and it's actually fun and more "active" as well as safer

 

Robert,

Just wanted to add that as a HAH and a HiHY owner, I would highly recommend the HiHy based on your described driving pattern. Also, stated EPA mpg's are all "relative". No one gets near what the EPA says (hybrid or non hybrid) and before all of us started micromanaging our mileage by posting to this site, I am not sure that anyone really cared that much (until they got the sticker shock of filling their cars at $2.50 a gallon).

Personally, if I had the choice between the HAH and HiHY when I was car shopping, the HiHY would have won hands down. (With the exception of the Honda navigation vs the Toyota navigation system, which I would give Honda a 10 and the Toyota about a 6). I also know that alot of people say they don't need navigation, but trust me, it is one of those things that can be really helpful, not only if you happen to be driving out of your "comfort" area, but also they both give you a clearer way to monitor your driving style). My biggest gripe about the Toyota system is that you have to be stopped in order to engage the driving directions. While that is really a fine safety feature if you are the only person in the car, but your passenger cannot even do it for you in the Toyota, you can in the Honda.

The HiHY is a very nicely decked out vehicle with a lot of space. It drives like a car and not a truck, to me it looks like a station wagon because it is smaller than the Explorer that you are considering. I am also not sure you can put a $ value on the reliablility of Toyota over Ford (sorry Ford owners). Volvos are know for their safety. I won't dispute that.

Good luck in your decision. We will all be interested in what you decide to do.

 

That is interesting so the HiHy is doing good in city traffic. That is good to know. Now if I could only warm up to it's looks...

 

Thanks, Looking at the hybrids if you need a car bigger then the Prius the HiHy seems to make the most sense. I will def. go for the GPS system as this is something I like a lot in rental cars, but I agree that the Lexus gps system seem dated.

As it stands right now the HiHy makes more sense then the volvo and I'm clearly leaning towards it. A comparably equipped volvo (lether, gps etc) costs about 3000 less then the HiHy but next year I should get a tex deduction for about 2000 for it so it should be a wash.

I'm must confess taht i "want" the rx400h and (suprisingly) my better half seem ok with that choice. It's $10k+ more then the other cars I'm looking at. I'm planning to keep my car for 6-10 years (have my Nissan 7+ years) and can see my self doing that more with the lexus then the HiHy.

That said I'm probably more then 3 months from buying so I might change