I'm concerned because despite my attempts to maximize my mileage, I have been getting low (compared to the others on this site), and decreasing mileage over my first three tanks of gas. My average just fell under 30 mpg. Is it possible there's something wrong with my specific car? Or is there maybe something I'm doing wrong in terms of my driving? I mostly drive in San Francisco, so perhaps this has to do with all of our hills. But all over San Francisco are Camry Hybrid billboards that say "40 mpg City. Any city." It certainly gripes me every time I see it. Either it's false advertising, or this problem is unique to me....

Is there any way to use this database to see other Camrys in SF? And other ideas/thoughts? Thanks!

The EPA estimate is in the best-case scenario. Unfortunately for you, SF represents possibly the worst-case scenario, with short severely-sloped hills. The TCH gets lousy gas mileage when climbing hills. The ICE is only a 4cyl 147hp, and the car weighs 3700 lbs, so you are asking a smaller engine to pull a larger car. I commute from Gilroy to Monterey Peninsula every day, so I have to drive thru the hills of Prunedale and Carmel. Even when I'm towards the end of a tank and have 500 miles already calculated in that tank's average, the 2-mile uphill climb into Monterey will peg my real-time consumption meter at under 10mpg, and I will see my tank average drop a full mpg in those 2 miles. I haven't done the math, but to make me drop a full 1mpg in average after 500 miles means that I'm getting extremely lousy gas mileage during those two miles. And the hills of Prunedale and Monterey are nothing like the hills in SF. Quite honestly, I don't think the TCH is a good car for SF. Had you bought the 4cyl Camry, you would get the same engine, but with much less weight, hence you would have gotten better gas mileage in the hills than with the TCH.

So I don't think you have a lemon, and it's not false advertising, you just didn't do enough research and bought the wrong car for your situation.

CAMRHEE Hybrid
Completed Mods: RK-Sport body kit, 18" LexusGS430 wheels 235/50ZR18 tires, TRD/SE springs, Rear Lip Spoiler, Terk XM-Direct, Smoked tail lights, Rear Bumper Applique, Front License Bracket, Lower Grill chrome inserts, K&N, Blaupunkt THB200A sub, moved rear HSD emblem
Future Mods: fog lights, black chrome my wheels

I really don't think EPA numbers are the best case scenario, rather average case IMO and that means some people will do better and some worse. I never had a car that would not meet EPA estimates at least most of the time. What kills TCH MPG are: short trips, jumpy traffic, where drivers race from light to light and steep hills, as Flopshot mentioned already. I would imagine you have all three things put together. What I would like to know is: what was MPG you were getting in your previous car? Because usually the same conditions that kill TCH MPG are also not very optimal for regular cars. BTW SF is not any city by any means, it is the most hilly city I've ever seen and I've seen many cities. Not to rub it in but I commute daily to NYC and I average 41 MPG, but I had some trips as low as 38 and as high as 46 and if the traffic is really bad it takes like 10 miles just to get above 25mpg on my 30 mile commute each day. If my commute was much shorter I would be getting 30 mpg as well even without any hills. Try to watch instant MPG gauge and see how very little changes in throttle position can have drastic changes in fuel burned. Sometimes 2-3 miles per hour can mean a difference between running 20 mpg and 60 mpg.

Learn to drive the car as it is a learning curve for the best milage.

TCH-43mpg
VW TDI--48
08 LS 600 HL-20
08 LX 470-16

In general, I would agree with your statement. But there are numerous articles out there specifically about hybrid cars, and how the formula for calculating EPA estimates does not really apply to how hybrid engines work. Consumer Reports does "real-world" fuel calculations and they are consistently less than the EPA. Heck, for the HCH the EPA rating is 51 city and Consumer Reports came out with 40MPG. So when I said "best-case scenario", I was specifically talking about for hybrids, and in particular the TCH. Based on where I live and work, I will never see anything close to 40mpg city, because half the time I will be starting from a dead-stop on a hill. And my 45mile commute is not on flat-land, so no way will I see 38mpg highway. So far I am getting about 36mpg combined mileage, and although that is below the EPA estimates, I'm perfectly happy with that number for the size car I'm driving.

CAMRHEE Hybrid
Completed Mods: RK-Sport body kit, 18" LexusGS430 wheels 235/50ZR18 tires, TRD/SE springs, Rear Lip Spoiler, Terk XM-Direct, Smoked tail lights, Rear Bumper Applique, Front License Bracket, Lower Grill chrome inserts, K&N, Blaupunkt THB200A sub, moved rear HSD emblem
Future Mods: fog lights, black chrome my wheels

I got my 2007 TCH with only 6 miles in the ODO and started to average over 38MPG right away... now I just parked it in the garage with total of 289 miles with 41.4MPG...
You need to be soft and take advantage of the E mode by trying to drive it, when you can, with no more than 30-35mph...

How long is your average trip distance?
Short trips kills your mileage on any vehicle.
What was your previous vehicle and it's mileage?

Ken@Japan

Our own database shows average MPG for HCH around 47 mpg with more than 600 sample cars so I don't know why Consumer report shows such a low FE for that particular car, but then which city driving are we talking about? there will be huge difference between driving in NYC or LA during rush hour and lets say Casper, Wyoming. If you're averaging 36 mpg right now I bet you could easilly get 40 if you work on it. I would disagree that Hybrid engines are any different from normal engines or the EPA numbers do not reflect real life milleage. What I think is happening is simple: older cars were rather inefficient and the difference between worst and best mpg was small enough for everybody to accept. No matter how you drove you still would get 15-20 mpg in the city and 23-28 on the highway. Now with the hybrids you can get anywhere from 10 mpg going up the hill to 100 mpg going down the hill or in the electric mode. My own commute with the same car, driver, conditions and similar traffic patterns I got as high as 46 mpg and as low as 36 so no wonder different drivers with different driving conditions will get huge differences in MPG. Also even EPA sticker states that the numbers are for comparison to other, similar cars only and do not reflect real life data which depends on too many variables to be fair for everybody. Of course in my case all the cars I ever had always meet EPA numbers , including TCH, maybe I would feel different if they didn't.

I think it was foolhardy for Toyota to boast in its advertising, "40 MPG City. Any city." For any reasonable consumer, the claim sounds like a promise, unless there were a qualifier or disclaimer attached. If I were Toyota, I'd be shopping for a smarter ad agency.

Steve Villatoro
www.stevenvillatoro.com
“An enlightened guide to small business mastery.”

Thanks to everyone for the input. My last car was a 2001 Toyota Avalon, which got about 21 mpg. I mostly drive in the city (San Francisco, up and down hills, frequent stops and starts), very short trips (15 minutes or so average). My TCH has had significantly better mileage on my few longer highway trips.

When I questioned whether there was "false advertising" it was specifically because Toyota's billboards claiming 40 mpg city are throughout the city of San Francisco, and "Any City" certainly implies San Francisco is included. This motivated me to get my car, and to now learn I won't have a prayer of anything close to that mileage in this city makes me feel misled.