My 2006 Highlander 4WD is getting less than 22 MPG. I know the EPA estimates are always high so I wasn't expecting 29 MPG, but I'm still very disappointed. I do drive a lot of highway miles, usually around 70 MPH. Even the one tank I drove a bunch of city miles on only got 22.5 MPG. Did I get a lemon, or am I doing something wrong?

 

First of all, welcome to GreenHybrid.com.

Some questions:

How many miles do you have on your HiHy? Most members have discovered that there is a breakin period on their cars of about 3-6k miles, before the engine starts to work with maximum efficiency.

Also, check your air pressure in the tires. Be sure that they are all correct. If you drive in a dusty environment it may be worth checking the air filter, just to be sure it is not clogged. Lastly, look in the way back and be sure you're not dragging along any extra weight.

If all else fails, try adjusting your driving habits (from 70 mph to 65 mph) and chart the difference in your mileage.

I also suggest keeping a detailed log of your driving, including all of your gas fill-up details. Note if conditions changed from tank to tank. Thus, if you make a change you know whether it helped or hurt.

Keep trying!

 

Try the highway miles at 60-65mph with the cruise set for a few trips and pay attention to the numbers. I used to drive at 70-72mph in a 65 zone using manual throttle control in my "normal" car and usually got around 30-35mpg depending on highway conditions, now I'm finding that cruise control at 60mph for a long trip can break 40mpg all by itself. I don't know how it will translate to the Highlander but it's an easy experiment to perform.

 

Welcome.....and congratulations on your hew Highlander. I can't help you much on highway mileage (I havent driven much highway yet-but have read that MPG drops like a stone above 68MPH due to the HiHY aerodynamics - or lack of the same).

From my experience, in order to maximize city mileage you will probably need to change your driving habits to achieve the MPG that the HiHy is capable of delivering (in my case about 30). My advice is 1)drive with a very gentle foot, 2) anticipate traffic flow, avoiding stopping and starting as much as possible 3) learn what the energy flow diagram is showing you, and use it to maximize the time you are either energy neutral, running on EV(battery) only, or recharging, 4) learn to use the power meter to learn when you will probably switch from EV to ICE(gas engine) and therefore manage how you use the acccelerator, 4) read the topics here and on other hybrid web sites about pulse and glide and other techniques proven to maximize MPG.

There is also something in the back of my mind that is just an idea. When you took delivery, how many miles were on the HiHy? If the car had been used as a demo, it may have "learned" bad habits from being driven agressively. From what I have read, it is possible for the dealer to "reset" the hybrid system so it "learns" based on your driving habits. This learning includes such things as when the ICE will shut off. I may be all wet but this is just something that struck a chord when I was reading other HiHy web sites and discussions about MPG. Maybe it is relevant or maybe not......

IMHO, the majority bottom line MPG will be directly proportional to your driving techniques.

Good luck, and enjoy. There is a wealth of information here and a bunch of very experienced people who know their hybrids. This does not necessarily include me....I have only had mine for a month and 1000 miles.

 

I doubt you are doing anything wrong, and also doubt that you have a lemon.Cr got 16 28 in their testing; you seem to be in that ballpark.The average on this site is 25 mpg; folks here really aren't average.There are some mpg fanatics who tend to skew the numbers and the average.22mpg for a 4400 lb SUV is pretty good.Our Pilot gets 13-14 mpg city(not the EPA 17 MPG).Ford,Chevy and GM midsized SUVs(6's and V-8's) probably average 12-15 mpg overall,and maybe 11-12 mpg city.
Just to be sure,I would check the mpg on a pure hy run with the engine warm. Set it on CC 65 mph-reset the mpg average reading- and run it for 3-5 miles AC set on whatever is comfortable.A HH AWD should be able to get at least 24+mpg HY at 65 mph.If it is less than that, maybe there is a problem.I would expect a reading of 26mpg on a flat hy at sea level.
Let us know.
If you do many short trips, or live in a cold or very hot climate-Las Vegas,Phoenix etc-this might explain your slightly lower than average mpg.
Check the hy mpg for a short run at 65 mph.Luck,Charlie

 

HLC,

I've gotten a tank that averaged 22.4 mpg driving from LA to SF, but that was primarily due to "aggressive" driving with average speeds around 85 mph. During that trip, the driver found the HiHy's power liberating, basically always pushing the accelerator to keep obnoxious drivers from cutting into her lane, or (hypocritically) vice versa so that she can pass and cut into someone else's lane.

On the reverse trip, when I was at the wheel, that same path resulted in a tank with an average of 25.1 mpg. In that trip I tried keeping speeds around 70-75 mph, and more importantly, kept the number of times I had to accelerate aggressively to a minimum.

My guess from your post is that you're probably used to pushing your foot down on the accelerator like a regular passenger car with less horsepower. There you're used to hearing a certain amount of engine noise and associating that noise level with a expected amount of acceleration. If you apply the same practice to the HiHy, what could be happening is that you're partly "by-passing" the power offered by the electric motors and skipping straight to the gas engine... thereby burning more gas than you need to. What's a little unsettling is that you can still accelerate at your normal expected levels, but not have the same level of engine noise (i.e. gas consumption). You just have to have a little patience to let the power from the electric motor do its thing.

Try the following. From a full stop, push the accelerator down about 3/4th as far as you are normally used to doing with regular gas-powered passenger car. But, then hold it steady at that position. What you should experience is that the electric motor will continue to accelerate the HiHy. Now, repeat the same exercise but this time continue to push down on the accelerator until you hear that good old gas engine grumble at the level that seems right for the acceleration you expect. I think you'll find that the time it takes to get to the same speed to be roughly the same.

Now, where this doesn't seem to be true is if you're going from a full stop and then accelerating uphill. There, I find you do need the power assistance from the gas engine in order to maintain the usual level of acceleration that you may be used to...

There are a lot of cool tips on this site for fancy hypermiling techniques and general gas-saving techniques. However, there's also a base of knowledge/experience that a lot of us have in "breaking in the driver" to adjust to driving with a hybrid engine...

Hope that helps and good luck!

 

Air conditioning also lowers the mpg.

Don't be too worried. My new HiHy 2WD arrived with 300 miles already on it (they had to drive it from out of state). The engine computer said it was running an average 22 mpg back then. However, in the 2 weeks I've driven it (and resetting the computer), I've been getting 26ish.

 

Hi

Welcome to green hybrid.

You bought a 268 hp high end SUV . Its not SUPPOSED to get great gas mileage, but very good mileage for a full size SUV.

We bought ours top end for 39k -and it had 11 miles on it. The computer said 19mpg .... which i suggest was from all the test drives and idleing while people were looking at it on the lot.

so we never reset the thing. We were stuck at 23 mpg for the first 300 miles as we took it to the store and back. I tried to keep it in EV the whole time and wasnt driving it properly. My wife then went and drove it normally and after the converters warm up, it started getting 30 mpg on a consistent basis going around 40mph.

After 600 miles and 2 months, we have it at 24.9 mpg and are more than happy with that.

All cars get less than the EPA -not just hybrids. We didnt buy the thing to squeeze every mpg out of it either. I fear that a lot of this blog is dedicated to mpg milking, and it ISNT why you should purchase a hybrid. Not this hybrid anyways.

Lets face it, Toyota already calculated how much diff in savings we would get in gas over the years, and jacked the initial price up that amount to cover the new technology. Even at EPA estimates, you can expect to recover the costs in about 100,000 miles. The tax break is great, while it lasts, and that will help with the costs to bring the recovery time down some.

We bought it because it was GOOD FOR THE ENVIROMENT and we are thumbing our noses at foreign oil, for which too many young americans die for in idiot wars.

We can really get excited when they come out with the hybrid diesel, and then of course the plug in hybrid.

cheers

 

I agree with the posters who said you have to break it in. At about 5K I saw a big increase in my MPG. However, with the winter and all my short trips (less then 10 miles) the sensors never really got to operating temp so my MPG suffered. Now that I have about 7K miles on the HH and the temps have come up a little there are times I'm hitting 30 MPG in town and 27-28 MPG on the highway at 70 MPH.

Another factor is where you live and the amount of hills you have to travel daily. The HH seems to like flat roads and about 40MPH speeds to maxamize the fuel efficiency.

Just relax and ENJOY!!! your getting better then the standard gas models and have power/acceration equal to a V8.

 

very well said bob!!!!





p.s. -good for enviroment too!!!!