I bought my Highlander Hybrid on June 6th 2005 because I drive a lot of miles, I now have 28,000 miles on it. I love everything about it except the MPG, I have printouts from Toyota that says up to 600 miles per tank, the most I have got is 392 and that was at 50mph on a calm day. Since day one I have kept track of the MPG and over the 28,000 miles we average 23, not even close to what they addvertise. I am trading it in next week, I paid $44,152
9 months ago and they say they have a hard time selling them now and only allowed $29,000 on a trade for a regular Highlander, thats a loss of over $15,000 in only 9 months(not including payments), doesn't speak very good for Toyota. The only thing our local dealer says is, it should do better than that.

Thanks
Harleyman

 

Most people don't get nearly what the epa gets. 23 is only 2mpg shy of what the 4wd version gets on average in the database, and 3mpg shy of the 2wd.

How much effort have you put in to getting good mileage? Have you made sure the tires were properly inflated? Is the vehicle pretty much empty or do you often carry around extra weight.

At anyrate since you are trading it in I hope your next vehicle does better for you.

 

Too bad you didn't join us '9 months' ago. You're paying the 'drive off the lot' depreciation and have my sympathy. If you could have waited until $3.25-3.50 gas returns around Memorial and Labor Day, you could get a better price . . . but everyone has their unique schedules. Your depreciation cost is running nearly $.50/mi.

Looking at the Gulf of Mexico surface temperatures, the question is not IF we are going to see another huricane related shutdown but WHEN.

As for the skill of car salemen in helping drivers maximize return on investment, well that is one reason GreenHybrid.com and simular web sites exist. That apparently is not their area of expertise.

Bob Wilson

 

Wait, does that mean you are taking a huge financial hit so that you can downgrade to the regular highlander which will get even worse gas mileage? As others have suggested, with the hybrid technology there is quite a bit of room for improvement if a given driver wishes to go the extra mile (per gallon). That potential still exists with regular gasoline vehicles but the results won't be nearly as good without going to extreme measures.

 

I realize the BIG hit on $$ but need to get out before I get to many miles on it so I can get it traded, in this area a vehicle needs to be traded before 30,000 miles to get a good trade. The way it looks to me is that the Highlander Hybrids are NOT selling and just sitting in show rooms. The good point is that we got a $4,000 tax credit for buying a Hybrid. We love the vehicle but we can drive the same vehicle on a lot less money invested if we get a gas engine. If it would get at least 27mpg it would of paid to keep it. My friend gets better gas mileage with his 6cyl that I do with a Hybrid (same vehicle) lot cheaper.
Thanks
Harleyman

 

Sorry to hear that your mileage was so poor. Anyway for what its worth, my friend has a Lexus SUV and Maxima and he and his wife were always complaining of poor mpg's...Turns out they always leave the climate control on auto. This means that the AC will be on most of the time in summer and parts of the winter which may make the mpgs worse.....????

 

At least their windows were always defogged

 

I don't know what the answer is for your dilemma, but I would advise you to make sure you do your homework on what mileage you would get with an equivalent non-hybrid.

My personal experience with Honda Civics is this: I hear about non-hybrid Civics that allegedly get high 30s, or even better. I'm know that's possible; however my experience, having had both, and driven equivalently:

City:
non-hybrid Civic: high 20s to low 30s
hybrid Civic: low to mid 40s

Highway:
non-hybrid Civic: low to mid 30s
hybrid Civic: mid to high 40s

So what I'm saying is, don't necessarily believe your friends claims of mileage, and don't be convinced you can get nearly the same MPG from the non-hybrid versus the hybrid. As you can see from my personal experience, the relative ratios of non-hybrid versus hybrid end up being close to what you get when you compare the relative EPA estimates.

Whenever I hear people say: "I get (blah blah) MPG", I ask to see their spreadsheet. It usually turns out, after further questioning, that they took a trip to Barstow once and got that stated mileage. The never kept track, or else ignored, the times when mileage was bad.

The curse that you and I must bear is the curse of having our blasted MPG presented in big bold numbers right there on our dashboards, all the time.

 

Just curious, what area is it? My wife might be interested in a used one. Send e-mail, we don't want to bother everyone else . . .

Bob Wilson

 

Welcome to the site, sorry to see that you're having such problems.

It really is a shame that you're joining us so "late in the game", so to speak, there's plenty of people over on the HiHy boards who could've given you some advice to get better MPGs, if you don't already use those techniques. Even so, I recommend you look it over, to see if you could use any of the tips to boost your fuel economy. Learning to drive it like a hybrid can mean a big difference in FE.

I would very strongly recommend before getting rid of it, going to a rental company and renting a standard Highlander (since that's what I believe you said you wanted to get), and try that for your commute and see what kind of MPGs you get, rather than just using what a friend claims, to actually put it through the same paces you put your vehicle through, then compare MPGs and costs. If you're better off with a conventional vehicle, then by all means, make the trade, but make sure that you're making a good deal with the trade rather than trading in one disapointment for another.

I'm not entirely sure, but if you sell your vehicle within the same year of purchase, you don't get the tax rebate, as that's the conditional of the incentive.

I'm sorry to hear that you've been having a bad experience, good luck in the future.