It's officially freezing in Chicago. And it has been for the last week or so. My mileage has gone from a stunning 540 miles to the tankful to a pitiful 325 miles on my last fillup.

Is there anything I can do to improve the mileage, or do I just have to wait for Spring?

 

A number of folks here have added block heaters. Some have the heaters on a timer to come on about 2 hours prior to leaving for work. It helps mileage in the winter and gives you instant heat from the heater.

 

Rather than add a block heater to artificially heat the engine coolant and thereby have the potential for early catalyst failure I would pre-heat the passenger cabin itself using a timer and a small forced air ~500 watt ceramic heater. If you have heated seats then I would also preheat those via splicing in a 12 volt power supply (battery charger..??) in the same timer.

It is also entirely possible, due to the danger potential, that regenerative braking will be disabled for recharging the battery during coastdowns if the OAT has declined close to or below freezing. However, if you "ride" the brakes lightly during the coastdown periods the system will still work, unless ABS activates.

If you can find no other, say one the C-BEST options, unplug the A/C compressor clutch connection. Toyota/lexus have a rather dangerous design flaw in their climate control systems and therefore the use of the A/C even only for defrost/defog/demist can be unsafe, is, potentially, unsafe. Disable the A/C during the winter months, NEVER use recirculate mode in cool weather, and be quick, QUICK, to turn up the HEAT before switching to defrost/defog/demist mode if the windshield does begin to fog over, or even if you feel the need to act to prevent windshield fogging.

And...

Dress warmly...

 

Dear LadyLou,
I have a 07 Camry Hybrid and have the same mileage issues that you are now experiencing. When the weather gets cold the mpg's drop dramatically. This car is more designed for moderate weather ( no snow). You will also notice the inability to take off quickly when there is snow on the ground due to the (drive by wire ) accelaration feature. the car just wont move..great mpg in the spring summer and fall

 

We know the winter months reduce mpg.but when you add the junk winter gas the mpg really goes to pot.I live in ky and its cold but not like the north and i am getting about 27 mpg and i really dont expect to get much more.

 

Better the car not move at all rather than inadvertently finding just how, once underway, UNSAFE FWD (vs RWD) can be in those conditions.

 

I have the same issue. I read somewhere it has to do with the catalytic converter having to be kept to the right temperature for emmissions control and the fact that, while the AC is completely electric, the heater draws from the engine.

What's really been getting me is the wet streets too. Fortunately - we don't get the ice and snow.

 

LadyLou I am in the southern suburbs and I have experienced about a 5mpg drop over the last month. One thing I am finding is that as it snows some people are driving slower so I am able to stay in e-mode easier. Don't worry too much all vehicles take a hit in the winter for various reason.

I need to update my tanks on here I haven't put in the last couple. My lifetime avg is at 40.93 right now.

 

The difference is that a FWD will go into the ditch nose first. The RWD car will go in sideways or a**-first.

I'll leave to the readers' imagination which is more dangerous.

Seriously, losing traction will make any vehicle tough to control. Having the most significant mass in the vehicle (engine/transmission) over the driving wheels maximizes the traction available from the tires, especially under poor traction conditions. A FWD car will have superior acelleration traction to a RWD car due to the weight distribution, for a given level of technology (e.g., a LSD). Now, if you're got howling wheelspin and are trying to steer, you'll be in trouble; IAC, the TCH has stability and traction control to minimize the wheelspin. Which may keep you form going anywhere if there is so little grip available on the surfac that the traction control brakes everything to a halt.

 

It has been a bit of a surprise in how agressive the TC is! A few weeks ago we had a warm day with snow overnight. The residential streets were like skating rinks and I didn't have my winter tires on yet and I was barely moving from any stop. It sounded like it was only trying to get going using only the electric and not the ICE.