Ok, I got an excellent deal on an 07 Camry Hybrid...with only 2400 miles on it. I have a question about Gas Mileage...

Right now, my tank indicator says anywhere from 30-32.8 mpg\per tank...

When I am in the city, I do a lot of "Pulse Driving" (speeding up, and then coasting down). When I am on the highway, despite the 70mph speed limit that allows others to do 80, I set my cruise control at 73 mph.

Yet still, I am only getting 31-32 mpg...


My morning and evening commutes consist of maybe 3 stops, in the city, then 8 miles at 55 mph on a back road, and then 50 miles on the highway. It is between Lexington Ky and Louisville Ky.


This is my third Camry Hybrid. I owned a loaded Red 07, 2 years ago, for 3 months, and then sold it, because I now longer needed one (4000 miles in 3 months). And then signed, but then got out of a lease agreement for an 08 Red base model, which I kept for maybe a day and a half, before returning it.

Somethings that I am noticing, is that the engine comes on after the car has been powered on for 30 seconds. I believe that is standard.

But I also notice that when I am driving, on the highway, in most cases, the electric engine, barely provides power like it used to, on the others. I am used to the car, on cruise control, pulsing with the electric engine, unless, the car needed to go up a hill. The biggest difference, that I notice, is that it seems like the engine, the ICE, revs up really high, to RPM's really high.

But, in all fairness, the car I purchased, had been sitting on a lot, for a while, and in my area, it has been anywhere from 25-37 degrees (ie, cold weather). But, once again, for the past 3 days, I have kept the car in my garage, and not really used the Heat when pulling out of the garage. In fact, I rarely use the heat, I just use the seat warmer...



Should I just take my car to the dealership and get it fine tuned?

 

First things first: Welcome to the CLUB!

We have a fairly active, Camry Hybrid group and I think if you were to head over there and post (even cut-and-paste) this note in there, you'd get some help pretty quickly.

I'm more of a Prius guy and can tell you what works with my car. The Camry Hybrid is similar so take these thoughts with a BIG GRAIN OF SALT:

• battery works best when warm - it is hard to warm up the battery as it is a pretty big mass. However, in the Prius, it takes cabin air and circulates it through the battery pack. If I had to warm up a Prius battery pack that had been in a lot of below freezing weather, I'd probably schedule a nice, long highway trip where I could cruse for a couple of hours with the cabin heat as warm as I could stand. But that trick may be specific to the Prius.
• minimize speed during first 1-2 miles - until the engine coolant reaches 70 C, the Prius engine is pretty inefficient. It is best to get the engine warmed up to 70 C that takes at least 1-2 miles in cold weather. Then put any sort of cross-town or highway load on the vehicle. I do this by cutting through my neighborhood as long as possible before hitting the cross-town road.
• cold air is denser than warm - especially at temperatures under 50F, the cold air is palpably denser and really impacts high speed travel. If you want better mileage, consider cutting 5 to 10 mph off on the speed.
• check the oil level - often a dealer will overfill the oil tank so it measures above "F". This kills Prius mileage and getting it below "F" even if it means draining a little out, is the thing to do.
• tire pressure to max - if you can stand the ride, the higher the tire pressure, the lower the rolling resistance. You'll also want to get an alignment report on all four wheels. Sometimes a pot hole or bad road can knock it askew and it can be corrected.

Remember, these are Prius tricks and they may or may not help with a Camry Hybrid. Really head over to the Camry Hybrid group and seek their advice and take theirs over mine. I'm somewhat Prius specific.

GOOD LUCK!
Bob Wilson

 

Perry,

Do not use the cruise control as the car will try to maintain speed up and down the hills. You can let the car bleed off some speed on the uphill and increase on the downhill better than the computer.

Air up your tires. If you have Bridgestones, try running 41 psi, if you have Michelins, try 38 psi.

Allow the car to get broken in. You have not kept one long enough for the engine to get settled in and running right. You are changing cars faster that I change gas stations....

SLOW DOWN. Run 65 mph instead of 73 mph. I am fairly certain the cops will not write you a ticket for running 5 mph under the limit.

The cold weather WILL impact your mileage as will E10 (ethanol) gas and the winter blend.

Take a look at the Camry forum and to the stickies posted there for additional help. Your Camry is capable of giving you some great mileage but it does take work...

I have driven to both Louisville and Lexington from my home in Georgia (near Chattanooga) either going thru Knoxville or Nashville. My average on those runs were 40.5 mpg on the trip to Evansville, IN running at 67 mph and the other was running 60 to 65 mph and averaging 44.2 mpg. Take a look at my car listing and you can find the trips by hovering over the "more" listed with each tank.

 

It was warmer yesterday, so the car actually did a lot better. A whole lot better. My trip to work and back averaged about 37-38mpg... Brought the tank average up to 35mpg.

This morning, tank averaged dropped, due to the 33 degrees whether. So I am around 33.8mpg

My normal commute goes like this...

-Pull out of my drive way.
-Drive a block, then stop sign.
-Drive 3 blocks and then stop sign
-2 more stop lights on main road...for a total of half a mile
-then 8 miles on backroad, which is moderately hilly, at 50-60mph
-then about 59 miles of highway, I-64 west to Louisville.
-When I get off the Blankenbaker exit, 2 miles of stop and go traffic to work.

Run it in reverse for my trip home.

There is elevation from Louisville to Lexington (Louisville is a river city, Lexington is closer to the Mountains).


I use a lot of "pulse N glide", when in the city.
Lots of cruise control when I am on the highway.

I bought the car with 2400 miles on it, I guess, it just needs to be broken in, some more.