The dealer I bought the TCH from asked his technical guy about the ECO mode and here was the response. We bought a very smart car!

"he explained to me that the AC system uses a longer cycle to activate the AC compressor in the ECO mode compared to the non-ECO mode. While looking thru his technical info, we also found out that the ECO mode will shut off if the temperature control is changed to LOW or HIGH. So it will work if the temperature is set to a specific temperature in the car. Ie. 68 degrees…..69 degrees….70 degrees…etc.
He also explained that there is a light sensor inside the car that detects the amount of light coming into the car and also utilizing the outside temperature gauge as a way to activate the AC compressor. In other words, the more light and hotter temperature will mean the AC compressor will turn on to cool the inside of the car more frequently and therefore burn more gas. In the ECO mode, it will stretch the amount of time between turning on the AC compressor despite what the light sensor and temperature gauge is reading."

 

I find your claims somewhat unsupported by the available data. X is one of the best of the best hypermilers and for you to claim a better segment is suspect. I'm a very good hypermiler but I don't hold a candle to X. If your car really can get 60mpg or 80mpg please post pics and video. At this point claiming the TCH can do 60 mpg at 65 mph "all day long" seems like wishful thinking.

I always post pics of my record tanks in the share section just to avoid any such disagreement. Let me know if you need help with the posting of pics or video, be happy to help. It would be fantastic if your car really can hit the numbers you claim.

My current tank:

 

I would think it would be hard to substantiate anything with pictures. I can coast around town and show 99.9 mpg and all the bars on top but I don't think it would show my average speed or distance traveled. The nav screen would show the bars at 60 mpg but it's for every minute not miles. Thus I could be going a mile a minute or I could be going 20 mph. Maybe I'm missing something.

 

Perhaps the display on the TCH does not show the same info as the HCH. Notice in my pic I'm showing 87.8 mpg for a period of 255.6 miles with no instant mpg bars showing (because the car is stopped to take the picture). Can you display not show this info? As you say instant figures are useless and even dangerous to take a picture of.

 

I want to see the new Camry do good. Honda will then come out with a great Accord!.. LOLOLOL

I really have been impressed with the new Camry and it looks like there on to something big time.

 

Lakedude, I have a better idea. I'll just stop posting any mileage info or tips without a lawyer present. Saying that my anecdotal mileage was "suspect" is tantamount to calling me a liar, and the idea of proving something to you just doesn't sit well with me. I posted the info NOT to brag, but rather I was personlly excited with my new car and eager to show other nice people on here what's possible under specific and limited circumstances. The idea of carrying a camera with me and trying to prove something to you seems absurd and it's irrelevant to me what you might believe or disbelieve. By the way, with respect to your short list of good hyper-milers, good mileage is not the domain of a select few, but available to anyone who learns his/her car. I did two years with an Insight 5-speed, and could pull very high mileage numbers... but I'll keep those numbers to myself, too, to avoid any more of what you would call "wishful thinking." I found your early post about whether the Camry was a real hybrid or a "poser" to be equally insensitive to the new owners of the new Camry model. Since your choice is to drive a Honda Civic, when you come to the Camry forum, live and let live. As a "Super Moderator," I would expect your role to be particularly respectful, courteous, and non-confrontive.

 

I appreciate all of Steve's posts. He has been very helpful for all of us that have been waiting for our cars or are just starting to learn how to use them better. Lakedude, why not be supportive. This is not a courtroom but a place to share and be helpful. I suppose you would rather hear how lousy TCH's are instead of how great they are since you drive a Honda. I have driven both Honda's and Toyota's. My 85 MR2 used to get 38-40 mpg all the time, but I don't have to prove it, just share it. My 74 Honda Civic Hatchback was one of my favorite cars and I used to 4 wheel with it all over Colorado. I like to be open minded to all possibilities.

 

I'm on several hybrid and non-hybrid boards and I sure run into alot of skeptics of my own MPG efforts.
I've been in-my-face told that I'm just a crappy lier and don't even drive a Civic Hybrid. (Edmunds is about the worst for that) Proof was with the photos.

I've taken lots of photos, and even went to the extreme side and created a video to show how it can be achieved. I know Lakedude also made a video.
The videos aren't usually neccesary but I'm more comfortable they are out there.
Those critics I mentioned earlier would still think the same if not for photos.

Last summer I calculated one of my own tanks to 83MPG (I think it was) and posted it in the database. I knew all through the drive that it was going to be an exceptional tank. But why the unusually high 83, when I was normally getting mid 60's? I asked other hypermilers what they thought of it.
They suggested (and I had to agree) that something was wrong, perhaps a bad pump meter? In the end to be more fair and accurate I reduced the figure to a more realistic number.

Steven I went to your website- very nicely done I'll say you've taken some great photos of your beautiful car. You have a great car and high quality camera.
Would it be difficult to snap a few on your next fillup? I think it would satisfy alot of folks.
Please don't get me wrong and don't think that I dis-believe you, I'm only saying that a few pics would reinforce what you are saying.
I got tired (and forgetful) to bring my Nikon CoolPix so now I just use my cellphone camera. I always have my cellphone. Note my signature. Photos are in the share section because I just know somebody's going to question it.
For me the one grand finalle, the most pleasureable 4th of July fireworks moment, the best feeling I get is that 30 seconds or so while taking that photographic record. It makes all the crap I put up with along the way, the ice bucket boiling sweaty heat and slower drive are all well worth it, focused and imprinted.

Shorter segments where I get great MPG....5 miles, 45 miles really can make me excited about it all, rightly so for a potentially good tank. I take photos of those too, but in the end does not show the big picture.
Personally I believe that the figure at the end of a tank is "Where the rubber meets the road".

So how 'bout it? No lawyers needed, just friend to friend.

 

Thanks for the kind words. I has my "good mileage day" in the first week I got the Camry. I did not have a camera with me, and by the time I got home, there was no way to re-create the displays as they were during the city driving that produced my good mileage. It was just an unexpectedly wonderful Camry day. Maybe my 80+ MPG city-driving-day will remain for others just a myth... along with Nessie, Saskwach (Bigfoot), and Santa Claus... but for any really concerned doubters and Mileage Police, IF ALL ELSE FAILS: relax. It's better just to share some fun with nice and cool people.

 

I know what you mean. My current tank is a very good one- I've driven over 700 miles and my tank is exactly 1/2.
I usually use "Trip A" for measuring my commute MPG, reset before each trip and I use "Trip B" to track the tank progress.

At around 250 miles into my current tank I accidentally reset my Trip B meter when I wanted to reset Trip A.
This makes any photograph meaningless, as it will be ~250 miles short in the end.

So all I have is my last ODO to go by and have cheated myself out of a good photographic moment.

But there's always that next tank!