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Comments
Does your brother-in-law get 19.5 mpg in the city or highway?
He got the GC over a hundred mph on an on ramp here in VA. But the Hh could dog it in a sprint.
1.What was your number one reason for buying the highlander hybrid?
2. What made you buy the HH over the Ford Escape or other hybrid models?
3. Are you happy with the mpg you get with the HH?
4. Were you a previous Toyota customer/
5. Will you continue to buy hybrids in the future, if so how often would you replace a hybrid?
6. Is this an SUV that can be used for off-road and outdoorsy activities?
7. Have you had to have service done to your HH...if so were you satisfied with it?
8. What kind of vehicle were you driving before you purchased a HH?
9. Did you have to wait on a waiting list to get an HH...if so how long?
10. If you had to rate the HH on a scale of 1-10...10 being the best, how satisfied are you with your purchase?
I would appreciate comments to any of these questions...don't feel like you have to answer them all. If you have any other comments that you may think are useful for me I would greatly appreciate them. THANK YOU so much!
A Toyota SUV that's hybrid
2. What made you buy the HH over the Ford Escape or other hybrid models?
the Toyota part . . . zero faith in US made
3. Are you happy with the mpg you get with the HH?
Not really, it could be better if they'd not tried to satisfy the power segment. many and I'd've been happy with a 4cyl
4. Were you a previous Toyota customer/
Yes
5. Will you continue to buy hybrids in the future, if so how often would you replace a hybrid?
I doubt I'll ever replace this . . . really. But by the time I do hybrids may be a think of the past because everything will be electric plug or Hydrogen.
6. Is this an SUV that can be used for off-road and outdoorsy activities?
No and few these days can. Probably only the 4Runner and Landcruiser
7. Have you had to have service done to your HH...if so were you satisfied with it?
No, haven't yet
8. What kind of vehicle were you driving before you purchased a HH?
87 4Runner and would've never changed if not for hybrid
9. Did you have to wait on a waiting list to get an HH...if so how long?
No
10. If you had to rate the HH on a scale of 1-10...10 being the best, how satisfied are you with your purchase?
Well, it's a 10 for what it's trying to do, be faster and conserve at the same time. For me, it's probably a 7-8 because I don't need the power. I'd like better consumption and offroad ability.
2. Ford Escape is too small. Others are all sedans lacking flexibility to carry cargo.
3. Yes, at 28 mpg consistently.
4. Yes.
5. Yes we will by a hybrid again. We will replace a car only when it no longer functions.
6. This SUV can do light duty off-road and outdoor activities.
7. No service.
8. Minivan and Chevy truck.
9. We were on list and dealer told us 3 to 4 months wait so we found this car ourselves and bought it with no wait.
10. Ranked 8. If it has more cargo room and a true 4x4, I would rank it 9. In addition, if it easily returns 30 mpg with little work on my part, I would rank it a 10.
2. Total package + Toyota’s rep and we owned an ’02 Highlander before the truck.
3. Yes
4. Yes.
5. Will depend on the price for replacement batteries – probably keep a long time.
6. Should work great for ski trips. It does fine on fire roads but I don’t do serious off roading. Won’t be going on the beach on OBX either.
7. Yes (O/F) Yes
8. Tundra D Cab 4WD
9. No. Had to wait a month for delivery
10. 10+
2. HH is larger, ask my wife about the difference in cost of ownership of 140K Windstar (my third in a row Ford) to 140K Corolla (her previous one, we bought the one we traded a couple years ago so it was a low mileage "creampuff") .... "Your Fords are always costing us more, why don't you get a Toyota next time?"
3. I think it's great, keeps getting better, wife would like it to be a little higher mileage (though she's learning to drive an uberautomatic after a life of stick shifts
4. See 2
5. Experience with HH so far, YES! We keep cars until they are uneconomical to maintain, 140K or so, so check in 10 years. Though the 2 car to 1 experiment is still an experiment, if we do go back to 2 the second will depend on cost - a Yaris could be our around town car due to price (the HH would be the road car and used when space needed)
6. No, bought for space - if not for hybrid I would NOT have bought an SUV, now that we have the HH we enjoy it. Still, there's something about the SUV culture - especially when they're used the same as vans - that bugs me, even when I won one.
7. No service in 2.5K, in fact we have found NOTHING to need service. Note we will go back to dealer which has been servicing wife's Toyotas since she moved to area 15 years ago. At least experience with this dealer has been excellent, they are fairly priced (but her cars have required little other than routine maintenance,,,,)
8. 98 Windstar, 2003 Corolla
9. Went on list early July, expected delivery of something end of August/beginning September (FWD base, would have taken option 1 but not necessary) according to dealer orders and their allocation sheet (biggest volume in region), about 3 weeks later while on vacation dealer tried to contact, they had one come in - FWD base - that purchaser decided to go with Prius instead. Price was MSRP, we added a few accessories and that was it.
10. 10, we're very pleased, see my earlier postings
- John
2. I fit (very important) with great visibility all the way around and have never bought an American car. I've always driven Japanese cars.
3. Mileage a bit disappointing at first but it is definitely improving. One does need to learn to drive a whole new way. I tended to drive in a sort of "eat my dust" kind of way. Unlearning now.
4.I had a Toyota station wagon back in my 20's, had a Toyota Celica (a 1990) for 11 years and we still own a '93 Toyota pick-up.
5.I intend to keep the HH for a long time but would like to get husband to replace BMW in next couple of years with a more "green" vehicle. He'll probably wait for the hybrid Porsche. . .
6.No off road stuff. And I got regular 2WD 'cause I live in Florida - no snow or ice to deal with at all. Just snow birds.
7.No regular service - just had the local dealer install a cargo net. I was the first person to even come into service with an HH.
8.Drove the pick-up (occasionally) and a 2001 Acura CL. Great little car. Got lower mileage than the HH.
9.No waiting list - still can't figure out how that happened. Walked onto the lot when we were out of town and there it was. Local dealer had a long waiting list.
10. She's a 10, for sure. I have never been happier with a vehicle in my entire life. The only thing I wish it had (which my Acura did) was the Driver 1 and Driver 2 seat memory 'cause when you are 4'9" and your hubby is 6 feet tall, it's a hassle if he drives it and I have to change all the mirrors, seat etc. But a small hassle. He only drives it on long trips.
mmreid
1.What was your number one reason for buying the highlander hybrid?
Wife wanted a mid-size SUV with 4x4 for ski trips. I said next vehicle had to be hybrid or fuel cell.
2. What made you buy the HH over the Ford Escape or other hybrid models?
Bigger size (# pax/cargo/tow capacity), Toyota quality reputation.
3. Are you happy with the mpg you get with the HH?
For a mid-size SUV, yes. I would prefer a Plug-in Hybrid.
4. Were you a previous Toyota customer/ No.
5. Will you continue to buy hybrids in the future, if so how often would you replace a hybrid?
Yes or fuel cell if they become practicable. I will drive it until the wheels come off. If battery is above $10K and PHEV's are available, I may not reinvest in a new battery.
6. Is this an SUV that can be used for off-road and outdoorsy activities?
Probably good for snowy roads only. No true off-road capability. I think very few people need/use 4x4 off-road capability.
7. Have you had to have service done to your HH...if so were you satisfied with it?
Only had alignment checked with 200 miles on it. Yes.
8. What kind of vehicle were you driving before you purchased a HH?
1984 Pontiac Firebird 2.8L V-6/1994 Volvo 940 Turbo/1995 Plymouth Grand Voyager 3.3L
9. Did you have to wait on a waiting list to get an HH...if so how long?
Yes. About 5 weeks.
10. If you had to rate the HH on a scale of 1-10...10 being the best, how satisfied are you with your purchase?
10+
Hit da wrong key...
Anyway, I've noticed several references to older Toyota vehicles that folks seem to be keeping 'till they fall apart'.
Here I thought I was a rare bird...for hanging on to my 1990 4 Runner.
What are your reasons for 'hanging on'? :confuse:
I am doing a marketing research project for the 'school of hard knocks' :>)*
or Hard Rocks as the case may be...
No single reason. Needed space but didn't want the emissions/mileage of a "regular" SUV.
2. What made you buy the HH over the Ford Escape or other hybrid models?
Needed third row seat for kids.
3. Are you happy with the mpg you get with the HH?
I'd be happier if it were a little better, but I'm not unhappy, either.
4. Were you a previous Toyota customer/
Nope. Mazda.
5. Will you continue to buy hybrids in the future, if so how often would you replace a hybrid?
I'm not sure what future purchases will be, though I think it's likely that for the "family car" we'd buy another hybrid.
6. Is this an SUV that can be used for off-road and outdoorsy activities?
No serious off-roading, no, but it can be loaded up for camping and certainly can handle a little light off-road duty.
7. Have you had to have service done to your HH...if so were you satisfied with it?
Haven't serviced it yet.
8. What kind of vehicle were you driving before you purchased a HH?
We replaced my wife's 1999 Mazda Protege.
9. Did you have to wait on a waiting list to get an HH...if so how long?
Didn't have to wait on a list, but we did wait a few months for the exact equipment/color we wanted.
10. If you had to rate the HH on a scale of 1-10...10 being the best, how satisfied are you with your purchase?
It's primarily my wife's car and she LOVES it, so she'd probably say 9.5. I'll give it an 8.
And yes, what class is this for?
My '01 911/996 cabin is tight and very quiet so the little bit of wind noise that I get, starts, at about and above 120 MPH is very irritating.
At first I thought it was wind noise as the windows "lifted" from their seals at the higher speeds so I used the silicon paste....even quieter overall but high speed noise, seeming wind "whistle", is still there.
As sort of a last resort I removed the front and rear windshield wipers. Noise GONE.
Turned out it wasn't the rear wiper at all and installing those new EXPENSIVE, $40/pair, Bosch "wing" front wipers eliminated the "noise" altogether.
Haven't yet tested at 120 MPH plus but that was only there to get your attention, noise actually started up at about 40-45 MPH.
2. Didn't like the Ford Escape's interior, and it wasn't as powerful as the HH.
The Mercury Mariner hybrid sounded good, but couldn't wait for its release later
this year.
Originally wanted the Lexus RX400h, but balked at the $55K+ price tag and its lack of a 3rd-row seat.
3. Yes, I'm happy with my HH's mpg
4. No, this is my 1st Toy
5. I plan to keep this one til it dies. If I needed to buy another vehicle, I'd consider a hybrid. Would also consider other technologies; e.g. fuel-cell, hybrid bio-diesel, etc.
6. It's not a true off-roader, but it's sufficient for ski trips, and such.
7. No service yet.
8. '02 Honda Civic: This is a good, reliable car, but I needed more room.
9. Yes, about 5 weeks.
10. 10
>>> owners...so here are a few questions:
you're ahead of Toyota on that one
1.What was your number one reason for buying the highlander hybrid?
my wife wanted something safe, large enough to carry 2 kids + others on field trips. i wanted at least a bit of 'green'. i wouldn't tolerate buying the typical SUV.
2. What made you buy the HH over the Ford Escape or other hybrid models?
I really preferred the Toyota design and experience with hybrids. we were on the list for a Lexus, switched to HH. I'm a bargain shopper, and Lexus isn't a bargain.
3. Are you happy with the mpg you get with the HH?
yes and no. I'm averaging 29, which is great for the HH, and meets our expectations. I'd gladly pay more for better mileage. +15K for a pluggable with another 10 mpg? i'm there.
4. Were you a previous Toyota customer/
no, and in fact 30 years ago i swore i wouldn't own one, when i borrowed one from a friend and it broke.
5. Will you continue to buy hybrids in the future, if so how often would you replace a hybrid?
yes. I'll be shopping for a Prius in January. We drive the wheels off our cars - I expect 150 - 250K miles.
6. Is this an SUV that can be used for off-road and outdoorsy activities?
off-road only about as far as I can still see the road. it'll be used for skiing, biking, minor construction hauling, and has the trailer hitch which i expect to use infrequently, and mostly for a bike rack.
7. Have you had to have service done to your HH...if so were you satisfied with it?
not yet.
8. What kind of vehicle were you driving before you purchased a HH?
Subaru WRX wagon, Acura GS-R, BMW 325, Porsche 914-6 at present.
9. Did you have to wait on a waiting list to get an HH...if so how long?
3 days short of 6 months. we wanted a precise set of options (silver, AWD, LTD, Nav, and nothing else)
10. If you had to rate the HH on a scale of 1-10...10 being the best, how satisfied are you with your purchase?
It's a 10. I'm trying to get all my friends to buy a hybrid. Don't get me wrong - there's a lot of room for improvement.
>>> I would appreciate comments to any of these questions...don't feel like you have to >>> answer them all. If you have any other comments that you may think are useful for >>> me I would greatly appreciate them. THANK YOU so much!
my suggestions? ok, here goes. This is the first opportunity for a car company in years to provide an upgrade path for existing vehicles - new / better batteries,
plugability, major software updates. Toyota should commit to looking at that.
The number of engineers buying and driving hybrids in the SF bay area is enormous. I've heard 22% of production is going to SF and LA. Open up R&D and you get the leverage of 10-100x Toyota's internal design team. We'll blow up a few cars, sure, but that can be managed. Make some hybrids locally - I hear this is being considered for the Fremont plant. Open discussion with R&D, production, and the engineering-owner community and the result will be amazing.
so, I have to ask, what school are you attending?
Rick
Michelle
Michelle- I'm in Tallahassee also and if you want to come by and check out an actual HH, feel free to contact me. . .my youngest son also went to FSU
mmreid
The pickup runs great, but will soon get a new one because the old one's an eyesore, dragging down property values. :sick:
Reducing gas usage (not cost) while maintaining capacity/performance/features of my 1997 Jeep Grand Cherokee
2. What made you buy the HH over the Ford Escape or other hybrid models?
There are currently only 2 hybrid SUVs. I test-drove the Ford Escape and found it to be small and underpowered.
3. Are you happy with the mpg you get with the HH?
Not yet - still below 25mpg at 1500 miles.
4. Were you a previous Toyota customer/
No. This is my first non-American vehicle.
5. Will you continue to buy hybrids in the future, if so how often would you replace a hybrid?
Yes, and whenever it's time to trade in the vehicle. I generally buy new and keep for 7-8 years and about 100K miles.
6. Is this an SUV that can be used for off-road and outdoorsy activities?
Off-Road - maybe if you stick to decent dirt roads. Outdoorsy - yes, but not Jeep-style hill climbing and stream-fording.
7. Have you had to have service done to your HH...if so were you satisfied with it?
Not yet.
8. What kind of vehicle were you driving before you purchased a HH?
1997 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo
9. Did you have to wait on a waiting list to get an HH...if so how long?
Sort of - I timed it perfectly and got a dealer stock (as opposed to a customer order) vehicle due in 2 weeks. I waited those 2 weeks.
10. If you had to rate the HH on a scale of 1-10...10 being the best, how satisfied are you with your purchase?
8. I took off 1 for demonstrated mileage thus far (which could be put back) and 1 for differences between Japanese and US-designed vehicles.
Our old SUV, a 1998 Subaru Forester was wearing down. We needed a replacement. We wanted something a little bigger and we wanted to avoid "gasoline-hog" standard SUVs.
2. What made you buy the HH over the Ford Escape or other hybrid models?
We never really looked at the Ford. It seemed too small from what we saw on the Web. We needed something that could shuttle multiple kids or parents in a pinch -- and that could accommodate a full load of camping/vacation gear for our family of four without obstructing the rear view or requiring a roof carrier. (Uggh to both.) . . . . The Highlander or the (really expensive) Lexus SUV were our only choices in the hybrid lineup of today. We didn't see enough value in the Lexus -- and given that we use SUVs for a lot of grungy tasks (hauling plants, soil, bikes, crates, etc.) we didn't want to have that much cash tied up in an "asset" that would get a lot of tough use.
3. Are you happy with the mpg you get with the HH?
Not yet. Our best tank was 27 mpg. Our worst have been 23 or so. Most are inbetween. We'd like to get to 28. There's a little incremental improvement going on and we hope there's more to come. (3500 miles to date.) . . . The original Toyota claim of 600 miles on a single tank seems preposterous. I wish they hadn't said it.
4. Were you a previous Toyota customer
A lot time ago. We owned Camrys in the 1990s. Decent, reliable cars.
5. Will you continue to buy hybrids in the future, if so how often would you replace a hybrid?
Yes. I'm assuming that car makers will drive costs down as production runs get bigger. With gasoline prices at $3/gallon, the fuel-savings and social responsibility arguments feel pretty strong to us. . . . We usually keep cars for about seven or eight years, until maintenance obligations get to be annoying. No reason to think we'd be meaningfully different with hybrids.
6. Is this an SUV that can be used for off-road and outdoorsy activities?
Yes, up to a point. We've taken it on gravel and dirt roads. It does fine. We've taken it into state parks. It's good for camping vacations. I don't think we could win a Baja rally with it, but that's not what we were looking for.
7. Have you had to have service done to your HH...if so were you satisfied with it?
Not yet.
8. What kind of vehicle were you driving before you purchased a HH?
The immediate replacement was a Subaru Forester. We also own an Infiniti i30.
9. Did you have to wait on a waiting list to get an HH...if so how long?
Yes. We put our names down in January 2005. We knew it wasn't going to be available for a while, but we wanted it in time for our summer vacation season. We got it in late July 2005, about 4 weeks after HHs went on sale.
10. If you had to rate the HH on a scale of 1-10...10 being the best, how satisfied are you with your purchase?
Eight. It's wonderfully quiet, smooth and comfortable. We can listen to music or books-on-tape on long car drives with the kids without the usual SUV road hum. That's been an unexpected and pleasant surprise. It handles very well. It looks nice. The dashboard interface is nicely designed and actually a lot of fun to monitor re: battery use, mpg, etc. It's a 10 to us in a lot of respects. . . . MPG is our one disappointment so far. It's still a decent bit better than average SUVs, but a ways from what the EPA numbers are, let alone Toyota's early marketing. I'd like to see the next generation of Toyota SUVs offer better mileage even if it's at the expense of acceleration.
My previous car was a 94 civic where I was getting 30+ mpg so I wanted a larger vehicle that has more then decent gas mileage.
2. What made you buy the HH over the Ford Escape or other hybrid models?
I'm a Toyota fan so I didn't even consider Ford.
3. Are you happy with the mpg you get with the HH?
I'm getting happier over time as I've learned how to optimize it.
4. Were you a previous Toyota customer/
Yup, had Tercels and my family has always owned Toyotas.
5. Will you continue to buy hybrids in the future, if so how often would you replace a hybrid?
I will drive this one until it becomes cost prohibitive and I will replace it with another Toyota hybrid.
6. Is this an SUV that can be used for off-road and outdoorsy activities?
We've used it for camping with light off-roading.
7. Have you had to have service done to your HH...if so were you satisfied with it?
Had an alignment check and oil change. Yes.
8. What kind of vehicle were you driving before you purchased a HH?
94 Honda Civic with 156k miles
9. Did you have to wait on a waiting list to get an HH...if so how long?
No, called and emailed 20+ dealerships in a week and found one 7 hours away that weekend. You should've seen my spreadsheet
10. If you had to rate the HH on a scale of 1-10...10 being the best, how satisfied are you with your purchase?
10...definitely. I'm a hybrid snob now and love to promote this technology. No qualms about paying MSRP and paying a $5k+ premium for the technology.
Wanted to replace my primary car (Forester SUV) and a motorhome with a vehicle that got good mileage, had lots of room, and could tow a small travel trailer.
2. What made you buy the HH over the Ford Escape or other hybrid models?
The only other hybrid that could tow anything was the Lexus - I didn't even look at them, as the Highlander was just what I wanted and much less.
3. Are you happy with the mpg you get with the HH?
Yes - I'm getting ~30mpg normally, ~15mpg towing the trailer. It replaced the Subaru (~25mpg) and motorhome (~8mpg) very nicely.
4. Were you a previous Toyota customer/
No.
5. Will you continue to buy hybrids in the future, if so how often would you replace a hybrid?
Probably, depending on the technology. BioDiesel/hybrid combo looks interesting.
6. Is this an SUV that can be used for off-road and outdoorsy activities?
I took ours on a short drive on a very bad dirt road. It had amazing torque using the electric. Very good ground clearance. Easier to navigate the ruts/potholes than the Forester.
7. Have you had to have service done to your HH...if so were you satisfied with it?
N/A
8. What kind of vehicle were you driving before you purchased a HH?
1999 Subaru Forester. I really liked it, too. Looked at the Tribeca - what a piece of crap that was. I think GM designed it for them, just before announcing they were parting ways.
9. Did you have to wait on a waiting list to get an HH...if so how long?
Waited about 2 weeks.
10. If you had to rate the HH on a scale of 1-10...10 being the best, how satisfied are you with your purchase?
9.5 - I would have given it a 10 if the price hadn't been so darn high!
2. HH is bigger, significantly better fit and finish, anticipate much better reliability.
3. Yes, tremendously. Able to break 30 MPG once.
4. Yes.
5. Will buy any car that is "green", safe and sips gas. Will not buy until our cars are completely dead.
6. Light off-road on maintained dirt roads.
7. No.
8. Van.
9. Yes. 6 weeks.
10. 9. If it were easier to get 30 MPG consistently, it would be a 10.
SUV with good gas mileage. Then performance and emissions (in that order)
2. What made you buy the HH over the Ford Escape or other hybrid models?
Escape is too small. We needed the emergency third row seat for the occasional kid or grandparent. (My kid gets the back seat not the grandparents.)
3. Are you happy with the mpg you get with the HH?
Yes, somewhat disappointed it isn't closer to sticker. We get 25-27 mpg.
4. Were you a previous Toyota customer/
Yes, 8 year old Sienna. We wanted to downsize a bit.
5. Will you continue to buy hybrids in the future, if so how often would you replace a hybrid?
Yes. Probably every 7-8 years.
6. Is this an SUV that can be used for off-road and outdoorsy activities?
Well maintained state parks only. The entry height is deceiving as to its road clearance. On the first trip on the highway I choose to not swerve around a crumpled truck tread only to have it THUMP the underside. I was shocked! I'm sure it was only 5-6 inches high. Upon reaching my destination I looked underneath to find a very low hanging gas tank and very poorly routed exhaust plumbing hanging down everywhere. The pipe behind the muffler was crimped to accommodate the 4wdi that isn't even there. I'm worried the first Houston flash flood will disable this vehicle.
7. Have you had to have service done to your HH...if so were you satisfied with it?
Oil change. Toyota has put a plastic reservoir in the way to reach the front oil filter. It's a pain to get to now. The customary 'after fill' startup was funny. It wouldn't start!
8. What kind of vehicle were you driving before you purchased a HH?
Sienna Minivan. Second car is BMW 330i
9. Did you have to wait on a waiting list to get an HH...if so how long?
Yes, then no. Got tired of waiting with poor feedback. Another dealer made it happen in days after contacting them.
10. If you had to rate the HH on a scale of 1-10...10 being the best, how satisfied are you with your purchase?
8 Lots of thumps and bumps coming from the drivetrain unless it is driven just so. Braking is bumpy too if applied firmly but not firmly enough. When ICE kicks in, it rocks the vehicle against park. Scary the first time. Acceleration is slow to get started. Ok, I am comparing it to the inline 6 of the BMW. I know HH has a lot of go; it just takes a second or two to get up on full boil. Then WOW it goes! The BMW is there RIGH NOW! But overall it does what we need it to. It was great in the Rita evac, 3ish gallons in 6 hours for 70 miles. Not bad with AC and radio blasting. 2mpg then 40, 2 then 40, creeping along on electric the whole way.
It is just the CC that needs to be kept hot, the engine water jacket must be kept hot even if the system is in cooling mode.
This thing can drive for miles on electric motors but you have to use the engine every five minutes to warm things up (that could be warmed when they're needed).
I'm wondering if consumption won't be very seasonal and all the credit I was giving to the car and my learning curve (for PnG) was misplaced. Maybe this will only do well late and early summer. Perhaps we got bad numbers in July and August because of some AC and now we'll be fighting CCold.
Apparently this may be for SULEV certification, which is measured after warm up. So T made a car that warms up and then shuts off the engine. But this makes real emissions worse because the engine's used when it's not needed.
So why, what happened??
We can only guess.
My suspicion is that the Toyota engineers sat out to simply upscale the Prius hybrid synergy design. Obviously that little I4 in the Prius isn't going to move an RX330 along the highway at 75 MPH+ in its "native" mode.
So now, where in the parts bin, engine, do we go for the upscale engine torque...??
Develop a new engine and put it into production...???
Nah, use the existing V6 and derate its torque output via the atkinson cycle.
That's likely when they first came to the realization that the "special" Prius CC couldn't be upscaled to match a 2.7L V6 (derated 3.3L). And a standard CC couldn't be used if very little energy, HEAT, entered the exhaust manifold.
So, scrap the Atkinson cycle..
And now things simply go from bad to worse.
They should have used the I4 with an Atkinson cycle, variable compression via intake timing and a variable speed, "variable intake charge",electric supercharger.
Gee, 600 volts available to drive that supercharger.
Hindsight, ain't it wonderful??
A co-worker has an older Toyota sedan (like 10 years old). The door switch that controls the headlights/dome light keeps getting stuck with the result being that the headlights are on all of the time. This runs the battery down.
Last night I came out to find him stuck.
I scooted the HH over to his car. I got out, and prepared the HH to jump (using the little battery in the engine compartment, of course). We hooked up the cables and his car didn't start.
OK, now how to get my engine to run?
I ended up putting it in Park and pumping the gas pedal 3-4 times and holding it down. That got the engine running at middle RPM's.
After two cycles of that, he discovered an error. He had closed his doors. As soon as his battery charged up sufficiently, his doors all locked with the keys in the ignition. He had to call his wife to come.
As soon as she arrived with the keys, he discovered that I'd managed to charge it enough to start!
I looked in the owner's manual for the HH and there doesn't seem to be anything about jump-starting somebody else's car. I discovered the "press the gas pedal" the hard way.
First, your 12 volt battery doesn't have the cranking amps to turn over an ICE. Second, the 12 volt battery is kept charged by a voltage down-converter from the 300 volt hybrid batteries.
A reverse voltage surge or spike from the "jumped" vehicle could do a LOT of damage to your HH in very short order, just a few milliseconds.
rick
Now, with regard to warming up the CC, I agree there's a point that it is necessary to meet spec, but the spec doesn't make sense. I suspect the bigger reason is to warm up the oil and keep it warm - but that could be done better by using a Prius - thermos like approach, or heating it electrically.
I'll officially label myself as greedy - i'd like more available peak power and more battery (like 20KwH) for longer EV runs. The hybrid future should include batteries + supercaps. This is the direction that the regenerative locomotive engineers seem to be taking. I'm wondering what peak output would be possible.
Such a platform for experimentation, but, sigh, it's my wife's car.
-- rick
During cruise the SC would just idle along only providing atmospheric pressure to the intake.
"but the spec doesn't make sense."
Apparently you have never tried to start a diesel engine before the glow plugs are heated. Or a two cycle model airplane engine with a low battery to preheat the glow plug.
Today's catalytic converter will not "clean" the exhaust gas without being heated to a substantially high level.
I sense a comrade engineer ( My apologies in advance to others for the geeky reply. )
And what would those requirements be? Its been a while since I've done this sort of engineering, but I'll estimate that a 200 hp blown engine will consume somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 hp at the supercharger, with a scroll compressor. In my mind, that's not small. I'm basing these numbers on larger scale engines - used to drive a Roots driven beast which I wish had had a scroll compressor, and that ate close to 50 hp. I'm now atoning for my sins :shades:
My point on the spec is that you're trying to get clean exhaust within what might be withing the vehicle journey on electric. CCs work when hot - the performance metric we're looking for is the light off time, which is instananeous at 600K. Problem is that it takes 60 seconds+ to get there. Maybe Toy's done better - i don't really know, and who in the heck publishes such stuff anyway. So - why fire off the cat in the first few seconds? To score well on emissions which give you the typical time to achieve near zero light off. Better to defer the ICE until you actually need it, i suspect. The best answer I can see technically is to warm up the oil before you want speed, since few of us have driveways next to a freeway onramp. The compliance answer is likely to score high on the emissions testing. Again, it's Occam's time on this - i'm only guessing as to the actual testing process.
-- rick
By the way, 0/20W is available. I don't know how the dealerships would feel about it. I plan to ask, and I'll post the reply.
-- rick
Insofar as oil is concerned and continuous restarts I suspect that isn't a problem. I think it would take a longer time between restarts, an hour maybe, for the oil to have drained away and left any bearing surfaces dry.
So, sacrificing 5-10 HP to pump the 1.5L I4 up to ??? HP might be worthwhile. And remember that since the SC would be a temporary load (you can't accelerate nor climb forever) that 10 HP would be coming from the hybrid batteries.
Towing??
Don't sell them a hybrid.
The total, net, for the ICE & electrics is stated as only 268HP.
Why would they put a 167HP(123KW) AC motor in the HH/RXh if the most it can ever produce is ~60HP(45KW)?
Is there a reasonable/logical explanation?
May be the ICE is indeed only preparing the oil and engine in case a driver demands a fast morning start. The 30 seoncd burn seems reasonable to get everything coated and ready. Not everyone can crawl to start everyday. Without this prep, a driver gunning the cold engine from 0 to 45 MPH will run into very nasty problems.
That's a great question. I don't know the mechanics of the CVT - it might not be mechanically possible for the electric motors to be at the RPM for max KW while the ICE is turning at its max HP rpm. Or .. it could be software limited. What would be nice to see is the old graphs of HP vs RPM for all 3 motors, and the RPM.ice vs RPM.mg1 crossover. I've googled for this and found nothing.
Max torque is pretty flat from an electric motor from close to 0 rpm. It seems possible that one could be max torque from all 3 at once in theory, which would be 500+ ft-lb. Maybe not good for towing, but if you ever need to pull a tree trunk out of the ground, the HH would be way up on the list
.. rick
Are we next with the Highlander? Don't we share software with the Prius? This might explain some of the "Check everything" messages that some folks are getting.
sound..."tssk..tssk...tssk...tsssk" I here every once in a coming from the back section of the vehicle. It really sounds like an electrical spark. I hope this is a "normal" sound with the battery Any information...has anyone heard a similar sound ?
Thanks