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I calibrated the digital MPG, both tank and auto-reset trip computers by filling the tank to the brim (takes a while) and then doing the same on the next fill. The meters were only off by one MPG between computer and pump ODO/gallons observed. After that, we use the computer number which you do not have to fill the tank to get.
The Highway number at 70 will have to wait for my next thousand mile plus trip.
40 MPG is probably close to what I would expect.
Actual TCH results:
1block from home - 7mpg
1/2 mile away up a hill - now 20 mpg
2 miles at a light - 32 mpg
4 miles to store - 35 mpg
Now the engine is hot and running more efficiently, but not if you are commuting to work and come out to a cold car.
Hot start from store: 50 to 60 MPG back to garage.
Why so high? The engine is hot and the TCH is using the battery more than the engine.
Why? SMOP - Small Matter Of Progamming at Toyota.
Note, you do not start this car's engine - it starts and stops when it wants too.
So what is it coming out to for a quick trip and not a commute? About 43 MPG observed.
So when you hear MPG from me or from the Federal Fuel Guide, you have to compare those numbers to your own driving pattern and cycle times.
Example: the 2014.5 gas 4-Cly Camry got me 41mpg on a 250 mile long city/highway trip.
But: it only got 35mpg this week on a short trip of 50 miles including 2 mountain climbs.
Same car. Long quick return trips good. Short commute trips bad.
What say you?
Turns out that at a really slow gas pump, the gas had a chance to equalize using the breather tube running to the neck to evacuate air from the top of the tank. And as a result the pump would trip late putting more gas in the tank. On a really fast pump, the pump would trip off a lot earlier because the small tube could not pull the air out of the tank quick enough forcing the nozzle to think the tank was full.
That is why the computation would vary from like 34 to 39 MPG on the same type interstate going the same speed, etc. So once I get a calibration, I use the computer to get the correct readings and correct for know bias. Thanks for the good tip.
78 mile trip, Sunday AM, low traffic, and 64 degrees. Hybrids are a bit sensitive to temp.
Mile 2 - city = 28 MPG
Mile 7 - all interstate = 40 MPG. If I commuted 7 mile to work at this point I would be getting EPA MPG provided I came out of work to a cold engine.
Mile 14 - divided highway, some lights = 45 MPG.
Mile 32 - 2 lane slow traffic, no lights = 50 MPG. So if I commuted this distance every day from Madison to New Hope, Al. this would be the actual MPG of this TCH.
Now I manually reset the MPG to get a pure highway number back to Madison.
Mile 32 to 78 = 46 MPG. It dropped bacause I put it on Cruize an picked up the speed on interstate to 62 MPG. One mountain climb and then 70 MPH did not help.
So can you imagine two guys meeting at work and both have the same car - one says he hates it because he lives to mile from work and his MPG is lousy. The other guy swears he is getting 50 MPG in the same exact model car. They are both most likely correct. They just don't understand what makes and what kills EPA estimates, in my opinion.
Cold engine starts and short trips sap all gas engine cars of their rated MPG.
I am definitely a happy camper with his Camry. BTW, I live in Florida---no "real" hills, overpasses don't count.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DI8IY3Q
As for LRR tires, it depends. My Michelins handle great.
And if someone thinks that plugging ANYTHING into your cigarette lighter is going to improve your mileage, never mind up to 30%...well... I might have some swamp land or a bridge I might want to unload too.
Granted my daily work trips are short, about 10 miles each way (combined highway+city). I don't understand how there can be such a big gap (about 10 MPG difference) between what I'm getting and the EPA rating.
Am going for a personal best with the current tank by really soft-footing it - dash readout says 44 now that I'm at a half tank, but I have found that more than any other car I have had with a dash MPG readout, the one in the hybrid can be very inaccurate. Unlike others, it can be right on with one tank and off by 5 points with another (all the other dash readouts I have had in other cars have been consistent in the amount of inaccuracy, if that makes any sense!). We will see...
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
The last few cars I've driven (the van and a few rentals) have all been spot on with the dash readout when I've checked it manually. Wonder if the hybrid factor is affecting the dash estimates.
(and by the way, that gas saver link above was a joke )
My theory is it doesn't do a good job of accounting for the electric-only operation. I find that the more traffic I am in, and consequently the more it runs on electric in a given tank, the more inaccurate the dash readout is.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)