Hybrid using a lot of petrol

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#2939157 7-Jul-2022 12:57

aaristotle: I assume there is a l/100km reading on the dashboard which will show current usage or the average for the trip meter selected. What is this displaying? I have a Prius C and the fuel gauge is not linear, it shows as full until about a quarter of the tank has been used, then seems to drop more quickly the closer to empty you get.

My previous car was like that, but my current one (Yaris ZR, which is also Toyota) seems to be the opposite. By the time it gets down to the last 'block' on the gauge, it still has about a quarter of the tank left.

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#2939162 7-Jul-2022 13:19

Eva888: It’s not particularly fancy, it’s just a Toyota with a few more bells. They are meant to consume between 4.5 litres per 100. Wish I had bought a Prius now.

Prius Prime. It's a plugin

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#2939192 7-Jul-2022 14:11

Eva888:

I'm very disappointed as I chose a hybrid for economy and to single handedly save the planet.

hybrid doesn't seem to give me any more economy than a economically driven petrol. ymmv

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#2939193 7-Jul-2022 14:12

Eva888: It’s not particularly fancy, it’s just a Toyota with a few more bells. They are meant to consume between 4.5 litres per 100.

in test conditions or in real life?

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#2939197 7-Jul-2022 14:19

We have a Toyota RAV4 Hybrid AWD (current series) and we are averaging 4.6L/110km. Have the Hybrid batteries (nickel batteries) in your Lexus been tested? they may not be provided assistance to your Engine thus the ICE is doing all the work? How many KMs has your Lexus done and do you have the service history for it?

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#2939198 7-Jul-2022 14:19

How is the battery life given the age of the vehicle?

Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat APAC as a Technology Evangelist and Portfolio Architect. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.

jonb

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#2939203 7-Jul-2022 14:25

Eva888:
jonb:

You should have a similar dashboard display to this which can show your 'live' fuel consumption in litres per 100km (l/100km). My Toyota is very similar to this youtube also:

Thanks. Had a quick look my dash is quite different mine is a 2014 CT with a pop up screen display that indicates which way the power is going and Bluetooth etc, but there is also another display under the fuel indicator that has information that changes as you click through. I suspect that will give more answers. I just don’t know what they mean.

This might be the one then, it should show the economy figures:

How To use the Multi-Information Display for the Lexus CT 200h - Lexus of Reno - YouTube

Otherwise as others have said - record the odometer kms next time do a full tank, drive till nearly empty and record the new odometer km figure. Repeat a couple of times and then you calculate the economy figures How to Calculate Fuel Consumption Litres per 100Km - Fuel Economy Fast

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#2939204 7-Jul-2022 14:28

Batman:
Eva888: It’s not particularly fancy, it’s just a Toyota with a few more bells. They are meant to consume between 4.5 litres per 100.
in test conditions or in real life?

I have a Prius with the same generation engine as eva888. No issues.

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#2939206 7-Jul-2022 14:32

Eva888: My Lexus CT200 which has a 1780 is devouring petrol. The gauge was on full when I got it but with short trips of a few kilometres to the supermarket, the fuel gauge drops to the next line indicator. In a couple days of hardly any use it dropped 2 lines and inching towards the third. Don’t know how to describe it. The old 2 litre petrol car which was bigger used far less even on long trips.

Before I take it to someone to check maybe someone can give me a heads up as to why this could be happening. Our Aqua hybrid gets filled and the indicator sits on full even after days of use. I am very light on the gas pedal so it’s not my driving and it’s nearly always in Eco mode.

I'm very disappointed as I chose a hybrid for economy and to single handedly save the planet.

Get real data before jumping to conclusions. Firstly do basic checks of things that add fuel consumption (air up the tires, remove roof racks etc).

Fill it up (first click), write down the odometer (or press the button on the small distance measuring thing), drive normally until the gauge falls to 1/4. Fill up again (first click off again), and note the distance covered and liters of fuel consumed.

CT200h has a 45L tank, so if it only takes say 10L (despite the gauge showing 1/4 full), you will know there is some kind of gauge issue.

Work out the fuel consumption in L/100km. CT200h is rated at 4.1L/100km. Real world, depending on running type, I would expect somewhere between 3.8 & 5.5 L/100km.

If the fuel consumption comes in above say 5.5L/100km than you have had data to start with, and can then work on solving the excess consumption issue. Some examples of possible causes of high fuel consumption:

Stale fuel in the tank causing the engine to run some kind of limp mode to avoid knocking.
Lots of heavy stuff in vehicle / extra external windage
Aggressive driving style
Mechanical issue with drive-train.
Wheel alignment issue.
Running ethanol blends (E10 only contains 97% the energy of minimal petrol.

Note that the CT200h has the same powertrain as the third gen prius, but a heavier and less areo body. You would expect it to use a little more fuel than a Prius or Aqua, but to be much quieter and better appointed inside.

jonathan18

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#2939209 7-Jul-2022 14:35

Batman:

hybrid doesn't seem to give me any more economy than a economically driven petrol. ymmv

Aren't hybrids particularly economical (relatively-speaking, compared to standard ICEs) for urban usage? My reading is the OP is doing short-ish trips and, noting they say they're driving carefully, surely they should be getting decent economy (unless something is indeed wrong)?

My car - a 2.2l turbo diesel - is pretty frugal when touring (typically 5.4), but I struggle to keep it in single figures when solely using it within the city limits - short trips with lots of stopping are the enemy of efficiency, no matter how I drive. Given the ability to drive so much under electric motor only, and through regen braking, the OP's type of car is far more likely to achieve decent fuel usage in an urban setting.

But, yeah, as others have said it's important to get some actual figures to support the concern - the idea of filling, driving a certain distance and then refilling sounds nice and easy if it's a struggle to work out how to use the car's own measurements.

Behodar

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#2939210 7-Jul-2022 14:37

jonathan18: Aren't hybrids particularly economical (relatively-speaking, compared to standard ICEs) for urban usage? My reading is the OP is doing short-ish trips and, noting they say they're driving carefully, surely they should be getting decent economy (unless something is indeed wrong)?

Indeed. I get around 22.5 km/L with mine, and that's with a hill as part of my daily commute. When I'm out on flat roads it's even more efficient.

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#2939215 7-Jul-2022 14:45

22.5km/l = 4.44l/100km

Eva888

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#2939218 7-Jul-2022 14:52

Went to the garage. I need a proper appointment but he kindly had a look underneath via the hoist and it was not leaking. Also put a meter on some wires under the fuel gauge dash and said that read ok.

He had a quick look at the current usage and it reads 15.3 per litre. The Aqua does about 26.
He also suggested as above that it may be the fuel sensor. He said to fill it right up and clock it and watch if it keeps happening and to take it in for him to check properly.

Thanks for all the suggestions. Will have a proper read of them as soon as I catch my breath.

MikeB4

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#2939220 7-Jul-2022 14:56

jonathan18:

Aren't hybrids particularly economical (relatively-speaking, compared to standard ICEs) for urban usage? My reading is the OP is doing short-ish trips and, noting they say they're driving carefully, surely they should be getting decent economy (unless something is indeed wrong)?

My car - a 2.2l turbo diesel - is pretty frugal when touring (typically 5.4), but I struggle to keep it in single figures when solely using it within the city limits - short trips with lots of stopping are the enemy of efficiency, no matter how I drive. Given the ability to drive so much under electric motor only, and through regen braking, the OP's type of car is far more likely to achieve decent fuel usage in an urban setting.

But, yeah, as others have said it's important to get some actual figures to support the concern - the idea of filling, driving a certain distance and then refilling sounds nice and easy if it's a struggle to work out how to use the car's own measurements.

Our Toyota Rav 4 Hybrid is a heavy car at circa 1800kg kerb weight, it lugs around batteries, two electric motors and a 2.5 litre ICE plus from memory 60litre of fuel so a gross weight of circa 2100kg and we are averaging combined 4.5l/100kms which is a lot less than my sons Suzuki Swift.

Eva888

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#2939242 7-Jul-2022 15:49

This might be the one then, it should show the economy figures:

How To use the Multi-Information Display for the Lexus CT 200h - Lexus of Reno - YouTube

Otherwise as others have said - record the odometer kms next time do a full tank, drive till nearly empty and record the new odometer km figure. Repeat a couple of times and then you calculate the economy figures How to Calculate Fuel Consumption Litres per 100Km - Fuel Economy Fast

Good links, thanks. That’s pretty much my dash. Will go out and have another look at the numbers. While mucking around with it last time I found an on screen graph which I now can’t find again. It showed the first few blocks on the graph at a low even level, but the last two blocks were very high near the top. No idea what it was for and will try again to find it as would like to know if it’s relevant to fuel usage.

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