If your mileage is dropping you might need a long drive.

italian tune up

 

What are your coolant temps during your urban drive cycle? If the answer is less then 170 degrees, the thermostat is robbing you of economy as well. It’s either stuck open, or opening too quickly. I say this because I was recently in the same boat as you, highway driving was average to above the averages reported here. However, in town mileage was suffering. I replaced the t-stat, and I was back in the mid forties. My daily commute is around 5 minutes one way.

I originally bought my car for Uber and other driving jobs, but with the virus, I just do the regular full time job. As long as I’m still saving money over the 16 mpg at best CVPI that I used to drive though, I’m keeping her. Trying to convince the better half that she needs the RAV4 Prime. Maybe sometime down the line I guess.

 

True. The longer you drive, the better chance ICE can get up to optimal temps. I have grocery runs within miles of each other so I hold peddle down to keep ice on longer to reach at least 152 F to the first store then drive however I want from there yielding 50-60 mpg for in town driving.

 

I used the 170 degree number from my own travels. The actual advertised t-stat temp is 180. So the closer the vehicle gets to that temp, the happier the car is going to be. Thats only going to get harder to satisfy on my drive as we transition to winter temps. There are alternate routes I can take to make sure the car warms up completely, but that’s almost counter-productive to saving fuel LOL.

 

It'd be nice if if Toyota added a coolant temp gauge, preferably displaying the temp as a number.

 

I was thinking of more gauges than That.

 

So wouldn't it be advantageous to install a block heater for all-season use anywhere in the world and not just for winter use in the frozen North?

 

That's what we do, use ours year round, whenever practical. Two hours preheat is the sweet spot, raised temp to a plateau about 20~30 C above ambient. Often allows garage exit in EV mode.

 

You can do the lower grill block (w/ac off) on the terms that you keep an eye on ICE and inverter temps. Mine is blocked when driving in city limits all year long, those drives are always morning so no need to AC up and remove the grill block.

 

Are you sure the 15% increase on the return trip wasn't due to a tailwind?

 

@ALS, sadly my scan gauge, constantly connected, was causing Check Hybrid System warnings and return-to-defaults brake behaviour, had to discontinue use. Yeah just thinking: a $30k car, especially one with geek appeal, should provide basic instrumentation.

 

But then you have to remember to unblock it for longer trips -- and it only shortens the warm-up time: it doesn't give the engine temperature a head-start.

 

I believe this "bounce-back" in FE numbers phenomenon is simply the elimination of or vast reduction in warmup cycles per tank that long drives produce.

 

Mine runs around 193-195. The fan kicks on at 203. Then the fan is back off at 193. But if I recall, it takes 150 degrees to shut off at a stoplight. Someone else who has that info stored will chime in soon enough.

 

152 F or hotter, EV on mine will kick in on and off on my command.