I had a different brand car about 20 years a go. The dealer told me about updated software for higher mileage cars. He explained as the car got higher miles, the parameters for the best performance changed since the engine has more miles. 1. Has Toyota put out any “updated” specs for our computers when we get high miles? 2. I’ve read when they released the Gen 2 the engine comes on at 20mph all over the world, except the US where generally, it’s programmed to come on at 10mph. I would like to have it programmed at 20 like the rest of the world. Or, maybe 15mph. I’ve read that in Toyota software scanner you can change that. Is the setting confusing with words that are hard to understand, or is it as easy as, “The MPH when the motor comes on” 3. I’ve read our computer keep the battery at 30% - 70% charge. I’d like to bump that up to about 30 - 80%. I have a car with 160,000 miles. I have a two year old new, from the Toyota Dealer, battery. By the time this is used up, my car will probably have 400,000 and I most likely won’t have it then anyways. The slight adjustments I’ve mentioned is not real big. Are these adjustments in the software? I think the Toyota is the tech2? Thank you, ebm.
Toyota Techstream is the name of the official scantool software. Or was ... Global Techstream Plus (GTS+) is the new thing, if I've got the name right. The parameters you're asking about are not things you can set. Techstream (or GTs+) can be used to flash new firmware. If you were able to reverse-engineer the existing firmware and modify those constants and flash the new version, that could do what you want. I suspect Toyota's ECUs check for a cryptographic signature on any firmware they load, to make sure it came from Toyota without being changed. Regarding the battery state of charge, I think 40% to 80% is the range the car likes to use, with a bias toward keeping it right around 60% most of the time.
Thank you. That's right. The tech2 was for my old GM I sold. This is so disappointing. There are cars similar motors as ours that get 30+ mpg. If you read about why Toyota put out the Prius when they did, I look at it as kind of a gimmick. It is officially called a hybrid, but it's not really. It's a gas powered car with a big battery that barley does anything. My car is all tuned up, runs great! As soon as the weather got gold, my mileage went down to 37mpg. I have a friend with a Toyota hybrid, not sure the model, I saw his motor came on at 20mph. My gas motor is practically on all the time. I have a small, super light weight, thin metal, plastic car, that has a $3,000 battery in back that gives you a few extra mpg. Wonder why they have the motor come on so early in the US? I understand our battery technology is early stuff, but I wish we could use the battery just a little more. Thank you for the reply. ebm
Well, yeah, that's what a hybrid is: a gasoline-powered car with a small buffer to store a small amount of power from times when there's surplus, and at other times add that bit of stored power to the engine's when you call for acceleration. The rest of the time, the engine output closely matches what's needed at the wheels, and there's little net surplus or deficit flowing to or from the battery. What all that allows them to do is put a smaller engine in than you would need for your peak-power moments. They can right-size the engine for normal driving of the car. In gold weather, the engine loses a lot more heat ... just in general, and also via the cabin heater. If you think about it a little more, you might not wish for that. Remember you have a hybrid, not a plug-in hybrid. There isn't any energy in that battery that didn't get there by burning gasoline. Either the engine straight-up turned MG1 to charge the battery, or the engine got you to speed and you captured that by regenerative braking, or the engine pulled you up a hill and you captured some charge on the downhill. That means any energy you use from the battery is energy that came from your engine but has suffered conversion loss at least twice: on the way into the battery and on the way back out. More efficient to get energy straight from the engine under steady driving conditions.
To add to that, if you're only getting 30 - 37 MPG and the car is driving the way you describe, then it probably means your HV battery is pretty much used up. It is time for a new battery.
It's a two and a half year old new battery from Toyota Dealer. I think I have it figured out. When I stop at a light, the engine is still on (big battery 3/4) it will shut off about when the light turns green. Going down an alley at 7mph the engine is on. At a drive through for about 5 minutes, the engine runs most of the time. I watched a video of a man who showed the head lights, fog lights and climate control have a huge impact. With your lights off and climate control off, the car sits with engine off. Push the button on the climate control and the motor turns on. With the car engine running, turn off the climate control and the motor shuts off. I tried it and my motor shuts off at lights, in drive thoroughs. He gets 10-12MPG more with the climate control off. Both the lights and fog lights are almost a 30amp draw. When I have the lights on, fog lights on, climate control on, the mileage goes down. It's not just the cold that makes it go down in the winter, it's because we are using the climate control more. My mileage went down the day the weather got cold (freezing). I have my climate control in high, blowing the fog off the windows, heating up the car. Today, in the snow and slush, I got 36mpg. If climate control (and all 4 lights) is 10-12mph, I'm at 46-48 w/o. Thank you, ebm
Several things worthy of comment here. First off you are not as smart as the toyota engineers that designed this car. It has lasted almost 20 years, gen2 has shown us(I was a total disbeliever) how economical and reliable a hybrid car can be. Don't think you can mess with it and improve by changing charge range and when the motor kicks in. The gas motor on any of the 6 Gen 2s I have owned kicks in based on throttle position. Baby the gas on a slight downgrade and I can get it to 35. Going up the hill to the house anything over 5 does it. Mileage right now is affected by gas formulation which changes in the winter and heat or AC. My daughter is the queen of MPG. She has a lighter foot and barely uses heat, getting close to 10 mpg over my car. Losing 10 MPG driving in the winter in slush is typical. A tesla in the same condition will show miles to recharge much less than in june. Given the total cost per mile an old gen2 often comes out the winner. Gas, maintenance, depreciation and insurance costs over time have been less on ours than anything ever in the garage. Depreciation is a huge factor but not in a 15 year old hybrid. So drive it for a year and track gas mileage. You will see how it changes and after a year you will know when \the reformulated gas made it to your tank. If you really pay attention you will see some brands of gas will show a noteable difference. We changed from BJs to COSTCO and were surprised at the difference in miles per fill.
Sure, there are current cars that give excellent MPG without hybrid technology. The industry hasn't exactly been standing still since 2007. But in theory you only had to pay an old-car price for your Prius, rather than new-car money.
