exGen3 owner, now 2 days with his new Gen4...WOW!

Thanks
I am an engineer, but not automotive one I do work in automotive though.

TMPS is compulsory here in EU. I think it is too in NA. You need to have the car not moving, go to the car settings and in there, there is the option to reset the TPMS sensors to the new level you have inflated the tires to.

Sorry to hear your hearing problem!

I have never heard the hybrid cooling fan since that single time in June. Never heard it in the Gen3. I do hear distinctively now the "clack" of the switch connecting the HV battery when you turn on the car.
I am not worried the bit about the lifetime of the HV battery (well I have a less "finicky" NiMH - not a Li-Ion - none of the models sold in the EU have Li-Ion). Toyota has done extensive research on them, uses them far less than the capacity to avoid exactly these lifetime issues you see on other devices.

In which mode you drive, PWR Eco or Normal, does not really affect MPGs, your driving style does. Likely in ECO you tend to accelerate differently and harder, as the response to the pedal is not as strong as in PWR, hence you tend to "overreact" and consume more than in PWR. This was very common also in Gen3 drivers. Using PWR tends to mimic the "pulse & glide" (P&G) technique that on Gen3/Gen2 was necessary to achieve the best MPGs at medium-low speeds (although annoying to practice).

It seems to me that the Gen4 really doesn't need P&G anymore. I get amazing MPGs simply driving it as smoothly as possible (i.e. smooth accelerations, and no sudden braking, predicting traffic and traffic lights).

 

A few other considerations after 6200km // 3800mi driving the car around

• I am now using Normal Mode the whole time. In Gen3 I was in ECO mode the whole time. Why the change? because in Gen4 I see that with Normal mode I still somehow manage to fine tune gas, use EV mode when I want, and I get enough kick from a stop that prevents me from using a full HSI bar instead of just a bit less. The mpg doesn't seem to be hit. Driving is more fun. And the AC can be set to ECO, regardless of driving mode. This will be a boon in winter when all I could do with the Gen3, to avoid the ICE idling all the time at traffic lights, was to have the car always in ECO mode in city traffic. This assuming ECO setting on the AC in Gen4 will not run the ICE the whole time, like in Gen3....
• Gen4 really feels like an EV car in the city with a range extender. Essentially I get 40-65% of EV mode. This means that almost half or even two-thirds of the time, I am not using the ICE. Think about it - it is amazing! I use the ICE only to start from a stop and then the battery and new power electronics are so efficient, you can do the rest with the MG2!!! Cool!!!!
• So, my concerns about road noise and rolling noise, especially compared to Gen3, are over. It is definitely quieter. My first bad impression on the highway to Stuttgart was because of the horrible new tarmac they have used there. It is really loud. That Gen4 lets noise in more than it should, granted, but otherwise, on regular roads, it is quiet enough - they should more in Gen5.
• Now an interesting one: the fuel light... It turns on without a "ding" - it simply turns on quietly. And unlike Gen3, it will not chime again when you turn on the car... it comes up at about DTE 50km // 30mi... and the fuel bar disappears completely (see pics) when you reach 0km DTE (I fuelled up at just 5km DTE)... When you fuel up, you find out you still have 5L // 1,3gal of fuel (tank is 43L // 11,36gal , I put in today 38.45L // 10,16gal @ 3,9L/100km // 60mpg). Which yields easily 125km // 75+mi of autonomy (at 4L/100km // 59mpg ) before going completely dry.... So even if the notifications are only optical and silent, you still have plenty of reserve to go fuelling up, before running dry:

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• If you can accelerate with just a tad more than the mid-line of the HSI bar, the Gen4 goes easily in what I called in Gen3, "happy mode" - that is when the ICE pushes the car without any assist of the MG2, and manages to charge the battery (albeit very slowly) at the same time. Possibly the most efficient running mode when the ICE is on. In Gen4 you can actually keep the speed (around 50-70km/h // 30-45mph) in this way, whereas with Gen3 it was impossible as it would not have enough torque to do so at the same speed ranges. You can also go a bit uphill without really slowing down (too much). I.e. I saw "happy mode" very seldom in Gen3. Or at least I never really cared to look at it, because at just above the mid-line I would feel no torque available to do anything of use. In the same way you couldn't do much in the first half of the HSI bar with the Gen3. In Gen4 you can actually do something in the ECO area. If you push beyond well beyond the mid-line, I see that the battery doesn't really get charged much as it was in Gen3, and instead I feel most of the extra current gets fed back into MG2 to assist more the ICE (hence reducing its fuel consumption). So the mechanical improvements of the Gen4 vs Gen3 on the ICE are noticeable and usable!
• I still didn't understand what is the fastest way to charge the battery - sometimes I try usual techniques that worked well in Gen3 (accelerate with full HSI bar) and nothing happens - sometimes I don't even look, and there you go, one extra bar.... uh?
• you can quite easily glide, with 5-6 bars at least, at 90-100km/h // 55-60mph - unheard of in the Gen3 (you needed a full battery and the ICE spinning, even if not consuming fuel, or was it?); and it makes you think for a second you are on a EV vehicle and not an hybrid...
• the first few days I told you the ICE would not turn on immediately after turning on the car - and that it would turn on "randomly" to start the warm-up sequence, even when the battery was at 2 bars only.... well, now it is a bit more like Gen3 But sometimes, and I still don't understand when, it waits quite a while (speed permitting) before starting the ICE... what are your experiences about warm-up sequence?
• last but not least, sometimes the EV light is not on, but the instant fuel consumption bar shows 0L/100km - a programming bug? or something else going on? the displays are really snappy in updating the information, so it is for sure not related to the UI being slow...

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Wow so many comments and likes - thanks!
A few comments below from my side:

In normal mode the engine does shut down in Gen3 (and 4) - but in winter standing at traffic lights, with AC set to 19C and full battery, the ICE does turn on even if you feel ok in the cabin. And that felt like waste of fuel for me as I didn't feel cold and I would know the traffic light is not that long. With ECO mode instead the ICE simply doesn't turn on, unless *really* necessary. So I hope that in Normal mode, which I like for the reasons I mentioned and your behaviour in ECO vs Normal is similar to my experience on the Gen4, and AC set to ECO (in Gen4 the settings are independent), the ICE will just stay off most of the time at traffic lights, in 0C weather.

It might. But exactly this morning, 3 bars, same exact temp as yesterday, the ICE simply didn't turn on... Yesterday it did (I don't remember the battery level, but I have seen it stay off with 2 bars, so whatever the battery level was, I don't think it made much difference).
I wonder if the ICE can actually keep much warmer at night than in Gen3, and hence it depends on how cold it was during shut off, and what is the residual temp when you turn it on.

On an additional note about warm-up sequence -so today the ICE didn't turn on. At one point I accelerated a tad above the HSI mid-line, and as expected the ICE fired. I was about to move from a 30km/h to a 50km/h. Well, the fuel consumption remained steady at 5L/100km while I was *accelerating* (modestly though) from 30km/h to 50-60km/h - which means MG2 was doing all the work - in Gen3 no way you could do that - beyond 40-45km/h the ICE would change "registers" and sound different and actively push the car. In Gen4 this limit seems t be a lot higher. Nice!

I am having "random" warm-up sequences regardless of mode. When I got the car I left it in ECO all the time, and it was random. Now it is in normal mode the whole time, still random. Actually less random than before, because it turn on immediately more often than back in June/July. Did morning temps change? possibly. If that is the case, I will have to wait next year to see what it does

I think the EV light stays off not due to a lag, but as long as the ICE is not at 0rpm - no matter whether fuel is getting inside it or not. For me that is a bug. Or otherwise there is fuel getting in, so little of it, that the instant fuel consumption bar cannot really display it (and it might well be the case). Maybe they should display a single line of pixels, even if the consumption is well below what that line represents.

Also in Gen3 the bar could go up to the PWR area, assuming you were butter smooth getting there, and you had a full battery. In Gen4 it is seems there is much more leeway

To be honest with you all, I will look at this a few more days, then simply forget it - simply drive the car and not ask questions anymore. Being engineer 100% of the time is taxing

I have had the same several times. And as I said above, I think it has to do with the fact that the EV light comes on only if the ICE is at 0rpm, or maybe there is some fuel involved that is not displayed - either because it is negligible but still not zero or because it is more than negligible but the instant fuel consumption bar cannot really show it.

+1; see my comments above.

That could also be the case. It keeps it spinning to reduce lag when the gas pedal is depressed again.
BTW, in Gen3 in Power mode, the ICE was kept on actively when the gas pedal was released. It would charge the battery for better push and it would be more responsive when depressing accelerating again. I have noticed on Gen4, and I have used Power mode very few times and very shortly, there is more ICE or MG2 braking when releasing the gas pedal. It was almost annoying for my taste...

 

My Gen4 has now almost 15.000km // ~10k mi and soon I will take it for the first check up.
Temperatures have gone down and I have started to drive it at temps (well) below 0C // 32F and driven it for longer periods at highers speeds, compared to usual city traffic. A few random comments:

• the whole "washer fluid dipstick" has been solved by the car itself, when it showed on the screen a "low windshield fluid" warning - the dealer knew nothing about it when I asked him about the dipstick back in July... It is nice to have the MFD notication... and the user's manual does not help
• even at -10C // 15F, the Gen4 does not mind to enter EV mode, even at 80km/h //50mph (as I could experience today)
• lower temperatures don't seem to affect fuel consumption as much as in Gen3 - there is a hit, but not as dramatic as I would have expected - I easily get less than 5L/100km // 47mpg. It is still 20% less than Gen3, easy.
• as I posted today in another thread, after checking 10 tanks, I have established that my Gen4 overestimates the DTE by 15-20% - essentially the DTE is 20% than what you would really achieved
• the fuel light goes on at around 50km // 30mi and the fuel bar is totally empty shortly after that, at which point there is about 5L // 1.3 US gal in the tank - like in Gen3 way too conservative to any real use (and not finding oneself too soon at the gas station)
• the rear windshield wiper is practically useless - the surface it clears is practically nothing, also compared to the overall rear view - I have found myself to reverse on purpose when parking to simply check the distance, instead of turning back as there is essentially nothing to see, even in nice weather/clean windows.
• the rear camera lens gets dirty too easily because of the turbulence at the back - unless one drives in nice weather, it has to be cleaned at least once a day to be of use (especially with muddy/salty water on the roads)
• the AC can be "wimpy" if set to Eco and requires sometimes "Fast" setting (available on EU models) to really defog the windshield
• for my driving patterns and traffic type on highways, the DRCC is simply not usable; also because it would brake suddenly with a clear lane, if approaching a truck (sometimes) and when the highway as a bend which is sharp enough to present (far away, but not enough) a truck or other car, or even the guardrail, in front of the radar; if a car is braking in front of it (e.g. to exit the highway) and it is still not completely out of the way, it will brake too hard - the implementation is too conservative, I find myself often accelerating on purpose to override it; for highway use I prefer the regular CC; DRCC is great though in heavy traffic at slower speeds and stop&go situations outside of towns.
• the RSA (road sign assist) simply doesn't work and I miss its function - it reports often signs that are longer not valid (because missing the sign that cancels it), it reads without any logic, the stickers on trucks which are required in some EU states to show the max speed they are required to drive, i.e. reporting a speed sign, that is not on the road, but actually on the truck - RSA is practically useless for me
• the Auto Headlight is a cool feature, but too aggressive, hence tending to blind oncoming drivers, which then flash me, instead of simply turning the headlights off in a more conservative way; sometimes I thought the windshield was not clean enough, or I turned the function off from the switch in the dashboard (next to the steering wheel column), to hope in a "reset"; essentially useful if driving in not so trafficked roads and nice clear evenings/nights
• thoroughly annoyed, after 6 months use, from the standard entertainment system, that though showing a robust Bluetooth connection, and good sound and reception (FM/DAB), it is so from "yesteryear" and cheap I almost wish I didn't had it at all: it will not show any art cover, provides fuel consumption information which is confusing and useless (there is a wealth of information already in the MFD), uses a different font than the MFD, and resolution and graphics from 10 years ago; such a modern car, such an old, outdated, bad looking system - a pity because the screen is really big and could be used for more interesting information with a better UI, features, software (which I cannot even update); I am glad to have not spent a cent more to get the navigation system version (the upgrade version) which would have been just as bad...I am much more content and well served by my Tomtom 6200
• the seat heaters are really nice
• the park assist works really well, though I still need to get used to it, and sometimes it chooses start positions that feel so far away from the spot, that you wonder if he actually "got the spot" and wants to park just there; the result is always quite amazing, really nicely close to the curb and managing really tight spots
• the single 5W light bulb in the trunk/cargo area, really a no-go and a super cheap implementation from Toyota - an F on this one (like the entertainment system); in dark nights, you cannot see a thing in the trunk - 2 LEDs on both sides, would have been really nice
• the BSM (Blind Spot Monitor) really helpful as well as the HUD: I drive sometimes the (3 year oldf) 428i of my boyfriend, and I dearly miss these features, including the rear view camera for parking and the sensors (he has none of these).

Let's see now how much I will be charged from Toyota for the first service which will happen sometime in the next month.